I enjoy rearing the caterpillars of Saturniid moths, especially African species, many of which burrow into the soil to pupate. I typically let the mature caterpillars pupate individually, in separate containers in which I have put some cut-up damp paper towel.

But once the resulting pupae have ...

Thanks for your comment. I wish now I had photographed the caterpillar ever so slowly squeezing itself back inside the (temporarily) abandoned cocoon. I guess I’ll have to settle for publishing my observation here.

John

I once reared a large number of beautiful caterpillars (on Privet: Ligustrum ovalifolium) of the (Texas) Saturniid moth species Eupackardia calleta. My stock was from San Antonio, Texas.

Eupackardia calleta caterpillars spin hard, dense, exquisitely sculpted cocoons. Native Americans sometimes used ...

Some time ago, I was lucky enough to be able to rear a few caterpillars of the South American Saturniid moth species Rothschildia erycina. I reared these caterpillars on Privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium).

One of my mature (fifth instar) erycina caterpillars spun a cocoon (indoors, on a cut Privet ...

Sheets of plastazote can also be bought from the UK entomological equipment supplier Watkins & Doncaster at www.watdon.co.uk.

The Canadian entomological equipment supplier atelierjeanpaquet.com sells sheets of plastazote.

I happened to see a female Papilio rutulus ovipositing on an ornamental cherry tree. The female happened to lay an egg on a leaf growing low enough on the tree for me to recover it. The egg was laid June 8. It hatched June 17. I reared the caterpillar indoors on Prunus serotina. The caterpillar ...

Thanks very much for your reply, John.

In answer to your question, yes, this was a male-to-female pairing. A large, male, Pachysphinx modesta was found paired with a small, female, Paonias myops.

John

A British Columbia lepidopterist on vacation in the interior of the province set up a light trap July 2nd and upon checking it in the morning found something unexpected.

He found a female Paonias myops (a small species of hawk moth) paired with a male of the very much larger hawk moth species ...

In early June, a friend and I put a female Hyalophora euryalus moth and a female Hyalophora columbia columbia moth in separate pop-up netting cages and drove them 2-hours northeast of Vancouver, British Columbia, to a location where we knew there to be wild, endemic Hyalophora euryalus moths. (Our ...

On the 8th of June here in Vancouver, Canada, I watched a Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio rutulus) laying eggs on the leaves of a very large, very old, ornamental cherry tree growing on a city boulevard.

The leaves the butterfly was periodically pausing to lay its eggs on were high ...

The female Saturniid pictured is a member of the Saturniid genus Leucanella.

Your two, somewhat worn, Saturniid specimens from Peru are not an Automeris species. They are in the Saturniid genus Leucanella. They are likely Leucanella contempta contempta.

Or do it in reverse. Run the second insect pin through the small piece of cork first.

Another possibility. Remove the head from your specimen pin. Put some glue on the (now headless) shaft of the pin. Then push the pin into a small piece of cork. Let it set. Then run a second insect pin through the small piece of cork.

If you could find a suitable glue, you could perhaps do the following. Take a fairly stout insect pin, say a number 3, and cut it down to the appropriate length. Remove the head from your specimen pin. Then glue your (now headless) specimen pin to the cut-down number 3 pin.

Otto Feldner (o.feldner@a1.net) is currently running an ad on the Insectnet Classifieds.

I recommend caution if you deal with him.

In November 2021, I paid Otto Feldner for some overwintering eggs of Neoris huttoni shadulla. He accepted my payment and then told me that he didn’t actually have any ...

Falcate forewings are a wonderful feature of the males of a number of Saturniid moth species, as well. Strongly falcate wings are very attractive, I find.

Coincidentally, I have been thinking about the same or very similar question.

I rear Saturniid moths and for some time now I have suspected that a female Saturniid's first-laid eggs tend to produce caterpillars that grow better or that are perhaps bigger or more robust than the caterpillars that ...