Actias dubernardi L3/L4 death

Hello, I recently received a number of L3/L4 Actias dubernardi in the mail. All arrived in good health, but the following day, 5 were dead. The next day, another 5 were dead.

None of the dead ones vomited at all - just died, and after death, most corpses turned black within a few hours.

Caterpillars are feeding fine on Pinus taeda, so I do not believe host is the issue. Does anyone know what the issue may be? At this point I only have 14 left, so need to get as many thru the larval stage as possible.

Quote from kevink

How long were the larva in the mail?

I think normally only L1 and 2 are posted. There could have been some shipping trauma, as well as food

plant differences, even if they fed. Maybe the ones that perished were weaker.

Shipping larva has got to be somewhat problematic, anything could have happened.

I think there is a dubernardi breeder in Canada that's been posting lately on Insectnet

if you want to try importing, I've bought from the individual before and all was ok.

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Larvae were only in the mail for 3 or 4 days. I've shipped larvae before with no issues - unsure what the problem is.

Yes, I have seen Alex's ads - I bought some eggs from him, but they never arrived, not even the envelope.