Problems with Butterfly and Moth Breeding. Male Frigidity ?

  • What has happened ? Where am I going wrong in breeding butterflies and moths ? WHY don't my butterflies or moths mate ????


    50 years ago I collected and bred silk-moths (from Hugh Newman) and many native wild British lepidoptera. They mated successfully in muslin cages generally 1 metre cubed. I continued breeding, successfully, as a hobby for the next few decades. BUT since about 20 years ago I have had decreasing success; the lepidoptera of all my species failed to mate ! Occasionally, if I artificially manouvered their claspers together they would mate. And for 5 years now I have had NO natural mating. I try varying ratios of M:F, air-flow, shade, light, warmth, cage, room, indoors v outdoors, etc, but although the females often appear willing, the males are uninterested. I assume females raising and extending their abdomen to approaching males is a 'provocative sign', expressing willingness to mate.


    I am wondering if there is something 'in the air' ?


    I live in a rural village in Oxfordshire, UK, North of Didcot. The prevailing wind is SW. Much (?sprayed) farming country. Didcot is a railway junction and barracks town.
    I previously lived in a more remote village in Oxfordshire, UK


    Yet today "Worldwide Butterflies" the big butterfly farm near Sherborne, Dorset, UK (with their lovely clean SW winds) claim :
    " ...... Prolific breeding has produced a lot of larvae of some species so there are special offers for larger numbers.
    May is a very active month.... and more butterflies are producing spring eggs and larvae....." ---- SO I'M VERY FRUSTRATED !!!


    Any suggestions as to why I am such a failure as a 'butterfly pimp' ?


    Thank you.


    Tony Leathem. Oxon. :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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  • I can't comment on your previous success, but I experience problems with breeding moths as well, and I also try
    different scenarios with air flow, inside, outside, total darkness, and even hand pairing doesn't even work every time.
    I'm in the USA, I've had matings with no ova laid, matings with 10% fertile.
    I think it would take a substantial study to determine if some mitigating factor of the present conditions is responsible.
    Worldwide Butterflies is a business, and I'd be skeptical of some of their claims, even though I know they've been around since the
    beginning of time. They claim Argema mittrei accepts eucalyptus, and I've read conflicting opinions about that, beside the fact that
    they would have a lot of material to work with.

  • In my life I've also head some bad 'seasons' in which most of my breeding projects resulted in dissapointment or failure. It's tempting to think it comes down to something "in the air", but I concluded such a thing is highly unlikely.


    I've noticed that it was often my own fault, for keeping too much livestock at the same time. When I brought my number of species down, I seemed to have more succes per individual species. This allowed me to give them more individual attention, and observe them more, and clean them more regulary (hygiëne is very important).


    In some occasions, environment hazards can negatively affect Lepidoptera in your environment, such as the common and widespread spraying of Bacillus thuringiensis, and various pesticides - some pesticides have the by effect of making adults less fertile(!)
    For example: Dutch Butterfly Conservation and Wageningen University both rear Pierisbrassicae butterflies, for education and research, respectively. In 2010problems occurred when reproduction failed at both locations. The causeeventually was identified in the use of the pesticide fipronil for coatingthe seeds of the cabbage plants. The delayed effect of the pesticide,becoming apparent only at the adult stage, stresses the seriousness ofsublethal effects of the new generation of systemic pesticides.


    However, I find it highly unlikely that such a thing will affect multiple species that you're trying to breed in captivity at the same time, especially if you keep the animals indoors, and especially if they are butterflies and moths - which have wildly different mating rituals. So generally, I think moments like these are just attributed to human stress or error, or maybe our setups.


    " I assume females raising and extending their abdomen to approaching males is a 'provocative sign', expressing willingness to mate."
    Interestingly, the opposite is true; extending the abdomen into the air is a mate refusal position (the female is not interested) in many butterflies. Maybe the females are not attracted to your males? Are they perhaps related?


    Perhaps this gives you some new ideas?
    -Bart

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