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Post by trehopr1 on Oct 28, 2021 10:50:48 GMT -8
I found this specimen many years ago in the collection of a deceased beetle enthusiast. It is clean and un-damaged and has its legs tucked neatly underneath. I've been meaning to work with it a little so it does not appear so "scientifically" pinned to maximize space. Anyway, the species is Xylotrupes gideon and other than being a healthy sized (male) its probably common. However, what really makes this item intriguing is the data. Looking upon the data I can just imagine some Allied soldier coming across this large fellow on a locust tree; realizing how exotic it must have looked (to him) in that time AND place. He must of had an interest in insects (some point in his life) to have taken this fellow as a specimen of his travels. Whether, the collector lived to tell about it is now in the pages of history. But, here this lone beetle stands as testament of its capture at a time and place when humankind struggled with itself and for the preservation of its own sanity...
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 28, 2021 12:14:01 GMT -8
A wonderful specimen!
By 1944 it was US Army that watched over Florida Is. and Guadalcanal. Both were relatively secure, and for the most part had returned to backwater status, not really being used for much of anything. The last US soldier left Guadalcanal in 1954.
There is a story- oft repeated- of a US soldier collecting butterflies on Guadalcanal, flitting between the lines and nobody shot at him. This is most likely only a story, however, there is precedent, in that Americo M. Woyciesjes USMC, 1st Marine did indeed collect butterflies on Guadalcanal. He was amongst the first to land, meaning that whatever collecting he did do was dangerous! His brother Michael, a USMC pilot also based on Guadalcanal also was an entomologist. Florida Is. is a 15 minute flight from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.
Ironically, there was another USMC pilot on Guadalcanal who collected butterflies while there 1942/1943, Col Stan Nicolay. He was a charter member of LepSoc.
Chuck
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