evra
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Post by evra on Jan 20, 2021 18:39:41 GMT -8
Nice specimens. Another stray in the Catocalines that no one ever seems to mention is Hypocala andremona, which I used to think was very rare until a big influx of them happened in 2016. I haven’t seen one since. Not quite as showy, but still nice.
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evra
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Post by evra on Dec 13, 2020 13:02:07 GMT -8
I reared a bunch of rudkini about 6-7 years ago from larvae I found on Thamnosma montana. It's quite an odd plant but they were very easy to rear. Some of the adults didn't emerge for up to 3 years. An interesting subspecies with lots of variation, unlike P. p. asterias which all look the same. Unfortunately the spot I collected the larvae badly burned this past June.
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evra
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Post by evra on May 14, 2020 13:40:31 GMT -8
All members of Hyalophora seem to fly a bit earlier in the year and on colder nights than you might think. The males fly really really late at night too. I wonder if the perceived rarity is simply collectors packing up their lights early. My experience with H. gloveri and H. euryalus in the spring is usually being out in big stands of the appropriate host plants in just above freezing weather until 2-3 AM with nothing else flying. It’s really not very fun collecting. But on nights when I do find them it’s frequently 5-10 at a time.
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evra
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Post by evra on Feb 14, 2020 14:42:25 GMT -8
I think A. cecrops pamina’s closest relative is A. zephyria. It is remarkably similar in appearance, habitat preference and flight time. For whatever reason I think pamina is found on the western side of the continental divide and zephyria is found on the east side.
It would be interesting to know what occurred in the past to isolate the two populations to cause the divergence.
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evra
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Post by evra on Nov 26, 2019 18:06:06 GMT -8
August 31. I believe it had rained that afternoon. They start flying around 8:15 and go to about 10:30. About half male and half female. I didn’t collect any females to minimize the impact to the population. I already gave the 80mm specimen away to another collector as well as a lot of the others.
They are remarkably strong. I was careless handling them with about 4 major males in my hands at once and got my small finger pinched in between the cephalic and thoractic horns. It hurt.
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evra
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Post by evra on Nov 26, 2019 15:52:51 GMT -8
Navajo Co., AZ. There were 150-200 D. granti on the sheet that night, which is interesting because I was collecting moths not beetles. It was the most I've ever seen in one night. Typically it's 25-50.
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evra
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Post by evra on Nov 4, 2019 16:20:16 GMT -8
I collected an 80mm male this summer. It's by far the largest wild specimen I have ever seen.
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evra
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Post by evra on Aug 6, 2017 20:33:13 GMT -8
Sorry to hear about your lights. You don't have to buy a replacement bulb from Bioquip, you just need a new F15T8/BL tube which are $5-10. It's really easy to replace the bulb. Just slide the new tube down the blue sleeve with the wires and connect them to the pins at the end.
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evra
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Post by evra on Jun 28, 2017 21:44:12 GMT -8
The top of the trap should be a funnel and the bottom of the UV light hangs over the hole in the funnel. It's pretty hard to escape once something falls into the bucket. Then in the bottom you place a "wick" which is basically a glass jar full of ethyl acetate with a hole cut in the lid and either a sponge or paper towel coming out of the hole. The capillary action of the sponge soaks up the EA, and then the surface of the sponge outside of the jar is where it evaporates from. It turns the whole bucket into a big klilling jar. Moth specimens are usually well preserved, although there is some trial and error with the wick at first. Also large beetles are generally undesirable in the trap because they on't die fast enough. I really hate Chrysinas because they tear up moths with their ultra sharp tarsi.
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evra
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Post by evra on Mar 31, 2017 17:51:29 GMT -8
What I'm saying is that the butterfly numbers aren't anywhere near what they are in late September and into October, where you could spend all day every day collecting at flowers for the whole month. It's like being in a butterfly house, except it's outside and you can collect. Every day you would see 10,000+ individuals and a species count of 40-50. In late July you'll see some butterflies, it's not terrible but it isn't fantastic. The moths and beetles are fantastic though.
The only really common Catocalas at that time are violenta, which is generally at higher elevation than most of the other collecting spots, and neogama euphemia, which you'll likely see at lights. Mid to late August is much better for most species.
I think the moths will start to taper off when you arrive, I would personally try a week earlier based on the moon phase, but that week should still be pretty good. You can't get it all in one week, or year, or even decade. I would advise that you pick what species are highest priority and then plan accordingly.
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evra
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Post by evra on Mar 30, 2017 19:43:29 GMT -8
That's a lot of questions. Arizona is kind of unforgiving in the sense that the summer flights are short with high flight volumes, so if you time it right, it can be great. If you're off by 10-14 days, you might not get anything. It's also hard from a location perspective. Setting up somewhere out in the desert down near Tucson is generally not a good idea. You generally set up in canyons with very diverse vegetation in National Forest land in the mountains. If you just pick a random spot you probably won't do well.
Trying to collect butterflies at that time of year can be kind of hard. The diversity and numbers aren't great in southern Arizona. The really impressive species lists tend to happen more in September and October. It's a lot better in eastern AZ at that time, which is all high elevation collecting, but that's a 4 hr drive from Tucson.
It usually rains in the afternoons and sometimes at night. Rain in the morning is kind of rare. Most storms are only a couple hours, but the rainfall is usually torrential. You don't want to be stuck in the bottom of a canyon during a storm.
You could try bait trapping, but I don't think that it would be great. It's kind of early for Catocalas, although you can get a few at high elevation around aspens. Almost all of the Black Witches I see are at lights, and they can be fairly common at certain spots.
For tiger beetles you want to do Willcox Playa. It's pretty impressive at that time. Cerambycids can be excellent depending on the year.
There are lots of good side trips all over the whole state. It all depends on how much driving you want to do. Distances are vast in the west, and a lot of these side trips can be 100-250 miles one way. The NABA people in AZ are pretty relaxed and generally get along with collectors. Personally I run into lots of bird watchers and herpers, they seem to be the dominant groups.
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evra
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Post by evra on Feb 15, 2017 17:55:43 GMT -8
Yes you can stay overnight. No restrictions on collecting. Permits are $5 per day. Yes you can buy one there. There is a little private property where you can't set up, but mostly it is open.
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evra
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Post by evra on Sept 10, 2016 14:37:56 GMT -8
Use a can of computer air duster. It's really good for cleaning Plastazoate.
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evra
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Post by evra on Aug 19, 2016 11:02:12 GMT -8
No M. clenchi this year, but I've seen it at that spot consistently for many years.
I think the consensus is that it has been a very bad year for Saturniids. I'm pretty sure at this point that we're past the season for them anyway. In the video you can see that they are all beat up pretty much.
The Sphingids, Lasiocampids, Arctiids and Noctuids have been fine this year, which is the strange part. I wonder if there was some kind of parasitoid outbreak that really killed off the Saturniid larvae last year?
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evra
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Post by evra on Aug 13, 2016 23:12:45 GMT -8
Here's mostly raw footage from a couple of nights ago in California Gulch:
<img src="//images.proboards.com/f/bbcode/video-preview.png" video=" <iframe width="560" height="315" c=sr" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>" alt="Video Preview">
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