|
Post by wingedwishes on Dec 30, 2019 22:40:57 GMT -8
In Kansas in October (20th I think) I went to the lake to look for driftwood and fossils as it was cold for leps. Had been very windy and just turned cold.
I found nearly 50 D. plexippus on the ground frozen! I warmed one with my hands but it did not recover. None had any wing damage or had any tags. They looked ex pupae. They were in a low wooded area protected by the wind somewhat and no larval food was seen.
Just as I left the wooded area, I found my real treasure - a Thysania zenobia already dead and dried inside of some driftwood.
Only the 4th one I've found in 35 years!
Some times things are just handed to you.
Photo of the zenobia later.
Ty
|
|
leptraps
Banned
Enter your message here...
Posts: 2,397
|
Post by leptraps on Dec 31, 2019 2:45:52 GMT -8
I have only seen two Thysania zenobiai in the wild in my life time. Both in the lower Rio Grand Valley. One on the side of Building under a security light next to the motel we were staying at several years ago in Roma. The other was near Weslaco(?) on a telephone under a security light in a small strip mall. I missed them both with an extension net 15+ feet long. Several years later I was given one from Roma, Texas by a friend who is a Coleopterist.
Way back when Insectnet was just getting started someone in Europe offered them "For Sale".
Everyone that I know who has collected one has a story behind the capture.
I have collected a Letis xylia, and large Erebidae in a Bait Trap near Fronton, Texas along the Rio Grande River. A rather large moth but not as big as a Thysania zenobia.
|
|
|
Post by 58chevy on Dec 31, 2019 7:46:38 GMT -8
I have collected 4 T. zenobia over the years. Two of them were resting under lights on concrete parking lots, where they were almost invisible against the concrete background. On one occasion I was walking into a convenience store and walked right by the moth on the way in. Luckily I noticed it on the way out. I was also lucky that nobody ran over it while I was in the store.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2019 11:51:37 GMT -8
My single specimen was found on one of my sugared trees in a park 13 miles from my north central Illinois home. At this range, it was surely a once in a lifetime event. Never yet seen one in AZ.
|
|
|
Post by 58chevy on Jan 1, 2020 7:48:43 GMT -8
Charlie Swank, an occasional contributor to this forum, also caught one in Illinois many years ago.
|
|