This morning we were ecstatic to find one of our female Mexican Bush Katydids (Scudderia mexicana) carrying the prized spermatophoryx! It has been exactly six nights since we first put our eight Mexican Bush Katydids (four adult females and two adults males) into our outdoor enclosure on 7/17. The purpose of its design was to try to mimic natural outdoor conditions as much as possible by providing a live food plant (potted Passionflower [Passiflora mixta x manicata "Susan Brigham"]) while giving them enough sunlight and space to move around, or even fly if they choose to. In other years that we have gotten these katydids to mate, we had also put them in an outdoor enclosure with live plants (a glass aquarium tank with bean plants) so we imagined it wouldn't be too difficult this year if we attempted something similar. And it wasn't. This morning when we went out to check on them, we noticed something somewhat odd. Only three of eight katydids were even on the plant and one of them was sixth instar nymph preparing to molt to adult. The other katydids were all scattered around on the lid, the sides, and one of the adult males was even on the ground. Something must have been going on! Upon close examination of the females, we immediately noticed that one of them (one of the two adult females on the lid) had a nice, gelatinous spermatophoryx attached to her genitalia which was eaten up by 10 AM. It is impossible to identify who this female was (where we had found it and when it molted) and which of the two males it had mated with (though we assume it was the broken legged one on the ground that molted on 6/20 since older males are more willing) but that is not important. What matters now is that we need to see about getting her to lay her eggs. There should be at least a hundred in that plump abdomen of hers! Mexican Bush Katydids lay their eggs exclusively in leaf sheaths (epidermal layers) based on the ovipositor shape and will probably lay their eggs in most any large leaf. The eggs overwinter in the leaf all the way until spring time of the following year, but we suppose they are hardy enough to survive should the leaf die fall off the plant (a risk even for non-deciduous trees). The Singing Insects of North America (SINA) site suggests depriving the gravid female of laying sites first, presumably to cause her to become more "desperate" and willing to lay once you reintroduce the laying sites. This is what we will attempt first, after we give her a few days to eat up the spermatophoryx and such. - Brian
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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 |