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Post by cabintom on Jun 20, 2017 4:47:21 GMT -8
There was a young missionary in the Congo (?) to whom I gave several bait traps never expecting anything in return. He left Insect Net for the other site, Cabin Tom was his email name. I would like to know if he ever used them and if so, what did he collect? That is why I am very reluctant to give someone traps in exchange for specimens. I have been stung more than once. I do check back here once in a while. I'm looking to create a website for my collection and, among other things related to the hobby, have to build my own storage boxes to hold my specimens, so I don't have as much free time for either forum as I've had in the past. I haven't been terribly successful with the bait trap you gave me, but that's mostly because deploying it the right environment has proved tricky. I usually have it up in a tree in my yard and I've consistently caught Charaxes brutus angustus. If they're on the wing, I'll have one or two in the trap at the end of the day. Other than that, I've found Charaxes candiope (a couple), Charaxes castor castor (single), Charaxes numenes aequatorialis (single), and Charaxes boueti boueti (increasingly more common). The problem being that I'm in the middle of a city, and the surrounding grassland isn't terribly rich in biodiversity (thanks to human activity). Outside of Charaxes, I get a few different Bicyclus (Satyrinae) species, Gnophodes betsimena parmeno, Melanitis leda, Melanitis libya (rare), Eurytela dryope, and rarely male Hypolimnas misippus.
I usually get out to the forest, for a day trip, every month or so, and this is where deploying the bait traps has proved difficult to do successfully. I've had problems with bad bait, bait falling in the river, etc. But mostly, I have yet to discover the secret of good trap placement. I'd like to hang it up along the paths we habitually hike, but if it's too much out in the open, the villagers are often frightened/worried/superstitious about it and I have literally seen them turn around and head home instead of pass by the bait trap hung along the side of the path (and it's the only path heading south out of that particular village). So usually I try to hang it off the way a bit, but it seem it always ends up being to much in the shade. Also, by the time we hike to where I want to hang the trap, it's only up for a few hours before we head back out, so there's not much opportunity for it to be found by the insects. Preferably, I'd hang it up somewhere and leave it for a couple of days before checking on what it's captured, but that's just not feasible. Over the months I have caught a number of "forest" species with it, just not in numbers. I especially would like to figure out how to entice Euphaedra, Bebearia, and other Limenitinae to enter the trap, as so far I've had almost no success with those species at all. I hang the trap low, just above the ground, but they don't seem to enter readily. I have often seen them sitting on the outside of the trap rather then entering.
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Post by cabintom on Sept 9, 2016 6:13:26 GMT -8
Hand them a net and tell them to give it a go. My experience has been that either they'll gain an appreciation for the skill needed to catch a butterfly (after making a fool of themselves) or they'll realize it's actually kind of fun.
Much more often, I inundate these folks with facts about them. Migrations. Carnivorous caterpillars. The top speed of certain Charaxes. Mimicry complexes. Habitat specializations. etc etc etc. I work into the conversation that they are in fact butterFLIES and how disgusting many of them actually are... far from cutesy image many people have of "fluttering around flowers." Throw latin names around too. People need to understand we're not just collecting butterflies, we're actively doing science. I am, I guess, in a bit of special position in that I live where there are still discoveries to be made, so I can legitimately brag about having the first records for a couple different species for the entire country and about having collected species that "no scientist has yet been able to identify".
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Satyrs
Jun 27, 2016 21:42:32 GMT -8
Post by cabintom on Jun 27, 2016 21:42:32 GMT -8
Once you have an idea of the habits/habitat of the particular species you're looking for it gets easier. Around here, I find Satyridae practically everywhere. Some prefer flying in the tall savanna grasses and can very easily be found along paths. Others stick to the shade of the forest but readily come to banana bait.
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Post by cabintom on Jun 23, 2016 8:54:16 GMT -8
When I got home from work last night I had two fresh epione on the light sheet and nothing in the trap. These finicky catocala don't like the cantaloupe bait Would cantaloupe be sweet enough?
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Post by cabintom on Jun 14, 2016 6:03:54 GMT -8
I appreciate how you can buy the "Frog Net Endorsement" but you can't actually use it.
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Post by cabintom on Jun 13, 2016 20:06:10 GMT -8
I would bet that it's Nitra's supplier from North Kivu that's been trying to track me down on facebook. I don't have much interest in purchasing specimens though. If it is the same guy, just know that if his collectors are actively out in the field at the moment, they're risking life and limb for those butterflies. Is he only trying to track you down on Facebook, or in the field as well? I think everyone is risking their life in that part of the World, doing whatever they are doing. You as well Cabintom, pls before careful scouting for Leps out there! If it's the same guy, he's in the province south of me, so it wouldn't be easy for him to track me down in the field... well, unless he came to town here and started asking around. As for safety, I'm north and south and east of various rebel/militia groups here, so that's not a concern for me. Anyone supplying from Nord Kivu, on the other hand, is in the middle of it and taking very large risks.
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Post by cabintom on Jun 11, 2016 21:02:34 GMT -8
I would bet that it's Nitra's supplier from North Kivu that's been trying to track me down on facebook. I don't have much interest in purchasing specimens though. If it is the same guy, just know that if his collectors are actively out in the field at the moment, they're risking life and limb for those butterflies.
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Post by cabintom on Jun 4, 2016 23:05:15 GMT -8
Well, here's the best I can do:
1. Euphaedra cf. preussi (even with good photos of a set specimen's recto/verso, this group is hard to ID) 2. My guess is Euphaedra dargei 3. Likely Euphaedra harpylace 4. Bebearia ? (need verso) 5. Something along the lines of Euphaedra preussiana 6. Bebearia ? (need verso) 7. Possibly Bebearia nivaria 8. Bebearia ? (need verso) 9. Possibly Bebearia cutteri 10. Euphaedra castanoides is the only one in the group that fits the sub-apical band. (but I don't have any images of its verso, so I can't be sure this is a correct ID)
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Post by cabintom on May 31, 2016 19:55:49 GMT -8
LOL What a joke that would be if P. nireus / sosia / chrapkowskii were listed in CITES.
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Post by cabintom on May 30, 2016 19:51:19 GMT -8
In Africa the females Papilio or Graphium can be caught early in the day at man level and / or under forest (even during the day in this case). If you know a locality where it occurs, you can get some. This seems also true for antimachus and zalmoxis (I know some caught early in the day and one on flowers). If you are really lucky, they may be some flowers where they fly and then it is the jackpot. If you look for females, the best way is to hunt under forest or early in the day or near flowers, don't try the canopy as first choice. they are very few people hunting early in the day in the forest and many hunters avoid to hunt inside the forest where quite nothing is flying How early is "early in the day"?
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Post by cabintom on May 30, 2016 10:43:31 GMT -8
You've got several Bebearia in this group. Unfortunately I don't have much time to work at IDing these today or tomorrow. But if no one else takes a crack at IDing these, when I have some time later in the week I will.
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Post by cabintom on May 29, 2016 6:03:50 GMT -8
What's the locality for these? I would imagine this would be a secret that is taken to the grave Tom, keep scouring the jungles looking for scaffolding towers as I imagine that's where this supplier is getting them from. Rich I meant more in a general sense. Kivus? Central Congo? Cameroon?
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Post by cabintom on May 28, 2016 20:04:43 GMT -8
What's the locality for these?
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Post by cabintom on May 19, 2016 6:29:46 GMT -8
Yeah, I'm very curious where those numbers of kills were sourced from. Actually, after a quick google search, my money is on those numbers being based on this Wikipedia article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_wind_power#Impact_on_wildlife...and they pulled the worst numbers available from it. I find it interesting that the wiki article cites a Canadian study that showed 8.2 bird deaths per turbine per year... it would seem that I've lived in houses far more dangerous to birds than wind turbines. Edit: To say I find it staggering how many more birds are killed by communications towers and, especially, power lines.
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Post by cabintom on May 12, 2016 6:32:13 GMT -8
With the background and the high quality of the specimen, I'm still sort of left wondering if this is somehow a great computer render.
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