The California pipevines (Aristolochia californica) have begun to grow new shoots and flowers, meaning there should be pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor hirsuta) eggs on them soon. Like most other deciduous plants in our area, the California pipevines up in the hills are beginning to regrow their leaves and flowers as the weather warms. This plant is the sole host of the northern California pipevine swallowtail subspecies, Battus philenor hirsuta, and thus its regrowth is soon followed by the flight of these swallowtails which will lay large egg clusters on the growing shoots of the vine. It is very important that the vine be in a growing state because the butterflies refuse to oviposit on mature leaves, and the young larvae have trouble eating them. In fact, this is one of the prime reasons (the other being diapause) why the numbers of the butterfly decline in late summer when most pipevines cease growth, since the females have no where to lay their eggs on. Thus, spring time is the absolute best time to look for these eggs, as the butterflies will not only have a large flight due to all previous year generations breaking out of diapause, but because the pipevines are in the prime of their growth. Many of the pipevines right now are already covered in leaf buds and new vine shoots, while some are still covered in large masses of pipe-shaped flowers. Once these flowers fall off, those vines will also begin putting on vigorous vegetative growth as well. If the pipevine swallowtails were already in flight now, we're almost certain that these growing shoots would be clobbered with bright orange-red eggs, but we'll probably have to wait a few weeks for that. While we were up in the hills looking at California pipevines, we also took a quick look at some of the oak (Quercus) and ceanothus (Ceanothus) for any polyphemus (Antheraea polyphemus) or ceanothus moth (Hyalophora euryalus) cocoons, but unsurprisingly we found nothing as these species, especially H. euryalus, seem to have a very sparse distribution around here, and we don't have much expertise in finding wild cocoons in the winter. We also came across a California hop tree (Ptelea crenulata) beginning to regrow which might be useful for some swallowtails and Rothschildia sp. if we get any. ![]() Authors Alan Liang
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Timeline 2012–2017
Albany, California This timeline is a series of daily posts recording our observations on and experiences with various insects in Albany California and surrounding areas, from 2012-2017. Since we did not publish this site until 2016, posts before that were constructed retroactively. Starting in August 2017, we moved to Ithaca, New York; posts from there on can be viewed at Timeline 2017-present: Ithaca, New York. Archives (1,011)
August 2017 (49) July 2017 (121) June 2017 (79) May 2017 (77) April 2017 (91) March 2017 (35) February 2017 (12) January 2017 (10) December 2016 (12) November 2016 (26) October 2016 (49) September 2016 (84) August 2016 (94) July 2016 (99) June 2016 (53) May 2016 (21) April 2016 (4) January 2016 (1) August 2015 (3) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (2) June 2014 (3) May 2014 (1) April 2014 (3) March 2014 (3) December 2013 (2) November 2013 (2) October 2013 (5) September 2013 (11) August 2013 (15) July 2013 (9) June 2013 (5) May 2013 (4) April 2013 (3) March 2013 (2) February 2013 (3) January 2013 (2) December 2012 (2) November 2012 (1) October 2012 (2) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (5) July 2012 (1) June 2012 (1) Authors
![]() ![]() Full Species List (Alphabetical by scientific name) Note: - Not every species we encounter is necessarily presented on this site, rather a selection of those that were of particular interest to us and that we felt were worth documenting. - We can't guarantee that all species have been identified accurately, particularly taxa we are not as familiar with. Lepidoptera Actias luna Adelpha californica Agraulis vanillae Allancastria cerisyi Antheraea mylitta Antheraea polyphemus Anthocharis sara Argema mimosae Attacus atlas Battus philenor hirsuta Bombyx mori Caligo atreus Callosamia promethea Coenonympha tullia california Citheronia regalis Cricula trifenestrata Danaus plexippus Eacles imperialis Erynnis tristis Estigmene acrea Eumorpha achemon Eupackardia calleta Furcula cinereoides Heliconius erato Heliconius hecale Heliconius sapho Heliconius sara Hyalophora cecropia Hyalophora columbia Hyalophora euryalus Hylephila phyleus Hyles lineata Junonia coenia Langia zenzeroides formosana Lophocampa maculata Manduca sexta Morpho peleides Nymphalis antiopa Orgyia vetusta Orthosia hibisci quenquefasciata Pachysphinx modesta Papilio cresphontes Papilio eurymedon Papilio glaucus Papilio machaon oregonius Papilio multicaudata Papilio polyxenes asterius Papilio rumiko Papilio rutulus Papilio zelicaon Phyciodes mylitta Phyciodes pulchella Pieris rapae Plejebus acmon Poanes melane Polites sabuleti Polygonia satyrus Pyrgus communis Rothschildia jacobaeae Samia cynthia advena Samia ricini Smerinthus cerisyi Smerinthus ophthalmica Strymon melinus Trichoplusia ni Uresephita reversalis Vanessa annabella Vanessa atalanta Vanessa cardui Unidentified Lepidoptera Hybrids Papilio glaucus × Papilio rutulus Papilio polyxenes asterius × Papilio zelicaon Orthoptera Melanoplus devastator Phaneroptera nana Pristoceuthophilus pacificus Scudderia mexicana Trimerotropis pallidipennis Phasmatodea Carausius morosus Phyllium giganteum Mantodea Mantis religiosa Phyllocrania paradoxa Hymenoptera Apis mellifera Bombus vosnesenskii Brachymeria ovata Linepithema humile Pediobius sp. Polistes dominula Xylocopa varipuncta Unidentified Diptera Lucilia sericata Unidentified Hemiptera Brochymena sp. Leptoglossus sp. Nezara viridula Odonata Argia vivida Libellula croceipennis Coleoptera Coccinella septempunctata Cycloneda polita Diabrotica undecimpunctata Hippodamia convergens Araneae (Class: Arachnida) Araneus diadematus Phidippus johnsoni |