Our oldest first instar Polyphemus caterpillars (Antheraea polyphemus) have ecdysed into second instar. As expected, many of our Polyphemus caterpillars (that entered apolysis yesterday) began ecdysing into second instar beginning at around 2:00 PM this afternoon. We caught the third just as it was starting to do it and took some photos as seen below. Unlike many caterpillars that have a dramatic change from first to second instar like the Cecropia caterpillars, the Polyphemus second instars don't look much different than the first instar ones, but there are a few changes. First, the two black lines on each segment that run along the side of the base of the tubercles are completely gone now, but there seems to be a faint line in the middle of the segments that bisects the spiracle instead. The spiracles are also surrounded by a brownish red ring now as well. In addition, the body color is now much more vibrantly green and the tubercles are larger and brighter yellow. They carry the same number of hairs on top as first instar, with eight on the four large dorsal ones on T2 and T3 and a ring of five on most of the others. Interestingly, these are the same numbers as the Cecropia and Ceanothus second instar caterpillars, and the three species look remarkably similar in shape in this instar. The Polyphemus tubercles look nearly the exact same as the Hyalophoras at this age and probably many other Saturniids that we haven't reared, but they will eventually be reduced increasingly smaller as they age, while the Hyalophoras will become larger and more developed. When the caterpillars first molted, their head capsules were pale green as seen above, but eventually they became a coffee brown which differs from the more reddish, burgundy brown in first instar, though the shade seems to be slightly different between each caterpillar, but we can't say for sue until they've all fully tanned. These Polyphemus caterpillar growth rates seem to be on par with the other Saturniids we have raised, taking about 7 days and 2 hours from 7/15-7/22. So far they haven't diverged in age very much; most seem within a day apart of each other which is expected since most hatched within a day of each other. However, two caterpillars in the youngest dish, one of which was the late hatcher on 7/17 look very weak for some reason, though it is definitely not disease. Anyway, here is the count for today: L2: 13; L1+: 17; L1: 7; dead: 1 (died shortly after birth). - Alan
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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)
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![]() ![]() 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 |