I purchased only one specimen from him on eBay once, and the specimen was far smaller than the description. The description also stated that the images showed the actual specimen for sale, which was absolutely not the case. In the end, after quite a few excuses from him, he offered to give a refund if I sent the specimen back. By the time I would pay for shipping, and because of the hassle of it all, I decided to take the loss and forget about it. I simply won’t order from him again. This was just my experience. Perhaps most of the time things go well with this seller.

Hello Jan,

yes, I know the website and the ebay acount. He also has a store on the insct net marked place, mostly empty. Offers some very good items, as you say.

His website works not well. I was surprised to see that some of the pictures he uses are photos from my collection. Pictures that I had posted on BioLib (a taxonomy tree). - I know that whatever goes on the internet does not belong to me any longer, but the copyright is mentionned and a little request for permisson would have been been fair play, especially for use on a commercial site ...

I have tried to get in touch with them for a trade (they claim that trades are welcome) and a purchase. But never got any answer.

I'm old, and I don't have time for Mickey Mouse Bullshit. Give me a problem and you're done. It has made my life soooo much less aggrevating.

Contractor doesn't show to do work? Finished.

Credit card or bank gives me a hassle or doesn't fix their problem fast? Done.

Screw up and don't fix it? (Lowe's Home Improvement) I spend my thousands elsewhere and tell everyone how much they suck.

Screw up an entire state? (NY)...we're leaving and taking our cash and retirement accounts, go give sales and income tax to a different state.


"Bad operator" I think hits it. I think there are many who don't intend to defraud, but they can't be bothered to fix their mistakes; somehow you aren't the priority. A loss of ethics as part of the Dumbing Down of America.

Not long ago, I had an issue with a seller, wrote it off, and then months later, countered his post for livestock with a bad trade
post . It did cost him money, because people contacted me.
So, a couple days ago I get an email form the "seller" asking WTH? Well, the last 2 emails I'd sent went unanswered, and after
multiple excuses, real or otherwise, I gave up.
So, this new email claims to want to rectify the situation.
That was 3 days ago.
Am I supposed to spend my time hounding someone who is clearly not reliable?
Now, I am not going to bore anyone with my maladies and family issues, we all have them, but it's not an excuse people- unless you are dead,
you can communicate with your buyers, if you don't it's going to be very difficult to run an effective operation.
Is there anyone here who doesn't read email at least once a day? Presuming you have internet service.
Don't think that everyone will allow a bad operator to continue after being ripped off, like a couple persons I know, I am not that kind.

Here in the Northwest, logging is a big industry. Replanting by hand works, things do take time, the infamous Tillamook Burn is now regrown.
We don't have the hardwood trees like the eastern USA, and conifers seem to grow quickly.
It's all for the lumber here. As far as biofuel and ethanol, I think at least for fuel, ethanol is not an effective alternative to fossil, as it takes an infrastructure to produce that corn.
I know charcoal is made in different countries from fast growing trees, usually non-natives.
In wildfire areas, I have a little experience, things grow back on their own, it can take decades for the tall trees, but the understory comes
back quick, and in a natural way, as wildfire is natures way of cleaning up. With all due eye roll for human interventions. Our last wildfire was caused by the power company and wind. It is true many fire areas are not easily accessible, I see a lot of it when we go east in the spring
for collecting, mountainside after mountainside covered in bare trees, but the flowers get a chance.

Hi Pierre,

I have positive experience with Edward. He is longtime registered seller also on english Ebay - user name multicaudata . His ebay store name is Insectrum UK. But website is mess and should not be used without direct comunication with Edward ( wrong prices, wrong pictures, etc. ). He has some really great material, anyway sometimes is problematic use of generic ( not what you see is what you get ) images. Even for expensive items.

Jan

Yes but the whole idea is to see my forest growing year after year so it has to be close from home.

Probably Stalachtis calliope -

http://www.sangay.eu/encords.php/fiche- ... e/voltumna

Can anyone identify this south american butterfly.

wollastoni wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 3:33 pm
On of my dreams is to buy a damaged forest and to let it regrow naturally. I am 41, I should do it now to see some results... but my wife doesn't see the interest.

Don't bother in cooler climates, it will take forever. The 120 YO regrowth I'd cited has oaks and maples that approach a meter in diameter; nearby is an original growth forest, and the oaks and maples have diameters greater than two meters, and cherries even that exceed 1.5 meters. In the original forest the canopy covers almost 100% so there is no undergrowth. It is night and day difference between mature regrowth and original forest.

Contrast that to Solomon Islands: the civil war started in 1998, and people abandoned villages and roadways. Within three years (w/o human intervention) roads disappeared, and trees had gone from sprout to 12 meters. It was nearly impossible to discern the overgrown Botanical Gardens from the old growth forest.

So if you want to grow a forest, go to the jungle.

Yes, "biofuel" is a disaster for environment. Nothing "bio" at all.

About "seed-planting drone", it already exists in nature, it is called "a bird"

On of my dreams is to buy a damaged forest and to let it regrow naturally. I am 41, I should do it now to see some results... but my wife doesn't see the interest.

I hope it works. In many cases of "reforestation" of which I've read, they plant a monoculture.

Restoration after a fire is often just expediting the process; it would regrow anyway, just not in our lifetime. Except of course in the jungle, where it takes no time at all to grow 80' tall teak trees.

Sadly, in my area we're making backward progress: 120 YO hardwood regrowth is being cleared for biofuel. In my area, 1,600 acres (650 hectares) of lakeshore hardwood forest was recently clear-cut; it's now corn and bean for ethanol biofuel. And that was just one forest; everywhere around me human corn, hay, wheat, and clover has gone over to biofuel.

This could help restore insect habitats:

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/drone ... wildfires/

Chuck wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 3:16 pm Thanks John- I'll read later, that tree looks very scary! I'm glad I don't do Skippers.

The challenge for me at least is getting ANY analysis; whole genome is out of the question unless I want to pony up $10,000.

BOLD for my specimens is showing a 99.54% match to one taxon and 98.32% match to another taxon. According to the old "2%" rule, there is no speciation, but that 2% rule has been largely thrown out. But my specimens are also 100% match to a bunch in BOLD, so clearly there are clades or something.

If the match between two taxa is only, say, 50% that's pretty clear using only barcoding. What is the minimum delta now, if 2% isn't used? Or is 2% only not being used because nuclear reveals so much more? But then still, a 2% differentiation would be a concrete separation of taxa, right?

You need to think of COI as one of many characters to consider. When this was first beginning the 2% level was a clue that you should look at other things as well - like solid wing pattern differences, hostplants, larval characters, and so on. But remember - 2% is a lot - and if the COI is that different - then they two things have been separated for quite a while

But then, some weirdness has crept in. I can't find the paper, but in Calycopis, it looks like mitochondria got swapped back into a linage in some geographies (Nick Grishin and Bob Robbins lead this work). And john burns found that two very different species of skippers (based on wing pattern and genitalia) differed by just a smidge - like 0.1% if I recall. So - it's just another thing to factor in - but a solid differences indicated that two entities haven't interbred in a fairly long time.... A tiny difference may not mean anything.

john

The 2% difference in COI sequences is still used, but it is not recognised as a fixed point that indicates different species. In some taxa the difference between species is much lower, whereas in others it is higher. Certainly a difference over 2% does suggest that there could be two species involved. I know of some clearly distinct species which differ by only a few base pairs, well below the 2% threshold.

Adam.

So read this, in the laws linked:

Any person may import into or export from the United States at any Customs port wildlife products or manufactured articles that are not intended for commercial use and are used as clothing or contained in accompanying personal baggage. However, this exception to the designated port requirement does not apply to any raw or dressed fur; raw, salted, or crusted hide or skin; game trophy; or to wildlife requiring a permit pursuant to part 16, 17, 18, 21, or 23 of this subchapter B.


14.91, table entry 6: As a collector or hobbyist for personal use NO license required (doesn't mean 3-177 not required)

So there are all sorts of caveats, one has to read all the laws to see what applies and what has to be done. A few hours should do it.

Thanks John- I'll read later, that tree looks very scary! I'm glad I don't do Skippers.

The challenge for me at least is getting ANY analysis; whole genome is out of the question unless I want to pony up $10,000.

BOLD for my specimens is showing a 99.54% match to one taxon and 98.32% match to another taxon. According to the old "2%" rule, there is no speciation, but that 2% rule has been largely thrown out. But my specimens are also 100% match to a bunch in BOLD, so clearly there are clades or something.

If the match between two taxa is only, say, 50% that's pretty clear using only barcoding. What is the minimum delta now, if 2% isn't used? Or is 2% only not being used because nuclear reveals so much more? But then still, a 2% differentiation would be a concrete separation of taxa, right?

So - I'm no expert. But what I see is that DNA barcodes are quick and dirty tools that are great for identifying lineages that have evolutionarily diverged. And for the most part - barcodes are very useful and effective. But because the "barcode" snippet is so small, the actual relationships revealed between species are open to statistical interpretation because you are just seeing a small fraction of the picture.

Technology is now allowing whole genome comparison (or at least entire genes) - and because you are seeing a bigger picture (perhaps the entire genetic picture) the different analyses tend to produce the same results. But at the same time, because more of the genome is used, additional "new species" are being discovered that represent subtly different species. - https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.1821304116

John

eurytides wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 10:18 pm So if an inspector doesn’t show up, what happens? Are you just free to go?

Depends. They could say OK and let you through, or they could have your specimens impounded. All depends on the person you're dealing with. If it's not CITES then it shouldn't be a big deal, anyone at USFWS should be able to clear it. Note too that in the linked-to laws, there are exceptions for clearing through non-designated ports, filing 3-177 later, etc. In most cases any given USFWS official doesn't have all the laws memorized, so it's important that importers/ exporters DO have them memorized; I always carried a copy of the laws to point out to them, and it came in handy more than once.

Thank you for those links to USFWS. My friend will be flying non-stop from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam and unfortunately, SLC is not a designated port for wildlife inspections. I'll let him know his options and go from there. Again I appreciate the help.