Eight Spotted Forester Moth

Rob & Ryan lepidopterists at home.com
Sat Jul 29 01:07:34 EDT 2000



     Hi there Chris, although I have never reared this larva I would agree
with you the larva of the Eight Spotted forester
Alypia octomaculata is a very unusual and beautiful creature. I have
collected the larva from Fire Weed Epilobium angustifolium
in the wild. If your larva are not eating and just roaming there cage could
it be that your larva have grown to maturity and are now just looking for a
place to pupate? Or possibly if your larva are just clinging to the vine or
cage and not moving they may be in the midst of an instar, if this is the
case the last thing you want to do is disturb them. When instaring they will
spin a small silken pad to which they will attach there anal clasper,  if
they are removed from this silken pad at this time it may be very difficult
or impossible for the larva to effectively crawl out from its unwanted skin
and the larva will surly perish.

      It's great to see that others are interested in the larva form of the
butterfly's and moth's we collect, as for myself this has proven to be every
bit or more exciting than collecting the adults. Many things are
accomplished when rearing larva , the knowledge that is acquired to rear
larva successfully is most rewarding as well as the knowledge of there
environment and the food plants they prefer. Not to mention that rearing
larva is a very environmentally friendly way to collect specimens as the
success rate of  ova to imago can near 100% success rate.

    If you have been viewing larva with the naked eye try viewing them with
some sort of magnification, I use a diopter lens that I use when spreading
micro-lepidoptera. This truly shows what magnificent creatures these are. I
can easily sit and watch for hours as they eat there food plant and go about
there routine (maybe not your idea of excitement but for me it doesn't get
much better).
     Hope this information will be of some help to you, If you have any
other questions regarding the rearing of larva (my passion) or any lepi
related question you can e-mail me direct or I will find you in the news
group.

                             Happy collecting,
                                                         Robert Vandermoor



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