Some of the Eutricha pillars are a bit tricky to tell apart especially:
E. capensis
E. bifascia
E. obscura

Distribution helps:

• E. capensis & E. bifascia occur along the southwestern Cape coast from Paternoster down to the peninsula and east to Gqeberha.
• E. obscura occurs eastwards from around Kenton-on-Sea up the KZN coast, then inland to PMB, Pretoria and Kruger NP.

I am working on a map, but in so doing am finding several incorrect IDs. Once the map is cleaner I'll put it here.

HELPFUL PICTURES

Photo credits: E. bifascia (top to bottom) @felix_riegel @sallyslak @simphiwe_siphosethu | E. capensis @hyperolius @mariedelport

Photo credits: E. capensis @colin25 @glodina @tonyrebelo | E. obscura @anthonywalton @dherbert

E. capensis has western and eastern forms - the former can be confused with E. bifascia and the latter with E. obscura.

Thank you very much to the photographers for their wonderful photos!
.

The power of annotations

LIFE STAGE annotations are incredibly useful on iNat. Please add annotations to observations (yours and other people's)! The info here pertains to the website only, not the phone apps. If anyone wants to write up the info for the apps, please go right ahead!!

1. Usefulness of annotations
1. On the OBSERVATIONS (Explore) page
2. On the IDENTIFY page
3. On TAXON pages
1. Finding PHOTOS of particular life stages
2. Life Stage GRAPHS
3. Finding UNANNOTATED obs from the taxon page
4. Populating PROJECTS
2. How to batch add annotations and projects to your OWN observations
1. During upload using FIELDS
2. After upload using BATCH EDIT
3. How to ADD ANNOTATIONS to OTHER PEOPLE'S observations

1. Usefulness of annotations:

    A. Finding OBSERVATIONS of a particular life stage

In order to filter for particular life stage(s), you need to add the following code to the URL

&term_id=xx&term_value_id=yy

where xx = the number of the annotation and yy = the number of the life stage

To find all the relevant number values, please see the forum topic How to use iNaturalist's search URLs.

For lepis we need the following values:

• &term_id=1 1=Life Stage
• &term_value_id=2 2=Adult
• &term_value_id=4 4=Pupa
• &term_value_id=6 6=Larva
• &term_value_id=7 7=Egg

So if we want to find observations just of larvae (caterpillars), then the code you add to the URL is &term_id=1&term_value_id=6, and your URL will look like this:

and it will show only the observations with the annotation "Larva":

You can also see all PHOTOS for a life stage (not just the first photo (when there's more than 1) as on the Observations page), by using the link on the Taxon page (See below).

    B. IDENTIFYING observations of a particular life stage

If you want to ID only one life stage, then filtering for annotations is MUCH easier on the Identify page than it is for Observations (Explore) - yay! Just click on FILTERS and select the type of annotation and the value for it like so:

(You can add the code to the URL like you do on the Observations page.)

    C. TAXON pages

        a. Finding PHOTOS of a particular life stage

On every taxon page one can see all the photos loaded on iNat, and you can filter for a particular life stage:

Click on the VIEW MORE button on the images:

Then choose the life stage you want under the options at the top:

        b. Life Stage GRAPHS

This is my favourite use of annotations :-)

On the taxon page, click on the LIFE STAGE tab:

All sorts of fascinating info can be gleaned from these graphs, especially those with many observations. Here are some examples:

Blue=larva | Orange=adult | Green=pupa

        c. Finding UNANNOTATED observations from the taxon pages

On the Life Stage tab, click on the gear icon and choose Add annotations for "Life Stage":

This will open an Identify screen where you can add annotations (see Add annotations to other people's obs below).

    D. Populating PROJECTS

For projects collecting observations of only one or two life stages (but not all of them), one has two options. The first is to collect observations based on annotations (Collection Project), and the second is to manually add observations to the project (Traditional Project). Either way an extra step is required. It is much easier to add annotations using the Identify page, than it is to add observations to a project, which requires opening each and every observation separately. (We have asked on the forum for functionality to add projects on the Identify page. Nothing has been done in 3 years, so please feel free to add your vote there!)

To illustrate this issue, we have two Pillar Parade projects: the Traditional Project: Pillar Parade and the Collections Project: Pillar Parade 2. You will see that the second project has many more observations than the first because it is picking up all the annotated obs, and some people have done huge amounts of annotating other people's obs including myself, @lwnrngr , @jakob , @magdastlucia , @cheekychew and @dianastuder . Thank you very much to everyone who annotates! Many people are very good at annotating their own obs as well, which is greatly appreciated!

2. How to add annotations & projects to your own observations:

    A. Add annotations during upload

One can’t add annotations directly when uploading, but there is a nifty trick to do it indirectly using FIELDS. The field you need for insects is Insect life stage (note exactly how it's spelt etc). Once you’ve found the field the first time, it will always be in your fields list and very easy to find for subsequent uploads. Choose EGG, LARVA, PUPA or ADULT (for lepis and other holometabolous insects (there are other options for hemimetabolous insects including nymph and teneral)). This populates the annotations on upload - yay!

You can add this to all relevant observations in the batch you are uploading - choose SELECT ALL if all obs are of insects of the same life stage. For a series of obs, select the first in the series, hold down Shift and select the last in the series, then add the life stage to all of them. For non-consecutive obs, click on the first one you want, the hold down Ctrl and click on each of the others that you want to add to the selection, then add the life stage to all of them.

Once you've selected the life stage, you must click on ADD button otherwise it doesn't record. There may be instances (due to how the page is coded) when you can't see the Add button and can't scroll down to it. It is still there, just hit TAB on your keyboard and then ENTER. This works even though you can't see it happening ;-)

Use the same method to add observations to any Traditional Projects like Habitats (SAfr) or Reared from larval stage.

    B. Add annotations after upload using Batch Edit

This is a bit more of a faff, but once you've found all the buttons it's easy enough.

Go to your EDIT OBSERVATIONS tab. Click on Search and fill in the search terms you're looking for in the dropdown. Here we are looking for all lepis. Then click on the blue Search button at the bottom.

Click on BATCH EDIT. A checkbox appears next to each observation. Mark the box for each ob you want to add annotations to.

Click on EDIT SELECTED.

Click on BATCH OPERATIONS and a dropdown form appears.

Click on MORE FIELDS.

In the ADD A FIELD box, type in INSECT LIFE STAGE. Add the life stage. Click on APPLY FIELDS.

Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click SAVE ALL.

NB: This has only edited the obs on the page you are on, you will need to go to the next page to get another batch. The number of obs per page is selected at the bottom of the page. You can have anywhere between 10 and 200 obs per page, but I have found 200 to be a strain on my internet and perhaps iNat's resources.

3. How to add annotations to other people's observations:

For this you need to use the IDENTIFY page. Select the taxon you want to add annotations to, and then under FILTERS select all Quality Grades, and then select Without Annotation - choose Life Stage=any:

Then on the first ob click on the ANNOTATIONS tab and enter the relevant annotation(s).

You can use keyboard shortcuts also which makes the process much faster. Click on the KEYBOARD icon in the bottom left corner to show all the commands available.

Then click on the right arrow, or hit the right arrow key on your keyboard, enter next annotation. And keep going. (We have asked for functionality to batch add annotations, but admin isn't keen.) Please note that some of the observations (usually rearings) show more than one life stage, in which case don't annotate them.

You can also point many, many people at this journal post to show them how to add annotations during upload which will greatly reduce the work for everyone involved ;-)

Quicklinks

This post may be of interest to @katebraunsd @botswanabugs @magdastlucia @moira_fitzpatrick @colin25 @suncana @ricky_taylor @bushboy @wolfachim @jaheymans @bartwursten @shauns @fionahellmann @qgrobler @henrydelange @tuli @surfinbird @robert_taylor @magrietb @dhfischer @hermannstaude @phil183 @i_c_riddell @sallyslak @cyamscott @jaunnemarelize @spidermandan @andrewmorton @b_dvorak @cabintom @nicovr @rjpretor @ausweevil

Hello Pillar-people :-)

I have created an illustrated post to help ID the similar pillars of Coelonia fulvinotata (Fulvous Hawk) & Acherontia atropos (Death's Head Hawkmoth) in Sphingidae of southern Africa project -

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/sphingidae-hawkmoths-of-southern-africa/journal/68372

Thank you very much to all the photographers @suncana @craigmain @leani @rjpretor @nick-de-swardt @suemarsden @bartwursten @lukefoster @mishb93 @tjeerddw

We are super pleased to have published our next lot of data from the Caterpillar Rearing Group (CRG)! This is our third publication.

The paper is here:
An overview of Lepidoptera-host-parasitoid associations for southern Africa, including an illustrated report on 2 370 African Lepidoptera-host and 119 parasitoid-Lepidoptera associations
by @hermann_staude @karoopixie @silviakirkman @rjpretor Rolf Oberprieler @simonvannoort Allison Sharp, Ian Sharp, Julio Balona, @suncana @magrietb @andrewmorton @magdastlucia Steve Collins, @qgrobler @daveedge Mark Williams and Pasi Sihvonen.

Another 2,370 rearing records added since our last publication! An astonishing achievement :-) Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to this rearing effort and helping to push back the frontiers of knowledge.

We have also published the illustrated Master Lists, and I have updated this project's about section with the new links to each group of lepis. These are an invaluable resource for caterpillar (and moth) identification. They also show us what the little chaps eat, which helps rearers find food-plants for species not reared before.

(All the articles are available for free download on the Metamorphosis site. They are also available on ResearchGate.)

A special mention to @suncana who has come out of nowhere to become a rearing phenomenon to rival Hermann and the Sharps! She has won Lepsoc's Ivan Bampton Memorial Teapot for significant contributions to Lepidoptera lifecycle studies for 2020.

We encourage anyone who's interested to please rear caterpillars to adulthood, and submit the records to the CRG.

I have created a journal post in the Sphingidae project to help with identification of the very similar Hippotion celerio and H. eson caterpillars.

See https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/sphingidae-hawkmoths-of-southern-africa/journal/26881

Thank you very much to @magrietb for all her help :-)

Key created by Beetledude and fine-tuned for iNat by Karoopixie

Preliminaries:

• » Only 1: Only 3rd to 5th instar caterpillars. Younger instars look differently.
• » Only 2: DORSALLY FLATTENED SPINES ONLY.
• » Only 3: Only tribe Bunaeini (this came by itself).

• «Excluded 1: The caterpillar of the African Moon Moth, Argema mimosae (tribe Saturniini). The protuberances on its back are fleshy outgrowths, not spines.
• « Excluded 2: The caterpillars of the genus Epiphora (tribe Attacini). They have four dorsal outgrowths per segment, but these are like coloured pegs, and are not flattened spines.
• « Excluded 3: Caterpillars with other dorsal protuberances which are not flattened spines, e.g. Pseudobunaea spp.

Excluded taxa: 1. Argema mimosae © @suncana | 2. Epiphora mythimna © @cathy_munro | 3. Pseudobunaea tyrrhena © @suncana

The key:

1a.  Ground colour black (or dark red). Lateral row of large red or orange spiracles. Spines starkly white, sharp: a pair of dorsal white spines on each abdominal segment, plus one white spine on each flank. Large. Host plants Cussonia, Bauhinia, numerous other Fabaceae (trees), Celtis, Croton, Terminalia, etc	Cabbage Tree Emperor Bunaea alcinoe Bunaea alcinoe larvae photo by @colin25
1b.  Ground colour green, only rarely yellowish or brownish; with four flattened, white or silvery spines dorsally and dorsolaterally.	go to 2.
2a.  Speckling (white or yellow) below lateral line, and sometimes above it.	go to 3.
2b.  No speckling above or below lateral line.	go to 4.
3a.  Body green, with broader or narrower, dark lateral stripe: blackish or magenta, usually with a pale band below, with some yellow spots. Fine speckling of white or yellowish below and/or above the lateral stripe. Four prominent, flattened white or silver spines on each segment (may be reduced or absent), usually tipped with yellow, sometimes tips are red with tufts of bristles. Spiracles purple or yellow or yellow-and-purple striped. Up to 90mm long. Host plants Colophospermum mopane, Schotia and numerous other leguminous trees Gynanisa maja larva photo by @suncana	Speckled Emperor Gynanisa maja Gynanisa maja larva photo by @wolfachim
3b.  Body green, without a dark lateral stripe (at most a darker lateral line). Each body segment with four prominent silver spines. Spiracles black.	go to 5.
4a.  Silver spines edged with magenta-red only at tip and at base. Host plants several Senegalia species	Marbled Emperor Heniocha marnois
4b.  Silver spines tipped with yellow. Host plants Vachellia karroo, other Vachellia species, also Australian Acacia species; and H. a. flavida on Elephantorrhiza. Heniocha apollonia apollonia photo by @rslhaupt	Southern Marbled Emperor Heniocha apollonia Heniocha apollonia flavida photo by @hermannstaude
5a.  Each spine is greenish, edged with silver and tipped with yellow. Faint pinkish bands between segments. Up to 70mm long. Host plants Peltophorum, Albizia. Aurivillius fuscus larva photo by @alexanderr	Cat's-eye Emperor Aurivillius fuscus Aurivillius fuscus larva photo by @botalex
5b.  Underside covered with fine yellow spots. Silver spines edged entirely with magenta-red. Up to 65 mm long. Host plants numerous Senegalia species Heniocha dyops larva photo by @wolfachim	Western Marbled Emperor Heniocha dyops Heniocha dyops larva photo by @andrew_hankey Heniocha dyops larva photo by @wolfachim

Disclaimer: This key will work, but it is incomplete.

Sources:

LAMPE, R.E.J. 2010. Saturniidae of the World -- Pfauenspinner der Welt. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich. 368 pp.

OBERPRIELER, R. 1995. The Emperor Moths of Namibia. Ekogilde c.c., Hartbeespoort, South Africa. 91 pp.

PINHEY, E. 1972. Emperor Moths of South and South Central Africa. C. Struik, Cape Town. 150 pp.

Hard work by @beetledude

Thank you very much to the photographers :-)