Anyone rearing Rothschildia cincta now?

[papilio28570]

Wondering why this moth is seldom seen on the market.

[evra]

It's only found in a very small area in S. Arizona and Mexico. With the current laws, getting anything out of Mexico is problematic, and most collectors don't know where to find it in S. AZ. It's very easy to rear though, a lot like H. cecropia only they mature a lot faster. The last time I reared them, they started spinning up only 3 weeks after hatching.

[Fernando]

Jan 7, 2013 0:24:24 GMT -8 evra said:

With the current laws, getting anything out of Mexico is problematic

Could you elaborate further on that please?

[mooks666]

Hi guys l run a website dedicated to saturnidae and the guys on there have reared cincta last season with no problems on privet it seems to be quite easy to get hold of a few of them have a good breeding stock for this coming year. Is it true they are single brooded in july/aug as l have seen ova for sale in December.

[papilio28570]

Rothschildia cincta guerreronis is double brooded in Mexico. AFAIK, Rothschildia cincta cincta is single brooded.

It is recorded from Pima and Santa Cruz counties and southward into parts of Mexico

[evra]

I should really say that taking specimens from Mexico into the U.S. is problematic. There's a federal law called the Lacey Act which can be used to prosecute anyone who violates another country's wildlife laws by bringing wildlife into the U.S. Of course, most would-be collectors who would collect in Mexico are Americans because of the proximity of the two countries. However, with these rules, and a generally dysfunctional relationship between the two countries because of drug, gun and immigration laws, most Americans don't go down there to collect.

They'll accept a lot of different hosts including privet, wild cherry, brazilian pepper tree, California pepper tree, ash and maybe sumac or willow. In the wild, they feed on hopbush and Jatropha.

I think in Mexico they are multi-brooded. In Arizona, they are single brooded in late July and early August. They are sensitive to cold so they can't have continuous generations that far north. They are most common in fairly arid desert areas, where they can hold over as cocoons for at least 2-3 years, even though most of the cocoons will emerge the next year. I still have some good cocoons from 2011, even though I opted not to rear them last year.

[Chris Grinter]

I had a small batch rear though in 2008, I started them on pepper tree because it was outside of my window, but the larvae only nibbled and half died. I did manage to get a few through on cherry but they weren't very big! I hear the Jatropha is fantastic for getting them big and fat.

[evra]

I had the same experience with them on privet, interestingly. I've had nothing but really good success on Brazilian Pepper Tree though. I've reared them on their natural host, hopbush, as well but it's much harder. I've reared R. cincta, H. c. gloveri, C. splendens, and E. oslari in the same cage on Brazilian Pepper Tree and all 4 species did really well.

[Fernando]

I've reared the ssp. guerreronis a couple of times on privet, and it was quite easy actually.

[admin]

I reared out these a few years ago, on California pepper. AZ stock.



I have easy access to California pepper and Brazilian pepper. I'd like to do some more cinctas next season. Flag me down if you can get me some livestock.

[evra]

Some nice specimens Clark. It's actually a pretty variable species with several color forms. Most of these are actually wild collected, and a few Saturnia albofasciatas in this drawer because I didn't have another place to put them.



I'll admit, I used to be excited about cincta, but now I'm pretty jaded. This past season I probably saw 60-70 at my lights over the course of 3 nights. I gave the good ones to other collectors and let the trash ones go. They have a really high rate of getting hit by bats. About 1 in 3 that come in are usually fresh and perfect except for a symmetric bite on both hindwings.

[papilio28570]

Nice, very nice.

[admin]

Jan 9, 2013 13:58:00 GMT -8 evra said:

Some nice specimens Clark. It's actually a pretty variable species with several color forms. Most of these are actually wild collected, and a few Saturnia albofasciatas in this drawer because I didn't have another place to put them.



I'll admit, I used to be excited about cincta, but now I'm pretty jaded. This past season I probably saw 60-70 at my lights over the course of 3 nights. I gave the good ones to other collectors and let the trash ones go. They have a really high rate of getting hit by bats. About 1 in 3 that come in are usually fresh and perfect except for a symmetric bite on both hindwings.

Where did you get those albos?

[evra]

S. California in 2010. That's a fraction of the females I saw in one night.

[admin]

Jan 11, 2013 11:29:15 GMT -8 evra said:

S. California in 2010. That's a fraction of the females I saw in one night.

That's amazing. I'm in SoCal and have never seen that many on one night. I would love to know the exact location....if you are willing to reveal.