Hi Rudi,
Thank you for your interesting comment! Please tell me where you found this information?
There is something I don't understand. You write that normal coloured G. quercifolia can produce a second
generation with small and dark adults, which you call f. alnifolia.
How would you explain that the adults in the Netherlands are always dark? I have reared wild
caterpillars under hot and normal conditions and with different food plants, and they always produced
dark adults.
Regards, Klaas
Hallo Hans,
The specimen on your picture is an aberration. However, G.q. alnifolia is a distinct subspecies: it differs from
the normal G. quercifolia in morphology and habitat. All adults from alnifolia are dark, with a blue hue. You will
find some more information here: Gastropacha quercifolia alnifolia
Regards, Klaas
Hallo Hans,
Please have a look at the differences between alnifolia and the normal G. quercifolia.
G. quercifolia alnifolia: Eikenblad - Gastropacha quercifolia | Waarneming.nl
the 'normal' G. quercifolia: Gastropacha quercifolia | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I have no literature regarding the distribution of G. quercifolia alnifolia. All I know is that
the Dutch race belongs to alnifolia.
Regards, Klaas
For G. isabellae 35x35x60cm is big enough for sure, I don't think it will be any different for dubernardi.
I don't know which temperature A. dubernardi needs to mate. From my limited experience, G. isabellae
mates rather easily as long as the male and female are not related, when the temperatures are between
9 and 13 degrees Celsius and only outside.
Regards, Klaas
Hi everyone,
The past week I observed some behaviour in Saturniidae females, that I just don't get.
1. A female from Saturnia spini: after a mating of 11 hours, it stops calling but lays no eggs the following night. In the next 3 nights it lays a total of only 40 eggs and then it dies.
2. A female from G. isabellae: the first night I don't observe a mating. The second evening and night it lays 25 eggs, during the 3rd night (last night) it lays another 45 eggs.
The behaviour of this Saturnia pavonia female from Toni Kasiske is also abnormal: Eiablage vom kleinen Nachtpfauenauge
Of course only time will tell if the eggs are fertile, but I would be interested in the your opinions on these cases. Could the eggs be fertile? And what are the egg-laying paterns in
females that have not mated? For example, when does a G. isabellae female start laying eggs when she hasn't mated, and how many does she lay?
Regards, Klaas
Tonight she laid only 14 eggs... 
Both females have not laid any eggs yet. They don't fly or call for males either. I can imagine that the
temperatures are not low enough for the females to get active. Does anyone have another explanation?
Both males became active at 23:15 and soon I whitnessed a natural pairing! I then hand-paired the 2nd pair, this went just as easy as
with Eudia pavonia. I have no idea how long the adults normally stay in copula, but at the moment both pairs are still mating. I have read
much about the difficulties in obtaining a copula in this species, but I like to break the rules 
Maybe I was just very lucky, but it is possible that some factors contributed to my success last night. Here are some notes that might become
useful to breeders of Eudia spini in the future. The temperatures were relatively high yesterday afternoon, close to 25 degrees Celsius. The wing
paterns were already visible in the pupae for at least 5 days, but finally 2 females and 1 male emerged between 15:30 and 18:30. Another male
had emerged 2 days earlier, I kept it in the fridge until dusk. At 20:00 I put both pairs in 1 flight cage of 35x35x60cm (this type: Aerarium von Papa Papillon).
These were the weather conditions at the time of the mating (23:30): temperature - 12 degrees Celsius, wind speed - 3 m/sec., humidity - 75%,
air pressure - 1,0212 hPa, a completely clear sky. I will upload a picture from the natural mating soon.
Regards, Klaas
They are not from the same parental bloodline, but the problem is that they are still not active...
Good evening everyone,
At the moment I have 2 fresh pairs from Eudia spini in cage outside. They are not active yet and the females haven't started to attract
the males. It's 14 degrees Celsius at the moment. At what time at night do the moths get active? Does anyone have experience with obtaining
a natural copula of this species, or with handpairing? Any help would be great!
Regards, Klaas
Thank you for your help Philippe!
Hi everyone,
A few days ago my A. europaea pupae hatched, of 22 pupae 19 hatched after overwintering only once.
On the first night many females copulated. The next morning, after a mating of 12 hours, some pairs
separated. Other pairs remained in copula until the evening. I am aware that it is normal for the females
in this species to mate more than once, the females that mated for only 12 hours indeed mated again last night.
The females that mated for 24 hours, stopped 'calling' for males. However, most of these females laid no eggs.
Only one female did so, but no more than 20. For egg-laying I kept the females in small cages with Fraxinus twigs.
Did I do something wrong? Or is it normal that females don't lay most of their eggs during the first night after mating?
Would Ligustrum twigs give better results? I very much hope that someone can help me!
Regards, Klaas
It's a sawfly larva!
Handpairing could be an alternative with very good results, the time of day should have no effect.
I once tried it in Marumba quercus and it was very easy, and almost 100% of the eggs were fertile!
Regards, Klaas
Does anyone know about injecting female pupae from hybrid butterflies and moths with insulin, to trigger the development
of the imago (that may otherwise never take place)? I remember vaguely that I once read about this, but I can't find the
article anymore. I was wondering if this might also work with pupae from species that may overwinter multiple times.
If anyone has experience with this method, I would be very interested in detailed information!
Regards, Klaas
Some years ago, one of my Acherontia atropos caterpillars moulted to L6.
Dear Hans,
If the mating is successful, could you please inform us in this topic about the progress of the breeding? I think that if you can
find Ligustrum vulgare with leafs, they will be of poor quality compared to fresh leafs in spring. Are you sure that you are
not mistaking your Ligustrum vulgare with L. ovalifolium? However, if your breeding would be successful, then A. europaea would
be a nice species to rear in the cold months!
Regards, Klaas
Hallo Hans,
I don't know if you can get a successful breeding of A. europaea in the winter. If I'm right, the caterpillars only eat
Ligustrum vulgare and Fraxinus ssp., which are both not evergreen. If I were you, I would keep the pair for your collection
and not take the risk that they get damaged. I am wondering, in how many days did the adults develop?
Regards, Klaas
Thank you for showing these amazing pictures Xavier!
