These are shot in the living room so almost qualify as studio work and are of our pets that we got through mailorder from an online shop called world wide butterflies. The arrived as eggs and got pictures taken of them each day.
A selection of pictures of their development is here
There are two pages so be sure to find the next button
This is them just comming from the egg about 2mm across
And this is the last of the larval stages where they are about 5cm long
The built them selves some cocoons about a week ago and we have been trying to find out how long they will take to pupate but have had conflicting reports, some say 12 days and others say they wont come out untill spring. Does anyone know roughly what the actual time is likely to be?
Tim
P.S. Rik, i didnt upload these to photomacrography net, but i have paid for the hosting for the next 5 years and expect to renew it again afterwards, so these and all the pictures that are normally in the _temp folder i usually use are likly to stay there for a relitivly long time in net terms. I hope it is ok for the forum, as i dont think they will expire any time soon, hopefully not even the ones in the temp folder.
These are probably from UK stock. If so, they have just 1 generation/year and overwinter as pupae with adults emerging in May and June.
However, as yours are already in cocoons in June then the true UK life cycle timing has been upset. It appears that Worldwide Butterflies "forced" the pupae (i.e., given warmth very early in the year (forced them) which made the parent moths to emerge early).
For many moth and butterfly species the number of generations/year is regulated by the length of daylight in the late caterpillars. If the caterpillars experience "long days", usually over 16 hrs/day of light, the resulting imagines will emerge the same year. If "short days", say less than 12 hrs/day of light, they will not emerge until having gone through a cold period.
If your moths do not emerge within 4 weeks they are likely in diapause and will not emerge until next year. However, if you have a lot of cocoons you can try placing a few in a cold place (4 degrees C) for about 3 months after giving them 4 weeks at room temperature for a chance to emerge. After the cold treatment they should emerge within about 4 weeks.
In rearing, it is always best to follow the natural cycle of the insect - yours appear to have been severely compromised.
An excellent, perhaps the best, reference book for European species is:
"Friedrich, E. 1986. Breeding Butterflies and Moths - A practical handbook for British and European species." English Translation. Harley Books.
The original German version published in 1983.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
I had no idea that they could be day length regulated. It may well be my own fault as they have been in the living room where we have daylight coloured bulbs. I guess this adds something to the day length, we are also in Denmark and it can get light very early.
We only have 5 cocoons. we had 8 larva that were born from eggs, two died and a friend got another larvae.
Now i am a little worried about their chances as the day length is messed up and temperatures are likely to be even worse in the living room. When it does get cold here the central heating and double glazing are not likely to give them a natural environment. Perhaps putting them in the fridge for 3 months is the only way they are likely to get any kind of peace?
Fingers crossed that they will come out in the next week or so, but i am more than willing to take any advice on if they should or shouldnt be chilled?
Many thanks beetleman, i think they ware a very beautiful species. It was a bit difficult to get exactly the shot i wanted, but they didnt want to get agressive. I had the kids shout at them. the vibrations triggered their defence pose somewhat. but they were too docile to get to pose easily, wouldnt spurt acid, and basically just kept eating all the time even if you touched them.
