Adam
Please could you divert the post of Vanessa atalanta migration 2024 to separate thread. Everyone could report here.

Lots of atalanta in Kingston. Never seen this many so early. Could be another 2012 in the making.

We do have two of the largest stinkbugs in North America here at my home Loxa flavicollis and Alcaeorrhynchus grandis. I published about a few of these back around 2010, reporting Loxa flavicollis (Drury, 1773) (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae) a new invasive stink bug in Louisiana.

For many decades I placed hundreds of thousands of assorted uncurated hemiptera in jars of 70% Isopropyl alcohol Here e,g are 11,000+ speciimens in alcohol. I did this to allow future workers to have the benefit of these specimens that I could not process by pinning and labeling, the only alternative being discarding these captured daily. Some of these bycatch were pinned and labeled on an irregular basis. Out target insects were lepidoptera of which we pinned spread labeled and determined hundreds of thousands of adults over the past 55+ years See attached one box of thousands of Louisiana lepidoptera placed in museums.

Hemiptera are extremely common in high-wattage UV light traps. I have certainly captured numerous hundreds of thousands of adults here in Lousiana. Few are flamboyant or overly colorful here.

Chuck wrote: ↑Thu May 02, 2024 6:38 pm

Paul K wrote: ↑Thu May 02, 2024 3:02 pm
We have here on the north side of the Lake Ontario also unusual numbers of V.atalanta.

I am not surprised. Clearly they are coming from "south." The question is: why in such numbers?

I suspect that warmer weather thru North America this winter cause higher survival rate, also very mild temperatures and early spring triggered migratory instinct in more individuals than normal years to fly north.
On top of that perhaps last season higher number survive to an adult. It will be interesting to see if a huge number reproduce here and it will be a great year for this species or it will end as other years.

Also, the pupation of an Arctiid is kind of boring and takes a long time. Once they find a pupation site and spin a cocoon, they curl up into a fetal position and shed the long guard hairs of the larvae, so they look short, fat and covered in stubble, and then after about 2-3 days the skin splits open and out comes the pupa. The whole thing is a 3-4 day long process, which is probably too long for time lapse. Watching a larva construct a cocoon is much faster and more interesting.

It depends on both the species and where you live. A lot of the tiger moths are univoltine (1 brood per year), but not all, and their life cycle is weird. They may go all the way through from egg -> larva -> pupa, but many species actually overwinter as larvae, sometimes very young ones or sometimes full grown ones. Then in the spring they start eating again. Keeping them alive during the hibernation makes them a tough group to rear. Most of the ones I've successfully reared I got as final instar larvae out in the wild.

You would probably be better to start off with silkmoths (Saturniidae) that are not in the Ceratocampinae subfamily (because they burrow into the soil and pupate rather than spin cocoons, and you can't really film the pupation or emergence).

Chuck wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 6:02 pm ...in the case of the V atlanta here, which are beat, I suspect that the "beat up butterfly" trend would be visually obvious from individual iNat records during those periods...

The atalanta I'm seeing here in TX are nearly all in fine condition - no flight wear at all; definitely from recent, local emergence. Same with the V. cardui, V. virginiensis and P. interrogationis.

Paul K wrote: ↑Thu May 02, 2024 3:02 pm
We have here on the north side of the Lake Ontario also unusual numbers of V.atalanta.

I am not surprised. Clearly they are coming from "south." The question is: why in such numbers?

Pedz wrote: ↑Thu May 02, 2024 4:16 pm Hmm… two factors: I would say that it’s the Salt Marsh Moth because I too have seen these guys everywhere this year. It started at the eclipse. I have another in my yard that I’m watching. And also the images of the mature adult look like what I have.

Thank you for your time and help.

You can readily distinguish the caterpillars of H. scribona from E. acrea by the fact that only H. scribona has red bands between the abdominal segments, which are especially apparent when the caterpillar defensively rolls into a ball -



Also, the caterpillars of E. acrea are lighter in color, with the bristles along the sides of the body being shades of brown instead of black -

livingplanet3 wrote: ↑Thu May 02, 2024 4:08 pm I'm not certain of which species of tiger moth caterpillar you have, but if it's a Giant Leopard Moth (Hypercompe scribonia), here's a page giving the life cycle / time frames -

https://www.prairiehaven.com/?page_id=29859

If it's a Salt Marsh Moth (Estigmene acrea) -

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/ve ... pillar.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estigmene_acrea

Incidentally, E. acrea has been especially abundant in North TX this spring; much more so than I have seen in many years.

Hmm… two factors: I would say that it’s the Salt Marsh Moth because I too have seen these guys everywhere this year. It started at the eclipse. I have another in my yard that I’m watching. And also the images of the mature adult look like what I have.

Thank you for your time and help.

I'm not certain of which species of tiger moth caterpillar you have, but if it's a Giant Leopard Moth (Hypercompe scribonia), here's a page giving the life cycle / time frames -

https://www.prairiehaven.com/?page_id=29859

If it's a Salt Marsh Moth (Estigmene acrea) -

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/ve ... pillar.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estigmene_acrea

Incidentally, E. acrea has been especially abundant in North TX this spring; much more so than I have seen in many years.

Chuck wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 5:16 pm Last week, before it snowed, there was an unusual number of V. atlanta around.

It warmed up a bit three days ago, albeit with rain. Today it's 64F and sunny. There are hundreds of atlanta, everywhere. Most are flying fast, I've only observed one alight. They are absolutely beat.

So either there was a local population explosion late last year followed by a high winter survival rate, or they have migrated. Given the condition of them, I'd say they migrated en masse. I've never seen anything like this before.

We have here on the north side of the Lake Ontario also unusual numbers of V.atalanta.

Hi,

I’m a total newbie. I’m a retired programmer turned photographer. I have this fellow (see video) in my house and I’m hoping I can keep him happy until he turns into a pupa and then turns into a moth but I’m wondering about the timing. I want to do a time lapse. What would be great is to capture a time lapse of it turning into a pupa as well as when the moth comes out. But if I knew the timing it would help me prepare.

I’m hoping folks here can help me out. I’m in Austin, TX. I believe this is a Giant Leopard Moth Caterpillar.

https://youtu.be/xdmj1M4XbNU?si=usvaETR8_czAGvfE

Maybe he's away on a collecting trip or on holiday. I guess he wouldn't schedule sales when he's away.

Adam.

bobw wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 7:29 am

Annarobertson1947 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:43 pm Yep, same result i got ,nothing to show
Will wait and tryin a week or so

That's because he's got nothing for sale right now.

I was wondering as he usually is on Ebay, thought i got Ebay name wrong :

This is his newer Ebay shop which he set up after he scammed everyone (myself included $400+)

https://www.ebay.com/usr/mundo-d-brujas

Jerk

livingplanet3 wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 5:33 pm
Here in North TX, for weeks now, I've been seeing more V. atalanta than ever before - absolute swarms of them. Of course, TX has always been a great place to see swarms of things, but the butterfly numbers here this spring are really outstanding. Not just atalanta, but also cardui and virginiensis are quite abundant. Many Polygonia interrogationis and Battus philenor as well, among others such as Danaus gilippus, D. plexippus, Anaea andria, and numerous Pieridae.

I suspect it would be possible to track the migration of (for example. V atlanta) with iNaturalist. Since one can filter by date, it would be possible to start "this week" and start working backwards. It would though reflect both emergences and migration; in the case of the V atlanta here, which are beat, I suspect that the "beat up butterfly" trend would be visually obvious from individual iNat records during those periods. Just an idea.

It's very cool to experience "out of the ordinary" occurrences with insects.

I still recall quite vividly the experience that I had in my early teens when some friends stopped over at my house and told me about all these monarch butterflies landing on a huge tree branch by a neighbor's house.

I ran over to investigate and sure enough we were experiencing a monarch overnighting "roost".

It would be the one and only time I would ever see such a phenomenon as that....

Chuck wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 5:16 pm Last week, before it snowed, there was an unusual number of V. atlanta around.

It warmed up a bit three days ago, albeit with rain. Today it's 64F and sunny. There are hundreds of atlanta, everywhere. Most are flying fast, I've only observed one alight. They are absolutely beat.

So either there was a local population explosion late last year followed by a high winter survival rate, or they have migrated. Given the condition of them, I'd say they migrated en masse. I've never seen anything like this before.

Here in North TX, for weeks now, I've been seeing more V. atalanta than ever before - absolute swarms of them. Of course, TX has always been a great place to see swarms of things, but the butterfly numbers here this spring are really outstanding. Not just atalanta, but also cardui and virginiensis are quite abundant. Many Polygonia interrogationis and Battus philenor as well, among others such as Danaus gilippus, D. plexippus, Anaea andria, and numerous Pieridae.