CURRENT PUPAE - Chrysalides and cocoons
If you are a beginner and need information on rearing from small caterpillars, or hatching out pupae, please order the All Colour Paperback BUTTERFLIES. INSTRUCTIONS ARE NOT SENT WITH EACH SPECIES, you need to acquire basic skills and this book is a simple way of doing so.
European Swallowtail Papilio machaon gorganus
These are winter pupae to hatch in the spring. A species that is becoming more difficult to obtain.
The larvae are very easy to rear on Fennel, Carrot and Parsnip (wild and cultivated). One of the most attractive butterfly larvae and a joy to rear!
Pyjama Mini Cage 20 x 24 x 25cm high
Ideal as a beginner's cage, but also for the busy breeder who wants separate small cages. Excellent as an emerging cage for chrysalides and cocoons, ideal for keeping small numbers of larvae or other insects, when large enough for cage rearing.
This cage is suitable for laying out small numbers of pupae to emerge. Also for rearing smaller numbers of larvae or smaller larvae. Baby larvae should be first reared in plastic rearing containers or kept covered on growing food. Please see the note on the page for plastic rearing containers. This cage will hold small covered pots of plant, and larger sizes of cage are available for larger subjects.
When necessary the netting cover can be slipped off for cleaning or replacement. The Pyjama Mini cage is assembled in minutes and easily packed flat for winter storage. As the interest grows there are larger sizes available. For the experienced breeder the Mini Cage has many uses where a series of smaller cages is needed for separating species and giving different treatment.
All Colour Paperback BUTTERFLIES Robert Goodden.
A comprehensive guide - outlining techniques for the breeding and study of butterflies and moths. This book also shows a grand selection of butterflies of every continent. Packed with essential information, colourful pictures and diagrams by the butterfly artist JOYCE BEE. Paperback. 160 pages. 7 x 4". An essential guide for the beginner.
Published by Hamlyn. Available only from Worldwide Butterflies.
This book was published in 1970. Worldwide Butterflies bought the entire stock. There are some copies with some wear or minor water damage to the covers, offered at a reduced price. Please select As New or Imperfect at a lesser price.
Papilio dardanus Africa
Males are a distinctive creamy yellow, with dark chocolate markings, and prominent tails. Females are mimetic of distasteful Danaids and can vary both in ground colouration, and markings. Dardanus larvae feed on Citrus and will sometimes accept Choisya or Skimmia.
A MOST INTERESTING BUTTERFLY!
Exotic pupae need a hot and humid greenhouse atmosphere, shaded from the sun.
Papilio demodocus Africa
Very striking butterflies, strong in flight and very satisfactory in a greenhouse. The larvae feed on Citrus, Choisya and sometimes Skimmia. Young larvae are camouflaged as bird droppings. Later they become green with prominent eye spots.
Exotic pupae need a hot and humid greenhouse atmosphere, shaded from the sun.
Papilio palinurus Philippines
One of the most vivid of the exotic Asian moss-green Swallowtails. Palinurus flies well in a conservatory and settles with wings prominently open. The butterflies need nectar flowers such as Pentas, Buddleia and Lantana. Pupae need a hot and humid greenhouse atmosphere, shaded from the sun.
Papilio polytes Philippines
Pupae need a hot and humid greenhouse atmosphere, shaded from the sun. Very easy to breed in greenhouse conditions. The butterflies need nectar flowers especially Lantana and Pentas. They lay easily on Citrus and can be reared also on Choisya, Rue and Skimmia. The larvae resemble bird droppings in the early instars. Later they become smooth green, with convincing eye-spots. The males are black, banded with cream on the hindwings. Females have red marked hindwings, mimicing toxic Aristolochia feeding species.
Papilio rumanzovia Philippines
A large and very striking butterfly, with vivid scarlet underside. Black on top, suffused with bottle blue. An active flyer and one that will breed in greenhouse conditions, with plenty of nectar flowers and Citrus bushes as foodplant for the larvae.
The large pupae need a hot and humid greenhouse atmosphere, shaded from the sun.
Marsh Fritillary Eurydryas aurinia
Larvae are immediately available for a limited period. Pupae from late April. Feed on Honeysuckle (wild is best), Snowberry or the natural foodplant Devil’s Bit Scabious. Pupae are formed in late April into May. The butterflies fly from May into June. Eggs are laid in large clusters on the underside of Devil’s Bit Scabious. The larvae live in a tightly formed web, growing only a little before they hibernate in autumn.
Green-veined White Pieris napi
A delicate member of the White family, with variable markings and prominent underside veining. The larvae feed on many Cruficerae with a particular liking for Jack by the Hedge Alliaria, Horseradish Armoracia rusticana, Cresses and Mustards.
Very easy to breed. Several generations are possible in a season. The pupa hibernates. Keep the pupae cool or in the fridge until April. Lay them out to emerge in May and provide the adults with nectar flowers and stems of the foodplant on which to lay.
Harmless to garden plants (they prefer wild plants), this is a species you can breed to enhance the local countryside.
Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni
The pupa is a remarkable and lovely shape. The butterflies hatch easily. Difficult to hibernate, but you can keep them for a while with fresh nectar flowers, and then release to hibernate and hopefully breed in your area.
Owl Butterfly Caligo pupae South America
By any standards, these are huge butterflies, with impressive colouring and markings, both on the upperside and with the owl-like underside. The pupae will be unspecified species but will all produce magnificent and breath-taking butterflies.
Owl Butterflies fly at dusk and dawn in particular, so they like low light conditions.
The pupae are massive, pretty well as big as any other in the world. They are naturally formed on Banana trees, which are the foodplant of the larvae, and they resemble the spent and decaying banana fronds around the trunk. Hang the pupae in an emerging cage, out of the sun, but in warm and moist conditions. A greenhouse is ideal. Let the butterflies feed on dishes of rotting fruit and do include banana, which they really love.
Provide warmth and humidity that the pupae normally experience in the tropics and sub tropics. About 30°C is ideal, and humidity above 70%. The butterflies like a warm greenhouse containing nectar plants, and this is the best place also for the emerging cage for the pupae. Shade the cage from direct sun which is too harsh.
It’s a good idea to suspend the pupae. To do this, use a stick or wooden rod held horizontally. Apply a very thin line of contact adhesive eg Evostick along the rod. Lay the rod on a table and, when it is tacky but not yet set hard, touch the tails of the pupae on the line of glue. Warning: excess glue actually kills the pupa, so use just a very thin line. When the glue has set you can pick up the stick, with all the pupae hanging vertically from it.
If you don’t wish to suspend the pupae they can be laid on corrugated card. The surface must remain clean and rough. For hygiene the corrugated card needs to be replaced every few days.