I remember many years ago on a trip to northeast Spain in September, seeing a large Wisteria growing round the entrance to some botanic gardens. At the time, the Wisteria had large seedpods on it, and these were covered with eggs of Lampides boeticus and Leptotes pirithous.

Wonderful ! That's the fragrance of my childhood !
In my parents' home in Rennes, there was an old and large Wisteria !
I loved it !

I have a Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) that's blooming especially well this year, despite March having been very dry here. Carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.) are flying all around it. Although the blooming period is only a few weeks, and the flowers look spectacular, this vine is an extremely aggressive grower and I'm sure it would rapidly take over a large area of my yard if not kept in check!

wollastoni wrote: Wed Mar 26, 2025 4:38 pm Very bad PR for all entomologists...
And I am sure this kind of news will inspire custom guards in all South American countries.

This Motoaki Koyama is in big trouble and he doesn't help all of us by his naive behaviour. Very sad story.

There have been a number of top expert entomologists known to ignore banana republic laws, and a few have been caught doing so. I suppose they put science over politics. While they may make it harder for some researchers (one name brand Lep expert did to me!), their focus is on advancing science, which I suppose is better than doing nothing so that other entomologists can also research...nothing.

Very bad PR for all entomologists...
And I am sure this kind of news will inspire custom guards in all South American countries.

This Motoaki Koyama is in big trouble and he doesn't help all of us by his naive behaviour. Very sad story.

Extra TV in Costa Rica ran a news report with the headline: ‘Japanese man kills thousands of butterflies’

Chuck wrote: Wed Mar 26, 2025 12:11 pm

wollastoni wrote: Wed Mar 26, 2025 9:49 am The average value is a bullshit lie from Costa Rican rangers to make news titles.

On the few pictures that we can see, I see some common low-value butterflies

And the real joke is that the value of the butterflies is small compared to what the country lost in what he was going to spend on hotel, food, transportation, etc. And now there's the other dozens or hundreds of entomologists and whomever that are definitely NOT going to Costa Rica, costing them even more.

These banana republics (like, New York State for example) wonder why the tourism and economy are tanking, but somehow everyone else seems to know.

Well, they will fine him for $200,000 so it will be pretty profitable for them...
+ they are justifying their salary.

wollastoni wrote: Wed Mar 26, 2025 9:49 am The average value is a bullshit lie from Costa Rican rangers to make news titles.

On the few pictures that we can see, I see some common low-value butterflies

And the real joke is that the value of the butterflies is small compared to what the country lost in what he was going to spend on hotel, food, transportation, etc. And now there's the other dozens or hundreds of entomologists and whomever that are definitely NOT going to Costa Rica, costing them even more.

These banana republics (like, New York State for example) wonder why the tourism and economy are tanking, but somehow everyone else seems to know.

The average value is a bullshit lie from Costa Rican rangers to make news titles.

On the few pictures that we can see, I see some common low-value butterflies (Heliconius, day flying moths...)

Unfortunately the judge may follow rangers' words.

I am afraid this guy will be treated worst than an elephant poacher in Africa.

It is a Russian guy who lives in Indonesia and spends a lot of time in Papua.
He has some good insects but is also trafficking protected birds of paradise...
I've never dealt with him but as far as I know he is not a scammer. I doubt he has any Indonesian permits though...

A news report in Japan says the guy's name is Motoaki Koyama. Motoaki is his given name. I don't know him, but I found his name in a Who's Who of Japanese insect enthusiasts compiled by the late Chotaro Nishiyama back in 1990. The report here is a bit more detailed, and quotes the total value of the butterflies seized as 38,000,000 yen ($250,000) on the black market! Each butterfly costs more than $1,000! I wonder what sort of butterflies he caught.

adamcotton wrote: Tue Mar 25, 2025 1:42 pm It is worth bearing in mind that Japanese often state their family name first and their given name second, so the Costa Rican authorities may have misunderstood this.

Adam.

Though the under-60 generation has often tried to accommodate western style, which can get very confusing. Sometimes they introduce surname first, sometimes given name; some capitalize the surname, some don't. And, being Japanese and very polite they don't correct being addressed incorrectly. I've seen correspondence to VIPs as "Dear Mr. [given name]." It goes both ways though, the situation also confuses some Japanese concerning how western names are used, and when to use which name. Seems though that in general we all let it slide.

This topic has been moved to the Insect Trading Reports forum

Please post replies here.
Adam.

It is worth bearing in mind that Japanese often state their family name first and their given name second, so the Costa Rican authorities may have misunderstood this.

Adam.

Hi-Has anyone ever purchased from this guy?
https://papua-insects.com/index/0-2

Another banana republic enforcing little laws with no environmental value.

Surely, "everyone" knows not to collect in Costa Rica without a permit, right?

It "may" be Motoaki Kinoshita, a Japanese Lep researcher. The name in the article is given as "Motoaki" which AFAIK is a given name, not a surname. Maybe a Japanese member will clarify the identity of the victim.

Sad.
Go to pro-entomology countries (there are a few remaining) or take the time to get permits/authorizations. Every year, one collector faces a big issue somewhere in the world...

Hope he won't end in jail for few common butterflies.
Anyone knows who this "Motoaki" is ?

https://www.crhoy.com/ambiente/japones- ... na-maleta/

https://www.diarioextra.com/noticia/vid ... ayer-visor

Not positive publicity for any collector .

Well, it's been three days since 25% or so of my collection was picked up by one of the big retailers.

If I had to pick one word, it's relieved. There was a lot of very desirable but hard to find species, and I'd felt guilty about having them. Now, what he doesn't cherry pick out for himself will be made available to collectors.

Beyond that, I have to share what a dummy I am.

I'd scheduled w/ Cornell for pick-up this Wednesday.

And for weeks, I've watched my lovely lady every night and on weekends: patching, sanding, painting. Day in, day out. And finally, she's done. The walls are all refreshed, the trim moulding all painted, some of it new. Then she vacuumed the whole house, and steam cleaned the carpets. She's really knocked herself out- I mean really- she's exhausted.

Then it dawned on me.

Wednesday, the day of Cornell pickup, is the day the house gets listed for sale. Open house is Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Now, what is the chance that in moving a whole lot of drawers through one freshened hallway, and down one steam cleaned set of stairs, that nobody bumps a wall or gets dirt on the carpet? I don't know, but it's not zero. Which would mean that I'd then have to tell me missus that we ruined her hard work the day before the open house.

That, I think you will know, would be the death of me. So I had to reach out to Cornell and ask for a postponement. Dummy.

I caught a female in French Guiana (Kaw mountain) but I guess you already have pictures from French Guiana specimens.

Very strong flyers, I was pretty proud of myself to net it !
Most specimens are caught with traps.
A friend of mine caught a male with his car. He found a perfect male crashed on his windshield wiper !