I've found populi fairly commonly in Bois de Merle in north-east France in the past, although it has a very short flight period. I've also reared it but it was a long time ago. I certainly don't recall the behaviour that Wolf mentions. from memory, it normally stays on the tip of the midrib it creates.

One of the most beautiful butterflies in Europe !
Never had the luck to meet one. It is rare in France.

Earlier this season, I found a pair of Smerinthus coupled up here at home, Lincoln City, Oregon coast,(central)
Found April 24, the larva finished eating, sleeved outside just on June 25 and pupated. Having made mistakes in the past,
I left the pupa in an emergengce cage. Good choice.
3 males are hanging from the ceiling in the cage, I had suspected that the moth had 2 generations here, because of the early nature of
this season's capture, and from larva I have found on the willow tree in late August.

There you go- something I haven't read anywhere, besides the fact that all my books call opthalmica ,ceryisi ,in any event, neither are
claimed to have more than 1 generation this far north.

Anyone that wants a bunch of ophthalmica ova can email me. I was planning on releasing these guys next year anyway.
kevinkoffel@gmail.com

Some publications on the topic, should be able to search them up.

ABERRANT COLOR PATTERNS IN THE PAPILIO AND AN UPDATE ON THE SEMI-MELANIC “FLETCHERI” VARIANTS, INCLUDING FEMALES (LEPIDOPTERA: PAPILIONIDAE) Mark Scriber

The following two were published in Holarctic Lepidoptera

1-43 David L. Perlman and Marc P. Perlman
OCTOBER 2019
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF COLDSHOCK ON THE EASTERN TIGER
SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY PTEROURUS (PAPILIO) GLAUCUS (C. LINNAEUS 1758)
(LEPIDOPTERA: PAPILIONIDAE)

44-69 David L. Perlman and Marc P. Perlman
A DISCOVERY OF THE HERITABILITY OF FEMALE MOSAIC COLOR-MORPHISM IN THE
EASTERN TIGER SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY PTEROURUS (PAPILIO) GLAUCUS
(C. LINNAEUS 1758) (LEPIDOPTERA: PAPILIONIDAE)

There's a guy I used to know who spent a lot of time producing temperature shocked aberrations. He had some rather sophisticated equipment so he could exactly control the temperature and duration of the shock. He said that the pupae had to be freshly formed and still soft for it to work properly. He experimented with giving it more than one shock, and he also said that exposing the full-grown larvae to infra-red light helped. I believe that most of his experimnts involved heat shock, but he also tried it with cold. Strangely enough, both heat and cold produced similar looking aberrations.

Cabintom wrote: Mon Jul 07, 2025 6:28 am I should note (and I thought I had) that the specimens above are from the ABRI collection.

Ah, I was wondering. I have never seen a female except in photos.

Adam.

Paul K wrote: Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:43 am I suppose Adam must have tried that too as he went through thousands of specimens bread in his farm.

No, I never tried to artificially produce aberrations by cold shock or any other method. I really wasn't interested in creating artificial aberrations.

Adam.

livingplanet3 wrote: Sat Dec 10, 2022 8:17 pm Probably the best and safest option for killing bed bugs on small items, especially things that would be damaged or destroyed by heat, would be to seal them up in plastic bags and put them in a freezer for at least several days -

https://www.bedbugs.umn.edu/bed-bug-con ... s/freezing

Note that if you freeze the photos in a sealed container (plastic box or bag) you must place the whole package in the room WITHOUT OPENING for 24 hours so the temperature will equalise. If you open the package straight out of the freezer the cold photos will become wet from condensation (water vapour in the air) and will likely be ruined.

I suspect that actually there will be no bed bugs on the photos, normally they will stay in or near the bed. There may possibly be other insects such as Psocids (book lice) but it is highly unlikely that bed bugs will be present on most of your mother's belongings. Sorry to hear of your loss.

Adam.

I always put mine in small coin envelopes with labels and store them upright in a plastic box. Keeps them flat, safe, and easy to flip through when I need something.

I should note (and I thought I had) that the specimens above are from the ABRI collection.

I was also debating on the cold shock idea.
Usually if there is sadden temperature drop it does happen in rather larger areas so there should be more aberrant flying or perhaps it has to be just right time when the pupae is in just at right stage to trigger that fenomen. I’m curious if you will achieve any aberrant from your breading.
I suppose Adam must have tried that too as he went through thousands of specimens bread in his farm.

Hello everyone

Its the first time i've tried to rear this species and I currently have L1 larva which are a couple of days old. I suddenly noticed that a few larva started wandering around, even leaving the leaf where they already established a feeding spot with the characteristic sparing of the middle rib of the leaf. They seem to be just wandering around from leaf to leaf now and not settling down. Is this normal behavior? I'm worried that they wont start feeding again and just die. I got to just wait and see anyway i guess, but if anybody has experience with this species, some feedback would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Congrats John, that's a beauty for sure. You could sit in your chair for many summers and not see one like that. And to think you have come across 3 thus far, truly amazing, it doesn't get any better than that.

As to the cause, I have read a few articles on cold shock of a newly formed chrysalis, and I have tried putting a few in the fridge for various periods to test the theory. Thus far none have shown any aberration, but then I only had about a dozen larvae. Right now I am rearing 45 Papilio canadensis larvae, will give it another try and see if any anomalies result.

Well done John !

An AMAZING extreme find that few collectors ever make in the wilds. A treasure to be sure. You certainly seem to be in the right place (zone) where occasional sharp temperature fluctuations give rise to these extreme variations.

Rock-on fellow "man of the net".

Trehopr1 wrote: Fri Jul 04, 2025 6:49 am To give credit where credit is due I just wanted to point out that it was our forum member Paul K who made an astute observation some 5 yrs ago (at least) regarding the underside white markings which males have and females do not.

In fact, Adam was the first person to compliment Paul K on such a keen observation which had never been mentioned; much less noticed by anyone as so few specimens are in private hands or even museum collections.

I admire the observation skills which Paul K has shown us time and again.

Thank you so much Trehopr1

To give credit where credit is due I just wanted to point out that it was our forum member Paul K who made an astute observation some 5 yrs ago (at least) regarding the underside white markings which males have and females do not.

In fact, Adam was the first person to compliment Paul K on such a keen observation which had never been mentioned; much less noticed by anyone as so few specimens are in private hands or even museum collections.

I admire the observation skills which Paul K has shown us time and again.

For those of you who read French, there is a funny book called “Sa majesté des papillons” ("Lord of the Butterflies") which recounts a recent French expedition in search of the female antimachus. The expedition received a lot of press coverage... but it was a disastrously organized expedition... they didn't even know where to look. It's quite funny to read, the amateurism of the organization is glaring, and there are some great anecdotes about life in the African rainforest (ant attacks, tension within the group, etc.).

Thomas : you should write a book about your entomological adventures in Kivu one day !

Female on the bottom.

Once again : wonderful !

A lifer !

Hello again,

I just took this ab. P. canadensis off the spreading board today. Following are photos of the dorsal & ventral wing surfaces & a comparison to a "normal" fm. Canadian Tiger Swallowtail collected on the same date (30 May 2025) & location.


John K.