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Chuck · by Chuck » Mon Jan 13, 2025 11:17 pm

Typically males emerge days or more before females. With most Saturnids especially, the males are at the female within minutes after she starts calling.

Overwintering more than one year is apparently more common than I thought. Just yesterday I was told by a researcher about western Papilio (I’d have to guess indra) May diapause through three winters. Even more interesting, the parasitic Ichneumon does likewise. It makes sense to ensure species survival through a dry summer or fires. What’s really mind blowing though is the arms race with the parasite!

You may be frustrated with your female, but they do things for a reason, even if we don’t understand it.

kevinkk · by kevinkk » Mon Jan 13, 2025 7:45 pm

Has this happened to you?

Your livestock, after being diapaused for an atypical amount of time, hatches, and the female lays eggs almost immediately, meaning
that instead of sitting and looking pretty for several days or more, she starts laying on night number 1.

I can see the logic in animals waiting for the right conditions and remaining for more than one season, but it's not going to help the
species if eggs are being laid with only a matter of hours in which to pair up.

I've noticed that eventually virtually everything that can happen, will happen, but besides being frustrating, it's a minus for the species.

Innsaneink · by Innsaneink » Mon Jan 13, 2025 12:47 am

Thanks very much paul

kevinkk · by kevinkk » Mon Jan 13, 2025 12:23 am

Chuck wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2025 8:55 pm Well done! You must be excited after such an effort.

Chuck, I am excited about it. After I made the post, I was thinking that there is a particular feeling of accomplishment having the effort bring some results, now, it may be simply providing the right conditions, or just luck, sometimes, it seems both work equally well, or not.
Right now, I have the female in a cooler room in a separate cage and it remains to be seen if a male will hatch in the window of
opportunity.
A beautiful animal, looking much like our Hyalophora, or Rothschildia.

Sometimes we try and replicate native conditions to give the insects the best chance, sometimes it works, even this last season, I had some
Citheronia splendens pupa which I'd raised from ova, overwintered them, and while all hatched, there weren't any matings , however,
a buyer who bought only 3 pupa, 2 females and 1 male, had a pairing, there's a lottery win right there.
Just getting a pairing is only part of the process, fertile ova, and accepted food plant, assuming it's available considering our seasonal changes.

x106x · by x106x » Mon Jan 13, 2025 12:05 am

Did you ever get your bugs?

Chuck · by Chuck » Sun Jan 12, 2025 8:55 pm

Well done! You must be excited after such an effort.

kevinkk · by kevinkk » Sun Jan 12, 2025 5:32 pm

At long last, after at least 13 months I have an adult female, having hatched last night.
An interesting development, I brought the cocoons back into the warm room about 2 months ago,
and after reading a similar post on the Actias site, decided to renew the effort, cycling the heater
and humidifier the last couple days.
The cage I use for climate control, you can see is plastic, I have a small wall heater and the humidifier
to increase moisture and heat. Apparently something worked, or perhaps it's just time.
Now, I can leave (probably) her for a few days before the specimen has a risk of flight damage.

: Epiphora lugardi female 1-12-25.JPG (58.33 KiB) Viewed 66 times

Paul K · by Paul K » Sun Jan 12, 2025 1:37 pm

It’s a weevil beetle

Innsaneink · by Innsaneink » Sun Jan 12, 2025 9:45 am

Mr Cat found this on.the kitchen floor... I had to squish it as. Mr cat was about to eat it.... (I better feed him)
Is this a tick.... Cat goes Outside into the garden occasionally.

Thanks

wollastoni · by wollastoni » Sat Jan 11, 2025 4:10 pm

Trehopr < thank you for starting this very interesting thread.

kevin < I love the article ! Nowadays the USDA would knock at your doors the day after publication !

kevinkk · by kevinkk » Wed Jan 08, 2025 11:05 pm

I appreciate your comments as well, yes, 68 people sounds like a lot, and it is probably accurate, I say probably, because there are inaccuracies
in the story, albeit minor ones, for instance I did not bring any night collecting equipment, but was lucky enough to be allowed to use another's
mercury lamp, and also go with a couple guys who set up a uv light, and then we went into the deserted town and streetlighted.
And the cyanide line is not accurate at all, I didn't start using cyanide until I bought some in Nevada at a mining supply, I wonder if that's still
possible.

None of the butterfly pupa hatched successfully, all the sphinx pupa turned out however.

I don't recall any injuries, except for my cabana mate who believed some locals when he was told the water they had was filtered:(

I did eat the best pineapple I have ever had, cold, out of the fridge, dripping juice.

I learned a little about driving- our driver would honk around every corner, a technique I have used a couple times here at home when the road was blocked by tourists.

I met a number a great people,I don't recall names however, one gentleman from Chicago who specialized in gynandromorphs, who I was pen pal with for a while, and generally all wonderful persons who were more or less like minded.

Trehopr1 · by Trehopr1 » Wed Jan 08, 2025 4:29 pm

Thank you kindly Kevin for posting your travel article.

So, as best I can figure either you were on the same trip that my friend was on (my friend could have been off one year in telling his story) or it could be that Tom Emmel made a second trip there the very next year in 1982.

Tom Emmel was a successful and well-known lepidopterist/professor at the University of Gainesville Florida. He would host many trips to different places throughout the 1980s and 1990s (including into the early 2000s). I went 2X on trips with him in both 1988 (Ecuador) and 1989 (Bolivia).

Up until about 1994/1995 his trips were very affordable with all needed permits arranged. However, after that the trips became much more expensive as he started going further away to more exotic and expensive locales in Africa and Southeast Asia. At that point for me any dreams of going anywhere else were squashed due to the much more inflated expense of travel.

I'm eternally grateful to Tom Emmel for having made the trips that I did. He was an absolute gentleman and seasoned professional in the science. He was ever helpful as a host and the places that I stayed at were quite nice, clean, and comfortable. Some trips would have fewer participants so I'm sure that always worked out better overall.

In reading your article of your trip it was mentioned that there were 68 participants involved. That's pretty crazy

to even imagine a group that big. The trips I went on were nowhere near that number. In fact, given the "so few trails" available to navigate for specimens (in the places I visited) there wouldn't have been much left to catch for anyone caught at the end of a long line of nets in front of you.

Thank you again Kevin for your article.

kevinkk · by kevinkk » Tue Jan 07, 2025 8:20 pm

Trehopr1 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2025 7:15 pm sorry to hear that you lost your treasures to a relationship
event but, thru your fond memories of your trip and pictures
you can re-live it to some extent anytime....

Well, these things happen. Sometimes anyway.
I have the newspaper article from when I returned, I'll find a slow day soon and get something going for the thread.
I really remember it as being before 1982, as I was 16, going on 17 later that July, in any event all the experiences we have out of country are
memorable in one fashion or another, my biggest regret of the past is however- not taking more risks and getting out of the comfort zone, I'm
envious of more the more traveled.
Couldn't have been June of '82 when I went, I graduated that year and recall taking my photo album to school, the trip was however very affordable,
although working for Dad in the construction business I made an abnormal amount of money compared to my peers.

I've scanned the article, I don't know how it'll read, but I'm trying...

Trehopr1 · by Trehopr1 » Tue Jan 07, 2025 7:34 pm

Thank you very kindly as well Paul K for your
thoughtful remarks about my article.

I would very much like to see or hear of your story
(trip) which you made to French Guiana ! Now, there's
a REAL exotic locale. Perhaps, in time you could cobble
togather an article similar somewhat to mine (really
an overview) of your experience there.

I would love to see some of your wonderful captures.

I do recall you mentioning your own capture of Titanus
giganteus. As well, you have in the past posted photo's
of Oryba kaydeni and Agrias narcissus which you also
captured whilst there.

All would make for some exciting reading for our
members here.

I would add that ANYONE with an interesting story
to tell us of some exotic insect excursion they have
taken is certainly welcome to post it here in Field
Reports.

Trehopr1 · by Trehopr1 » Tue Jan 07, 2025 7:15 pm

Hello kevinkk,
Happy that you enjoyed the tale of my experiences in the
Dominican Republic. Nice to know that you too had an
opportunity to go and collect in that place as well. I'll
bet that you probably joined the tour group that went
there in 1982. A friend of mine who (passed) last year
joined Tom Emmel's 1st excursion there of 1982. He said
their was a lot of interest and that the trip was very
affordable. He had also mentioned his stay in Jarabacoa
(Har-ba-coah). He also said that he twisted an ankle on
a slope early in the trip so, he would stay at the lodge
and go poolside during the day where all the collector's
wives would go. He remarked that their were some
bushes near the pool and swallowtails would visit every
now and again.

After several days of this he wound up with more swallowtails
to his name than the rest of the tour group combined ! It
really was quite a laugh to hear him lament his experience.

Here I include a picture of the only Papilio aristodemus
that I managed to capture on the trip. It's a bit worn and was
likely a few days old when I captured it. I did see another
3 or 4 (as I recall) but, they were all "on the wing" and quite
improbable to catch.

Yet, another papilionid species which I encountered would
be Battus polydamas. This one was sighted quite a bit more
often than any other swallowtail species however, it was
tough to capture exceptional ones as it seemed they had
already been out a few days (or a week); thus, most were
very tatty or bearing scratched up wings. Below, are my
BEST pair presented. Male (top) and Female (below).

I'm sorry to hear that you lost your treasures to a relationship
event but, thru your fond memories of your trip and pictures
you can re-live it to some extent anytime....

mothman55 · by mothman55 » Tue Jan 07, 2025 1:09 am

Hey Bill, very nice selection of C. cerogama. The two with much lighter color just above the 2 "ruperti" are from "aurella" according to Sargents "Legion of Night". I have seen very few of those over the years while I have been fortunate to encounter 7 "ruperti" out of the hundreds of cerogama that have come to my bait.

I do especially love all of the different melanic forms of catocala species, and recall you once showed a melanic coccinata, had not seen one of those before. I will have to start a thread on all the melanic forms of catocala that the group had seen/caught, would be interesting to know how many species do have a melanic form.

Saturniidae27 · by Saturniidae27 » Mon Jan 06, 2025 8:20 pm

The top "Automeris" are actually Leucanella Viettei. And the bottom copaxa is copaxa ockendeni. Both are endemic to Peru. I believe the specimens are also from Mr. Frank Meister.

Paul K · by Paul K » Mon Jan 06, 2025 5:24 pm

Thank you for sharing your adventure with us, the photos and your priceless specimens!

Chuck · by Chuck » Mon Jan 06, 2025 1:36 pm

bandrow wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 12:11 am Hi Chuck,

I don't know about the moths, but that "sandy useless scrub" harbors some of the neatest species of beetles in that state!! (I know you're being facetious, as am I! )

Ciao,
Bandrow

I suspect you are right, Bob. The easy taxa found along highways are typically the best studied, while those in adverse environments get, not surprisingly, less attention. Between the "sandy useless scrub", the mangroves, and the seas of mixed semi-wet ecosystems I'll bet there's all sorts of interesting insects in need of study. All of these environments are completely foreign to me, as are the insects- I know Vanuatu better than Florida.

kevinkk · by kevinkk » Mon Jan 06, 2025 12:30 am

Nice read Trehopr1.
I visited the DR in the early 80's with an entomology tour group. June and a hurricane had been through the area. We stayed at {spelling} Jarabacoa I think it was at a resort in the mountains,
very exciting for a 16 year old. 10 days if I recall correctly, I think the tour was organized by someone named Emmel.

I caught everything I could get, and even found papilo pupa at the lodge. A few were envious when the first hatched, I don't recall the species, one of the larger yellow and black. Maybe aristodemus, I wrote my senior thesis about it. The group was fairly large, and had an itinerary that some
of us decided to adjust when the group was scheduled to go to the coast, opting to stay at the lodge until they returned.

Easy to bring our catches back at the time, although permits may have been arranged, it's been so long ago at this point.
I have good memories of the trip and pictures. All my specimens were lost in a tragic relationship event. One night I jumped on the lodge roof as we were walking up and grabbed a big longhorn beetle, a nice male with big teeth.

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