You have misinterpreted the response to your post(s). If the topic is of interest to anyone, they'll react. Some of my posts get no response at all. It's nothing I take personally. For the record- I don't collect Morpho sp. or buy dead stock with any regularity. That's why I have no reason or contex...

Spot on observations. Guilty. I used to read more, now I have a laptop. I can presume that if I was born in the recent past, rather than the mid 60's, I'd be even less likely to have a science related hobby. We didn't study insects in school when I was a kid, the interest was spurred on by reading a...

The sensationalism by the news is typical. I haven't seen anything about the case except for what's been posted here. It's the same old story though, making mole hills into mountains. Same thing when I've run afoul of the law. The police reports and what gets in the newspaper make it sound like I ha...

Well, that's unfortunate. I bought from Dr. Limmer , the specimens he listed on ebay were common Ornithoptera as other sellers listed the same species, I know he had other, more expensive species he didn't list on ebay. He was, or is a little gruffy, but I had no problems dealing with him. I take no...

Don't give up! I raised a brood of atropos last year. I started them on potato, they ran through that and I finished them on olive. It was stressful though until I found an alternate for the potato they'd accept. One can never tell until you try. They may be more receptive to switching food plant af...

For in the states, I use flat rate priority nearly all the time, never a problem. For our information- there are no longer first class parcels, it has been changed to "parcel select ground", or some configuration of those words, it's just a name change. They still come with tracking at no ...

I think you are the victim of an inept employee or a liar. Parcels do not have to be sent Priority mail, Not long ago, Mom wanted to "help" me mail a box, I had the postage figured after weighing it, 5 bucks for ground select USPS, the clerk sold my Mom priority shipping and it cost me an ...

Awesome animals. I went to a reptile show and someone had a giant centipede, it looked a foot long. The asking price was 1k. I've got a
picture of it, but no context.

I made the post after finding that larva a few days ago, and realized how different my various specimens looked. Having a larva is a big help, as they are not variable and what I have found at home is clearly cerisyi. I did find that the larva is visible under uv light, which gives me something to t...

I wasn't entirely accurate about my sphinx captures at home. Several years ago, I caught a few Hyles lineata nectaring in very early spring, I think one even found it's way into the greenhouse and expired. I've never seen any others since then. Never at the light though. Chuck! That looks like my ph...

Is the variation clinal? I wonder if anyone has looked into the genetics to see if they should be different subspecies? The amount of variability in cerisyi is mentioned in Tuttle's Hawk Moths of North America having caused different forms to be named. He sticks with just the one type. It's easy to...

Different variations in the sphinx moth cerisyi. The top 2 are from the eastern part of the state. The bottom one was captured as a larva last season here at my house on the coast. I found the larva depicted a few days ago on the willow ,interesting since I have never had a sphinx come to my uv ligh...

Atropos can be raised to maturity on artificial diet. I have seen pictures of the operation, but haven't tried it myself.
Ova should hatch fairly quickly, maybe 7 days.
You can buy artificial diet easily, typically it's used for Manduca sexta rearing for reptile feeders.

Aha! So that's it. I did notice an extra large pellet, I may have missed the second one, and it was bigger, at least double in
size. I did wonder about the giant poo, it being the only thing different in the cage.
Thank you for answering.

Yesterday something happened that I've never seen before. Now, obviously that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. The question- Do all Lepidoptera larva empty their gut before leaving the food plant to burrow in substrate, or spin a cocoon? I had 2 mature larva that left the food plant and wandered the ...

4rth instar most likely, I just moved 5 of the 16 larva indoors, to help move things along, it'll be raining again one of these days.

One of my splendens larva, hatched on July 19, they've been outdoors on sweet gum since then. A lot of shades of brown. Still a few weeks to go most likely, our cooler coastal weather slows down everything I raise outdoors. Interesting larva, the only Saturniidae larva I've raised that exude a liqui...

Try asking this question at this website- Actias.de it has more users in the EU, who are going to have more experience with non- natives. Hand feeding is a little stressful for all involved, some species will get used to the process, and may feed themselves from a fake flower or dish. The honeycomb ...

Thanks for the replies. Here in the west, I'm don't think that Papilio rutulus has the variety of subspecies that glaucus does.
I'll pass along the comments to my sister, the family are vicarious entomologists

My sister in North Carolina took this picture. Is the amount of blue on the hind wings normal ? Perhaps it's just the lighting.
I get bug photos from the east now and then, the last one was a katydid riding the windshield...can't you just reach out and grab it
for me?