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Post by exoticimports on May 3, 2020 6:14:33 GMT -8
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Post by Adam Cotton on May 3, 2020 11:59:25 GMT -8
No doubt it was released from a lab in Wuhan Seriously though, I wonder how it got there. Adam.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on May 3, 2020 17:15:09 GMT -8
I have had this Asian Hornet/Wasp in my Bait Traps for years. About the size or bigger, of a Cicada Killer. Deep reddish brown with dull yellow stripes. They will appear in NE Ohio by mid-May.
I have one or two pinned in one of my small collection of Hornets, Wasps and Bee's
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Post by bandrow on May 3, 2020 18:01:10 GMT -8
Hi Leroy,
You have most likely been getting the European hornet, Vespa crabro. It occurs over most of the eastern U.S. and was, according to BugGuide, introduced to the U.S. in the "1800's"- not sure what end of that century they first got here, but BG also says they were first detected in Arkansas in 1999. I remember seeing them for the first time in Vinton County, Ohio sometime in the early 1980's.
Cheers! Bandrow
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on May 4, 2020 7:11:27 GMT -8
Vespa crabro, that's the creature that is a genuine nuisance in my Bait Traps. I have killed them by the thousands every year. Someplace in my vast assortment of Schmidt boxes I have several field pinned specimens.
Speaking of ugly wasp and Hornets, I have seen my fair share. However, I set out several Light Traps and collected over 250 moths. There were about 30 moths that I have never seen before. I spent almost three hours this evening spreading moths. I probably have another 40+ to spread tomorrow AM.
I also field pinned about 30 Diptera and a dozen or more Hymenoptera.
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Post by kevinkk on May 4, 2020 8:44:01 GMT -8
Murder Hornets??? Really? There's some sensationalism. When I first read this post, and then saw some news segments, I thought that this was old news, and then remembered that it was in France I believe where these hornets have also been an issue, causing at least one death. The bad news- they're mobile, and hitching rides, and at some point honeybees could be threatened by yet another problem. The good news- collectors don't need to go to Asia to find the largest living hornet. How they arrived will be a mystery, possibly one of those slow boats. I've seen some good documentary shows on these guys, interesting stuff.
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Post by bandrow on May 4, 2020 12:19:03 GMT -8
Leroy,
Are you saying you got 30 species or 30 specimens of moths you've not seen before... in northern Ohio?! That sounds like a killer night of collecting! It's also a testament to "early season" trapping...
Cheers! Bandrow
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on May 5, 2020 3:19:59 GMT -8
I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. I was married and had two sons by 1972. I only collected Lepidoptera, just butterflies and larger moths. I relocated to Dublin, Virginia in 1974. I designed and made my first Bait Traps in 1974. I returned to NE Ohio in 1982. I used Bait Traps extensively beginning in 1983.
I designed my first Light Trap in 1984 while living on Huntsburg, Ohio. I relocated to Coral Springs, Florida in 1988. I basically collected Butterflies, Saturnidae, Sphingidae, Arctidae and Heliothinae. When I relocated to Mississppi in 1994, I began using Light Traps and began collecting all Macro Moths. I did not collect all moths in Ohio again until I relocated to Aurora, Ohio in August of 2019. However, many of the species I collected in Kentucky, I would also find in Ohio.
In other words, since moving to Kentucky in 2000, I began to collect all Macro Moths and a few Groups of Micro Moths. So yes, many of the moths I am collecting in Ohio are new to me.
I have been ask, what was my favorite and most interesting area for collecting Lepidoptera. With out hesitation, Greenwood, Mississippi and the surrounding counties.
Another question I was frequently ask, what was my most memorable catch in Mississippi. Cercyonis pegala "alope". They were huge and I collected them in Bait Traps. The Catocala moths were also incredible. Catocala marmorata were monsters. Catocala relicta were stunning.
I also met, and I use the word "met" because I did meet him. A three legged Racoon. The first time we met was at one on my Bait Traps. Poor guy was trying to get into the trap to get the bait. I began setting out a bowl of dog food during my visits to the trap. The bowl was always empty when I returned. I saw him rather regularly. Then he disappeared. The next visitor to the bowl was a old wretched dog. I feed him for several weeks and he disappeared as well.
My collection of Catocala moths virtually tripled in size will living in Mississppi.
And another amazing thing I learned. I learned how to spell "Mississippi".
One thing that did not change when I lived in Mississppi, no matter what you piut in them, I never liked "Grits". The stuff was actually "Crunchy Wallpaper Paste".
One more thing I learned about eating grits, after consuming a bowl full, you can s##t thru a screen door at fifty yards and never touch metal.
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Post by bandrow on May 5, 2020 8:36:09 GMT -8
Hi Leroy,
Great stuff - as always! Sounds like that tri-legged raccoon had a run-in with a hunter's trap at some point, and (mostly) out-smarted it!
I knew you had started out in Ohio, so your comments about getting so many new moths there surprised me. But that now makes sense. Like you say, Ohio and Kentucky share a lot of insect species, but in Aurora, you're into a zone with more northerly distributed species as well as the general eastern fauna. I grew up in Mansfield, Ohio and I collected species of Cerambycidae in the northern part of Ohio that disappeared as soon as one got north of Columbus. And likewise, southern species rarely appeared north of the east-west line defined by I-70, bisecting the state into north and south.
Also - you mentioned your involvement with installing the compactor in the Carnegie Museum - the second in the country to be used for an insect collection, if I'm correct. My office is in that room - so I have your work literally at my back every day - well at least when I'm there and not working from home like now. I also recently coordinated the curation of a large batch of butterflies you donated way back when. Most were from Ohio and I think Jim Monroe said they had been part of your childhood collection. Beautiful stuff!
Cheers! Bandrow
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on May 5, 2020 9:40:24 GMT -8
My childhood collection along with most of the Lepidoptera I collected prior to 1970,I gave to the Cleveland Museums of Natural History. How it came to the Carnegie, I do not know.
Were you at the Carnegie when the compactor was installed. I arrived the day before the installers. When I saw the marble floor supported by only reinforced Marble columns. I put a "hold" on the delivery.
The engineer that the Carneige hired for a weight analysis never included the weight of the USMN Drawers. If I remember correctly the drawers added another twenty tons or so.
I cannot remember the Entomologist who was responsible for the project. The electronic controls were never ordered. He was terminated in the end. Cannot remember his name.
The second compactor we made went to Canada. We also made a sample Entomology Cabinet to fit the compactor. They never ordered the cabinets as they gave the sample cabinet to a Canadian Company. Rather than use a "D" type pocket handle, the used a "T" Slide Lock Handle. It was a mess. Have no idea what happened. It was about the same time I left ISE and moved to Florida.
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Post by bandrow on May 5, 2020 12:52:39 GMT -8
Hi Leroy,
I was not there at that time - I joined the staff in 1996. Considering that the compactor sits over open space two stories high, I will now always wonder when the whole thing will drop out from under me! I believe the man in charge at that time would have been Weston Opitz - he went by the name of Ginter Echis in the 80's. We have had issues with the compactor dragging at some points along its tracks and that could be a result of the extra weight of the drawers, but all-in-all, it's still in great shape.
I wouldn't know how your material arrived to us, but it's been there since early in the 1990's from what I was told. This is material that you mounted on sewing pins, but despite the short pins, it is all in fine condition. All of the pins are without any corrosion and everything is well-prepared. Most of it is fairly common species, but it represents a lot of good northern Ohio records for us.
Cheers! Bandrow
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Post by kevinkk on May 16, 2020 18:37:27 GMT -8
Apparently these wasps also cause stupidity, and insanity, or is it just more of the same old thing? I watched a local news segment this morning and someone in Washington state torched and completely destroyed a bunch of honeybee hives kept by a senior beekeeping society. These beekeepers were clearly emotionally devastated. The assumption was that wasp fear was the catalyst.
I've got a suggestion- don't call them "Murder Hornets" I've watched several documentary shows on the Asian hornet, and never once are they called "murder hornets"
Another fear fiasco perpetrated by the media,liberal and conservative both. Please don't tell me it was a slow news day. There is no such thing anymore.
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Post by SoCalMountainman on May 24, 2020 6:50:58 GMT -8
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Post by exoticimports on May 25, 2020 10:19:25 GMT -8
I love it! MURDER HORNETS. That’s what I call them. Great way to keep people out of the forest where they may well get Lyme Disease.
I don’t blame the media, I blame the Karens of suburbia. Assault rifles, pit bulls, 1000HP Murder Corvettes. Every snake a rattler, every spider a Black Widow. Don’t even get started on sharks.
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Post by africaone on May 26, 2020 1:42:44 GMT -8
No doubt it was released from a lab in Wuhan ... Adam. may be ask to the incredible and wonderful President to make a decret to ban Asian hornet from USA
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