Green Hairstreak Help!

[ABerryman]

I'll avoid the long story (which can be found on my personal diary) but I have ended up with at least 1 (and quite possibly more over the coming days) Green Hairstreak eggs. It/they were laid this morning, an are now each on short sections of Broom. For the moment, until I know exactly how many I have got, I have just stood these in some water. However I'm aware this won't last for long! If anyone has any experience rearing these I would be very grateful for any help! At present, my primary concern is supplying a foodplant for the first insta caterpillar. As the nature of this species is to bore into the buds of its foodplant, it seems sensible to have a live, healthy foodplant.

My only idea at present is the following:
to take a cutting of a bramble, plant it in a pot/border (so that it doesn't take over the whole garden!), this way the caterpillars, when they emerge can simply bore into the buds of the bramble. However my main concern with this is transferring the egg/caterpillar from the dying broom to the bramble.

I have reared a number of butterfly species though most have been a lot more straightforward than these! Any help is much appreciated.

Kind Regards

Alex

(Also does anybody know how long the caterpillar to pupae phase lasts?)

[MrSp0ck]

In Surrey there is a strong correlation with the ant Myrmica sabuleti, where pupae have been found in their nests. It seems the pupae attract ants by several methods.

I have only bred White-Letter which pupated on the underside of the Elm leaf with girdle, so cant answer with any other info, our local Green Hairstreak population lay on both the buds of Dogwood or Birdsfoot trefoil.

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Alex,

First off, the larvae are cannibalistic (the larger will always devour the smaller) so keep all larvae apart! Larvae will also devour newly-formed pupae. Green Hairstreak use quite a variety of plants and, of course, they do best on growing food plant, although I've recently discovered that some species do quite well in airtight plastic containers, although some food plants don't last very long in these conditions and need to be regularly changed (e.g. Bird's-foot Trefoil). Bramble (and its significant fleshy flower buds) sounds like a good suggestion.

While you could delicately place the larva (using a fine brush) onto one of its food plants, that could well be the last you see of it! So one alternative is the plastic box method, if you want study the larva as it develops. And do ensure that the larva isn't changing instar, since moving it (when it shouldn't be) can be a recipe for disaster as the larva fails to moult properly.

(Also does anybody know how long the caterpillar to pupae phase lasts?)

Durations from Frohawk:

1st instar - 10 days
2nd instar - 7 days
3rd instar - 8 days
4th instar - Not stated

Cheers,

- Pete

[ABerryman]

Hi Alex,

First off, the larvae are cannibalistic (the larger will always devour the smaller) so keep all larvae apart! Larvae will also devour newly-formed pupae. Green Hairstreak use quite a variety of plants and, of course, they do best on growing food plant, although I've recently discovered that some species do quite well in airtight plastic containers, although some food plants don't last very long in these conditions and need to be regularly changed (e.g. Bird's-foot Trefoil). Bramble (and its significant fleshy flower buds) sounds like a good suggestion.

While you could delicately place the larva (using a fine brush) onto one of its food plants, that could well be the last you see of it! So one alternative is the plastic box method, if you want study the larva as it develops. And do ensure that the larva isn't changing instar, since moving it (when it shouldn't be) can be a recipe for disaster as the larva fails to moult properly.

ABerryman wrote:
(Also does anybody know how long the caterpillar to pupae phase lasts?)


Durations from Frohawk:

1st instar - 10 days
2nd instar - 7 days
3rd instar - 8 days
4th instar - Not stated

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Pete,

Thanks for all of that info, that is great. I would quite like to watch the larva develop (and there seems to be an obvious lack of photos of this species' cats) so will give the plastic container a try.

In this case is it best to leave just a very short part of the stem (with egg attached) in the box close to hatching (I have read 2-3 weeks?) with a fresh bramble bud? Once this bud begins to become less desirable for the cat I will make sure there is a fresh bud next to it - hopefully the cat will be sensible to move across?!

Thanks for all your help,

Cheers,

Alex

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Alex - yes, that's pretty much all there is to the "rear in a plastic box" method Just be aware that the food plant will desiccate very quickly, so change it as often as needed.

Cheers,

- Pete