FOR SALE, Mourning Cloak Butterfly eggs

Nymphalis antiopa --  Mourning Cloak Butterfly eggs for sale.

$8 for first dozen + $6 for each additional dozen + $8.00 shipping.

Shipping can be combined for multiple species for no additional cost; please check to see if I have other ads (no photos, posted same day as this ad).

U.S.A. orders only please. 

Eggs are from wild-caught butterflies.

The Mourning Cloak butterfly is one of the few butterflies that is capable of living a full year as an adult.  It overwinters as an adult and is one of the first butterflies to be seen in the spring after a cold winter.  It is one of the most widely distributed butterflies in the world.  The adults will often “play dead” when handled.

Foodplants:  Leaves of willows (Salix), Poplars (Populus), Elms (Ulmus), Hackberry (Celtis), Birch (Betula), and Alder (Alnus) are most often selected, although Pear (Pyrus), Linden (Tilia), Maple (Acer), Dock (Rumex) and Hops (Humulus) have also been reported.  I have always used American Elm, Hackberry, or native willows.  Note that some willows lack the surface chemicals the larvae need to recognize them as food, so provide the larvae with alternatives when they hatch.  The larvae are gregarious and stay in a group until they are mature and ready to pupate.  

Anglewing butterflies carry latent viruses that are activated by warm weather and kill the larvae, so the larvae survive best at cooler times of the year.  Note that adult Mourning Cloak butterflies usually sleep (aestivate) during the hot summer months and then become active again in the fall.  These viruses can kill larvae soon after hatching or later on, depending on the type of virus and the severity of the heat.  Because of this, you will have the most success rearing the larvae indoors in air conditioning during hot weather, so that the larvae are kept cool enough to prevent these viruses from activating.

 Note: Eggs are sensitive to excessive heat: please do not supply an address that delivers to a location in the sun.   Please allow me a full week to ship because the eggs you have purchased might not have been laid yet, other orders may be ahead of yours, and butterflies do not lay many eggs on cloudy days.  If the package is delayed and the eggs hatch and die in transit, I will either re-ship or refund the order and shipping charges, because all problems associated with shipping are the responsibility of the seller.  Never place food plant leaves in a closed container with eggs.