alandmor wrote: Sat Feb 01, 2025 6:40 pm Are collecting and/or export permits needed

Collecting in National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries and Non-Hunting Areas (there are only a few of these) is forbidden. Most places with good forest are inside protected areas, but it is possible to find places outside these areas in many parts of the country.

Note that the species in the list here:
https://www.collector-secret.com/blog/l ... s-thailand
are all fully protected. It is illegal to possess alive or dead, collect, kill, buy or sell these species in Thailand. The law also applies to specimens of these species from other countries, so it is illegal to import them to Thailand.

Permits are not needed to collect outside protected areas in Thailand, and neither are export permits needed to take most insect species out of the country. Apart from protected species which are completely forbidden, CITES listed species should not be collected, as it is very difficult to obtain permits for those.

alandmor wrote: Sat Feb 01, 2025 6:40 pm I'm also curious if he hosts non-lepidopterists like beetle collectors.

I will ask Rob.

Adam.

Are collecting and/or export permits needed and if so, does he provide them? I'm also curious if he hosts non-lepidopterists like beetle collectors. Thx!

Thank you kindly Chuck for bringing up this topic.

Alerts like this to the members of the forum put everyone on the same page of understanding that clever scammers of all kinds never rest....

As Chuck mentioned, it appears quite similar to Eichlinia cucurbitae on BugGuide with a much wider distribution. https://bugguide.net/node/view/330989

eurytides wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2025 11:21 pm I wonder if you could import males in December and females next January and time the eclosions for a mating.

The same thing had occurred to me as well, just to hazard a guess, there is probably some provision preventing you from trying that.

For people interested in collecting in Thailand but don’t know where to start: I, and two buddies, visited Thailand in July 2024. Adam Cotton suggested we contact Rob Dodd (thank you Adam), who became our adviser and host. Rob and his wife operate the Siam Butterfly Farm in Wang Chin, Phrae. Collecting in around the Farm was very productive. For day collecting, the local area has vacant land which is good for butterflies. Rob also told us where other local day collecting areas are located. At night there is a 1k MV & UV light setup. The accommodations at the Farm are very nice and the food quite good. As part of our trip, Rob arranged a trip to the Doi Saket area for several days, which also was highly productive. There, a 1k MV & UV light set up was also available and we were taken out to local day collecting sites. As a final point of recommendation, we are in the process of setting up another trip to Rob's place later this year.

Thank you Chuck

kevinkk wrote: Fri Dec 20, 2024 12:27 am The food plant question is really a subjective one. Personally, I don't know if I've ever seen a Sumac tree, anywhere.
For rearing moths at least, here you go- Willow, Oak, Cherry, SweetGum and Privet, those will take you a long way.
Even then, not everyone is correct all the time, I've had recommended foods refused, and I am certain it happens to
other people as well.
Certainly, the research is interesting, and worth reading, it just gets filed away with everything else I come across.

I spoke a number of times with someone that obtained a permit for importing butterflies, I don't recall if he was able to import both sexes, it sounded like a lot of work to me, I do recall way back when I had dreams of exotic moths, that a permit only allowed males in one year, and females another, if it's still that way, I don't know.

I wonder if you could import males in December and females next January and time the eclosions for a mating.

mothman27 wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2025 5:30 pm I've been thinking on the subject of permits lately. Are there any US hobbyists (anyone on here?) who actually have permits to import/raise foreign species such as saturniidae? I look on Facebook and everybody is raising and shipping species like A. atlas and A. rhodopneuma like it's nothing. I'm convinced most people have no idea that it is illegal.

I don’t know any of them who have permits. They know it’s not legal. They don’t care.

mothman27 wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2025 5:30 pm look on Facebook and everybody is raising and shipping species like A. atlas and A. rhodopneuma like it's nothing. I

Interesting, I wish I could stomach face bunk just for the exotics. They are also on Ebay, I see non-native livestock all the time, not long ago, someone was selling Dynastes hercules L2 grubs and an exotic stag species as adults. I haven't had any success raising beetles, so I passed on his hercules larva,but it was tempting. He has since disappeared, presumably busted. What is amazing are some of the prices I see- 125.00 for a "rare" Actias dubernardi cocoon.
But then everything on ebay is a holy grail or rare.
Ebay has issues with implementing policy it seems, I am sure there is a lot of dubious listings that just can't get dealt with. Took me two separate
complaints to get someone's racist t-shirt listing taken down, and that was clear racism, I even got into an argument with the seller. I think a lot of people illegally import, most keep it to themselves, enforcement is probably just overwhelmed, and it's high profile importers, like we have seen
mentioned here that get in trouble, and then there's the money,the little fish aren't worth going after.

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/141030 ... cucurbitae

wollastoni,
Thanks a lot!
I guess C. eurilochus livius

As a general warning, there's a question on the Insect Collector proboard forum about how to get the right shade of blue with UV to fake Ornithoptera victoriae rubanus form niclasi.

If nothing else, be forewarned that there's at least one new individual expressing interest in fabricating these because "this artificial form is very sought after"

I think the artificial form isn't in demand, but those believing it to be a true niclasi might be fooled into paying big money.

Here's an old one from the archived forum, a guy scammed by a fake niclasi and Ebay would not refund the money. https://archive.insectnet.com/thread/62 ... ptera-help

I have collected this specimen in my garden in Milton, Ontario, Canada last summer.
According to NA Moth Photographers website it seems like it is Eichlinia calabaza.
The problem is that this particular species occurs only in Texas and south Arizona.
It is possible that it was brought here with vegetables shipment or it is a different species altogether.
Your thoughts please

I've been thinking on the subject of permits lately. Are there any US hobbyists (anyone on here?) who actually have permits to import/raise foreign species such as saturniidae? I look on Facebook and everybody is raising and shipping species like A. atlas and A. rhodopneuma like it's nothing. I'm convinced most people have no idea that it is illegal.

I like this concept! It does seem to diminish its usefulness by having no reference photo to determine the relative condition of specimens. It also seems to significantly underrepresent the number of sales based on a couple of groups I looked at. Nonetheless, it is a great idea.

Hi all,
Here is a scan of a label from an old Caligo specimen, supposedly C. eurylochus. I tried to process it in Photoshop to make it readable, but I had no success. I can only read "Apr 2009, C..... N. Peru." Can anyone guess what the label said?

Thank you. I did find that Air France flew from Miami to Martinique, then to Pointe à Pitre, then finally to Cayenne. Originally all I could find was flying to Paris, then to Cayenne!