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Post by beetlehorn on May 16, 2015 1:37:07 GMT -8
Thanks to this website, and Clark, we as insect collectors have had the opportunity to come together online and share thoughts and ideas. Also to buy, sell and trade specimens, and just generally meet fellow collectors we would have never even known of otherwise. This website has sparked some good friendships for me personally, and perhaps others as well. So this brings me to wonder, where are there more insect collectors concentrated in a given area than anywhere else? In regards to the US, I believe the LA California area may be it. Here in Tennessee, I know of no one else in my area that collects insects. I remember traveling to southern Arizona and seeing other collectors especially at night. That never happens here. That's because the concentration is much-much lower, whereas destinations such as Arizona have become quite popular, and so you will see collectors from all over the US, or the world for that matter. I believe that is another reason we don't have the kind of insect fairs here in the eastern US as they do in LA or Europe.
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Post by africaone on May 16, 2015 5:02:41 GMT -8
may be take a look to Japan ... USA or Europe are nothing comparing it !
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Post by ornithorchid on May 16, 2015 6:09:52 GMT -8
I believe Japanese have the big ¥¥¥ and having it, there is no limitation to go over the top to obtain/reach up to specimens (set up expeditions or hire people to collect for their personal drawers).
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Post by admin on May 16, 2015 7:59:51 GMT -8
I believe Japanese have the big ¥¥¥ and having it, there is no limitation to go over the top to obtain/reach up to specimens (set up expeditions or hire people to collect for their personal drawers). I think you right about Japan. The Japanese are very into it. So, when I promote InsectNet I always say something like "One of the most popular insect web sites in the English language" because there's a whole lot of insect boards on the web in the Japanese language, probably a lot better than what we are doing here, but who can read them??? Not to mention the very well-established German language board that we all know. |
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Post by admin on May 16, 2015 9:55:34 GMT -8
This is an interesting topic. I checked my ISP reports and found this chart. It shows where the visitors to InsectNet are coming from. The top three in terms of Pages Viewed are: USA China France  But notice that Italy, which is only ninth in the list, is actually using more than half the bandwidth the USA visitors are using, which is number one in terms of Pages Viewed. Hmmmm.... |
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Post by ornithorchid on May 16, 2015 11:25:13 GMT -8
But notice that Italy, which is only ninth in the list, is actually using more than half the bandwidth that the USA visitors are using, which is number one in terms of Pages Viewed. Hmmmm.... That might just mean that Italians love to look at our pictures, more than reading the messages  |
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Post by 58chevy on May 16, 2015 12:48:23 GMT -8
I know of 7 or 8 collectors in the Houston, TX area (pop. 4,000,000). Texas A&M, an agricultural college with the largest insect collection in the state, sponsors an Open House every January that attracts an average of about 50 collectors & bug enthusiasts from TX and sometimes neighboring states. There is also a smaller get-together in Louisiana, usually during the summer.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2015 13:15:27 GMT -8
Illinois
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Post by Borja Gómez on May 16, 2015 14:12:06 GMT -8
Hello
It's an interesting topic. I can comment my point of view about wich country has more person who buy insects or do exchanges, wich is the people I get in contact with, when selling or exchanging. This may not reflict the proportion of collectors, because a huge amount of the insect collectors never use internet for buying or exchanging, they just collect they own material in expeditions or in their own country and between colleagues they know personally. I'm sure that Japan has the most dense population of insect enthusiast, but the japanese market it's generally little permeable (mostly to idiomatic issues), so it's more like they buy and exchange between them than with the rest of the world (although a big proportion of buyers for example is Japanese). I cannot talk about wich state of US has the more dense population of insect collectors, but perhaps I have received more buyers from people of western States, CA specially. In terms of propotion I think there are many more collectors in USA than in EU (maybe not in total, as USA has about half of EU population). Considering total population and country by country, in EU I think that the countries with biggest proportion of collectors are in this order, France, UK and Germany. There are collectors in all the countries, but in these 3 specially there is a lot of tradition in natural history collections and historic naturalist, so there is most interest in collections (also collecting doesn't need specific permit as in other countries, like Spain, for example). Special mention to Czech Republic, that with about 10 million population has a lot of collectors too (maybe this it is the most dense collector country), an also place where some good entomologic material are made.
Regards
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Post by admin on May 16, 2015 14:31:45 GMT -8
But notice that Italy, which is only ninth in the list, is actually using more than half the bandwidth that the USA visitors are using, which is number one in terms of Pages Viewed. Hmmmm.... That might just mean that Italians love to look at our pictures, more than reading the messages That could be. After all, so many famous paintings and artwork were done in Italy. Italians have an eye for beauty. |
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Post by beetlehorn on May 17, 2015 7:48:39 GMT -8
It is my opinion that there would be more interest in collecting here in the US if it were not for the ridiculous regulations imposed upon us by our own government. The people in charge of our laws invent regulations that are based on arbitrary opinions. Generally speaking they do nothing to actually conserve insect populations. We collectors are looked upon as an evil threat to butterfly populations, but when the chainsaws crank up, and the bulldozers roll in to completely wipe out the entire ecosystem, and totally decimate everything, nothing is ever done or said about that. The whole legal system is so backwards it literally makes me sick! A while ago I saw a bumper sticker that said " I Love America, But I Hate The A....les That Run It!" I'm sure there are silly regulations in other countries as well.
Sorry for the rant. I just hate to see such a wonderful activity go down the drain due to our opinionated over-regulating government. Perhaps there are more collectors out there than I am aware of, even in my local area. They simply choose to remain discreet. It's just not a mainstream outdoor activity like hunting or fishing, so it doesn't get the same attention from the general public. Collecting insects gives an individual a real connection with all aspects of nature-(plant life, birds, reptiles, weather, moon phases, etc.)- that in my opinion would make a great activity for anyone. That being said I just can't understand why there aren't more people involved in it.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2015 9:11:35 GMT -8
Amen Tom...... the single biggest obstacle/deterrent is our govt.  The people willing to take the importation risk or deal with the ridiculous fees are fewer and fewer in number........including me. |
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Post by coloradeo on May 18, 2015 20:01:53 GMT -8
Clark -- Not that you're not already busy, but do you have the same server hits breakdown by state? That would be interesting for those of us in the USA.
Eric
(Colorado)
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Post by admin on May 18, 2015 22:08:41 GMT -8
Clark -- Not that you're not already busy, but do you have the same server hits breakdown by state? That would be interesting for those of us in the USA. Eric (Colorado) Hmmmm...I've never seen such stats that I can remember. I'll look around. |
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Post by wollastoni on May 20, 2015 2:14:30 GMT -8
I would agree with Radovan on this.
BTW Radovan, how do you explain that there are so many Czech entomologists ?
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The people willing to take the importation risk or deal with the ridiculous fees are fewer and fewer in number........including me.
