Speyeria cybele larvae

[Daniel Grosboll]

If they are anything like S. zerene getting eggs from adult females is
definitely the way to go.  Here is a protocol that has worked for both S.z.
hippolyta and S.z. bremnerii in Oregon and Washington:

Put the female in a medium sized white (for light transmission) paper bag
with a few Viola leaves (fresh each day) and some torn up paper towels
placed inside.  Keep the bag warm (75-90 degrees F)!  Remove the butterfly
at least once a day for feeding.  A cotton ball soaked in 20-40% sucrose
solution works well.  Pop it back in the bag after feeding.

It usually takes at least three days for them to start laying eggs.  The
eggs will be scattered on the torn paper towels and some will be on the bag.
I was able to get 50 eggs from each of 5 females using this method.  All but
one was in good enough shape to give one final feeding and let go at the
place where they were collected.

The larvae hatch in about two weeks.  At that point, they can be placed on a
very very wet paper towel for an hour.  They will usually drink a lot and do
a rather impressive bit of "growth".

At that point I placed them into a "hydration chamber".  This is a fancy
name for a plastic container with a loose fitting lid (or holes drilled in
it) with a small dish of water sitting in the bottom to give them a bit of
humidity.  The larvae were in a plastic Petri dish in the larger container.
They stayed in there through early October at room temperature and then they
were put in a refrigerator at 4-6 degrees F until late April when they were
removed and fed violets through pupation.  Through diapause the key is to
keep them cool, in moist air, but not wet.  Mold and drying out are the
enemies so keep things clean (5% bleach works well).

I realize that that is a shorthand version but that might give a start.

Dan Grosboll
Fort Lewis Program Manager
The Nature Conservancy
120 East Union, Suite 215
Olympia, WA 98501
Office: (360) 357-6280
Mobile: (360) 701-8803
dgrosboll at tnc.org

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu] On
Behalf Of drdn at mail.utexas.edu
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 9:04 PM
To: glaucus at earthlink.net
Cc: leps-l at lists.yale.edu; TILS-leps-talk at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Speyeria cybele larvae

*Speyeria* often lay a lot of eggs when confined in a paper bag or ziploc
bag.
The larvae of most species will not feed (on anything other than the
eggsshell
and perhaps eachother) until spring. They over-winter as first or second
instar
hairy little larvae. The problem is to keep them for months, moist enough
not
to dehydrate without developing mold. They feed on new growth of *Viola*
spp.
(some general - some specific). I understand that several of the West Coast
species have been successfully reared using plaster of paris chambers and
artificial food, but I have no further information on this. Late instar
larvae
are occasionally findable in the wild where at summer's end there is no
violet
and they are reduced to munching on other foliage. I have hatched *S.
zerene*
from a larva found eating *Spirea*; *S.* near *violae* from a larva found
eating *Vaccinium (Euvaccinium)* sp., and have found *S. diana* late larva
eating *Castanea* although this one may have been misbehaving as it was
parasitized by a large tachinid.
...........Chris Durden

Quoting Glaucus <glaucus at earthlink.net>:

> Hello,
> 
> I am in the Chicago area, and around June 25th, I noticed a huge emergence
> of Great Spangled Fritillaries (for here anyway!) I saw not less then
> 150-200 in a few hours at a spot I know of. I would love to find some
> caterpillars and raise them, but am having a terrible time locating their
> foodplant, Violet. There are no Violets in bloom here, and despite seeing
> several leaves that appear to be the foodplant, I have come up dry. I
would
> appreciate any pointers from people having experience finding wild larvae
of
> Speyeria. Thanks!!
> 
> 
> 
>  
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