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Post by rayrard on Dec 19, 2011 19:32:31 GMT -8
Sesiids are cool. The few I've collected I mistook for wasps, especially the large dark ones. I never realized the females are so rare, but maybe you have such a disparity because of the pheromones (you'll attract the males a lot and only get females occasionally).
As for the legs, it's funny you mention that because even with the 6 or 7 I have in my collection, I've found the legs fall off real easy. Same thing with the Plume Moths. The giant hind legs are fragile.
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Post by rayrard on Dec 13, 2011 12:50:51 GMT -8
And one more.. : Pelopidas thrax male from Rhodos island !! These are some really rare butterflies ,but only few people collect/know about them & their real difficulty/value . Most of the collectors,as I've seen also on eBay, spend even big amounts for getting common species,probably because they don't collect in the field much themselves so to appreciate better (this is why I never offer such stuff for sale -ok,it is also cause I have very few specimens of them). Thanos I've found that few people appreciate the Hesperiidae and fewer sell them. The U.S. has numerous rare skippers but there is just no market for them, even the ones that are more unique.
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Post by rayrard on Dec 2, 2011 9:20:23 GMT -8
I'm by no means an expert but it struck me as a longhorn beetle (the head, tarsi, and elytral tips)
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Post by rayrard on Nov 17, 2011 15:19:45 GMT -8
what was your day specimen haul like? Around a hundred specimens a day. sorry, but I meant did you collect butterflies by day as well as moths?
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Post by rayrard on Nov 17, 2011 15:18:22 GMT -8
Thanks but I'd rather collect my specimens myself one day. It gives me stuff to look forward to
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Post by rayrard on Nov 17, 2011 9:30:57 GMT -8
I'd love to collect those SW US Saturniids (Agapema, Coloradia, Automeris, Hemileuca, etc.). I really want that Automeris with the black FW/white stripe.
Do you have Automeris louisiana there?
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Post by rayrard on Nov 15, 2011 10:00:25 GMT -8
what was your day specimen haul like?
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Post by rayrard on Nov 13, 2011 11:02:42 GMT -8
Given that 8 of those are species I've never collected, I shouldn't criticize even a short list
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Post by rayrard on Nov 12, 2011 18:01:36 GMT -8
What date was that? Looks like low diversity for such a good looking site
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Post by rayrard on Nov 9, 2011 22:43:20 GMT -8
Holy crap! I can't even imagine catching that many moths. Such a trip would be amazingly exciting. Stuff like this makes me depressed as winter hasn't even started here yet Will be a few months before the leps are out again
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Post by rayrard on Nov 7, 2011 11:39:25 GMT -8
catching my first male Diana and then my first female Diana a year later are definately some of my best collecting memories. When you see the contrasting black/orange male on an orange milkweed, you have to stop and admire it. My only female was my only sighting of a female of that species and it was do-or-die with the net. Luckily I was able to admire in hand
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Post by rayrard on Nov 4, 2011 14:59:52 GMT -8
The Polygonia are tough out there too. I think I have Polygonia oreas from out there, and your specimen looks like that species. But I think oreas and gracilis are very similar.
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Post by rayrard on Nov 3, 2011 16:01:19 GMT -8
I'm not much of a help for Speyeria, sorry. When I went out there, I was with family and I basically had to take a few minutes to an hour to jump out and collect at a time. I only had one location where I spent more than a couple hours and that spot required lots of hiking just to get to higher altitude. I ran into a couple that had hiked up to the treeline and said there were some good alpine lakes and snow above the treeline. Unfortunately, I had to keep in mind that I had to hike back DOWN again and I was alone. I had to make the decision to head back down. Who knows what I may have been able to collect had I made it all the way up into the high mtn. valley. This was Irwin near Crested Butte by the way. There was a huge abandoned hotel on the mountainside. I ran into awesome looking habitat on the way up but mostly pierids and blues were flying. God knows if I'll ever get back there again, it was a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and my cousin used to have a house out there but now lives in Denver.
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Post by rayrard on Nov 3, 2011 8:53:15 GMT -8
I have draco from CO and your specimen looks like it. The unknown skipper in the other post might be Garita Skipperling because I have that species from CO.
I went out there in early July and spent most of my time above 9000 feet, and kind of fell between the elfins and the fritillaries. I did not see one Satyrium or a single Copper, and only Mormon Fritillary was out from that group. I hit the pierids and blues very well though, as well as a few skipper species found at altitude. Oddly enough I didn't find Parnassius, Boloria, or any Arctics/Alpines except the Common Alpine and Uhler's Arctic.
Some of my most coveted species are Colias meadii, the Blue Copper, Parnassius, and the high mountain Erebia/Oeneis (magdalena especially)
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Post by rayrard on Oct 27, 2011 8:47:25 GMT -8
people's cats seem to be really bold. My cat never dares get near my boxes. I will lock the cat out when I have multiple boxes open but if I have one open on the table I'll let the cat hang around. I always keep an eye on him as he usually is just laying around, and I'll give him an evil eye if he's walking around the vicinity. I think he knows not to bother me when I'm near "those boxes". I've never lost a specimen on the boards and I've even left loose specimens around and the cat doesn't bother them (or know they are there). Drying specimens are left in a closet shelf where the cat has never reached. The worst thing ever happening is that the cat knocked over a stack of the temporary cardboard boxes and I lost a bunch of moths when the glass broke on one box and crushed them.
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