hemileuca eglanterina shastensis?

[hyalophora]

Ive always wondered if eglanterina from southern B.C. and washington fall into the shastaenis subspecies.

I am not an expert on hemileuca, but the specimens Ive collected locally, especially from higher elevations show alot of shastaensis traits imo.

(lots of pink on the forewings, high degree of melanic males, ect)

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

(please forgive the severed abdomens on last years specimens, haven't gotten around to degreasing them yet.)

Steve.

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[oehlkew]

According to Tuskes, Tuttle and Collins, subspecies shastaensis
flies in the Cascade Mountains of southern Oregon and northern California, but those authors do not include southern Washington or British Columbia.
The nominate species, which has a range much greeater than shastaensis also shows pink on the forewings, and it is difficult for me to tell the two species apart. I have seen specimens from southern Washington that look like shastaensis.
Bill Oehlke.
Short answer: I don't know.

[ladobe]

I traveled far and wide doing field life history work and rearing Hemileucinae for around 40 years as it was one of my special interest areas. From that and running with many of the other Hemileuca folks at the time you draw conclusions based on what was the most proven at the time. So, IMO the H. eglanterina complex is among the most variable of all the Saturniidae in NA. They can be highly variable within a colony whether it be just normal species variation or includes geographical, habitatal, resource induced or altitudinal variations as well. The shastaensis can arguably be called the most variable of them all as not as distinct as the other ssp or forms. It's generally considered to be an "island" race surrounded by nominate elglantera, with that island usually being centered in the southern Cascades.

Long way of saying that nominate eglanterina anywhere (including further north) could have perceived traits of shastaensis... not just in a blend zone near it's presumed base colonies.

Maybe speculative or arguable, but that's how it flows from my long experiences with them from many locals.

Of additional interest maybe...
All my last years doing Hemileuca was in the Spring Mountains of Nevada, centered around the H. annulata race found there (and the other species also found there and no place else) that are also all considered island races that evolved away from nominate isolated. This race of H. annulata as far as I know never did a ssp/form name officially assigned to it. But it has very disticnt males and females with white scale infusions in their forewings that set them apart from nominate colonies, and can have "giants" that are more commonly seen in the Utah annulata. This Hemileuca race once flew very strong up there according to old friends who visited the area often, but they were in an obbvious decline the first time I went looking for them as I only found three lava in 1998 despite many hours over several days/weeks looking for them that season. None were found again over the next few years either after also spending a lot of days up there looking, nor were adults on the wing those years when they should have been out. It is thought to be extinct now by many after having not been seen for many years that I know of. Almost all of the rare species up in that small area are considered endangered now too (although not all listed yet) mostly due to habitat loss from fires and human encroachment, but also to over collecting.

Anyway, the picture is of the three reared in 1998 from those three lava found, a typical pair and a male giant that rivals magnifica in size.

[ladobe]

Ooops! Somebody teach the old phart how to do attachments here. Thanks.

[hyalophora]

Thanks for all the input. greatly appreciated.

I think for now I'm calling these nominate Eglanterina.
the larvae look a bit different from what Ive seen of photos of shasaensis.
Every time Ive reared them they have been solid black, except for the brood I currently just raised which had a few individuals with a white stripe along the abdominal segments.

Ladobe,

Interesting comments about your special race.
The wing shape of your reared specimens also stands out to me.
The elongated forewings remind me more of Hera than Eglanterina.
In B.C. our Eglanterina have a more squared off forewing edge.
Its a shame to hear the colony has degraded so badly.

Speaking of monster specimens, Its going to be interesting to see what come out of these eglanterina I just reared from Shuswap.
I have known it to be one of the largest local races, but I was surprised to get one and a half inch pupae out of indoor bred stock. (though I did my best to take care of them).

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[ladobe]

Hemileuca larva can have quite variable characteristics as well, as can the size they attain.

These particular three annulata do favor the hera complex in wing shape, which is generally more elongated than eglanterina or nuttalli (esp the forewing) in many colonies. The only other pictures I have of adults from this colony show the same characteristic, although maybe not as pronounced as in these three do. Can only speculate why as I don't have a large enough sampling to even begin to project what was the norm with them in this colony. My long time friend Mike Smith studied this local race for many years and would probably know for certain, but he died about a year and a half before I first started studying them myself (in part to carry on where he left off). Others I knew with long Hemileucinae experience may as well, but I haven't been in touch with any of them for at least a dozen years, most not since before I collected these.

I've reared hundreds of thousands of Hemileuca over the years, and some characteristics and size can vary from brood to brood or location to location with many sp/ssp.

Being far removed from the "island" base of shastaensis, I too would sugget that your locals are nominate eglanterina.