I have an Evening Primrose Flower Moth caterpillar ( Schinia Florida) that I would like to try raising to adulthood. Does anyone know what condition this caterpillar needs for pupation and to make it thru the winter and spring ? Does it pupate in soil, or attached to the Evening Primrose, or what ?
The only paper I could find was this one - 1970-24(4)282-Hardwick.pdf (yale.edu). It seems as if it pupates in the soil. If it’s still a larva, stick it in a jar with soil (and a paper ‘climber’ for the spring). I don’t know where you are, but a fridge should do for it to break diapause. You may need to keep it moist, but not too wet. Come spring, When they generally emerge, take it out of the fridge and wait and see. If you are in an area that does not get too cold in winter (not much below 0C) you could leave the jar outside where it is a little more humid than a fridge. -10 to -20 may kill it.
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Thank you !!! This is just what I needed.
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We also highly encourage you to document the life stage process to inaturalist! You can refer to this thread here that is about documenting life stages of lepidoptera (although this can be applied to various other taxa as well): https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-the-field-similar-observation-set-for-linking-observations-of-lepidoptera-when-raising-on/1018
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I found this helpful although it is about butterflies - https://www.joyfulbutterfly.com/overwinter-chrysalis/
About 2-3 cm of soil should be enough.
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