December Trip to Panama

[coloradeo]

Just got back from my "Christmas on the Isthmus" in Panama. Decided to head up to Mt. Totumas, which is a fantastic eco-lodge in the cloud forest of Western Panama. It has been written about on InsectNet, so I decided to give it a go since I was going to be visiting Boquete as part of my itinerary. I did not have a collecting permit for this family trip, but I did make contact with Jeffrey at Mt Totumas ahead of time and ask if he would be willing put out some lights while I was there -- which was no problem whatsoever! Jeffrey had two MV rigs setup on different sides of the lodge ready to go when I got there. Jeffrey also has a nice collection of about 16 boxes of fantastic Lepidoptera, mostly moths, just from Mt Totumas and a guided tour of his collection was a lot of fun and caused me to regret that I would not have more time to focus on the great moths of the area.

I saw a couple saturniids, a few sphingids and some nice wasp moths I had not seen anything like. I'll post a couple photos here. If you get the chance to go, take my advice and check Mt Totumas. It's a beautiful spot and although I didn't invest too much in Leps this trip, I'd love to find a way to go back and collect or at least photograph more of the interesting fauna of this area.


I think the saturniid is Copaxa syntheratoides (the other similar ones in WLSS were collected at the same spot).




The sphingid, while apparently quite common, is a stunner and I believe is Adhemarius gannascus.



Regards,
Eric

 

[exoticimports]

What does it take to get a permit for Panama?

Chuck

[wingedwishes]

VERY difficult. There is a person named Albert who regularly travels there and has the permit. I have his email somewhere. I think some of the requirements are donating some of what is collected, not selling what is collected, having a Panamanian vouch for you, submit a proposal on the collecting.... something with the Smithsonian.....and more. I wanted to collect and show that a business could collect and sell and money made by Panamanians would preserve tracts of forest but it was denied because specimens were not allowed to be sold.

[lepidofrance]

Mt Totumas, a marvellous place ! See :

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[lepidofrance]

Mt Totumas :