Search found 18 matches

by jwa121
Tue Mar 12, 2024 6:15 pm
Forum: Open Topics
Topic: Interesting Caterpillar Behaviour
Replies: 3
Views: 222

Re: Interesting Caterpillar Behaviour

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
by jwa121
Mon Mar 11, 2024 11:05 pm
Forum: Open Topics
Topic: Cocoon or Bust
Replies: 0
Views: 143

Cocoon or Bust

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 ...
by jwa121
Mon Mar 11, 2024 10:42 pm
Forum: Open Topics
Topic: Interesting Caterpillar Behaviour
Replies: 3
Views: 222

Interesting Caterpillar Behaviour

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 branc...
by jwa121
Mon Aug 28, 2023 4:08 am
Forum: Open Topics
Topic: Plastazote Bottoms for Cornell Drawers
Replies: 3
Views: 1053

Re: Plastazote Bottoms for Cornell Drawers

Sheets of plastazote can also be bought from the UK entomological equipment supplier Watkins & Doncaster at www.watdon.co.uk.
by jwa121
Mon Aug 28, 2023 3:53 am
Forum: Open Topics
Topic: Plastazote Bottoms for Cornell Drawers
Replies: 3
Views: 1053

Re: Plastazote Bottoms for Cornell Drawers

The Canadian entomological equipment supplier atelierjeanpaquet.com sells sheets of plastazote.
by jwa121
Mon Jul 24, 2023 5:11 am
Forum: Lepidoptera
Topic: always learning- ova hatch times
Replies: 3
Views: 1568

Re: always learning- ova hatch times

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 chan...
by jwa121
Tue Jul 04, 2023 9:59 pm
Forum: Lepidoptera
Topic: Strange Pairing
Replies: 3
Views: 1808

Re: Strange Pairing

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
by jwa121
Mon Jul 03, 2023 11:25 pm
Forum: Lepidoptera
Topic: Strange Pairing
Replies: 3
Views: 1808

Strange Pairing

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 Pachys...
by jwa121
Fri Jun 09, 2023 6:49 pm
Forum: Lepidoptera
Topic: Polyamorous Polyphemus?
Replies: 4
Views: 1237

Polyamorous Polyphemus?

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 f...
by jwa121
Fri Jun 09, 2023 3:04 pm
Forum: Lepidoptera
Topic: Ornamental Cherry as Host Plant
Replies: 1
Views: 525

Ornamental Cherry as Host Plant

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 over...
by jwa121
Thu May 25, 2023 4:45 am
Forum: Insect identification
Topic: old automeris
Replies: 2
Views: 463

Re: old automeris

The female Saturniid pictured is a member of the Saturniid genus Leucanella.
by jwa121
Thu May 25, 2023 4:23 am
Forum: Insect identification
Topic: Peru Saturnids
Replies: 4
Views: 852

Re: Peru Saturnids

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.
by jwa121
Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:26 pm
Forum: Lepidoptera
Topic: Method to display already pinned specimens upside down
Replies: 14
Views: 776

Re: Method to display already pinned specimens upside down

Or do it in reverse. Run the second insect pin through the small piece of cork first.
by jwa121
Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:23 pm
Forum: Lepidoptera
Topic: Method to display already pinned specimens upside down
Replies: 14
Views: 776

Re: Method to display already pinned specimens upside down

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.
by jwa121
Tue Aug 23, 2022 5:28 pm
Forum: Lepidoptera
Topic: Method to display already pinned specimens upside down
Replies: 14
Views: 776

Re: Method to display already pinned specimens upside down

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.
by jwa121
Fri Jun 24, 2022 2:04 pm
Forum: Insect Trading Reports
Topic: Bad Trade with Otto Feldner
Replies: 1
Views: 2170

Bad Trade with Otto Feldner

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 Ne...
by jwa121
Sun Jun 19, 2022 1:28 pm
Forum: Lepidoptera
Topic: Historis acheronta
Replies: 2
Views: 925

Re: Historis acheronta

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.
by jwa121
Sat Jun 11, 2022 3:24 am
Forum: Lepidoptera
Topic: ova viability and animal age
Replies: 3
Views: 326

Re: ova viability and animal age

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 com...