Ova laying and the passage of time

[kevinkk]

Has this happened to you?

Your livestock, after being diapaused for an atypical amount of time, hatches, and the female lays eggs almost immediately, meaning
that instead of sitting and looking pretty for several days or more, she starts laying on night number 1.

I can see the logic in animals waiting for the right conditions and remaining for more than one season, but it's not going to help the
species if eggs are being laid with only a matter of hours in which to pair up.

I've noticed that eventually virtually everything that can happen, will happen, but besides being frustrating, it's a minus for the species.

[Chuck]

Typically males emerge days or more before females. With most Saturnids especially, the males are at the female within minutes after she starts calling.

Overwintering more than one year is apparently more common than I thought. Just yesterday I was told by a researcher about western Papilio (I’d have to guess indra) May diapause through three winters. Even more interesting, the parasitic Ichneumon does likewise. It makes sense to ensure species survival through a dry summer or fires. What’s really mind blowing though is the arms race with the parasite!

You may be frustrated with your female, but they do things for a reason, even if we don’t understand it.

[kevinkk]

That is news to me, in fact, I had no idea any butterfly would overwinter more than once.

Perhaps it's habitat, I think indra is found in the drier parts of Oregon, and presumably likewise in other locales.

Hardly a day goes by I don't learn something new, that says something... I need to get out more possibly.

[Chuck]

That is news to me, in fact, I had no idea any butterfly would overwinter more than once.

Perhaps it's habitat, I think indra is found in the drier parts of Oregon, and presumably likewise in other locales.

Hardly a day goes by I don't learn something new, that says something... I need to get out more possibly.

Eurytides has has a MidSummer Tiger dipause over two winters, and that's in the eastern North America. I've had polyphemus and promethea overwinter two years, with polyphemus being more common, maybe close to 2%.

"get out" is one means of observation; breeding/ raising is another. In our studies of the MidSummer Tiger both efforts have contributed to understanding of the taxon. In fact, with the MidSummer Tiger, eurytides' documentation of the larval morphology, food plants, and growth has provided a critical facet of the taxon that's often missing when descriptions & notes are based solely on the adults; without it, the description would be far less comprehensive.

Also, I've discovered often that when I have some new idea or question it's already been documented in a publications- someone else already thought of it, somebody else already did the work. Also, many publications are so chock full of little "hints" and observations that it's easy to overlook them; in some cases I didn't catch little things like double dipause until the fifth, or tenth, re-read of a publication.

The easiest way to find out more is do what you did- post it here, and let others provide insights. It's helpful too if enthusiasts post field notes or breeding notes, because they can then be searched here; keeping lessons learned a secret, or simply not bothering to share, is a loss to everyone.

[bobw]

Many arctic or high mountain butterflies go through more than one year to complete their life cycle. In Central Asia, some Parnassius have a 2-year cycle, so are only found in numbers in even (or odd) years, with only the occasional specimen in other years.

A friend of mine once reared Euphydryas intermedia from the high Alps, which is considered to have a 2-year cycle. He actually got a couple of adults out the first year, several more the second year, then one or two each year over the next 5 years!

Some lowland species will also occasionally go through more than one year in response to adverse conditions such as drought.

[kevinkk]

I was aware of the extended lifecycle for Parnassius, we have 2 species here, one even flies around my house at the coast, P. clodius.

There may be very basic questions, but no stupid ones, even if it's something I thought everyone knew, like what causes the tides hopefully my
bewildered look didn't betray the initial thought.

[Chuck]

I think many people still don't realize that annual Leps which dipause one winter can actually go through two or more. I can't recall reading any paper specifically on the topic, just bits and pieces here and there, typically in papers dedicated to specific taxa/ taxon. So I think there's no list of presumably annual Leps that have been observed to dipause two or more winters. Heck, maybe it all of them, at least where there's winter.

I wonder how many live pupae have been tossed in the trash come August.