Promethea or Angulifera

[Rev. Redmond Farrier]

I thought I had caught another promethea tonight and when I stepped in to verify I discovered that the promethea and angulifera look very much alike. I think I have an angulifera, but I am not sure I am looking at the right details.

Also, as you can see in the photo, she has laid eggs in the container. After putting her in the container, instead of going directly inside to stick it in the freezer to keep it from damaging itself, I sat it down and sat by the light a few more moments. When I picked it up to go inside, I discovered that she had laid 15 eggs in the container! While I was looking for another container to put her in so I could freeze her without freezing the eggs, she laid another set, and yet another while I was typing this for a total of 39 eggs so far. (More now, she just started laying again!) I have no idea what do do with these eggs. I want to raise them, but I don't know where to start.

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[Rev. Redmond Farrier]

She has now laid around 200 eggs and I caught another female last night after posting the first one that has also began to lay eggs. An id conformation and a little guidance on raising them would be most appreciated.

[papilio28570]

The large white marks on the forewings confirm it is C angilifera which feeds on tulip poplar. C. secuifera also has large patches on the forewings but they are pale yellow not white. I have attached a photo for clarification.

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[papilio28570]

You can freeze the majority of the eggs to kill them, or sell them here on insectnet, and only keep enough that you believe you can reasonably rear.

Hopefully, you have tulip poplar conveniently close by for gathering food. Personally, I sleeve the eggs in a net which encloses a large branch. The eggs hatch and the larvae freely feed. When the branch is near defoliated, I move the larvae, which are half grown by now, to a rearing cage to finish them to cocoon stage.

Otherwise, place the eggs in a small plastic container and punch plenty of air holes in the lid. The eggs hatch in about 12 to 15 days. When they hatch, use a small soft bristle artist's paint brush to lift the larvae and place them on some small branches which you have cut and placed in a jar of water. I use pea gravel to fill the jar which gives it wight and prevents the larvae from drowning themselves when they crawl down the branch. When transferring them to the food plant with the paint brush, place the larvae on the stalk and not the leaf. They can grasp the stalk much easier and they will crawl onto a leaf. Change the plants every two days by adding another jar. Cut off the leaves upon which the cats are feeding and lay them among the foliage of the new jar. They will move to the fresher leaves on their own. As the cats get bigger, you will need to increase the volume of branches so the cats growth is uninterrupted and they reach full size, or else you will have dwarf adults assuming they survive.

[Rev. Redmond Farrier]

Thanks very much for the information! It looks like I have a bit of work ahead of me. This will be my first attempt at raising any type of lep from eggs so I am looking forward to trying this out.

[Rev. Redmond Farrier]

I think I have found a source of food for them, but it is several miles from my house. I figure that I can cut a weeks worth of branches and put them in water in the refrigerator like cut flowers to keep them fresh so that I only have to make the trip once a week (which I would do anyway since it is at my church). If needed, I can make the trip more often, but with the cost of gasoline I am hoping I don't have to.

This is all moot if I have the wrong trees though, I just want to verify that this is the correct hostplant...

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[oehlkew]

Congratulations, Rev.,
The foliage is of correct tree. This species does much better if sleeved out
in low density on live foliage, so do not become discouraged if you have some difficulty with them.
Best of luck.

Bill Oehlke

[ladobe]

Do not put the cuttings in water, they can rot and drop leaves with many species of plants. Far better method is to wash them to remove pests, etc, shake off all the excess water, roll them in a plastic bag and store on the bottom shelf away from the freezer. For a week or two they will easily remain as if fresh cut. I used this method to keep viable cuttings going all winter when I lived in the frozen north so I could keep generations going all winter of some species. For that longer storage I also wrapped the cut ends with paper towel that was wet, lightly sprayed them weekly and rewashed/repackaged them at bimonthly intervals all winter so they wouldn't mold/mildew. Not all plants can be held all winter, but many can. Most trees can with new growth or especially water shoot cuttings. I had 5 refridgerators, one in the kitchen and 4 more in the garage to store cutting, and to over winter livestock and plants. But then some years I reared 20-30K leps between all the species I did my most active years.
FWIW