Paradirphia semirosea is a very small, cute, and nice Saturniidae moth from Central America. When disturbed they will assume a threat pose and reveal their bright red abdomen with black stripes; a colour warning that may scare off some predators. From the soft pink colours to the creamy golden/white stripes on the wings, red legs and beautiful fluff on their back t is a shame they are rarely offered as livestock.

The threat pose of Paradirphia reveals a beautifully decorated abdomen

The good news is that Paradirphia semirosea is easily reared in captivity. The larvae are gregarious like many species of Hemileucinae, although in the final instar they become solitary and will need a little bit more space for themselves, although they still tolerate living in a high density of larvae. They do grow a  little slowly, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Important is not to keep them wet. I reared them in plastic boxes though they should do even better in cages.

Adult Paradirphia semirosea in resting position. Pretty in pink!

When fully grown, the larvae of Paradirphia semirosea will burrow and form a naked pupa in the soil, without spinning a cocoon. The tiny pupae seem very hardy and will survive for a long time in room conditions and may even take a long time to emerge too. Simulating a rainy season (keep them dry for a long time and then suddenly spray with warm water) may trigger them to emerge faster and more synchronised.

Larvae of Paradirphia in several instars feasting on oak

Like most Hemileucinae the larvae have urticating spines. The sting is not that bad though and is comparable to that of a common stinging nettle. It will make you uncomfortable for a few minutes, but it is tolerable, and not very painful. That being said the sting is worse than the average Automeris however.

Like many tiny species of Saturniidae  the moths are short lived. Pairings should be easy to archieve in an airy cage. The most tricky thing is getting a pair out since the emergence time can be a little sporadic and they are short lived.

Paradirphia semirosea larvae: a  handfull of stingers!

“Assassin caterpillar” or, in Spanish, “taturana”—these are the names appointed to caterpillars of the genus Lonomia. It’s a name rightfully deserved: Species of the South American genus Lonomia are of medical significance due to their larval forms that may cause severe envenomation and even death to humans. Lonomia is often considered to be the most venomous genus of Lepidoptera, in particular L. obliqua, of which the hemotoxin is known to inflict severe envenomation and cause disseminated intravascular coagulation and haemorrhagic disease in victims.

Lonomia electra: amazing polymorphism showing a diversity in leaf camouflage

Lonomia electra is the first species I have reared from this genus, and I fell in love with them. After studying their life cycle for 1.5 years and publishing this data, I now have extensive knowledge of this species. For those interested, here is some background reading and my publication: Up close and personal with venomous moths (AES) or for the .pdf file of the scientific publication: Click here for science!

These Lonomia from Costa Rica seemed to do quite well on Ligustrum ovalifolium in captivity. A lot of patience is needed to rear them as they larvae have an extremely slow development rate for a Saturniidae (I recorded over 100 days). Eggs seem to take a month to hatch aswell.

A larval congegration of Lonomia electra on my hand

Lonomia seems gregarious up until the final instar – this means they exihibit social behaviour for the entirety of them being caterpillars. They seem to tolerate being reared in plastic boxes with no ventilation at all quite well and withstand the highest degree of humidity. The rearing takes quite a lot of patience, however it seems that the pupae hatch quite fast (in a month). Pupae should be sprayed frequently as this species seems to prefer a higher degree of humidity and pupae dessicate rather fast. The larvae do not spin a cocoon before pupating; in fact they will lazily lie down on the floor and pupate on the spot. They do not even seem to attempt to burrow that much – I theorise that in their natural habitat the larvae pupate between the leaf litter covering the forest floor, giving them the opportunity to just lie down somewhere on the ground and pupate.

The adults seem to exihibit nice polymorhism. The females are always grey (though significantly larger than the males) while the males have two different colour forms: one orange/brownish rusty colour, and one lighter yellow form.

In the picture: one larger, greyish female (botton left) and three males (top) – showing both colour forms the males can have, the orange and yellow form.

Video:

Picture: pupae of Lonomia electra

Actias maenas, the Malaysian moon moth, is a species with a broad range from the mainland of most parts of the Indomalayan ecozone. They are highly sexually dimorphic, and one of the larger moon moths of the genus Actias.

Actias maenas female

Actias maenas is quite easy to rear in captivity, and accepts host plants within Rosaceae such as Prunus, Malus and more, and also Liquidambar, which is to be recommended for this species.  Their larvae will grow quite large, but do grow slowly compared to other Actias species. I myself prefer to rear them on plant cuttings in a water bottle. The only thing that seems to be more difficult with this species is archieving pairings, it’s best to have a lot of flight space and a bit of ventilation for them. This fragile species will tatter quite fast. Males often break off their hindwing tails within a few days.

Actias maenas male

Fully grown larvae of Actias maenas  on Liquidambar

A tree full of Actias maenas larvae

Welcome on my page about how to rear and breed Graellsia isabellae.

Graellsia isabellae, the Spanish moon moth,  is a marvelous insect that is endemic to the mountainous regions in the Alps and Pyrenees in Spain, France, and Switzerland, though in the latter country has been speculated to be an introduction.

Three freshly emerged males resting on a stick in captivity. One has already torn a wing, males of this species are very frantic and active.

Graellsia isabellae is a pine tree feeder, and I recommend using Pinus sylvestris over any other kind of coniferous trees, as it is the native host plant. Pinus strobus is another viable second choice, and thirdly, though not optimal, it may accept fir or spruce such as Pseudotsuga, Tsuga, or Picea. The moths live in high altitude pine forests. Though the habitat may reasonably heat up during the day, which are rocky and dry pine forests, at night and in winter the species is also subjugated to rather harsh cold, due to the high altitude. Moths, after spending the winter as diapausing pupae inside their cocoons, emerge in early summer, from May to early July, after which they reproduce, and leave the next generation of larvae to feed on pine trees. Cocoons will always overwinter until the next spring, as this species has only one generation a year.

The larvae, with stunning lime green camouflage, develop reasonably well in plastic boxes. They must be kept clean and dry, they are not fond of high humidity. It is also better to rear them in low density, and not include too much larvae per rearing box.

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I know, I know. Some of you will visit my website, see the donate button and cringe. So why is it on here?

Lately, the readership of my website has been through the roof, and I would like to thank everybody for visiting. I have been inspired to work hard on it and improve it as much as I can. Unfortunately, I can’t pour as many hours into this website as I would like to. This is because next to this website, I also maintain a YouTube channel, many forms of social media, and breed over 40 species of butterflies and moths a year! Not only that, I also volunteer in insect collections, I do my own scientific research which I also publish in scientific journals, and write books and guides about my hobby. All of this costs me a disproportionate amount of time and effort. As you can see, insects have swallowed up my free time, and my life.

I don’t expect other people to pay for me and my hobbies. However, some of my projects, such as this website, don’t just have my entertainment in mind: they are for you. I would really like offer all of this information free – in fact I’m a strong believer in free and accessible knowledge. Your donation simply makes it easier for me to keep all this information online for free, since it compensates for all the time and money I have poured into it myself.

So is it a problem that it costs me time and money? Not really – in fact, it’s my own decision. But it can make it hard to find time and motivation – not only is time limited – so are my resources. In fact, running this website costs me money, and so does buying livestock to breed, subscribing to scientific journals to publish in, and so does researching butterflies and moths, since I am an amateur researcher. I often pay for the equipment or information needed by myself – even many sorts of books and publications are not free to use for everybody. Nothing in this world is truly free, neither is server space, neither is doing a GC-MS to look at the defensive secretions of my caterpillars, neither are the shipping costs of transporting cocoons and pupae over all the world, neither is ‘free’ time in fact. Do I expect other people to pay for this? Definitely not! I do it out of pure interest and passion for this subject.

However, donations simply make it easier for me to carry the weight. By keeping this option open, I get a small return on my time and effort. In fact, it would be pretty great if this website became self-sustaining. It is not really my ambition to make it profitable, although that would also be welcome, as I would simply re-invest it in upgrading this website.   That would make it worth my time even more. Donations are only for those who are willing and able to pay. This website will always be for free. So if you are willing and able, your contribution is much appreciated. And if you are not able, or not willing, then your readership is also appreciated.

Rewards

For those who donate via Patreon, e-books and guides are available for free or at a discount, and so is equipment and butterfly and moth pupae/eggs. For that I would like to refer to the products or sales section.

For those who use the paypal button, e-mail me if you are looking for something, the same benefits could apply to you as people that donate on patreon. I am also actively working on the sales section and more information and e-books will come available in the future.

What are my donations used for?

• Compensating for website (WordPress) costs
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• Obtaining eggs and cocoons of interesting species to display on my website and YouTube channel
• Consuming large amounts of pizza and energy drinks (just kidding.. or am I?)
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• Motivating me (yay!) to improve this website

Other ways to help!

If you wish to contribute to me and my goals one way or another, there are a few other things I’m looking for.

Spelling: First of all, English is not my native language and for that reason this website can contain spelling mistakes, improper wording or weirdly worded sentences that make no sense at all. I also tend to confuse or misspell some words. If you are one of my readers and have spotted a misspelling or language error, then please report it to me so I can correct it – this helps me improve the quality.

Submit information: I am looking for interesting stories of unusual species of butterflies and moths being raised in captivity, including pictures, as part of my community project The Rearing Archives.  Have you raised obscure, rare or unusual species? Then please post them to me, and consider me hosting your story on my website!

Livestock exchange: I am always looking for cocoons and eggs of interesting species to add to my website. Especially eggs from Saturniidae, Lasiocampidae and other families featured on my website are welcome; I may even offer you an attractive price for them. Species that are not featured on my website as caresheets are species I don’t have enough pictures of, and breeding more of them would be a welcome experience. I am also looking for many species from Africa, South America and temperate to tropical Asia.

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