2nd cohort of caterpillars hatched — by Thomas Hossie on

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My second set of  Papilio canadensis eggs (laid by my second female) finally hatched today! Only 2 of the 9 eggs haven't hatched yet. H...

Proof of concept: caterpillars spend time on tree branches — by Thomas Hossie on

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Today as I was watching the caterpillars feeding and I had a 'proof of concept' moment. Last summer I did a research project where I...

Eyespots! — by Thomas Hossie on

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My first "cohort" of caterpillars now have eyespots! This cohort is now down to 7 individuals, down from about 9 eggs laid. I'...

Flyways - Papilio canadensis — by Thomas Hossie on

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Here is an example of a "flyway". Basically it's just a open corridor lined with trees. The best ones for finding tiger swa...

Perseverance — by Thomas Hossie on

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I went out looking for more female Papilio canadensis butterflies yesterday. Once again, Isa was helping me. We did not see many Swallowtai...

Field and Lab Notes — by Thomas Hossie on

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Yesterday was a beautiful day, sunny and reaching 31°C. I went out collecting and had some help from Isabellle Letourneau. We spent the mor...

Papilio canadensis caterpillars (1st instar) — by Thomas Hossie on

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Today I was very happy to see that the 9 eggs that my first female had layed earlier have hatched! I now have my first batch of  Papilio can...

Sexing Tiger Swallowtail butterflies (Papilio canadensis) — by Thomas Hossie on

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As promised, I created some comparative photos that show how you can differentiate male and female Swallowtails. Photographs are of Papilio...

OPP — by Thomas Hossie on

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A few days ago I was out looking for Swallowtails and I decided that I would travel light. Basically I was only planning to be out for about...

Field work struggles — by Thomas Hossie on

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When I first went out catching I just took everything I could catch. I ended up getting 11 adults on my first day – pretty good I thought. B...

Rearing set up — by Thomas Hossie on

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Here are a few details about my set up back at my home base. I set up a large screen tent outdoors. I tried to set it up so it was halfwa...

Intro to Fieldwork 2011 — by Thomas Hossie on

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So my “Live tweets” won’t be of much use for those people that have no idea what I am doing this summer. Currently, I am in the 2 nd phase...

Twitter — by Thomas Hossie on

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I should mention that I will be live tweeting my progress through the summer. At times I include pictures (aka "tweetpics"). If yo...

The Origin of Mimicry Theory — by Thomas Hossie on

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Henry Walter Bates “Every species in nature may be looked upon as maintaining its existence by virtue of some endowment enabling it...

Introduction — by Thomas Hossie on

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“The most extraordinary instance of imitation I ever met with was that of a very large Caterpillar, which ... startled me by its resemblanc...