Papilio disease and rearing challenges

[Sean Patrick Mullen]

Hey Everyone,

I need so butterfly rearing expertise.  A good friend of mine, 
Shannon Murphy, is working on Swallowtail butterflies for her 
dissertation her at Cornell...I'll try to get the exact species name 
from her.  She spent most of the summer in Alaska and Oregon 
collecting larvae.  She kept them successfully all summer in the 
field but know that they're back in the greenhouse the "2nd 
generation" has begun to experience really high mortality.

Shannon has had this problem before.  She believes that it is a 
disease introduced from her advisor's lab colony of Black 
Swallowtails that he gets from outside breeders.

My question is this:  How many of you have faced the issue of 
disease? and how have you successfully or unsuccessfully tried to 
overcome it.

Shannon's a close friend and I hate watching all her hard work go 
down the drain like this.  Thanks all.


-Sean Mullen

 
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