Happy New Year! I wish you all a fantastic breeding year, with lots of first time ever species and few disappointments. No, not no disappointment. Failing broods come with the hobby. Not much fun, but part of life. Still, I wish you all the best with keeping your caterpillars alive. The more successful broods, the better for everyone.
When looking back at the past year, I had my ups and downs as well. More then just a few species refused to pair and some caterpillars died in an early stage. Part of life and they were not the most important species. I'm confident that I can replace at least some of the failures this year. So let's look at the upside. I managed to obtain quite a few first-timers myself. I was in particular very happy with the Holocerina and Decachorda from Malawi and the American silkworms (Apatelodidae) from Colombia. Maybe not the most spectacular species, but at least something less ordinary to rear. It's difficult to choose a favorite. Like always, it has been a busy year with way too many species. But if I had to pick one species, I would say the Phiala from Malawi. Not only because I caught the female myself, but also because it was the first Monkey Moth (Eupterotidae) on my blog.
Let's see if I can do better in 2018 ...
1. To keep everything from Malawi alive
I have returned from Malawi just recently and brought home an awful lot of eggs. Many of them within the scope of this blog. So, what I want most at the beginning of the year is to keep as many of these species alive as possible. Of course, there will be failures. Those among you who brought home eggs from Africa know that getting some of these species to eat is not that easy. Many of them are not at all polyphage and specialize in a limited number of plants. In the case of Malawi, many of them are Brachystegia/Julbernardia or Uapaca feeders. Nope, that doesn't grow in Belgium. I have a lot of plants, but not all of them. Needless to say that I already lost a few species and I will probably loose some more. Hopefully not too many ...
2. My first Anthelidae
In 2017 I was finally able to display my first Eupterotidae and Apatelodidae species on these pages. Let 2018 be the year of my first Australian Lappet (Anthelidae).
3. More Lappets
Yes !!!!! More, more, more ... One can never get tired of Lappets (Lasiocampidae). If all goes well with my number one here, then there will be at least some African species to show. Nice, yes, but let's do better. One species from every continent would be great.
4. Hylesia species
Probably the biggest disappointment of 2017. Even though in my most wanted list, I did not get any of them. Tsss, tsss, tsss ...
5. Imbrasia obscura and Imbrasia epimethea
Two failures of 2017. The first one I received as pupae, but they simply failed to pair. At least the few that hatched. A large number of the pupae were parasitized. Instead of moths I got fairly large wasps. The second species I received as eggs. Most of the eggs had already hatched in the mail and I never got them to eat properly. All perished before reaching the second instar. Let's try again.
6. Apatelodes torrefacta and Apatelodes pudefacta
I think receiving eggs of both Apatelodes species present in the USA would make my year. So American friends, try a little harder this year. Less talking about what you want from me and a bit more catching females so that you actually have something interesting to trade. While you're busy moth trapping, remember the number three! One from each continent ...
7. Hyles vespertilio and Hyles nicaea
Not the most common of the European Hyles species, but not impossible to get. I haven't reared a Hyles for a while now. Time to change that.
8. Eupterote species
Not the first time that this genus of Asian Monkey Moths appear in my most wanted list. Don't know why these fairly large moths are not more popular. I definitely still want to rear them. All members of the genus are welcome.
9. Mustilia species
Yes, there was a Mustilia offered last year and I did ordered some eggs. None of them hatched. Let's hope it goes a little bit better this year. And of course, an Obertheuria is still a good alternative.
10. Mirina species
Beautiful members of the Endromidae with even more beautiful caterpillars. This genus only occurs in East Asia and the Russian Far East. It probably will be next to impossible to get some livestock.