InsectNet forum

Chuck · by Chuck » Wed May 01, 2024 6:02 pm

livingplanet3 wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 5:33 pm
Here in North TX, for weeks now, I've been seeing more V. atalanta than ever before - absolute swarms of them. Of course, TX has always been a great place to see swarms of things, but the butterfly numbers here this spring are really outstanding. Not just atalanta, but also cardui and virginiensis are quite abundant. Many Polygonia interrogationis and Battus philenor as well, among others such as Danaus gilippus, D. plexippus, Anaea andria, and numerous Pieridae.

I suspect it would be possible to track the migration of (for example. V atlanta) with iNaturalist. Since one can filter by date, it would be possible to start "this week" and start working backwards. It would though reflect both emergences and migration; in the case of the V atlanta here, which are beat, I suspect that the "beat up butterfly" trend would be visually obvious from individual iNat records during those periods. Just an idea.

Trehopr1 · by Trehopr1 » Wed May 01, 2024 5:35 pm

It's very cool to experience "out of the ordinary" occurrences with insects.

I still recall quite vividly the experience that I had in my early teens when some friends stopped over at my house and told me about all these monarch butterflies landing on a huge tree branch by a neighbor's house.

I ran over to investigate and sure enough we were experiencing a monarch overnighting "roost".

It would be the one and only time I would ever see such a phenomenon as that....

livingplanet3 · by livingplanet3 » Wed May 01, 2024 5:33 pm

Chuck wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 5:16 pm Last week, before it snowed, there was an unusual number of V. atlanta around.

It warmed up a bit three days ago, albeit with rain. Today it's 64F and sunny. There are hundreds of atlanta, everywhere. Most are flying fast, I've only observed one alight. They are absolutely beat.

So either there was a local population explosion late last year followed by a high winter survival rate, or they have migrated. Given the condition of them, I'd say they migrated en masse. I've never seen anything like this before.

Here in North TX, for weeks now, I've been seeing more V. atalanta than ever before - absolute swarms of them. Of course, TX has always been a great place to see swarms of things, but the butterfly numbers here this spring are really outstanding. Not just atalanta, but also cardui and virginiensis are quite abundant. Many Polygonia interrogationis and Battus philenor as well, among others such as Danaus gilippus, D. plexippus, Anaea andria, and numerous Pieridae.

Chuck · by Chuck » Wed May 01, 2024 5:16 pm

Last week, before it snowed, there was an unusual number of V. atlanta around.

It warmed up a bit three days ago, albeit with rain. Today it's 64F and sunny. There are hundreds of atlanta, everywhere. Most are flying fast, I've only observed one alight. They are absolutely beat.

So either there was a local population explosion late last year followed by a high winter survival rate, or they have migrated. Given the condition of them, I'd say they migrated en masse. I've never seen anything like this before.

bobw · by bobw » Wed May 01, 2024 7:29 am

Annarobertson1947 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:43 pm Yep, same result i got ,nothing to show
Will wait and tryin a week or so

That's because he's got nothing for sale right now.

Annarobertson1947 · by Annarobertson1947 » Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:43 pm

Yep, same result i got ,nothing to show
Will wait and tryin a week or so

58chevy · by 58chevy » Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:31 pm

Yes, nice genus. T. lunulatus also comes in metallic blue.

livingplanet3 · by livingplanet3 » Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:01 pm

58chevy wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2024 9:58 pm These bugs are out in big numbers right now in E. Texas. Caught at least 30 of them this morning. They are about 10 to 12 mm long and look like miniature metallic green Goliath beetles. All were caught on flowers...

Very nice! I've often seen several species of Trichiotinus in my area, including lunulatus. They're nearly always on either prickly pear cactus flowers, or thistles. Most commonly, I see T. texanus -

https://bugguide.net/node/view/1803462/bgimage

And much less often, another trichiine, Trigonopeltastes delta -

https://bugguide.net/node/view/519253

58chevy · by 58chevy » Tue Apr 30, 2024 9:58 pm

These bugs are out in big numbers right now in E. Texas. Caught at least 30 of them this morning. They are about 10 to 12 mm long and look like miniature metallic green Goliath beetles. All were caught on flowers.

Chuck · by Chuck » Tue Apr 30, 2024 8:49 pm

I'm unclear why IN has both Classifieds and Marketplace. What's the difference?

Which would be the best to sell some antique and classic entomology books?

Chuck · by Chuck » Tue Apr 30, 2024 5:34 pm

Just for reference, it did it again at 1:30pm Eastern.

wollastoni · by wollastoni » Tue Apr 30, 2024 1:40 pm

Here is a link towards Alexandre's shop : https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?item=23 ... ameriana15

wollastoni · by wollastoni » Tue Apr 30, 2024 1:37 pm

Inmotion says it comes from a technical issue in the code somewhere on InsectNet.

Could be the phpbb forum, I will try to update it with the last version next week... it is not so easy to do and there is a risk of bugging the whole forum so I am always reluctant to do this kind of upgrades. Not sure it will change anything but it's worth a try.

Chuck · by Chuck » Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:44 am

That luna is spectacular. I have a specimen from KY that has purple edging, but no vertical stripes. AFAIK nobody has done genetic analysis to see what the relationship tree is for luna. Who knows what is variation, and what is something taxonomically significant.

Vernon's series of Hyphantria is impressive in that it demonstrates the variation within some taxa.

Annarobertson1947 · by Annarobertson1947 » Tue Apr 30, 2024 8:02 am

Ahhh ,so i forgot 15, getting old

Thanks

hewi · by hewi » Tue Apr 30, 2024 7:59 am

His name ist ameriana15.
The name has not changed

Annarobertson1947 · by Annarobertson1947 » Tue Apr 30, 2024 12:40 am

Hi, i lost my contacts with Ebay seller "Ameriana"
Can anyone tell me if he goes by another Ebay name?

58chevy · by 58chevy » Mon Apr 29, 2024 11:56 pm

58chevy · by 58chevy » Mon Apr 29, 2024 9:02 pm

Very impressive Hyphantria series. I never would have guessed that there was that much variation. After reading the luna commentary, I checked my lunas and observed exactly what Vernon mentioned regarding variations in successive broods. I also noticed an unusual spring-brood specimen from Florida (shown below) that has darker purple borders and pronounced vertical markings on the wings.

Chuck · by Chuck » Mon Apr 29, 2024 7:50 pm

Nymphalis antiopa wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:54 am If they just used common sense,

There's your problem.

Look, it is universal country-wide that one cannot catch and kill song birds, despite many having very healthy populations. Meanwhile, house cats are allowed to roam freely and have been documented to have a significant negative impact on song bird populations. One isn't allowed in most places to shoot cats that are outdoors; "environmentalist" tree huggers are fine looking the other way when it's their cats that kill birds. These same NABA people who are horrified that some citizen scientists kill butterflies are the same types with the bird depleting cats, but somehow to their logic, that's OK.

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Re: Need help finding Ebay seller Ameriana

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Trichiotinus lunulatus

IN Marketplace, Classifieds difference?

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Re: Need help finding Ebay seller Ameriana

Re: Need help finding Ebay seller Ameriana

Need help finding Ebay seller Ameriana

Morpho wings in liquid nitrogen

Re: Exactly what is Hyphantria cunea?

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