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Monday, March 23, 2026

Released Dictyobia

Running short on dodder biomass, also my CalBG sunflower bushes were getting insufficiently lush and freaking the Dictyobia out. Apparently just like Croton if you don't water them enough they get droughtstressed even if the soil remains damp? I hate angiosperms sometimes.

I did get a look at their courtship behavior before the release though. Apparently when the male makes physical contact with an unmated female there's no fanfare, they just connect their genitalia. At a distance though there was some (audible! albeit faintly) singing which sounded like a zipper being zipped back and forth a few times, also when not singing the male sometimes moved its wings in a way that I can only describe as "trying to open a padlocked gate by pushing it repeatedly instead of unlocking it". Nothing too interesting happened though and the females didn't seem to react much if at all to whatever the male was doing. Honestly things like this are why I don't care about Coniontis any more. Insect courtship dances just seem kind of disappointing in general.

Also while catching more Tiaja I semiaccidentally caught and reared this thing to adulthood, since it looked like a Tiaja nymph (turns out was the same subfamily). Released it after.

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