Beiträge von Klaas

Frühe Heidelibelle (Sympetrum fonscolombii).

Grüsse, Klaas

Yesterday I found many dozens, possibly hundreds of dead L5 Lasiocampa quercus larvae in a heathland area. The larvae were hanging high in Calluna vulgaris bushes. They literally turned inside out. Seemingly healthy larvae that I collected, died in the next 24 hours. Some L3/L4 larvae collected this spring and reared on Salix in cages, died the same way in L5. Can anyone explain this phenomenon? Is it caused by bacteria or fungi?

Klaas

Vielen Dank Armin!

Here are some pictures of a female and a male. I am not completely certain it's alpicola, because the yellow markings on the male are not so clear.
Also, in 'Jaroslav Fajcik: Die Schmetterlinge Mittel- und Nordeuropas' the distribution of alpicola is said to be > 1600m and franconica < 1500m.
The larvae I collected were below 900m. I hope someone can help me!

Hallo Werner,

Thank you for your help but I'm sure it's not neustria. My caterpillars don't have dark spots on the eyes.

Regards, Klaas

Hi Rudi,

The first day I found the group on Rumex acetosa. The next day they had moved to a small bush of Prunus spinosa,
and I saw some eating from it. I know M. alpicola is common high up the same mountain, but I have never found M. alpicola
below 1700m before...

Regards, Klaas

Hi everyone,

Last week I collected some Malacosoma larvae in Wallis at 850m. is it possible to identify the larvae at species level? I am very interested if someone can tell me if they are
alpicola, franconica or castrensis. The first pictures is of the L4 stage, the 2nd of L5. I can make better pictures if necessary. All help much appreciated.

Regards,
Klaas

Thank you Rudi, you were right!

Good morning,

Last year I obtained some pupae from Smerinthus kindermannii. The first male eclosed yesterday morning, the first female tonight.
Does anyone have experience with obtaining a copula of the species in captivity? I am very interested in any information regarding
temperature, time of the day, size of the flight cage and also if anyone ever successfully handpaired species of the Smerinthus gender?
Many thanks in advance.

Kind regards,
Klaas

Hi Chris,

For oviposition I assume you need bright light, warmth and fresh leafs/twigs of Arbutus (Rosa or Citrus may work as well)).

Regards, Klaas

Hi Chris, I fed my adults with fresh pieces of apple and orange. The female didn't lay any eggs: after a week of feeding her daily the abdomen became so heavy that she couldn't fly anymore.

Regards,
Klaas

Hi Chris, I once hand-paired C. jasius. The male was 8 days old. The mating took 2 hours if I remember correctly. Be careful not to feed the females too much, or they will become very fat and lazy.

Regards, Klaas

Zitat von Rudi

Servus Chris.

Danke für die Infos.
Dieses Männchen sieht tatsächlich genauso aus wie die meinigen.

Hm, mal sehen, ob noch andere ACTIAS´user was zum Thema beisteuern können.
Fotos von solch dunklen Männchen mit Herkunftsangaben.....mich würde es sehr interessieren, ob diese dunklen Tiere nun überall auftauchen, oder nur in feuchten oder kühlen (hohen) Lagen!?

Merci und Gruß
Rudi

Here is a picture of a wild Lasiocampa quercus female attracted with UV light in The Netherlands, not far from the German border. Dark forms can also be found in lowland populations.
Hageheld - Oak Eggar - Lasiocampa quercus photo - Klaas van Haeringen photos at pbase.com
Mfg, Klaas

Sedum telephium is also a good foodplant.

Regards, Klaas

Dear André,

At the moment I'm in the same situation and I have the same question. I've tried the following:
- in L4 and L5: a lower room temperature, from 28 degrees to 20 degrees
- a shorter period of light (70W lamps) each day: 12 hours instead of 16 hours
- during the night the windows of my breeding room are open

My advice would be to keep the pupating caterpillars relatively cold, certainly under 20 degrees.
I don't know if you can induce a diapause by cooling the fresh pupae.

Regards, Klaas

They are a known pest on Camellia in China. Try to obtain some plants (in Dutch: theeplant).

I'm not sure, but I think this is a sign of dehydration. From my experience, Sphingidae pupae that look like your upper pupa, won't hatch anymore.

I think both could be D. praetermissa.

Orchids Photo Gallery by KvHPhotography at pbase.com

If you are really interested in orchids, try to obtain this book from Kreutz: Veldgids Nederlandse Orchideen

As far as I know, light has no influence on the development of the butterfly during the pupal phase. Temperature is the most important factor.
Many species emerge in the morning and may use light as a trigger, but keeping the pupae in the dark won't delay the hatching for more than a day.
Depending on the the species, it might be possible to delay the hatching of your pupae by putting them in the fridge.


Groeten, Klaas

Zitat von MaxjeX

one of my attacus atlas is shaking fervently from time to time. can anybody tell me what that means?

Most likely it got stirred