Rearing Catocala

[bobw]

I've been trying to rear as many species of Catocala as I can each year for the last few years. Now this years crop is off the boards I thought people might be interested to see the results. It's not an easy genus to rear, especially as I don't have access to any trees where I can sleeve them, so everything has to be done in tupperware containers with all the concomitant risk of bacterial or viral infections from condensation etc.

I started off with nearly 1200 ova of 20 different species. I had a hatch rate of about 55%, which I find is about normal for this genus; two species proved to be completely infertile. I then had a success rate after hatching of about 21%, which is a lot better than last year's disastrous results, but not as good as some previous years. I always seem to do better with the Juglandaceae feeders than with those that feed on other tree families.

I ended up with 138 adults of 14 different species, but with 5 of these I only got three or fewer adults.

2023 reared 1.jpg (730.62 KiB) Viewed 513 times

2023 reared 2.jpg (575.49 KiB) Viewed 513 times

[Chuck]

Impressive effort! Thanks for taking the time to photo & share.

[Trehopr1]

Wow ! That is quite a "Herculean effort" bob.
To think of you doing this now (for these past several years) is just amazing.

I cannot imagine there are many enthusiasts here in the US that undertake such an effort anymore.

Those Catocala maestosa which I see in the second photograph are an especially nice and BIG species to have gotten through to adults. One of the best amongst the "dark- winged" species for sure.

[bobw]

Yes, it is quite a lot of hard work. It basically means I can't leave home for more than a day between mid-April and mid-August, as I have to collect foodplants and clean out boxes every day.

I keep all the ova in the fridge over winter and take them out when I think the buds are going to burst. The maestosa are unusual as all the other species hatch within 9-15 days of taking them out of the fridge, but maestosa took 35 days to hatch. It's the second time I've reared them and they were the same both times!