Sphingid females and pheromones

[kevinkk]

My copy of The Hawk Moths of North America doesn't have much information on using virgin females to attract males, has anyone
tried it with Smerinthus? I have a female cerisyi and hope to attract some local males with her. I have the pupa outdoors in a screen
box, protected from the rain so she has the best chance of emerging when the local males do. I have found the larva 2 years in a row on my Salix babylonica, and assume there is a breeding population here, although I've never found an adult when I ran my UV light at home.
This is a first for me, we don't get Saturniidae here at the beach, and trying to synchronize with wild populations that are hours away
is something I have never bothered to try.

[evra]

Yes they will come to her assuming she calls and assuming there are males flying. Exactly what the pheromone is chemically is probably unknown and the exact flight time of the males might vary though. I've found that the males of the western Smerinthus fly really late, like 1-3 AM. Good luck. I would recommend trying along a river with lots of willows/aspens.

[vabrou]

Kevin,
You mention, I assume the 2007 publication. That subject is not the purpose of that publication, and such a treatment deserves a targeted discussion of using freshly emerged female moths to attract male moths. My personal experience spans the 1960's to 2024. I have used females to attract lots of saturnids, size-wise Anisotas to Attacus. The first problem in attempting to do this is your understanding of methods and your approach to this subject in order to be successful. It would be helpful to identify the naturally occurring wild brood(s) of the particular species where you plan on performing these activities. A particular species is not out and about anytime during the year. In fact, your chances are more limited to around 10 days for each annual brood of a particular species. Determining this for me here in my state of Louisiana was easy because I ran automatic capture light traps at this point for 55 years, 24 hours daily for 365-366 days every year, and documenting numbers of captures each day of the year. Doubtfully you are ready to tackle this massive endeavor. But you could do this on a smaller scale of one or two years. Here my wife and I ended up with around 500 automatic capture insect traps of all types (traps that do not require human presence).

Sure, you could just take your chances without any such information. We didn't have any such information in the mid 60s when I began collecting for any N.A. species. But in 1969 we began with one automatic-capture light trap and each year added another, our target back then to discover all the species of sphingidae occurring in my state. That sphingidae study ended 30 years later when we stopped counting hawkmoths. But, we documented 30 years of actual sphingid phenology data for the first time in N.A. But we also were able to document the same data for thousands of other species found in our hundreds of trap all along.

Being in NW US, you may not be familiar with the saturnid species Callosamia, but attached is a freely accessible link I published after nearly 50 years of collecting Callosamia in Louisiana. Prior to 50 years ago only 2 species of Callosamia were recognized in N.A.. Since then C. securifera was resurrected and elevated to species status. My publication linked here illustrates dates of capture for all three species in Louisiana. If you look at fig. 4 and fig. 5; what do you think the chances you would find adult C. angulifera and A. securifera if you looked for them during the third week of May? Actually the bulk of each brood population occurs (+/- 5 days of each red star) where you see red stars on the phenograms. This type of analysis has never been done before on this genus, and my publication is the first actual evidence that both of these species have 4 annual broods in the SE U.S. What I am getting at is that you could look for adult C. securifera the entire month of May and your success would be minimal to none at all.

Regarding semiochemicals for the genus Smerinthus, you probably would have to special order such things. The only persons I know who have been successful developing lures for sphingidae are some independent researchers in Japan.

Now attempting to attract adult males using females can be troublesome. First, do you know when males of your target species actually fly in to females? E.g. just because females are in a calling posture with protruding abdomens, that has nothing to do with when males fly to these females. E.g. here at my home females of C. securifera call round the clock, but precisely at daybreak, the sky fills with 50-100+ male securifera attempting to mate with the females. see attached you-tube video. And these females kept seperated from the incoming males continue nonstop to call until 1600 hrs to 1800 hours. Interestingly around 1600 hours, C. promethea also begins flying into the calling C. securifera females. This would not happen naturally in the wild as C. securifera would have mated 9-10 hours earlier in the day and there would naturally not be securifera females calling in mid-late afternoon. Others have documented C. angulifera being attracted to C. promethea for probably the same reasons I stated for securifera and promethea.

Another species S. cecropia which females may call for half a day, but precisely at 0300 hours, males in huge numbers descend upon the calling females as if by majic. Most commonly encountered problems are caused by using reared materials in the wild, as reared specimens are almost always never synchronized with the natural phenology of the wild specimens.

One thing you may need to do in attempting to call males to females is these activities require locations where the air can freely flow over the females. I found it necessary to build a large screened cage 4' x 4' x 4' to allow females inside to attract males on the outside. This worked well for many years. Here is a free access 1-minute you tube video of my screened cage in my back yard with 40 or so males of C. securifera being attracted to 3 females newly hatched in mid-day sunlight. I will end by saying "If it was easy, everybody would be doing it".

That publication you mention has about 5-10 errors on every page, cover to cover. I reviewed the first two versions of the manuscripts of this pub. for the author. Sent them back with more red ink than existing black ink. Just looked at one of them a few minutes ago, dated 8-06-2004, three years before publication. After that the author stopped talking with me, except when he wanted something from me. I have learned the hard way not to trust him. I allowed him to visit my home on three occasions, never again.

BTW, I am right now publishing a new species description, one of two new species of sphingidae we discovered right here at our home location about 40 years ago.

free access link: https://independent.academia.edu/VernonAntoineBrouJr

[kevinkk]

Hi Vernon,
thank you, 2007 publication, correct. Books are great, and I have a "library" such as it is, but they're not perfect.
I think here at my house we have limitations from light pollution, building and habitat destruction.
I have the single female pupa, and I figured the best way to have any chance at attracting an outdoor local
male was to put her in a cage, outdoors, buried in light soil, and keep an eye on things so I can make a decision when she hatches.
It is a short window, right now we are struggling with weather, a long drive to my collecting areas, and a health issue that makes field
work more difficult than it used to be to simply go out overnight, besides we are all getting older, aside from any maladies.
Your video is impressive, as are your efforts in general, always interesting reading.

[evra]

Do you ever collect any of the Hemileucas in Oregon Kevin? There are some really cool color forms of H. eglanterina, H. nuttalli, and H. hera in south/central OR.

[kevinkk]

It's been a long time since I've collected Hemileucas. I am sure they fly in some of our collecting areas, it's probably just timing. The last larva I
collected on wild rose was parasitized.