Posts by teinopalpus

Ich habe derzeit Raupen von Parnassius apollonius ssp.glaucopis im Stadium L4 und L5. Absolut keine Sterblichkeit während der Zucht – keine einzige Raupe ( 51/51 ) . Die Zucht begann mit Sedum (Hylotelephium) Maximum, cv. „Goseberry Fool“, mit der Zugabe von Sedum album, um versteckte Orte zum Ankleiden zu schaffen. Auch dieses wurde von den Raupen aktiv gefressen, solange es frisch war. Derzeit werden vor allem Sedum (Hylotelephium) Maximum aus der Natur gezüchtet, in kleineren Mengen fressen sie aber immer noch regelmäßig Sedum album.

Aus Interesse habe ich auch versucht, in Österreich gekauftes natürliches Hylotelephium telephium und Hylotelephium ruprechtii, cv. "Hab Grey" zu füttern. Sie haben absolut alles gegessen.

Einige andere Populationen/Unterarten haben möglicherweise andere Ernährungsbedürfnisse.

Die Entwicklung verläuft sehr schnell und hohe Temperaturen (über 10°C) in der Nacht sind nicht gut für die Art.

My apollonius just hatched. Material from Serge offering here previous year with emerging rate highly over 80% what is fantastic number when we understood how much those eggs travelled previous year.

On several breeding sites both Sedum album and Hylotelephium maximum are mentioned as foodplants. I started with maximum ( be cautious as several hylotelephium hybrids sold in garden centrum are not good except you are lucky and you hit cultivar which both father and mather is telephium or maximum - usually white flowering ones).

I have proven from breeding that from cultivars Hylotelephium " Gooseberry Fool " is unproblematic as both parents of cultivar are H.maximum ( according to plant patent ).

So far, larvae accepted to eat Hylotelephium maximum, but to be true many Parnassius eating almost anything in early instars are dying in L4 or especially L5 if food is not exactly what they need.

Die zweite Generation hängt vom gesamten Zuchtaufbau ab. Wenn man mehr von der ersten Generation hat, hat man mehr von der zweiten. Wenn Sie die erste Arbeit erst spät im kalten Frühling haben, kann es ein Problem sein, die zweite fertig zu stellen.
Es bleibt noch genügend Zeit,

Sie müssen Ende Juli die geschlüpften Raupen der 2. Generation haben, um die Brut nach etwa 6 Wochen Start September abzuschließen. Es hängt auch davon ab, welche Nährstoffpflanzen Sie zur Verfügung haben – einige haben früher Blätter von schlechter Qualität als andere. Ich habe mehrere Eschenarten in der Gegend – einige haben schon früher im Frühjahr Blätter, im September sind sie schon trocken. Andere haben später Blätter und halten im August und September länger. Sie sollten die Blätter der Endtriebe verwenden, da diese am saftigsten sind.

Ich züchtete Glaucus 5 Jahre lang 2 Generationen pro Jahr auf Fraxinus sp. ( Asche ) Verschiedene Arten von Asche haben unterschiedliche Zeiten, in denen die Blätter am frischsten sind. Prunus padus ( Traubenkirsche ) hat dickere Blätter, so dass sie länger bleiben, aber idealerweise sollte die Futterpflanze alle 2 Tage gewechselt werden, wenn sie nicht mit lebenden Pflanzen gezüchtet wird.
Auf Asche gezüchtete Glaucus waren in meinem Fall größer als die auf Prunus padus gezüchteten.

Niemals versuchen und auch nie gelesene Buche könnte verwendet werden und ich bezweifle.

Hi,

As Hans said Nymphalidae are tricky. I was able pair in cage many Melitaea species, some Argynnis and some Nymphalis. Urticae usually needs more time to mature, 2 weeks or more is not surprising. It should not be problem to keep adults living for close to month if properly feeded.

Also adults sometimes refuse to pair if all adults are from same offsprings stock - siblings ( same female source ).

Urticae like some level of humidity and Urtica plants should be as young as possible.

Jan

If pupae are healthy there is usually no problem for Nymphalidae to leave pupa, crawl little bit and hang yourself on side of cage - even when pupae are placed on bottom of cage.

On other side, it is always better ( when possible ) to hang them, then risk to some damage to wings is minimalized.

I am using both ways, depending on available time ( glueing hundreds pupaes is not very nice task ) and have no problems with laying pupaes of Nymphalidae. But I am always attaching pupae by glue which are object of my temperature experiments, because such exemplars are weaker and hanging help them to emerge.

Jan

One more thing. Try to get your butterflies difference between day and night in term of temperature and light. Day butterflies should not emerge on evening and surely should not fly during night.

Absolutly no problem with honey and Papilios at all. To be true I am making mix of honey, sugar and water. Because honey contains mainly "quick sugars" like glucose and fructose, while sugar contain mainly "long-last" sucrose. I am using 1:10 dilution which is milder than usually recommended. Tried also addition of minerals, but after numerous attempts and sources it has no impact on fertility, hatching ratio or lenght of life. There are also some scientific articles about males minerals absorption from damp sand and benefits are unknown. On other side already proven is importance of aminoacids and specific proteins which is present in nectar, especially for ovipositing females. Also when I exchanged "normal" honey for raw untreated bio-honey there was significant raise of fertility ( about 20% ). On other side, man must be extremely careful with such honey because risk of bacterial infection if dilution is abandoned in room temperature for 2-3 days. Bacterial infection is visible by bloated abdomen of butterfly even without drinking and butterfly usually die within 1-2 days.

True is I never buying sugar in markets, but only from original beekeepers. Contamination is of course possible, anyway I doubt in such scale it can cause death during few hours.

I saw some (exotic?) plants inside cage - take it away, just to be safe.

Hmm ... have not idea whats wrong.

I never had Papilio troilus or Graphium agamemnon, but I had Papilio glaucus, multicaudatus , eurymedon for several years. Absolutly no problem to keep them 2-3 weeks alive. I do not care about humidity - probably on lower range because they were inside. I am avoiding direct sunlight, for female stimulation during ovipositing I am using artificial lights. As for temperature it is 20-26C during day and little lower during night ( open windows ).

Crucial part is feeding. Papilionidae have large body and they need rich food source. Self feeding is not good idea if it is not large greenhouse with abundant flowers. I prefer manual feeding. I am skipping first day after emerging. Then I am feeding daily, during hot days even twice. Be careful with feeding dilution and I prefer to keep it inside fridge to avoid bacterial disease and just before feeding to bring it to room to reach room temperature. After few days I make new dilution.

Anyway 2 days .... it should live longer even without food. Have you any substance in room which can be toxic for insects ? Electronic repelents for moskytos or something similar ?

Also sometimes when stock is inbreeded, specimens are crippled. It must not be visible on first sight ( wings deformations ), but it can be also thorax problems which leads to early death. To place out this possibility is to look if imago feeds properly.

You must know what you like most. It will be your collection. Anyway I am collecting worldwide Papilionidae for more than 30 years, so as for Papilionidae I can tell you. It is large family with close to 600 species. It is family which includes genuses which are very variable in appearance /shape, colour/ - Papilio, Parnassius, Graphium, etc. It is family where is most protected species by both CITES and EU regulation laws from all families. It is family of mainly big butterflies, so you will need space. As for money, 100e mentioned by you reach maybe 10% of Papilionidae species, rest is cheaper, many are in 10e region. Thats valid for males, females are far more prized / except butterflies are bred /. Significant number of species is sexually dimorphic.

As for other groups I always liked genus Colias. Full box of these small gems is fantastic sight. Southamerican Nymphalidae - espcially genuses Agrias , Prepona, Aenea are also beautiful, but rather expensive - especially Agrias. I never found passion for Morphos - blue, blue and one more time blue .. and here .. ohh .. blue. One box is beuatiful, but 10 boxes ? Not for me. Of course females are different, but ... price.

And also like african Charaxes. Mostly cheap, variable, medium size nice butterflies.

Not easy task to choose only something. Most collectors usually buying from all families what they like.

What is your idea about breeding ? If you think to buy pupae , then keep them until adults will emerge and keep them until dead - then it is possible. But it any "normal" cage it will be probably very short living as Charaxes are extremelly strong and nervous flyers. Nice size greenhouse can fit them.

If also pairing, laying eggs and raising larvae is focus, then I am sceptical.

As for only european species - Ch.jasius - overwinter as larvae and is not hibernating, foodplant is also problematic in central Europe, so .....

Try some less common Czech Nymphalidae , f.e. frittilaries and you will be surprised how challenging raising is.

As for livestock, one of biggest importer is Stratford Butterfly Pupae - https://www.tropicalbutterflypupae.com/

They have regularly several african Charaxes species. Ask for all permissions and papers as now, after Brexit, Czech customs will probably ask you for veterinary papers for importing live material from outside EU.

Good luck.

This is rather good article and also mentioning use of Ligustrum, although only as "second choice" foodplant.
BEF_14_0107-0137.pdf

Jan

Some populations eats Ligustrum vulgare. Before and also after hibernation - developing only on Ligustrum vulgare. It is true for part of Slovakian populations and Hungarian as well. Some other population are using Ligustrum vulgare only after hibernation.
Ligustrum vulgare should be mentioned among food plants in nature.

Hi All,

I am breeding Papilio multicaudata for 4th consecutive year. Origin is Oregon, USA. Started from 50 eggs, previous year had close to 350 pupaes / wants to have enough material for partial 2nd gen/, this year reduced to only 150 because need space for other species.
My breeding is absolutly indoor-only so it is specific and it can have influence. Breeding in closed plastic boxes, only last instar with better ventilation. During hot weather I even mist them, but then left box open for 1-2 hours. Food changed each other day even when leaves seems to be still OK together with frass remove. Very time consuming. During winter pupaes are kept in fridge or winecooler at aprox 5C. / no difference observed /. Pupae are taken out about 1 month before leaves on Fraxinus / my exclusive foodplant / will be available. I have planted about 20 small Fraxinus / about 40-50cm height / in containers which are used for lying eggs and keep larvae through L1 and part of L2.
Even inbreeding is present, still eggs has viability about 90-95%, larvae are disease free and pupae hatching is close to 100%.

1. Second winter diapause is possible , but present in very small scale - surely under 5%. But all pupae which hibernate 2nd times same way as first hatched without problems.

2. Second generation is very hard to achieve with my stock even with higher temperatures, fresh exclusive foodplant and prolonged photoperiod to 16L:8D. I was able have 11 2nd generation specimen in 2018 / 11 from 350 , all females ONLY / and 9 2nd generation specimen in 2019 / 9 from 150, both sexes /.
I asked Todd L. Stoud about 2nd gen and he told me :

"Papilio multicaudatus has a conditional second flight based principally upon latitude (altitude likely plays a role as well) in the western United States and slightly on host quality in my opinion. Whenever I raise P. multicaudatus in Northern UT, USA, about 95 percent diapause and five percent eclose for a small partial September flight. I have tried to get a higher percentage of eclosure by providing caterpillars very healthy lush leaves. I’ve only had slight if any success using that technique because of the larger factor of latitude. From my experience, the best way to get Papilio multicaudatus to bypass diapause is to obtain stock from latitudes below the 37N line coupled with long day and fresh leaves as you have already provided.
Above that line (which is an approximation, the further south you go, the better the odds), you run the risk of univoltinism that may be mostly hard wired."

3. This year I found some specimens of 1st generation with more canary yellow base color / usual for 2nd generation /. It seems that during years they are slowly changing colour toward "south type color" known from southern US states. Also size is huge, largest specimens beats my natural specimens from Arizona or Mexico. Anyway markings still resemble northamerican populations.

I like this species as it is least demanding from all Papilios, easy to handpair, good viability of eggs and forgives also small mistakes with hygiene or not enough fresh and nutrient foodplant. And it is splendid butterfly.

Jan

Hi Philippe,

Tried this way, sometimes works, sometimes not. It depends on species and weather and experience. Sometimes in spring whene temperature is about zero - soil remain frozen, but heavy rain made water standing on top of pot - very dangerous. Also Nederland has oceanic climate with mild tempratures and nice humidity during winter. I am from Slovakia, winters can have heavy frosts and also sunny dry weather - south orientation is not good, several times larvae dried. I have best experience with east orientation.
Your method works perfectly for me for most of Satyriniae as long as grass is in form of tussock.
But true is my friend was "your way" able to hibernate Argynnis laodice where I totally failed with artificial indoor hibernation.

Jan

Hi,

Lepidopterix, I am sorry for your loss. I never lost 100% larvae in winecooler with Nymphalidae except A.laodice.

I always split eggs /adippe, niobe/ or L1larvae /aglaja, paphia/ to 2 groups. For 2 different ways of hibernating.
Some year work better one way, some another. Very important is also time until larvae goes to cold / november/ as during august-september small larvae are vulnerable to heat and dessication.

1st method - fridge - Refrigerator--Speyeria unfed First Instars - Overwintering Techniques - Raising Butterflies--How to find and care for butterfly eggs and caterpillars

2nd method - winecooler - stored in plastic box cca 15x30x5cm with nylon netting on top. On base there is about 10-15mm layer with boiled aquaristic gravel about 1-2mm. Larvae are on gauze where eggs were laid. I strictly avoid any natural biological material - wood, leaves - which can rot. I am regularly adding water to gravel layer / never over substrate !/ and spraying gauze. Water for adding or spraying MUST be same cold temperature !!!! If you use too warm water - 12C+ , larvae will wake up, will wander and can die due to energy loss if procedure is repeated. As there is fan inside winecooler, there is air movement also inside boxes and no significant mold is formed.

Lepidopterix is true that humidity balance is crucial and not easy achieve, but I failed overwinter paphia in garden. In garden you are more depending on weather in exact year.

Jan

I never tried to find Hibernaculum, I am always focused to L1-L2. They are relatively easy to find on good place because characteristic position of larva on tip of leave. Rearing is unproblematic until larva start to make Hibernaculum. Then problems starts. Larva very frequently LEAVE already built Hibernaculum if something change - so I did not advise to change position after larva find their place. And if she leaves Hibernaculum then mortality rate is very high. Larvae are very susceptible to dessication, but also not airy space is problem as then fungi can destroy larva inside Hibernaculum. High temperatures are also not good - it is not species for warm places.
As for winter months, frost is not problem and usually almost all larvae survive even in harsh condition.
Then problems can start again on spring - during first warmer days larvae usually go on. It is better to place to them in shade, to forward date of they "coming out" later. I was not able to overwinter them inside / fridge, winecooler /, while it is not problem with Apatura. But if they are not able to hydrate yourself usually die within few days. So combination of warm + dry early spring weather is problem. If they are able to hydrate then they are able to "wait" for food from freshly emerging buds for weeks. During colder days they hide inside old Hibernaculum.
As for percentage, I am happy when I am able to achieve pupating for 30-40% of found L1 larvae. Some year better, some year worse.
Previous year one larva finished cycle without hibernation ,pupate and in August fresh female of 2nd generation emerged. But although this year was extreme = very warm, no such case occurred and all larvaes goes to hibernation. Butterflies usually flies in first decade of June in my place, this year it was 3-4 weeks sooner.
I am curious how larvae will survive this winter because autumn is still very very warm here and these high temperatures are certainly bad thing for hibernating larvae as their metabolism has higher rate than in case of normal colder autumn weather.

Jan

I am using winecooler ( livestock only ) as it maintain some humidity better and also have some type of fan inside to keep air moving. But also simple fridge work well. As for pupae I never had problem with fridge. Ova and especially larvae are more demanding.

As for needed time to break diapause, it is sometimes rather small amount of time - it depends.
Just now I am finishing Boloria euphrosyne larvae which needs cold for diapause. They were for 7 weeks in winecooler at 4-5C and then about 80% of them brake diapause after taken off to warm temperature and humid conditions.
Some species needs frost ( temperature below 0C ) while for many other cold ( 4-8C ) is enough. Kevin is right - you need to follow natural conditions certain species occurs. Saturnia pavionella naturally occurs on Iberian peninsula so probably frost is not needed to break diapause.

Hi All,

1. I would like to ask you if somebody have experience with breeding this species - at least partial. This year due to very warm weather this species moved even to north Slovakia and captured female after 3 weeks started to lay eggs. Yesterday first larvae hatched ( after 7-8 days ) . I would like to know information about foodplant - which kind of Viola sp. is ideal and especially information about conditions of overwintering or possibility to break diapause and push developing until winter.

2. This year I collected many eggs of Argynnis adippe - both form adippe and cleodoxa ( as well as transitional cleodippe ) . I never heard about 2nd generation of this butterfly. But from eggs laid by form cleodoxa about 15% hatched in natural conditions ( without any special factor ). Not single one from normal adippe. Already previous year few larvae hatched from eggs in August ( again only from form cleodoxa ), but I was thinking they will hibernate. But they were all dead during week without food. This year I offered them food ( Viola canina as Viola odorata is deteriorated ) and now the are in L3/L4/L5 instar. Did you see anywhere 2nd generation of this butterfly in nature ?

many thanks, Jan

Argynnis paphia is tricky species for hiberbation. With natural overwintering I have various experiences, but my extremelly experienced friend from lowland was never able overwinter this species. Because last winters are very dry and warm in Slovakia I decided to move to artificial indoor hibernation. Last 2 years indoor survival was about 2/3 or more. A.paphia doesnt need frost and overwintering at temperatures a little bit over 0 C is OK.

As for reactivation I am always looking to availablity of foodplant and specific target of breeding. All Argynnis I am rearing on Viola odorata, which has nice large leaves in spring. As I am rearing indoor in plastic food containers in large quantities, Violas must to be in advanced stage of development. A.paphia is less demanding species and they are OK without direct sun ( A.adippe is usually dying if direct sunshine for short time is not provided because they love basking even through windows, so it is not about UV rays, but about raising temperature for digestion ). Also rearing larvae together clearly leads to smaller average size of pupaes and imagos, especially females ( about 20-30% ) although enough food is present.
If I want to return part of bred specimens to nature ( in case of rarer species ) I must synchronize my rearing with natural weather and expected occuring at locality. Larvae development to pupa for A.paphia indoor take about 3 weeks on spring in my conditions. Smaller Boloria species like dia or selene can be done for 12-14 days in case of 2nd generation. ( As for Boloria selene only if feeding is on Viola canina or especially Viola palustris. Viola odorata although eaten , is not ideal foodplant and development is significantly slower with loses )