A very useful tool : the Naturalis Bioportal : https://bioportal.naturalis.nl/nl

Naturalis (Leiden Museum, Holland) has digitalised a large part of their butterfly collection.
It is very rich in historic specimens from former Dutch colonies (Indonesia, Papua...) and some other specimens. Very useful to see some rare species AND their collecting data.

An example with Delias clathrata, they have access to 15 specimens : https://bioportal.naturalis.nl/nl/resul ... perator=OR


A nice specimen caught by my friend Fred Gerrits

As discussed with Chuck in another topic, this is the kind of digitalization all big private collections should do too (yes, it takes time & money).

Check their database on your favourites genera.

Naturalis is on the way to fully digitalized their lep collection. I will create a dedicated topic about that.

You are right that it is a huge tasks and starting by rarities is a good idea.
I may hire someone to do it, to be sure it is done.

wollastoni wrote: ↑Thu Mar 20, 2025 10:02 am One of my plan, before donating/selling my collection in the future, is totally "digitalizing" it. So that, all entomologists will be able to study it in the future.
Of course digitalizing about 10,000 specimens with their collecting label is a crazy amount of work... so I hope I will have the energy to do so.
And then a digital copy will be sent to all Delias collectors/specialists.

Food for thoughts for some of you maybe.

That had been my plan, really just a dream. It would take a thousand hours to do it. I really only "needed" to do about 30 drawers, but even that task is a couple hundred hours. So it never happened. I did get some of my proposed Papilio solstitius paratypes photographed and uploaded to iNat and BOLD, but even that took time.


Some institutions started the effort, though I don't know any that have kept up, and in some cases even the data that was online is now gone, probably when the funding dried up.

With something like Delias, the task is likely somewhat achieved as you've done- photo the important specimens. Uploading to InsectNet is great, but redundancy by uploading elsewhere (eg iNat) offers greater survivability of the data. There's plenty of Delias species that frankly we don't need any more photos of, so skip them and save time.

One of my plan, before donating/selling my collection in the future, is totally "digitalizing" it. So that, all entomologists will be able to study it in the future.
Of course digitalizing about 10,000 specimens with their collecting label is a crazy amount of work... so I hope I will have the energy to do so.
And then a digital copy will be sent to all Delias collectors/specialists.

Food for thoughts for some of you maybe.

bobw wrote: ↑Wed Mar 19, 2025 2:42 pm They all emerged a bit crippled, but the priamus were green on emergence.

Bob and Chuck,

Thanks. I suspect that my memory may have been back to front, and rather than priamus emerging orange and turning green I suspect that O. croesus emerges green and the wings turns orange as they dry.

Adam.

I had some priamus poseidon and goliath pupae once. They all emerged a bit crippled, but the priamus were green on emergence.

I've also seen priamus once or twice in buttefly houses here in England, although it was many years ago.

adamcotton wrote: ↑Tue Mar 18, 2025 6:48 pm I seem to remember reading that males of O. priamus poseidon are orange immediately on emergence from the pupa, and turn green as the wings dry. Can anyone confirm this?

Adam.

I have not heard this. I've seen freshly emerged urvilleanus, they are not orange, nor are freshly emerged victoriae.

I'll let you guys know how I feel when it's gone! Part of the driver has been the regret that my collection, though open to research, isn't as widely known as the institutions. And I've not had time to exercise part of it. I had noted that iNat had an incorrect photo of Papilio erskinei, so I had the contributor remove his photo and I uploaded correct photos of male and female, and mine are all that are on iNat to this day. But there are many more that need to be shared, in whichever way.

Moving to FL, a grave concern of mine, founded or not, is that a hurricane could wipe out everything, and all that science would be lost. That would be on me. So this way it's arguably protected (at least from a hurricane!)

I have no idea what I'll study next, being completely ignorant of Florida Leps. I'll figure it out later. I'll keep you updated, and thanks for the kind thoughts.

Chuck < donating/selling your collection is the good thing to do. I know so many people who got their collection destroyed/lost because they let that to be handled by their children who weren't entomologist.

Thank you too for sharing your feelings. It must be a tough decision indeed. I guess it's part of our hobby too. And I am sure that, after few months, you will feel relieved. An idea could be too start studying a new group which is interesting and doesn't take much space and money. I would say Catasticta for example... to keep the passion alive !

mothman55 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 18, 2025 9:15 pm The space on the pictured trap between the bait tray and net looks way to much. I would think most would not end up flying that far up to get into the trap.

I agree absolutely, the gap should not be more than 1 1/2 inches, even 2 inches is too wide.

Of course you need a bait container that is less than the height of the gap!

Adam.

Thank you kevinkk for the heads up on that website.
Think I'm going to buy myself one of those hanging bait traps myself.
A whole lot more affordable than Ole' Leroy's "higher than hell" bait traps.

It will be interesting to hear your thoughts a few months after all is gone. I do not look forward to the day I no longer feel I can maintain my beloved collection, hoping that day is still a decade or two off. A friend (Ken Thorne) recently donated his entire collection to the Royal Ontario Museum, and I will be asking if in retrospect if he finds it was the right decision. Another friend (Norm Tremblay) is passing his collection on to a relative, and I know he gets a lot of comfort from just having his collection in his basement to view any time he wants. Parting with something that is a big part of your life has got to be emotionally draining, and if you soon come to regret it, I think the answer would be to keep a small number of drawers with your most prized specimens, even if its just a couple of drawers, there have to be a few you can never part with.

I have found that my catocala bait works well on antiopa, comma, interrogations, vanessa atalanta. Beer, brown sugar, over-ripe bananas and molasses.The space on the pictured trap between the bait tray and net looks way to much. I would think most would not end up flying that far up to get into the trap. I keep the bait tray an inch or two from the netting above, and mine have a lip at the bottom end of the trap so the butterfly/moth will not escape as easily.

I think there are some recipes for bait that have been posted, I know Vernon has a thread about the topic. To me it sounds like any mashed up fruit, and some liquid.
I am going to try my first butterfly trapping this season, if nothing else than it's going to be easier than netting them. I found some premade
traps and other supplies at a site ( Forestry Suppliers,INC.

I seem to remember reading that males of O. priamus poseidon are orange immediately on emergence from the pupa, and turn green as the wings dry. Can anyone confirm this?

Adam.

Lord, that's a depressing post, Chuck. You'd better start collecting again as soon as possible when you move!
jh

Chuck wrote: ↑Mon Mar 17, 2025 12:28 pm On the priamus-types, what I find most interesting is indeed the morphology, but as reflecting divergence- who the $**@ would have ever dreamed up an orange priamus-type? Green, blue, grey, those I understand. But orange?

Indeed ! And let's quote A.R. Wallace famous words when he discovered them :
""You may perhaps imagine my excitement when, after seeing it only two or three times in three months, I at length took a male Ornithoptera. When I took it out of my net, and opened its gorgeous wings, I was nearer fainting with delight and excitement than I have ever been in my life; my heart beat violently, and the blood rushed to my head, leaving a headache for the rest of the day. The insect surpassed my expectations, being, though allied to Priamus, perfectly new, distinct, and of a most gorgeous and unique colour; it is a fiery golden orange, changing, when viewed obliquely, to opaline-yellow and green. It is, I think, the finest of the Ornithoptera, and consequently the finest butterfly in the world?”

Well, I'm days from seeing my collection heading off. Some is going to Cornell, the scientifically interesting material. The commercial stuff- most of which I bought when I was much younger- I figured Cornell really doesn't need, and lots of this material is now hard to get, so a retailer will get this; that way he can share it out to the collector community. Stand by for more info.

One challenge I faced was finding a stable, sane institution to take the collection. I have to say, at the end of the day I did not find this such that it satisfied my concerns, but I believe the collections department will outlast institutional instability. I hope. Too, I looked at the investment institutions were willing to make to get the collection. One said they'd really like it, it was a great fit, and they'd take it if I delivered it. I always look at "skin in the game" - what's the other party's commitment? And if the other party has no skin in the game, I'm not interested. In fact, said institution said there was no funding for collection gathering, yet they blow money on other Lep projects. I think wait? I'm supposed to incur cost to deliver this to you, free? So they unfortunately got themselves eliminated, which is too bad because a significant subset of my collection would have been a great fit.

I wonder how I'll feel. My office is getting empty- $30k in non-bug collectibles has already left. I miss some of it, but it's in good, caring hands. But the bugs are different- these aren't "collectibles", they aren't even- to me- "things"- they are my life. They are every trip I've taken; they are my refrigerator magnets. They remind me of great trips, and some not so great times. They were a huge financial cost, which isn't being recovered. They've been with me, some for 50+ years, with a few hundred added every year. It's like I'm disappearing slowly.

Mashed banana seems to be the old standby. No reason you can't put three small dishes in there with a variety.

So has any Delias expert ever mapped out Asia Pacific, and identified areas not well surveyed, and with topology likely to have new species?