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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 13, 2011 16:21:32 GMT -8
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 13, 2011 16:20:06 GMT -8
I figured I would help things out over here in diptera with my rather creepy find. This is the larva of the Cuterebra emasculator, the squirrel bot fly. Squirrels stripped all the pears off of my trees earlier this year and now they are working on what few pecans my trees are producing so I decided to wage war on them. There were a couple of these huge bugs burrowed into the skin of the squirrel I managed to take out. I cannot find a measuring tool, but it is about the size of an SD card. All four images are of the same larva
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Crisis!
Sept 12, 2011 21:33:46 GMT -8
Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 12, 2011 21:33:46 GMT -8
So I still may have eggs?? Thank you!! My boxes will go back into the freezer right away!
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Crisis!
Sept 12, 2011 20:40:54 GMT -8
Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 12, 2011 20:40:54 GMT -8
I have just gotten started, but I am using wooden cigar boxes with the wooden lids replaced with plexi glass to make display cases. I created a beetle display before I actually got into collecting and just last week I discovered that one of my carrion beetles was being eaten by dermestids. The moth crystals seemed to have no effect at all on them so I stuck the box in the freezer overnight. When I pulled it out, I found one dead beetle and a couple of dead larva next to the half eaten carrion beetle. Luckily I only lost one beetle and it should be easily replaced by digging through some rotting roadkill (not looking forward to that!). The freezer saved me from it spreading through the rest of my collection.
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 12, 2011 20:19:59 GMT -8
I just got home with a new camera though I am quite disappointed in it. Still, it is better than what I had. I didn't set up a light box, so I am sure I can get better quality shots even though it is just a cheap camera to hold me over until I can afford something better. So here is a much better shot of the cicada display. Enjoy Rev. R. Farrier p.s. Please ignore the time stamp. I set it correctly, but when I changed the batteries it seems to have went awry. I really don't like this camera
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 12, 2011 12:43:26 GMT -8
Hmm... It is odd that you cannot see the image. Perhaps photobucket was acting up when you tried it. As for posting images, you must first upload the image to an image hosting service such as photobucket or imageshack. Once you have it uploaded you must then copy the direct link to the image. On the Post Reply screen (or start new thread screen as the case may be) you should see three lines of icons above the text box. The top one has letters and lines and the bottom one has emoticons. The one in the middle starts with a Youtube looking icon, in that middle line you want to click on the fourth icon. It looks like a landscape picture in a frame. That will place the image notation in the text box ("img" twice, both in separate sets of brackets). Just paste the url of the image between the two. At this point I always click preview to make sure that the image is working properly.
Thank you for your welcoming replies. I hope I was able to help
Rev. R. Farrier
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 11, 2011 15:48:56 GMT -8
This guy is an excellent speaker! I wasn't aware that the bee problem extended beyond honey bees until this year. There have always been hundreds of bumblebees around my house each summer, but the past couple of years I haven't been seeing as many. This summer, I have actually only seen one. When I was a kid, I would take a plastic bat and kill as many as I could to try to stop them from boring holes all through the wood in our porch and sheds. I would wait near a hole in the wood listening to the scraping sound and watching saw dust fall out of the hole which would let me know that a bee was inside it. The bee would soon emerge and I would start swinging my bat wildly. For me, the loss isn't just one of the ecosystem, but it is almost like losing part of my childhood. It just doesn't feel like summer without them around.
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 11, 2011 14:30:43 GMT -8
I just posted a horrible photo of my cicadas over in the homoptera forum and was wishing that I had a decent camera when I remembered that I already had a photo of my favorite specimen. This is my very first specimen. I found it long before I even began collecting. Several years ago I found him dead in the parking lot of my workplace. So I picked him up and put him in an empty caviar jar where he stayed for two or three years. After those years, I was browsing the steampunk forums and got the idea to start a wunderkammer which reminded me that I had this guy stashed away. I dug him out and opened the jar to discover a horrible stench, so I though a good soak in alcohol would help. When I removed him from the alcohol, I discovered that the beetle that was totally black when I found him had changed color and that the legs were no longer frozen in place. (this was long before I had any idea about the concept of relaxing a specimen) A quick Google search led me to the BugGuide where I was able to i.d. him as a male Eastern Hercules Beetle. This piqued my interest and I began gathering other beetles for another box. After about a year of gathering beetles just for my wunderkammer I became interested in collecting as a hobby instead of just something to put in my cabinet of curiosities. So all of that is just to say that this guy is not just my favorite because he is the coolest specimen in my collection, but also because he is the one that led me to the world of insect collecting. Rev. R. Farrier
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 11, 2011 14:00:10 GMT -8
Greetings! I have been lurking here for about a week and figured it was time to stick my head up and say Hi! I am quite new at collecting and know very little about the science involved. My first specimens are actually on some pins that came in a sewing kit. I figured as an intro, I would show you my cicada display, but my good camera is missing and my old camera is busted. The only camera I have at the moment is a vid camera that takes horrible quality stills. So until I break down and buy a camera, this is the best I can do. I have them set up the same way I was doing my beetles, groups of three showing the top, bottom, and spread. I had a bunch of moltings, so I decided to throw them in to "pretty it up" a bit. Though it is difficult to tell from the horrendous photo, it turned out quite nice.
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 11, 2011 10:17:18 GMT -8
I wonder if it was me that pushed you over the 1,000 mark? ;D Sept 3 is the day I got my membership approved email. I guess this would be my introduction post since it is my first time posting here. I have just been browsing the forum, trying to get a feel for the community before chiming in. At this time I know very little about insect collecting since I am just really getting started. (I have already ruined several nice specimens fumbling about trying to learn how to pin properly.) I signed up here with hopes of gleaning some knowledge from yall.
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