Posts by Joopesmothman

Hi friends, has anyone heard from Frank Meister in the last few months? I am hoping to purchase from him but cannot seem to get ahold of him.

Hi friends, I am wondering if anyone has any experience with insects from Hawaii? I am particularly interested in species that are endemic to the island. Does anyone know collectors with spares, or can anyone provide any useful information on the life history of species like these (especially the endemic Hyles species)?

Thank you,

Jacob

Hi friends,

I have 32 Urota melichari ova which will hatch soon. Does anyone here have experience raising this species on Gleditsia sp. or Robinia? It is also possible that I could find other Fabaceae, but Gleditsia and Robinia would be easiest.

Kind regards,

Jacob

Quote from harpyopsis

Hallo zusammen!
Im Rahmen eines sehr klassischen Hybridisierungsplans mit Kokons, die draußen bei gleicher Temperatur gehalten werden, möchte ich Sie bitten, nach Frühreife des Schlüpfens zu klassifizieren
- Eudia Pavonia
- Eudia spini
- Saturnia walterorum
- Saturnia pyri
Welche soll ich nach den Januarfrösten vorziehen und um wie viele Wochen?
Vielen Dank für Ihre Aufklärung!
phil

Hello everyone!
As part of a very classic hybridization plan with cocoons kept outdoors at the same temperature, I would like to ask you to classify by precocity of hatching
- Eudia pavonia
- Eudia spini
- Saturnia walterorum
- Saturnia pyri
After the January frosts, which ones should I advance, and by how many weeks?
Thanks for your insights!
phil

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I´m of no help in regards to what times you should bring stuff out - but I am very curious what hybrids you are intending to create? I´ve contemplated Calosaturnia x Saturnia for a while now, but haven´t yet gotten a chance to do it.

Quote from kevink

Only mendicino is found in Oregon. I use a site called PNW Pacific Northwest Moths for help sometimes.

My hatchings were indoors, data from the PNW site, April is peak flight, although there is some variation with locality.

I have never observed the moth in the wild, many years ago I was gifted some Saturnia mendicino ova, but I've never seen

them offered. Actually, there is a dusting of snow outside right now, from me, Florence is about 80 miles south. Brookings is the spot to go,

or inland a bit towards Itsy bitsy towns like Ruch, I've been kicking around a collecting trip, but it's a long drive for such hard to find moths,

although if you don't go, you definitely won't find any.

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Unrelated to this post - but if you want better chances of catching mendocino, for example, you can use pheromone lures. All 3 Calosaturnia species come to walterorum lures.

Very, very beautiful. I have only 1 or 2 still alive I think (they are heavy; the others have almost certainly died).

Quote from Thomas Maag

Today, at longlast, the first female of Epiphora lugardi hatched. A very beautiful moth indeed. Now I hope the rest will emerge soon.

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.

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.

Hello, I have some caterpillars of Gonometa postica feeding on Robinia. I will unfortunately not have hostplant available for the months they need to develop, so I am sending them to another friend in my country.

How should I prepare them for shipping? Robinia dries out very quickly and easily, so I need a better method for shipping that. I am also wondering what would be best to ship Lasciocampid caterpillars.

Please inform me of what I should do!

Thank you,

Jacob

Hello, I found the following picture online labeled as Zerynthia margarethae (and also Allancastria margarethae), but

1. It does not appear to be a Zerynthia species

2. "Zerynthia margarethae" and "Allancastria margarethae" yield no search results on google.

Can anyone tell me what this species is?

Quote from Gareusenboder

It depends on which type of Parnassia you want to grow, the origin also plays a role, Asia or North America??? Many types of Asian Parnassia can be grown on Sedum telephium and Sedum album, but not all of them!!!

Greetings Matthias

I am interested to raise any Parnassius that will take Sedum telephium.

My light traps are just in my backyard, in North Carolina, USA.

I see A. luna frequently.

Quote from Emil K.

Hello Jacob,

I would first try to have them mate themselves and if that is unsuccessful, by hand mating. Where do you place your light traps?

Best regards

Emil

Hello, I have one female A. dulcinea cocoon left and no dulcinea males for it, but frequently encounter wild male luna at my light.

How would I go about pairing a female dulcinea and a male luna? Would they pair on their own or will handpairing be needed?

Regards,

Jacob Hoopes

Quote from Emil K.

Hello Jacob,

Try pairing your hands like you would with Attacus species etc. also does. Do you know how that works? If not, search on Actias. I'll look for a link from YouTube and then send it back here. The link is to the hand pairing of Attacus Atlas, but it should work just as well with your type of Genoa. If you don't know exactly how to do it, then it's better to look at Actias.

I hope I could help a little

Best regards

Emil

Ok this makes sense.

What time at night is best to handpair them? I tried early this morning because the female was calling, but it proved ineffective, as the males did not open their claspers at all. It was already somewhat light outside.

I have 1 Hyalophora gloveri female out, and 2 cecropia males.

I would like to try and breed them to create a hybrid. Last night I set them in a cage outside, and they did not pair naturally. How should I go about pairing them?

The female hatched yesterday, and the males 2 days ago (they have been in the fridge though), so I don't have very long to do this.

Hello,

I have a great interest in collecting specimens, and do so frequently.

I also keep live insects, in particular moths.

My specimen collection is sealed and airtight, but on occasion, pests get in and eat the specimens. I usually kill off the pests by putting the boxes in the freezer for a month or so, but I am wondering if there is a chemical way to kill these pests, and keep them from coming back?

Many of my living insects are stored in the same room as the specimens, so that adds an extra layer to it.

How can I keep the specimens safe while also keeping my living animals safe?

Regards,

Jacob

Is there an efficient way to get Catocala females to lay eggs faster? I struggle to keep them alive for as long as I need to, and so far have not been successful with any species in this genus.

Quote from kevink

Use a ventilated cage to start with. I've raised luna indoors in a large cage before, using sweet gum and all survived.

It's up to individuals, and I realize many people use plastic boxes for larva with success, but to me, it is an unatural

method. Perhaps if you need high humidity, that's one thing, but not for temperate species.

Frankly, I don't understand the box method at all, I use cages with cut branches in water, with the larva prevented

from drowning by what ever will work.

Good point. I mainly used the box method because it seems to work for other people, but the caterpillars don't start out in a box in the wild, and do just fine.

Alright. This is the 4th time I've tried rearing Actias luna, and it always goes really well until the middle of the 3rd instar. I notice that there is disease when it is too late. I am always just a few days off from putting them in the ventilated cage at the right time, but never exact, so they always end up dying. is there any way to predict the disease?

-

Jacob

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