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Topic: RIP Chuck Kondor | Author: chrisw | Replies: 5 | Views: 73
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bobw
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Re: RIP Chuck Kondor

by bobw » Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:43 am

A controversial character... I know a few people who said they got ripped off by him, but I dealt with him a few times and never had a problem. I met him 3 times when he came over to Europe, he was a larger than life character and good company, he certainly knew a lot about the insect trade.

He was also one of the growing number of people who did time for illegal insect trading. He had some hair-raising stories about his time in prison!
Topic: Rarities in Charaxes | Author: Annarobertson1947 | Replies: 42 | Views: 1083
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Re: Rarities in Charaxes

by bobw » Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:34 am

Charaxes have never really done it for me, but I've always had a soft spot for Polyura, and I think posidonius is the most spectacular of all of them!
Topic: Limenitis chrysalides | Author: lamprima2 | Replies: 4 | Views: 62
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Re: Limenitis chrysalides

by lamprima2 » Sat Mar 30, 2024 4:28 am

livingplanet3 wrote: Fri Mar 29, 2024 2:58 pm
lamprima2 wrote: Fri Mar 29, 2024 3:09 am Does anyone have any info on the structure and possible
function of a flipper-like outgrowth on the dorsal side of
Limenitis lorquini chrysalis? It is present in other
Limenitis species as well...
As both the larvae and chrysalides are bird dropping mimics, perhaps this projection serves to give a more irregular shape, augmenting the effect?
This is certainly possible, however, other species of this genus, apparently, do not mimic the bird poo, while possess the same weird structure: see the photos of L. reducta (mimicking a dry leaf) and L. populi (mimicking God knows what). These photographs are taken from the Internet.
Limenitis reducta.jpg
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Topic: Huh? Monarch butterfly range | Author: Chuck | Replies: 4 | Views: 60
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Re: Huh? Monarch butterfly range

by eurytides » Sat Mar 30, 2024 12:27 am

Definitely breeds in Canada. Reaches some pretty northern locales. The map is just inaccurate.
Topic: Agrias butterflies | Author: wollastoni | Replies: 133 | Views: 9301
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Re: Agrias butterflies

by Annarobertson1947 » Sat Mar 30, 2024 12:20 am

On the topic of Agrias ( apologies to those that are shaking their fingers in admonishment ) yes, I said Agrias😊, is there anyone who can tell me the paper that puts Agrias in Prepona.
Can't find online.
Topic: RIP Chuck Kondor | Author: chrisw | Replies: 5 | Views: 73
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Re: RIP Chuck Kondor

by Chuck » Fri Mar 29, 2024 7:20 pm

When I was a kid- younger than 10- I wrote him for a price list. It was all hand written, and not knowing any better, I closed with "Love, Chuck." I quickly realized that was inappropriate, but wasn't going to rewrite the whole letter, so sent it. I never got a price list. I wonder why.

Sad to hear of this passionate man's passing, and thanks Chris for sharing that anecdote.
Topic: RIP Chuck Kondor | Author: chrisw | Replies: 5 | Views: 73
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Re: RIP Chuck Kondor

by adamcotton » Fri Mar 29, 2024 7:14 pm

Sad news reverberates around the world.

RIP

Adam.
Topic: RIP Chuck Kondor | Author: chrisw | Replies: 5 | Views: 73
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Re: RIP Chuck Kondor

by Panacanthus » Fri Mar 29, 2024 6:55 pm

This is sad news, but thank you for sharing your stories. Although I never met Chuck in person, I had some wonderful conversations on the phone with him and some insect “dealings” as well. He also purchased a freeze dryer(not a cheap piece of equipment) from me which I was no longer using, just to give it to the Lewellens - another example of his generosity. The experiences you describe are exactly what I would expect from Chuck!
“Seems to me the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” -David Attenborough
Topic: Rarities in Charaxes | Author: Annarobertson1947 | Replies: 42 | Views: 1083
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Re: Rarities in Charaxes

by livingplanet3 » Fri Mar 29, 2024 6:17 pm

daveuk wrote: Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:59 am About two years ago I managed to get some male specimens of Polyura posidonius from Tibet for the first time. It is a small (for the genus) but beautiful species. Probably not that rare but always considered a bit of a "holy grail". By me at least...
I have not seen a female...
Beautiful specimens!
Topic: Huh? Monarch butterfly range | Author: Chuck | Replies: 4 | Views: 60
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Re: Huh? Monarch butterfly range

by livingplanet3 » Fri Mar 29, 2024 6:07 pm

D. plexippus has become naturalized across the Pacific, in every place where its host plant (milkweed) has also become naturalized. Monarchs reached Australia by the 1870s, and can now be found across much of the continent's southeast, along the entire east coast, and north into PNG.
Topic: Huh? Monarch butterfly range | Author: Chuck | Replies: 4 | Views: 60
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Re: Huh? Monarch butterfly range

by kevinkk » Fri Mar 29, 2024 3:42 pm

Maybe. I am sure D, plexippus is found here in Oregon. I just saw a news clip about a butterfly house in Hawaii and all they showed were
Monarchs, I don't think they occur there naturally, but I've never been. Perhaps it is just the comparison between the respective species, I had to look
up gilippus :)
Topic: Limenitis chrysalides | Author: lamprima2 | Replies: 4 | Views: 62
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Re: Limenitis chrysalides

by kevinkk » Fri Mar 29, 2024 3:35 pm

livingplanet3 wrote: Fri Mar 29, 2024 2:58 pm
lamprima2 wrote: Fri Mar 29, 2024 3:09 am Does anyone have any info on the structure and possible
function of a flipper-like outgrowth on the dorsal side of
Limenitis lorquini chrysalis? It is present in other
Limenitis species as well...
As both the larvae and chrysalides are bird dropping mimics, perhaps this projection serves to give a more irregular shape, augmenting the effect?
As good as guess as any. There are moth larva that mimic bird droppings, but moths spin cocoons or burrow, so don't need the camo decor butterflies
do. Other butterfly pupae have projections and unusual shapes, as compared to the hidden moth pupaes.
Topic: Limenitis chrysalides | Author: lamprima2 | Replies: 4 | Views: 62
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Re: Limenitis chrysalides

by livingplanet3 » Fri Mar 29, 2024 2:58 pm

lamprima2 wrote: Fri Mar 29, 2024 3:09 am Does anyone have any info on the structure and possible
function of a flipper-like outgrowth on the dorsal side of
Limenitis lorquini chrysalis? It is present in other
Limenitis species as well...
As both the larvae and chrysalides are bird dropping mimics, perhaps this projection serves to give a more irregular shape, augmenting the effect?
Topic: RIP Chuck Kondor | Author: chrisw | Replies: 5 | Views: 73
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RIP Chuck Kondor

by chrisw » Fri Mar 29, 2024 2:01 pm

Chuck Kondor passed away yesterday. He had been dealing with cancer and heart disease for several years.

I know many of you on this forum have had interactions With Chuck over the years. I would like to share some of my interactions with you.

I met Chuck by chance, in of all places Patagonia Arizona in July of 2014. This was my first collecting trip to Arizona with my 17 year old son.
We were staying at the Stage Stop Inn in downtown Patagonia. There were a couple of other collectors staying at this hotel as you could tell by the gear in the back of their trucks. One afternoon as I was putting things in the truck I noticed a business card under my windshield wiper. The card said "The Bug Guy" Chuck Kondor. He wrote on the card "How's the collecting going? I would like to visit. I am staying in room 201. I had heard of this Chuck Kondor guy, but never had dealings with him or met him. So I went up and knocked on the door. This large scruffy man opened the door and let me in. It was Chuck. He introduced me to his collecting partner, Greg Lewellen, and we visited for maybe 45 minutes or so. I found out that Chuck lived about an hour away from my house. He told me to call him when I got back to Wisconsin to set up a time that my son and I could come over and see his stuff.

About 2 weeks after we got back my son and I went for a visit. He welcomed us into his home and down to his "bug room" where he did his business and displayed many of the butterflies, moths & beetles he had for sale. My son & I were amazed at the amazing specimens he showed us. We also found his collecting stories fascinating. As we visited he he started to give us specimens to take home. He would ask "Do you have one of these?, and if course the answer was no. At the time I had a very meager collection of exotic specimens. By the time our visit was over Chuck had given us over 100 specimens to take home. When we got into the truck to go home I looked at my son and said "Did that just happen?"

That was the start of a wonderful friendship with Chuck. I would stop over to visit with him every couple of months just to listen to his stories about collecting all over the world. I would always come home with some new specimens for my collection. When Chuck found out that I grow flowers for a living and did landscaping through my business we began trading with each other. I would plant flowers in his yard and he would send me home with new specimens.

I now have an incredible collection and many fond memories just by that chance meeting in Patagonia. I will miss those visits.
Topic: Huh? Monarch butterfly range | Author: Chuck | Replies: 4 | Views: 60
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Huh? Monarch butterfly range

by Chuck » Fri Mar 29, 2024 12:46 pm

I was reading an enjoyable article on Danaus gilippus in LepSoc Journal Spring 2024 when the following map caught my eye:

Image

Huh? Everyone knows that Danaus plexippus breeds all the way up into Canada. Right?

The purpose of the map is to demonstrate the lack of competition for foodplant between gilippus and plexippus; so no harm done to the point being made. Still, this seems to be a significant oversight concerning something that I consider common knowledge.

Am I missing something?
Topic: Ring light techniques? | Author: Chuck | Replies: 1 | Views: 24
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Ring light techniques?

by Chuck » Fri Mar 29, 2024 12:36 pm

Frustrated that all of my specimen photos are either too dark (cloudy day) or have a shadow, I broke down and bought a ring light.

This one is low-end, and you get what you pay for. It wasn't as shown on the box, and it isn't what's in the instructions. Some parts discussed in the manual have been very much made cheaper. The friction rings to hold arm position don't work well. Typical Amazon junk. But it was inexpensive (no, it was cheap. There is a difference.)

Anyway, it does throw out nice light. It does have an automatic shutter remote, which does sync with Bluetooth to my phone.

The idea then, I guess, is to get the tripod and light set up over a surface, and rotate specimens under it. That way the same heads-up angle is achieved with correct lighting.

Does anyone have any tricks or hints to using a ring light?
Topic: Rarities in Charaxes | Author: Annarobertson1947 | Replies: 42 | Views: 1083
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Re: Rarities in Charaxes

by daveuk » Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:59 am

About two years ago I managed to get some male specimens of Polyura posidonius from Tibet for the first time. It is a small (for the genus) but beautiful species. Probably not that rare but always considered a bit of a "holy grail". By me at least...
I have not seen a female.
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Topic: Limenitis chrysalides | Author: lamprima2 | Replies: 4 | Views: 62
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Limenitis chrysalides

by lamprima2 » Fri Mar 29, 2024 3:09 am

Does anyone have any info on the structure and possible
function of a flipper-like outgrowth on the dorsal side of
Limenitis lorquini chrysalis? It is present in other
Limenitis species as well.
DSC_4383 IN.jpg
DSC_4383 IN.jpg (443.54 KiB) Viewed 62 times
Topic: Butterflies of Virginia, Clark & Clark 1951 | Author: Chuck | Replies: 3 | Views: 89
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Re: Butterflies of Virginia, Clark & Clark 1951

by Chuck » Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:04 pm

Ha, John it never occurred to me that the book would be ESPECIALLY interesting and useful for those living in Virginia!

Yes, it's sad to now look back and see how so many species are extirpated from the lands they once occupied. I did find it interesting that in the early 20th century they reported (as you cited) species expanding in range, and apparently quickly.
Topic: Butterflies of Virginia, Clark & Clark 1951 | Author: Chuck | Replies: 3 | Views: 89
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Re: Butterflies of Virginia, Clark & Clark 1951

by jhyatt » Thu Mar 28, 2024 3:03 pm

I reread my copy every few years, Chuck -- and not just because I live near, and collect in, VA regularly. There's fascinating info in there -- like the fact that they found only one specimen of Pieris virginiensis in Virginia, and it was about 200 feet from the WVA border (it's now dirt common in SW VA, and much further south, too), that Colias eurytheme was a recent addition to the VA fauna (it wasn't seen north of the NC border until around 1920, as I recall), and that Speyeria diana still flew on the outer coastal plain at their time of study (the type locality of diana is Jamestown, VA!). They gave records for the now-vanished Speyeria idalia in over 30 VA counties, too. I'm sure their long, long discussion of P. glaucus broods and variation is of great interest to your own research, too.

Cheeers,
jh