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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 27, 2011 5:16:26 GMT -8
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Post by thanos on Jun 28, 2011 2:12:29 GMT -8
Nice pictures again,Jean-Marc. Nomihoudai,great experience with the female A.iris - thank you for sharing,it is a really difficult butterfly to collect in the wild,and indeed one of the largest and most impressive European butterflies. I'm just back from the most unforgetable and successful trip of my life....I collected 15 HUGE(and most of them perfect!) FEMALES of Limenitis populi(and about 5-6 fresh males) in a great forest of N.Greece... !!Within 2 days..All the other times I was going there,I was collecting only 1-2 females maximum (and seeing only 2-3 flying),but this time..even in a dream I couldn't see this that happened..: A lot of huge females were flying around me during all day,close to the forest road,at a path with many Populus tremula,deep in a huge and almost virgin forest of N.Greece..!It was so great to catch these giants with my net in the air while they were flying very low across the path(but not sitting on it like the males),,I still can't believe what I saw and collected in this weekend..a really unforgetable experience..!I was so lucky to find this time the exact best timing for the females L.populi within the short flight period of this species..!I will start mounting these magnificent giants tonight.. and will post pictures when ready..! Also,I collected quite many fresh Limenitis camilla there(a very local species in my country,but common in that forest),and collected for the first time there a perfect female of Satyrium pruni(new locality for this extremely local species for Greece! -all my other specimens I have from another locality).And I saw a few males of Parnassius apollo and collected 2. Also,cought a male of one of the rarest(and most impressive)beetles of Greece: Procerus sommeri bureschianus ! This happened at a time when I had 2 females of Limenitis populi in my net(I had pressed their thorax,but hadn't put them yet in the envelops,as this giant Procerus emerged in front of me crossing the forest path ) - great times...!! Thanos
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 28, 2011 8:34:57 GMT -8
Kaly spera Thanos ! Next year, I'll go to Greece and I'll explore that fabulous forest where fly L. populi, P. apollo. I suppose I know a little bit where is that forest since Athanasios told me some entomological reports about. May be, we should go there together ! It would be more pleasant. This morning, a magnificent A. iris sat on a branch just above me. I wanted to take a picture when this small Mellicta athalia came just on the camera ! (probably attracted by the sweat smell : the heat was around 34 C at least). The camera in one hand, the iPhone in the other, I took this poor picture from M. athalia. And A. iris said good bye ! Attachments:
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 28, 2011 8:40:08 GMT -8
Five minutes before, two A. ilia males were purchasing each other. I caugth one : a very damaged sample that I left fly away after the bad picture (taken with the iPhone : too close for the Pentax 300 mm). Not so easy to keep an alive butterfly in one hand and to make a picture with the other hand ! ;D ;D Attachments:
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 28, 2011 8:49:12 GMT -8
Here Limenitis ( Ladoga) camilla is very common, but restricted to forest areas. Sometimes, I can see one in the garden. But they are strongly forest creatures. On this picture, two camilla purchasing each other : according the manner they were flying, I presume that they are two males fighting. In fact, Ladoga camilla is usually found near brambles in flower. Moreover, the flight period generally corresponds to the period of flowering of this plant. Please, share the L. populi (male & female) pictures ! Efcharisto poly ! Attachments:
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Post by thanos on Jun 28, 2011 23:16:47 GMT -8
Kali spera Jean-Marc , Yes,this great forest is the one Athanasios has told you about ! You're mostly welcome here and I will be happy to collect together ! You are right about L.camilla,they are strongly forest creatures,as L.populi are,too. Here I have some pictures of some females L.populi I collected: On the first one,a female on my hand,still alive..! What a butterfly.. ! Thanos Attachments:
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Post by thanos on Jun 28, 2011 23:19:30 GMT -8
Here 3 females..One spread,one pinned,and you can see the magnificent underside of the third one..! Thanos Attachments:
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Post by thanos on Jun 28, 2011 23:21:09 GMT -8
Here 5 spread females (one spread from underside).. !! Thanos Attachments:
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Post by thanos on Jun 28, 2011 23:26:07 GMT -8
And here a male..,which is both of form tremulae and of totally blue form.. !! I still have a lot of spreading work in order to do all the great specimens that I collected..These 2 days were among my life's best..and will be unforgetable forever.. .. ! Thanos Attachments:
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Post by wollastoni on Jun 28, 2011 23:27:55 GMT -8
Nice camilla picture Jean-Marc ! Not so easy to capture this air fight.
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Post by bobw on Jun 29, 2011 1:24:38 GMT -8
It seems a great shame to sacrifice 15 L. populi females when you could have got enough eggs out of a couple of them to produce a huge series next year.
They're not a particularly easy species to rear but very rewarding if you get it right.
Bob
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Post by thanos on Jun 29, 2011 2:13:59 GMT -8
Bobw ---> Not a shame at all. I saw more than 50 females (!!!) within these 2 days. I tell you that even in a dream you couldn't 'imagine' this. I left free to fly again about 6-7 females that I had cought with my net and had quite big damages on their wings..! And imagine that all these females I saw at just one small part of the forest road(about 300 meters or so) of this huge mixed forest(the habitat of this species in this forest is of many kilometers and I have collected both males and females some kilometers far from the exact spot that I collected the females now)..!So,imagine how many females this forest does have at the right timing(hidden and resting high on the Populus trees and not visible -a very small percent flies on the forest road!)..!So,I made a nice ZERO damage to the population of this species there ! Normally the female of this species is very rarely seen,but this was the unique time that I had the extreme luck to be at its habitat the exact best timing for the females(this species has a very short flight period as known!),and also the weather to be good ! I think that these circumstances happen maximum once(or twice?) in a lifetime to someone.I think that I will never have the possibility again to see so many females.And I doubt that anyone else ever had this experience of me with the females of this species..! And this forest is for sure one of the best(if not the best) habitat of this species in Europe..! Thanos
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 29, 2011 13:29:27 GMT -8
Hi ! No L. populi male or female in my forest ! This morning (not so hot weather and strong wind), there was an Apatura iris female inside the trap (camembert cheese as bait) . Then, the weather became more and more cloudy so I did not notice an other Apatura flying . But many L. camilla were seen. The butterfly is in a glass box collection because in good health! Attachments:
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 29, 2011 13:34:04 GMT -8
On this second picture the A. iris, caught in the trap, just a little bit spread for the picture but not pinned (still alive). I presume this is a female : larger size, design, and so on. (How to keep the animal quiet during the photo time ? put the butterfly into the fridge a while : he will remain very quiet before recovering heat ! I know some photographers who use this way to take pictures even in nature : they collect by net the butterfly, they introduce the butterfly in a cooler (or in a wide-mouthed bottle thermo) for 10 minutes, then reposition the butterfly on a flower or a leaf (provided there is no wind) and take the picture ! Very useful for species that are very shy. Some kill the butterfly before the shooting, but the subterfuge is revealed quite easily because then the position of the legs on the plant is not at all natural!) Attachments:
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Post by lepidofrance on Jun 29, 2011 13:47:41 GMT -8
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