jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Apr 21, 2022 8:23:21 GMT -8
I am in Vancouver.
The University of British Columbia’s online specimen records for Platycerus oregonensis show that this species has been collected at several locations around Metro Vancouver, including Stanley Park and Pacific Spirit Park, near UBC, in Point Grey.
A report online says Platycerus oregonensis has been found boring in beach driftwood, just above the shoreline.
I am very familiar with Pacific Spirit Park, in Point Grey. I think Pacific Spirit Park would be the best location for this species in Vancouver. Please message me if you would like to discuss further.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Mar 29, 2022 19:10:40 GMT -8
I smiled when I read your comment about the photo you posted of the cake-or-pastry cover because the same thought immediately occurred to me the first time I saw the very same kind of cover on display in a fancy bakery where several of the covers were being used to protect pastries.
I’m currently re-purposing small, made-in-China, wire-mesh waste paper baskets as emergence cages for reared Saturniid moths. The baskets are just small enough to pop into the fridge to chill the moths and immobilize them before injecting them. Very handy.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Dec 19, 2021 10:51:13 GMT -8
In the course of rearing tropical Saturniidae, I often need to heat the interior of one or two large, plastic, storage totes. To warm the air in a tote, I use a tubular glass tropical fish heater immersed in a heavy, glass milk bottle filled with water. (Each fish heater has a built-in, on-and-off thermostat control.) I wrap the exterior of the tote with bubble plastic and drape a towel over it as well to keep in the warmth.
I like your idea of using a tiny, plug-in wall heater. But can such a heater be run on an extension cord? Or does it have to be plugged directly into a wall outlet?
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Dec 18, 2021 11:42:37 GMT -8
I obtained eggs of Rothschildia cincta from Arizona and reared the resulting cincta larvae on Prunus serotina during the summer of 2019. In the summer of 2020, only one moth emerged (a female). The cincta cocoons overwintered again and the moths finally emerged in the summer of 2021. One cocoon continues to diapause. I’m assuming it will produce a moth in the summer of 2022.
I kept my overwintering cincta cocoons dry and cool, but not in the fridge. If I had overwintered the cincta cocoons at a colder temperature, perhaps more than just one moth would have emerged in the summer of 2020.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Aug 7, 2021 5:57:37 GMT -8
Every Saturniid species I rear is reared with the aim of obtaining a series of perfect specimens for my collection.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Aug 6, 2021 7:29:24 GMT -8
For pupating Saturniid larvae that burrow, you can put the larvae in containers (one larva per container) with some cut up, damp paper towel. Make sure the containers are kept in darkness. Or you can put multiple larvae in a large container of some kind filled with damp coconut coir. Both methods work well. I'm right now rearing a large number of burrowing Saturniid caterpillars and I will be using both methods. Damp coconut coir is also good for the long term storage of your resulting Saturniid pupae.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Aug 5, 2021 8:10:46 GMT -8
In addition to Quercus, Prunus serotina and Liquidambar are also recommended for Eacles oslari.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Jul 27, 2021 7:52:59 GMT -8
When I was a kid and just getting started with Lepidoptera, I used liquid Carbon Tetrachloride I got from an old metal fire extinguisher.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Jul 26, 2021 7:19:01 GMT -8
I also use Ethyl Acetate. I buy mine in 500 ml canisters from www.westlab.com.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Jul 4, 2021 9:40:40 GMT -8
I rear Saturniidae and I set my fresh specimens on white Styrofoam boards. The Styrofoam boards I use are the kind sold for insulation. I create a smooth service for the wings by covering the rough Styrofoam with a sheet of white paper (cut slightly smaller than the piece of Styrofoam so that the paper lies perfectly flat).
I use a scalpel to slice out a slot in the (papered over) Styrofoam for the body of the moth. To get the maximum out of a given piece of Styrofoam, I use paper sizing templates. I set the first specimen in a corner of the new Styrofoam board. Then I measure the set specimen. I use the measurements to make a simplified paper sizing template of the set specimen. The sizing template is a square of paper that covers the wing area of the moth and includes the slot for the body of the moth. I position the template appropriately, near the already-set specimen, and trace out the body slot for the next specimen.
Previously-slotted boards tend to accumulate and can be re-used a few times. The paper sizing templates accumulate as well and can be used for other, similarly-sized species. I acknowledge that having to first properly position and then cut a body slot for every specimen you set on a new piece of Styrofoam can be irksome. And to minimize wing droop I find that I have to keep moths on the (flat) Styrofoam for 2 months.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Jun 14, 2021 7:18:54 GMT -8
In your photo of your Automeris eggs, the egg micropyle looks greenish. The micropyle will eventually turn black if the eggs are fertile.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on May 20, 2021 7:16:28 GMT -8
I answered the questionnaire. Thanks.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Mar 28, 2021 14:17:18 GMT -8
Back when a car was a car and not a computer, and I was a kid looking for a way of uniformly adjusting the height of my butterflies on their pins, my (machinist) father solved the problem for me with a car part: the (manual) choke from a 1950s English car called an Austin. (My mother used to drive it.) The part my father used consisted of a knob and an attached metal stem, which he drilled out to the appropriate depth. The drilled-out stem rides down the insect pin until the bottom of the stem just touches the top of the insect thorax. You might say I take a top down approach to uniformly adjusting the heights of my Saturniid moths on their pins. I do it "manually." :-)
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Mar 25, 2021 22:58:37 GMT -8
Thanks for your follow-up comment. Yes, to avoid having to move specimens unnecessarily is another good reason to make use of readily viewable secondary data labels. As you mention, the practice would especially benefit large, institutional research collections.
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jwa121
Junior Member
Posts: 28
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Post by jwa121 on Mar 25, 2021 14:38:04 GMT -8
I would like to second the idea of pinning second labels next to your specimens.
A person looking at some of my Saturniid moths suggested I pin labels next to them to add interest to the specimens by making at least some of the specimen information viewable. The label (or labels) on the same pin as the specimen are of course mostly hidden from view.
One might think of these labels that are in addition to the permanent data labels as "exhibition labels."
Exhibition labels often fit nicely in the V-shaped space between the forewings of Saturniid moths and other larger Lepidoptera. I print my second labels in an easy-to-read typeface called "Arial," in font size 5. I find that a black enamelled insect pin, size 2 or 3, holds the label nicely, and looks good too.
Exhibition labels remind people they are looking at meaningful entomological specimens, not mere decorative objects.
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