Page under construction.......coming soon....LIFE CYCLE - LEPIDOPTERA - butterflies & moths.
Further Tawny Coster matings have produced some good quality eggs and decent-sized batches which were oviposited on a couple of surprising plants....Looking forward to see the outcome of these!!!.
********Another successful mating in as far as the female produced eggs, have yet to confirm their viability - this pair from two hopefully unrelated Tawny Coster butterflies (from two separate batches I have raised myself. The female from the Bursaria mentioned elsewhere on this site (one of 3 larvae collected from a P. foetida vine growing along the ground in another area of my yard), and a male, one of three released into the larger enclosure from my small enclosure (larger batch). She had the choice of 3 males......which were all gently introduced in a flowery setting the day she eclosed..... and her wings had dried. The mating followed the next day...will have to check notes on that...
Didn't have to go out and catch a wild butterfly from my yard this time!!.... My lovely little girl (smallish female) produced 41 eggs yesterday, in sweltering heat..... poor little buggers-both male and female had a hard time during their lengthy coupling....but they seemed to enjoy their regular misting from above with water, actively sucking up the water from the plant stems and leaves.
Went out at 1:00pm today to check on the eggs, the larvae from the last mating and first from one adult I raised myself & one wild-caught adult from my yard-all doing very well and eating us out of house and home..., and pupae (from both batches);......found that ants had taken half the eggs from this new mating so had to move this 'precious cargo' to the original smaller enclosure. Have had 6 x eclosions thus far with two more expected tomorrow....and more pupae since last mentioned....don't have notes with me...the remainder of this batch of eggs, not taken by ants didn't fair so well.... dried up....obviously a lack of sodium, as not only was it as was hot as hell in the enclosure, their lengthy mating obviously took it's toll on sodium reserves..
********Another 11 x Tawny Coster pupae, (which includes one larva from another batch), one pre-pupal larva, one eclosion with another to follow tomorrow; and another eclosion expected approx. 3-4 days later...Tawny Coster eggs have hatched from the successful mating of two Tawny Costers-one I raised myself and the other "wild captured" from my yard, hopefully unrelated..... both were released...as I was not set up to keep them at that stage. Two more Tawny Coster larvae from another batch are expected to pupate shortly as well.
********Another Tawny Coster Pupa found today 18/08/2017 at 9:40am.....this time from a batch I've raised myself.
********Photo below of Tawny Coster pupa found today 30/07/2017 at 9:00am at our property in Kelso Country Estate, Townsville Queensland.
CAIRNS BIRDWING BUTTERFLY - Ornithoptera euphorion:
Pupation sequence:
NYMPHALIDAE - HELICONIINAE - NYMPHALINAE:
Acraea terpsicore - Tawny Coster:
Below photos taken after numerous attempts: Sunday, 30/07/2017 photos taken at 11:25:24am of 22mm Tawny Coster pupa (including cremaster) found on our property at Kelso Country Estate, Townsville Queensland at 9:00am. My camera doesn't perform too well in low light situations.
Above: Tawny Coster - Acraea terpsicore pupa - 22mm long. Taken: 11:25:24am. Found 9:00am. Combination of three photos.
NYMPHALIDAE - NYMPHALINAE:
Yoma Sabina - Australian Lurcher:
Above: Yoma Sabina larvae - these are different caterpillars. Photos taken: 17/1/2016 at 9:14:08 & 9:15:25am.
Yoma Sabina parva - Australian Lurcher eclosion sequence:
LYCAENIDAE - THECLINAE:
Hypolycaena phorbas - Black-spotted Flash, Common Tit:
Hypolycaena phorbas (Black-spotted Flash) pupa with
LARVAL & PUPAL ATTENDANT ANTS- Oecophylla smaragdina (Green Tree ant) on Acacia auriculiformis - Earpod Wattle, Northern Black Wattle. FABACEAE. These ants were actively protecting the pupa.....Taken: 21/6/17 at 12:40:24pm. NOTE: Although this fast-growing plant is useful for many reasons including nitrogen fixing, timber, erosion, etc; it is a weed. We haven't planted one and yet we have many just from one tree planted close-by.
Above: (L) Dorsal view of Black-spotted Flash pupa. 24/6/17 at 12:27:55pm. Mottled green pupa approx.. 1cm long. (R) Note: 'red' eyes, legs, antennae. 24/6/17 at 12:26:50pm.
Above: (L) - Dorsal view - 27/6/17 at 8:13:24am and (R) - Wings, eyes, legs, etc visible through chrysalis. Not far from eclosion. Taken: 27/6/17.
Above: Male Black-spotted Flash - close to eclosion. Taken: 27/6/17.
I have always loved taking photos - I now class myself as a serious amateur photographer.
I received my very first camera as a gift from my parents at the age of 16 - a Kodak Instamatic "point and shoot" - wind on film type of camera which was still in use till the early 90's.
I purchased my very first DSLR camera in 2010/2011, a Sony DSLR - A230 as my husband thought it would be a good camera to take photos of my art. Later a Sigma DG 150 - 500mm 1:5 to 6:5 APO HSM Lense was purchased for me to photograph wildlife, particularly birds.
I felt the need as an artist to start providing at least some of my own reference material for my art, instead of relying on the generosity of the talented photographers on the internet, also when producing art it's nice to know that the work is entirely your own.
Although these kind-hearted photographers love artists using their work for reference material, and give their permission for the use of their work - there is so much re-use of many of the same photographs.
I now understand why so many exhibitions prefer the artist to use their own photographs as reference material.
All that aside, I have made it my mission to photograph as many species of birds as I can - some not that great, but I feel that at least having some sort of record of that species is much better than none at all!. and have started in earnest to document the species in my own backyard and area. I have found that photography is now taking up much of my time over my art!.
