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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 25, 2021 22:40:00 GMT -8
When I was about 11 or 12 years old, my family went on vacation to Big Bend National Park. We spent one night at a motel in Marathon, TX. Next to the motel was a brightly lit gas station that was crawling with bugs, many of which were exotic and unfamiliar to me. I filled several jars and took them back to the motel room. I was very excited about my haul. The next morning we packed up and prepared to leave for Big Bend, but I had not yet packed my bug jars. My dad said we were going to stop for breakfast before leaving but we were going back to the motel afterwards to check out. I was hungry, so I decided to leave the jars in the room. After breakfast, we got on the road. I soon realized we were not heading back to the motel. My dad had decided to check out before breakfast, and he said we had gone too far to turn around. To this day I still dream about what was in those jars and all the unknown specimens I missed out on. Wow, dude... I'm so sorry man... your dad was/is a special class of d-bag.
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 25, 2021 22:39:04 GMT -8
58chevy, that's a heartbreaking story. Similar to how I lost my brand new net- my error, Dad said we're not going back. I was upset for days, and every time I visit the location I'd left my net behind, I can still see it there, more than 40 years later. Anyway, I'd run out of glassine envelopes, so on a family trip to South Carolina I made triangles from wax paper. The summer heat melted the wax, and congealed it with the wings of my specimens. I won't tell you how old I was, it would be too embarassing and I should have known better. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Chuck I've done that... as an adult. Thankfully there were no casualties worse than Phyciodes mylitta. Edit: I've also lost my net--again, as an adult... twice... in the same summer. I had sepsis that spring which likely impacted my faculties some. After the first net loss, I had the luck of being able to catch gravid females of multiple butterfly species in one UT location with my bare hands or a small field container. I would be helpless in the face of a huge flight of Cercyonis sthenele masoni I unexpectedly happened upon, however. I've still not encountered that bug again.
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 25, 2021 22:31:50 GMT -8
Not quite a field disaster, but on my way out to the east Mojave to do some early spring butterflying in 2015 I had the incident of a lifetime. I had had a rather large, spicy lunch at home and about 1/4 of the way out to my destination, around Rancho Cucamonga, I was feeling it down below. Traffic was a nightmare (this was a rush hour Friday as I recall) and I was not able to exit the freeway on the timing I would have preferred. By the time I managed to make it somewhere, anywhere to stop (a little Thai joint) and run in to use the toilet, a literal river of diarrhea was running down not only my shorts, but in drips and drops all over the floor of said eatery which was thankfully vacant at the time. When management discovered the lovely prize I am sure their hooting and hollering could be heard for miles around. They mopped up the floor outside the bathroom--I had to clean up inside. I had to throw out those shorts and briefs needless to say and somewhere, somehow, they found some pajama bottoms for me to wear outside of their establishment (that I still have to this day).
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 24, 2021 20:15:34 GMT -8
Talking about Swedish machaon and breeding, it was very interesting to find that when I bred that here in Chiang Mai at 38C, much hotter than the larvae would experience in nature, there was absolutely no effect on phenotype due to the high temperature. I was wondering whether the offspring would look more like southern European machaon, but there was no effect on appearance at all. This shows that phenotype is mainly genetically controlled rather than due to environment. I also found that other subspecies retained their normal appearance as well, suggesting that each population is genetically distinct, at least with respect to appearance. Adam. I think under most circumstances it's really hard to produce temperature abs. In early 2016 when doing a large batch of zelicaon, I had the idea of putting large numbers of very fresh pupae in the fridge for a day. A couple of them died, but those that did not all emerged typically (a few pupae became somewhat discolored but emerged okay). Likewise summer 2020 was one of some extreme heat waves and I don't have air conditioning; all of my zelicaon came out normally just the same (including those I found as wild pupae). I am sure that at least some heat/cold aberrations are in fact just outright genetic mutations.
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 24, 2021 19:59:53 GMT -8
This looks like thoas to me. By the way, cresphontes is not in Mexico. It's rumiko.
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 24, 2021 19:58:06 GMT -8
These people are nuts.
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 7, 2021 20:35:05 GMT -8
You naughty boy you! Don't you know Monarchs are ENDANGERED!!! There are only 2000 left west of the Continental Divide! They will go extinct any day you insect murderer!
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 7, 2021 17:21:45 GMT -8
I tried luna on Eucalyptus the better part of a decade ago based on Oehlke's testimonials... all took a bite, and then all died.
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 7, 2021 17:19:55 GMT -8
It would be nice if there were a way to get collecting and export permits for Cuba... which I reckon is probably less likely than me getting my own space shuttle and a pilot's license to fly to Jupiter and collect there!
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 7, 2021 15:13:01 GMT -8
There are a vast array of chemicals that are effective at preventing mould forming. Anything containing phenol is good, personally I use TCP. These are very toxic and awful smelling. BicBugs taught me the 50/50 water and white vinegar trick for relaxer paper towel sheets.
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 7, 2021 15:12:12 GMT -8
For "upside down" spreading what I do is flip the specimen over on its pin after it is off the board. In other words, put the pin back through the hole the opposite way in the thorax. Doing this takes steady hands, tweezers, and a sharp eye. You also can't do it with a fresh insect full of hemolymph as that will act like glue. In that case the specimen needs to fully dry papered, and then relax it.
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 7, 2021 13:37:31 GMT -8
I very much doubt that. It would have been starved at early L5 and formed a minute pupa compared to normal. A larva that doesn't get past L2 can't pupate, it would just die. Adam. It is also possible it was diseased and that compromised the larva's growth/absorption or appetite. CPV or granulosis virus cause malabsorption of the larval gut, i.e. "caterpillar celiac" so the caterpillar eats but gets nothing out of its diet.
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Post by papiliotheona on Jan 22, 2020 18:14:02 GMT -8
In all honesty doesn't really seem like it's worth it to go anymore. What a pathetic shame.
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Post by papiliotheona on Jan 5, 2020 17:55:54 GMT -8
My favorite is the goatweed leafwing (Anaea andria). I like how they are perfectly camouflaged until my slightest movements send them flying rapidly with unpredictable movements while revealing their beautiful red color. They are so fast! I like the challenge of catching them. Easy to rear if you time it right. The larvae make rolled leaf tubes like joints.
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Post by papiliotheona on Jan 5, 2020 17:45:51 GMT -8
Several early members of the Lepidopterists Society, including Stan Nicolay were stationed on Guadalcanal during the War after the Japanese were defeated and evacuated the Island. Stan Nicolay said he did not collect during the War. And, he had no intentions of going back for any reason. Kilian Roever speaks of him sometimes. Is he still around?
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