Current EGGS and LARVAE
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.
Copaxa parvohildalgensis: Hidalgo, Tlanchinol, 2000m, Mexico.
Never offered before by WWB. Male and female very different in appearance. Larvae very attractive: foodplants Liquidambar and Quercus. Evergreen Oak is recorded as a foodplant but needs verifying. It is also worth trying Eucalyptus, Privet and Portuguese Laurel Prunus lusitanica, and any other evergreens, such as Eleagnus.
Great Water Dock Rumex hydropathalum Seeds. Foodplant of the Large Copper Butterfly
Seldom available. Sow in autumn or from February. Seed germinates and grows well in Spring, producing plants with broad leaves and often growing to over a metre in height.
In the wild Great Water Dock lives at the water's edge, with its roots continually immersed. If growing in pots, keep them in a tray with no holes, and always filled with water.
KOKUSO 21 Mulberry A rarity! A group of 5 robust cuttings.
This sericultural form of Mulberry has been developed in Asia for its large leaves with high nutrition as food for Silkworms. Not generally available for sale, we are offering a limited number of robust cuttings in groups of 5.
The cuttings will develop roots and leaves if put into compost, preferably with manure. Never let the compost dry. Rooting may be assisted if dipped in hormone rooting powder. Mulberry cuttings take longer to root than Willows and Osiers, which are very rapid. Hard winter pruning is repaid with amazing growth, which can reach 1-2 metres on every branch in the following summer.
This is a rare shrub, seldom seen in Northern Europe.
Prepared Mulberry Diet 1 Kilogramme
This diet has been prepared from Diet Powder and is ready to feed to silkworms immediately. Keep refrigerated when not in use. It will keep for about a month.
Saturnia (Caligula) thibeta from China
This is the first time offered by WWB!
Nomenclature changes over time. This species has a lot in common with Dictyoploca and Caligula but is now regarded as being Saturnia, along with our Emperor Moth pavonia and the giant European pyri.
Refrigerate the eggs until buds open in spring.
Larger larvae are sperctacular, covered with white curly hair, a bit like our Miller Moth! They feed on Liquidambar, Privet and a range of Prunus trees and bushes.
The cocoon is netted with open weave, that shows the pupa inside. The cocoon is formed in summer the moths wait for autumn before emergence.
Large White Butterfly Pieris brassicae
Egg batches vary in size but usually contain 20-30 eggs.
No longer the common butterfly it once was. Winter pupae are stored cool for the winter and normally hatch in May.
This is a good species for the inexperienced, and as an introduction to rearing larvae. Keep larvae protected from parasitic flies.
The larvae feed on cabbage but also most Cruciferae which can be better and less smelly for captive rearing! Horseradish is ideal for its large leaves and other species include Rape, Mustard, Sweet Rocket, Turnip, Nasturtium and Watercress.
There are two or more generations in a year.
Osier Willow cuttings S. viminalis
Years ago we planted a stick that was floating down a river in Wiltshire. That was in 1954! It grew – rapidly – producing a wealth of leaves. We tried it as a foodplant and discovered that not only did British species do well on it, but exotic silkmoth larvae as well.
This stick was the daddy of hosts of willow thickets that we have established in Dorset, Cornwall and in France.
Osier is Basket Willow, the flexible essential for basket weaving. It makes a wonderful woven hedge. It can form living sculptures. Winter or summer, Osier makes wonderful screens and windbreaks. Cover for wildlife and game. Osier is grown as a crop for energy production. In short it is a blessing to the environment, and very pleasant on the eye in landscaping schemes.
We are offering a bunch of 10 cuttings for you to try not only as probably the most universal foodplant for larvae, but a great addition to your garden and grounds.
Probably the easiest cuttings to strike and grow. You simply push them into the ground, during autumn or spring. Leaves will appear within the first fortnight if planted in spring, roots quickly follow. In the first year they will more than double in size. Next year, in normal drought free conditions, if you winter prune very hard, you will have perhaps 2 metres of growth on every branch, providing masses of foodplant. You may even be able to feed some in the first year.
You can store cuttings before planting, either in a polythene bag in the fridge, or standing in water. In water they often start to root. It is advisable to plant them before the roots actually burst out of the bark.
This plant is a complete success story – you will be pleased you tried it!
Zig Zag Emperor Gonimbrasia tyrrhea, South Africa
Another first for WWB!
The very attractive larvae of this African Saturniid often live in groups, even when large. They feed on Portuguese Laurel Prunus Lusitania, Oak and Laurel Prunus laurocerasus and undoubtedly will feed on other trees and shrubs.
The pupa is formed underground and is not enclosed in a cocoon.
Silkworms Bombyx mori 20 Medium Silkworms
For delivery only to GB addresses as they don't travel long distances well.
Nearer half-grown these are advanced and, according to temperature, will be mature in a couple of weeks. Suitable size for class demonstration.
Copaxa multifenestrata Central America
Widespread, yet not commonly available for sale. Extremely variable in colours and markings. The females are shaped and patterned like Cricula found in Asia.
Larvae are gregarious in early instars. Foodplants reported are Willows and Sallows, Avocado and Liquidambar, but it is very likely they will accept a much wider variety of food plants.
Owl Butterfly Caligo South America
Magnificent and huge butterflies. Usually Caligo memnon or eurylochus. The larvae are fast-growing and eat quite a lot!
The natural food is leaves of the Banana tree, but they have been recorded as accepting leaves of Canna, Calathea, Strelitzia and even Bamboo, but they may not always accept Bamboo, or thrive as well on it.
