I first saw E. oslari in the Santa Rita Mountains in 2011 - it was a major highlight of the trip. On the same night, I also saw Antheraea oculea, Hyalophora gloveri, and a great number of Sphingidae. I hope to encounter Citheronia splendens and Rothschildia cincta on future trips to AZ.

I love E. oslari. One of my favorite western saturnids. I have a 2' x 2' case with about 30 of them, and not
one is the same.

As it happens, I've got one too! Fully extended, it's about 2.6 meters long, with the ring about 25 cm in diameter. I keep it in my schoolbag most of the time - not sure as to why I didn't have it just then. Here's a picture of it accompanying me to some field in rural Norway - I had improvised it just before going on that trip, thinking I'd be able to collect my own Aglais io from the wild - no such luck, my quarry consisted of only small moths and the occasional Coenonympha, along with an assortment of beetles and bees. I suppose it was too early in the season or something, as I never saw any Lep larger than those mentioned.



Those of us that are truly obsessed will take any and all opportunities to collect
I like the look of your net though - the foldable net head is always a plus!

martellat0 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2024 4:35 pm I ran into the house (to grab my net)

I keep one in the car. And one on the boat. And one for travel. These collapsing nets are great.

Thank you! As you can probably tell from my avatar, I too, love Troides spp. As it happens, my first ever butterfly specimen was a male T. rhadamantus that was given to me by a local lepidopterist. She actually introduced me to the concept of scientific collecting, which proved to be a rewarding outlet for me to channel what had been a lifelong love of insects. That same day, I caught and pinned my first specimen (a male Graphium doson). It wasn't anywhere near as nicely spread as these, but two years and about two thousand specimens later, I still look upon those two inaugural specimens with fondness.

Caught E. darocana on 1 - X - 2024 on Cebu Island, Philippines. I caught it right outside my house, actually - it happened to be nectaring when I pulled into my driveway at about 4 PM. Naturally, I ran into the house (to grab my net) and right back out again.

When I was at Cornell in July, they have a display area dedicated to Nabokov. And in big letters, they quote him something to the likes of "I wish I'd never given away my collection [to Cornell], if I could steal them all back I would."

That gave me a shock. Wow. Notably, Nabokov never really collected after that, though that might be attributed to his fame as an author and focus on writing. Still, once he gave away his collection, did he lose interest? Did he no longer have a need to collect or study Leps?

So I wonder, what of my collection should I NOT dispose of yet? What might I need? Tiger Swallowtails? Solomon Islands specimens? I have had passions in the past, but once I broke from them, they were gone, and I never returned to them- will entomology be the same path?

When & where was E. darocana collected?

The Troides have always been a favorite of mine, with their unmatched richness of yellow, against that velvet black. That is indeed a beautiful pair AND an excellent spreading job!

A recent highlight of mine is this Noctuid moth, Episteme darocana. I believe this is to be an uncommon species (at least where I live) as prior to this, I've only caught a total of two other individuals in quite sorry condition. This one is pristine, a male, and with a wingspan of just over 7 cm mounted.

Sharing a photo of two of my specimens of Troides plateni here. These were farmed by a breeder in Palawan, hence the pristine state of their velvet black wings.

A common yet quite magnificent species in my opinion.

Appreciate the photos of your wonderful self caught specimens !

Feel free to post them anytime.

Many thanks!

That’s a good time for that area, especially if they’ve had good winter rain. Joshua Tree National Park is off-limits and so is Anza-Borrego Desert Park unless you have a permit. BLM and National Forests are open for collecting.

Chuck wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2024 5:17 pm I'd not rule out a giant anything.

Agreed, although anymore even a photo is going to have doubters, AI and awesome graphics with proper animation make dinosaurs look real, and we all are pretty sure about that.
When it gets to the news on tv, I'll have to wait and see.

Hi kevinkk,

Just collected, in one of my M.V. traps, a nice fresh specimen of the same Herald moth (Scoliopteryx libatrix); the night was cool (low of +3.5 C = +38.0 F), calm & clear. This moth is common up here in Sask. & overwinters & will be seen again next spring/early summer. Also found in my traps, 2 spp. of underwings... worn singletons of C. briseis & C. relicta. Last Saturday afternoon (05 Oct... daytime high was only +5.0 C = 41.0 F) we had, following 8 hrs. of steady rain, 2 hrs. of heavy, wet, sleety SNOW! Fortunately it melted as it hit the still warmer ground. Daytime temp. today, 08 Oct., is supposed to hit +20.0 C = 68 F... yesterday was +19.0 C = 67.0 F... crazy temp. swings... winter is not far away... !

John K.

58chevy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 10:02 pm The breathing apparatus (booklike "lungs") of spiders would not function in an arthropod as large as j'ba fofi.

Is this for certain? What if it has adapted? "Lung" adaptations aside, as Kevin mentioned there is the coconut crab, just a big hermit crab that doesn't need a shell home, which can span over a meter. The aquatic king crabs and others dwarf the coconut crab.

"studies in Chicago with the beetles raised under elevated oxygen bear out the mathmatics of Titanus
being the upper limit for bulk"

There are many limiting factors, not just oxygen. For largemouth bass it's a lack of foraging during winter; the NYS record is 12lbs, which is a joke in FL. Insects have a natural cycle, and lifespan, which is limiting- the larvae of beetles for example don't double their larval stage period, so there's that, plus the limit of the food source, time to digest, etc.

If Thor Hyerdahl was telling the truth, during his first Pacific crossing he captured two 6' eel elves; this means either there's an eel that never matures, or there's a 200' long eel.

I'd not rule out a giant anything.

That said, what is usually in doubt is the report. Lay persons often report they have a 24" moth, and then I get that cecropia, and it's not even in the ballpark. Ditto spiders- reports of hand-sized spiders and when I go look at it, it's a bloody water spider with a 3.5" span...ooohhh. When sizes of animals are claimed I fall in the "show me a photo" group.

Later, I realized that I can't really compare insects with other land Arthropods, I forgot about coconut crabs, giant centipedes, and I have seen
the giant tarantulas at reptile shows, which are big enough for most of us.
There is a lot of good "cryptid" video on youtube though, I have to skip over all the bait, otherwise I'd never find any b movies to watch.

anton wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2024 4:12 am Nicely done, i love catching these but hate pinning dried and rehydrated specimens they are near impossible for me to set unless they are fresh off the lantana

They really aren't that hard if you relax them well. See my personal method in the old forum - https://collector-secret.proboards.com/ ... ers?page=2. I explain how I relax after all the pics of skippers.

John

I checked some of the literature I have here (mainly on my subject - Papilionidae) and also could not find any photos. I did not have a copy of Okano & Okano (1986), but I just found it online, with photos of the types. A copy can be downloaded here:
https://iwate-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/1 ... 05-111.pdf
Your specimens look very similar and should be representative of the subspecies.

Euploea mulciber is a widespread species with very many subspecies across SE Asia which probably do not move from island to island except for very occasional accidental movement - a typhoon could possibly be one reason. This species is rather robust and could likely survive being blown long distance in a storm. I recently reviewed a manuscript about a much more flimsy butterfly that was apparently blown from Taiwan to Okinawa and survived.

Adam.