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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 26, 2011 11:39:58 GMT -8
Hi Darrell, Just curious...ever collect extinct fossil Megalodon shark teeth from the Carolinas? I gather they are found in good numbers in certain riverbeds (scuba required to obtain & dangerous conditions) & weathering out of the banks along the seashore in those states (also in Florida at similar sites). Huge interest & money involved by many serious collectors for top quality big specimens...I would be looking if I lived down there... at least when nice bugs aren't flying or hurricanes aren't howling! John K.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 25, 2011 9:11:02 GMT -8
It really is true! The Aliens have finally arrived! Sorry... ;D, No Clue... a scale insect?
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 25, 2011 9:04:28 GMT -8
I bought 2- 250W clear, mogul base MV bulbs from BioQuip last spring & they were manufactured in Hungary, I believe. Still currently manufactured in some countries, but may have to import them. Simple question... Can you run a same wattage M. H. bulb in mogul base & ballast designed for an MV.? Different ballast is required? John K.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 24, 2011 12:28:24 GMT -8
EXQUISITE rarity! What good fortune for you. (not for the bug, however!) ;D
John K.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 24, 2011 12:21:45 GMT -8
WARNING...MY own opinion only...no personal offence meant to any other forum members/thin-skinned individuals need not read: Provenance (data labels in case of insects for serious collectors only) is very important in whatever items you choose to collect. Without additional data (provenance/history) many collectable items are worth far less money (antiques, art, furniture, coins, stamps, sports cards, comics, etc. etc. - date, location of manufacture, craftsmen names are very important). If you are going to spend big bucks for fancy bugs in the 1st place wouldn't you like to know what & where they are from? I've put parts of my bug collection on public display many times in the past & am constantly asked about specific "pretty"bugs - what, where & when collected. The provenance of any item is often more interesting than the actual item itself & when paired together with the item is what all "serious " collectors want + increases value...let's face it every collector gets old & must dispose of his collection either to an institution (Data required) or by breakup & sale to other collectors (again data required for the majority of serious collectors). Stamp/pretty, big bug only, appreciation collectors can certainly do as they like , but it doesn't take much extra effort to include a little data to increase scientific value & true appreciation of what you are actually looking at. One thing that really burns me is seeing, for example on Ebay, nice specimens of really rare insects, poorly/really disgracefully mounted up by rank, inexperienced craftpeople (can't call them collectors!), with zero data & sold for wall ornaments & nothing more. At least give these magnificent insects their proper due... some data & proper mounting...too much to ask for some of nature's most exquisite creations - I think not! John K.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 22, 2011 13:00:20 GMT -8
on the female P. weymeri! That is, IMHO, one of the world's most beautiful Swallowtails & I (& many others, I'm sure!) would really love to still acquire it... ever since I 1st saw it in Smart's book 3 decades ago!! Thanks for posting. John K.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 22, 2011 12:48:15 GMT -8
Prillbug2, I have somewhere in my collection an unidentified, small, black, wasp-like Arctuid moth that was given to me many yrs. ago by someone who worked in the produce dept. of a local grocery store. The moth had stowawayed/hitched a ride among a bunch of bananas; I have to relocate that old specimen & post a photo here...; Yes hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico can certainly blow insects far off course - my Black Witch moth appeared the week following a huge hurricane in the Gulf; very strong S & SE winds had blown nearly continulously for the week prior to the B.W's appearance. Even though I am way up here in the "north" I now always keep an eye out for ununsual bugs throughout the collecting season, especially following prolonged periods of strong southerly winds. A single specimen of T. zenobia was actually collected in Regina, Sask. some yrs. ago; Regina is about 170 miles (275 kms) S. of my location. Like the Johnny Cash song..."I keep my eyes w-i-d-e open all the time". ;D Evra, Yes I do believe my specimen is a stray (not a stowaway). The foodplants of E. alope don't even grow in or near Canada...Allamanda sp., Jatropha sp. (Nettlespurge) & Papaya! Interesting about your collection of E. alope in Az & rarity even way down there...certainly makes my collection up here all the more unbelieveable! Thanks to both for your comments! John K.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 20, 2011 14:02:29 GMT -8
Hello all, Around 11:00 a.m. on 08 Aug. 2000 I collected a fairly fresh male specimen of Erinnyis alope resting quietly on a vertical corner post of my outdoor porch. It was in surprisingly good condition, except for tattered wing tips, total wingspan 9.7cm (3.75"). Soon after I showed the mounted specimen to my late friend Ron Hooper; he did some research (checking provincial collections & national collection in Ottawa) & discovered that it was a new record for Canada. It is a Neotropical (Latin Am. & W. Indies) stray way out of it's normal range being found rarely in Florida with a few strays as far north as New Jersey & Kansas (from Covell's "Field Guide to Moths of Eastern N. Am.). Ron said other Erinnyis spp. have strayed as far north as southern Ontario but no E. alope have been collected anywhere else in Canada. It is quite extraordinary that this large sphinx moth strayed this far north to 52N, 103W to end up in N.E. Sask. (I also collected a Black Witch moth in my yd. a few yrs. ago!); equally extraordinary is the fact that I collected it during the daytime where it had come to rest in my porch! Of all the hundreds of farm yds. scattered throughout Sask. it ended up in mine by pure accident alone...and I'm a bug collector who could preserve it for science...what luck! Another possiblity...perhaps it may have hopped a ride on a produce truck from the southern states? Who knows? Sure goes to show that extraordinary insects can show up anywhere & at anytime, a large part of what makes this collecting hobby so interesting. John K. Attachments:
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 20, 2011 13:09:56 GMT -8
Ventral again... Attachments:
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 20, 2011 13:05:17 GMT -8
More... Attachments:
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 20, 2011 13:04:05 GMT -8
Ventral... Attachments:
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 20, 2011 13:00:30 GMT -8
Alex, WOW! What a beautiful fresh white male...I'm so glad to finally know after all these yrs. that someone else has also collected such a rarity. What date was it collected? Mine was collected on 31 May 2000 making it an early spring generation fm which are usually smaller & much darker green ventrally than later, larger, brighter summer gens. My specimen is actually 35mm in wingspan & is very flight worn, but still definitely white in coloration. Following are some additional better photos of mine taken in natural daylight (difficult to photograph as always seem to turn out bluish). Anyone else have any wild collected white male Colias? John K. Attachments:
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 20, 2011 12:45:46 GMT -8
Bob, I put better photos in the new thread started by Alex B. on his white male C. phiolodice. John K.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 20, 2011 9:38:19 GMT -8
Thanks for your reply Bob,
I will rephotograph it against a proper background & post again...when I relocate the specimen in my collection! It is a personally collected wild specimen, not bred, faded, bleached, etc.
John K.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Mar 20, 2011 8:49:42 GMT -8
Make them slide bare-assed down a banister lined with razorblades & landing in a pool of iodine BEFORE the gallows! John K. ;D
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