It's a sad goodbye to the Stig....

Yes indeed: time for another weblog. I recently read a couple of quotes about blogging; here's the first: 'The first thing you learn when you're blogging is that people are one click away from leaving you. So you've got to get to the point, give them some value for their limited attention span.' 

How rude! You don't have a limited attention span do you? Hello...hello.....H-E-L-L-O !

OK...OK, I can take a hint -

The other quote I read was this one: 'I think blogging, by and large, is basically therapy. I think a huge percentage of people who are blogging are doing it for self-therapy.'

Pull up a couch then, I feel the need to confide...

A female moon moth (Actias heterogyna).

I wasn't really expecting this but just 20 days after pupating, one of my moon moths emerged as an adult. How gorgeous are these? Totally! My AES care-sheet had this information: Adults often emerge from the cocoons four-six weeks after pupation. This is a female and a few days later I also had a male...

Apologies, it isn't a great picture of the male is it (these are both just phone shots). I will try to get a better one for a future update. They are living in my studio now, as they cannot be released and do not feed. They actually only live for about a week or so anyway. 

One morning when I checked on them they had left me a little gift...

But are these eggs fertile? I have no idea whether the two of them 'got it on' but according to the information I have they do seem to be the right colour: the infertile ones tend to be a blueish colour. I am caring for them as suggested and will update you should the circle of life start over. 

Speaking of the - 

Last week I had to say goodbye to my friend 'Stig' the stick insect. He was quite an old man in insect terms though; I had cared for him for over a year, which is a good age for his species. I needed to ensure he had a decent and dignified internment and so I constructed a little casket from cardboard, painted it up and placed him inside. He's now in the back garden...

Alright, I know! He was only an insect, and I really don't care if this is thought of as over the top: I like to think that as a captive bug, which he would have been whether I had him or not, I gave him as good and peaceful life as was possible and I shall miss the contact. RIP Stig.

We've talked about new life and the end of a life and so how about something that might be considered half-way between? What am I talking about? Hibernation. The bug count on my walks is falling faster than an MP's reputation now, but I did spot this hibernating parent bug wrapped inside a leaf recently...

Elasmucha grisea - A Parent Bug

Think how short our own lives would feel if we hibernated. They say that we already sleep an average of 25 years over a lifetime. The other thing that always strikes me is that they cannot close their eyes, no eyelids! 

I actually saw a number of parent bugs and most were afflicted by a parasite egg...

This is most likely the work of the tachinid fly, Subclytia rotundiventris which is a specialist endoparasite of females. The fly strategically places the egg at this point so that the bug is unable to reach to remove it. After hatching, the larva feeds on its host. At the beginning the parasite feeds only on the non-vital parts of the bug, but finally it kills it.

Interestingly, the larva ‘permits’ the parent bug to continue caring for the juveniles until their third stage. However, the adults often die before the end of maternal care. Not that the ones I am seeing now will be about to give birth - wrong time of year.

On the same walk, I saw this spider walking on tippy-toe...

I think this has all been pretty cathartic for me and I am sure that your short attention span has been stretched to the max, so I shall apply the brakes at this point and end with another of my Japanese bugs that I found just yesterday in the garden...

Stephanitis takeyai - Andromeda Lacebug (Tingidae)

They sure are strange looking bugs when you look closely...

This information is from the excellent British Bugs website: This species is a fairly recent arrival in the UK and was first recorded in 1998. It is native to Japan, where it feeds on Pieris japponica and has been introduced into the USA and Europe via the plant trade. As well as Pieris, it also uses Rhododendron and azaleas as hostplants and is regarded as a pest in ornamental gardens.

Moon or Luna?

As much as I am enjoying sitting here listening to a bit of Bob Dylan on the iPod, sooner or later, one of us must know (a little clue to the song there) that it's time to knuckle down and write up another blog entry. Just before we get to the subject matter of this update, a question: what do you think is the significance of this next photo?

Well according to the BBC, who recently broadcast a programme about marbles in which presenters showed how a marble was held by the crooked index finger and flicked by the thumb, "this is where the phrase 'knuckle down' came from". 

Let's get to it then: let's talk about caterpillars...

Actually, these are not strictly caterpillars, but larvae: still, carry on John, nobody will have noticed. 

I recently obtained some early instar Actias selene (Indian Moon-moth) larvae. These would be fantastic to observe I thought, and as they seem to like a wide variety of food-plants, many of which I could obtain easily, would be a safe bet. I had a care-sheet from the Amateur Entomologists Society that stated the preferred food-plants:

The caterpillars will feed on a variety of plants, including:-

• Walnut
• Apple
• Hawthorn
• Cherry
• Cherry Plum
• Willow
• Hibiscus
• Rhododendron (Rhodendron ponticum)
• Holm or evergreen oak (Quercus ilex)

On arrival I treated them all to a mix of walnut, apple, cherry, willow and rhododendron, and waited to see which they preferred. None of them was the answer! I added hawthorn and a couple of the larvae seemed to take to it but weren't eating very much and soon began wandering off in search of something better.

This is how most looked when they arrived...

The following day I was starting to think I had made a mistake taking these on as they were definitely not feeding. Then I did a bit of detective work and found that they will also use liquidamber, or sweet gum. 

Where could I acquire sweet gum though? Any ideas? Nor me! Hang on though...isn't eucalyptus a gum tree? That was rhetorical of course, because we  already know the answer . Just need to find some now. Hmmm... might be a problem. 

I pounded the streets, but that did no good and so I repaired them and moved on. I racked my brain...but even putting it on the rack had no effect, I couldn't recall where, or indeed, if, I had seen any locally. I decided the only thing to do was to have a drive around looking for some. My salvation came in St. Michael's near Tenterden, when I spotted this tree outside a house, beside the local garage...

I rang the doorbell. "Hi" said the guy who answered, only half interested as he browsed his phone. "This is gonna sound like a strange request" I said. "try me" he replied, still not looking up from his phone. "Could I possibly steal a few sprigs of your eucalyptus tree?" Finally! his interest had piqued. With a half-smile, he said "Take the whole tree if ya like". Thanking him, I felt I owed an explanation: although, he didn't seem at all interested in knowing my reasons. I mumbled something about caterpillars as he turned and shut the door and I cut myself some eucalyptus.

Success! In fact, a great success. All but a couple were eating like there was no tomorrow and the remainder soon joined in.

It was September 16th when I acquired the caterpillars and by the end of the 17th some were already moulting...

By the 19th of September, many had moulted and were now shades of green...

Time to separate them into individual containers, as I had read that they can be cannibalistic once they start to mature. They were all looking much healthier now and growing fast. All except for the little runt that is. He was still way behind the others and looked like this...

In fact, this is how it stayed right through until September 26th. It was eating, but not a lot. His/her plight was not helped when on the 19th, it somehow managed to circumnavigate the obstacles I placed at the top of the water jar that contained the food plant, and fell right into the water. I have no idea how long it was there before I rescued it, but I dried it as best I could and assumed that it  had possibly drowned as there was no sign of life. 

However, the next time I checked, it was feeding. A miracle. It did eventually moult and became green like all the others, even though it was now a couple of moults behind the rest, who were quite variable in size and colour but doing much better than the runt...

Freshly moulted 29th Sept.

Freshly moulted 29th Sept.

The largest ones were now really impressive beasts. Those feet are brilliant and once fixed to a leaf or stem, there is no moving them. I had also read that they could be aggressive, gnashing their mandibles and swiveling their heads round if threatened, but I had no problems and didn't find any displaying those traits.

October 7th saw my first completed cocoon...

Today (Oct 13th) most have now pupated and I have just three with a bit more growing to do. Now I have to wait and see if any adult moths emerge in around a month's time, or whether they will overwinter and eclose come spring 2018.