InsectNet forum

58chevy · by 58chevy » Tue Apr 30, 2024 9:58 pm

These bugs are out in big numbers right now in E. Texas. Caught at least 30 of them this morning. They are about 10 to 12 mm long and look like miniature metallic green Goliath beetles. All were caught on flowers.

Chuck · by Chuck » Tue Apr 30, 2024 8:49 pm

I'm unclear why IN has both Classifieds and Marketplace. What's the difference?

Which would be the best to sell some antique and classic entomology books?

Chuck · by Chuck » Tue Apr 30, 2024 5:34 pm

Just for reference, it did it again at 1:30pm Eastern.

wollastoni · by wollastoni » Tue Apr 30, 2024 1:40 pm

Here is a link towards Alexandre's shop : https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?item=23 ... ameriana15

wollastoni · by wollastoni » Tue Apr 30, 2024 1:37 pm

Inmotion says it comes from a technical issue in the code somewhere on InsectNet.

Could be the phpbb forum, I will try to update it with the last version next week... it is not so easy to do and there is a risk of bugging the whole forum so I am always reluctant to do this kind of upgrades. Not sure it will change anything but it's worth a try.

Chuck · by Chuck » Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:44 am

That luna is spectacular. I have a specimen from KY that has purple edging, but no vertical stripes. AFAIK nobody has done genetic analysis to see what the relationship tree is for luna. Who knows what is variation, and what is something taxonomically significant.

Vernon's series of Hyphantria is impressive in that it demonstrates the variation within some taxa.

Annarobertson1947 · by Annarobertson1947 » Tue Apr 30, 2024 8:02 am

Ahhh ,so i forgot 15, getting old

Thanks

hewi · by hewi » Tue Apr 30, 2024 7:59 am

His name ist ameriana15.
The name has not changed

Annarobertson1947 · by Annarobertson1947 » Tue Apr 30, 2024 12:40 am

Hi, i lost my contacts with Ebay seller "Ameriana"
Can anyone tell me if he goes by another Ebay name?

58chevy · by 58chevy » Mon Apr 29, 2024 11:56 pm

58chevy · by 58chevy » Mon Apr 29, 2024 9:02 pm

Very impressive Hyphantria series. I never would have guessed that there was that much variation. After reading the luna commentary, I checked my lunas and observed exactly what Vernon mentioned regarding variations in successive broods. I also noticed an unusual spring-brood specimen from Florida (shown below) that has darker purple borders and pronounced vertical markings on the wings.

Chuck · by Chuck » Mon Apr 29, 2024 7:50 pm

Nymphalis antiopa wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:54 am If they just used common sense,

There's your problem.

Look, it is universal country-wide that one cannot catch and kill song birds, despite many having very healthy populations. Meanwhile, house cats are allowed to roam freely and have been documented to have a significant negative impact on song bird populations. One isn't allowed in most places to shoot cats that are outdoors; "environmentalist" tree huggers are fine looking the other way when it's their cats that kill birds. These same NABA people who are horrified that some citizen scientists kill butterflies are the same types with the bird depleting cats, but somehow to their logic, that's OK.

kevinkk · by kevinkk » Mon Apr 29, 2024 6:42 pm

I am not seeing anything that looks like a living organism, at least not an Arthopod. Good photography, but they look like sand grains to me.
Perhaps someone else has better eyes.

CaribLife · by CaribLife » Mon Apr 29, 2024 4:36 pm

We live in the Caribbean and have these mites crawl on us and bite us. Each one has been picked off our skin right after it bit us so please help us ID them. They are nearly invisible to the naked eye even as adults.

vabrou · by vabrou » Mon Apr 29, 2024 3:52 pm

Around 10 years ago I published a two page species account concerning Polygonia comma in Louisiana. In that publication, I reported P. comma had only three annual broods then. But, I could not convincingly state that this species also has five annual broods, due to my very small sample size of 44 adults. Though this was a huge number of adults recorded in scientific literature for Louisiana compared to the 3 adults previously. Often I would have to carefully look at 100 or more P. interrogationis to find a single P. comma. But I do believe P. comma also has 5 annual broods as does P. interrogationis in Louisiana.

Chuck · by Chuck » Mon Apr 29, 2024 3:03 pm

Excellent. Of course, field guides have limited space. Species descriptions though often show only one/ one pair, and I have this feeling that the type specimens depicted are sometimes cherry-picked to match the morphological description/ differentiators.

vabrou · by vabrou » Mon Apr 29, 2024 2:27 pm

My approach and opinion has to do with multiple variations within a single species even a single geographic location. Most field guides illustrate a single specimen image of a particular species. What are the chances of identifying the specimen or image you have based upon those publications when some species have dozens to hundreds of morphotype variations which may vary in each of multiple annual broods.
The opposite phenomena concerning other common species occurs. In 1972 Ferguson reviewed the validity of names for Actias luna: nine forms and synonyms from Nova Scotia to Texas, and reducing them all to a single species due to population variation and lack of consistent and definitive distinguishable characters. Even in abundantly populated and well known species as A. luna, it is difficult to figure out exactly what are the parameters for a single species. Here in Louisiana, A. luna has five annual broods, with each brood of this species, the moths become less brilliant in color and maculation, and become paler in color, wider in wingspan, shorter in length, the fifth brood becomes very different in appearance. The broods occurring mid February into October in Louisiana. Should our field guide or even ultimate treatments in MONA have examples of all five broods, and what about the females that have the same changing characteristics. Then we should have as a minimum 10 images in a single reference book. Somewhat impractible, though here in Louisiana there are moth species with 13 annual broods.
I have published may species accounts illustrating lots of morphotype variations withing a single species. e.g.
https://www.academia.edu/2588690/The_ge ... siana?sm=b
https://www.academia.edu/42307274/Zale_ ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/37824468/Uteth ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/32462144/Euchl ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/31681168/Proto ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/30865810/Metap ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/30540310/Nacap ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/30255214/Phyll ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/29296622/Panop ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/23425257/Varia ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/20063549/Hypar ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/19873206/Pheno ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/6029673/Metall ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/540169/Chaetag ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/540165/Nemoria ... _Louisiana
https://www.academia.edu/540163/Chaetag ... _Louisiana
I have attached two jpgs illustrating 58 morphotype variations involving just some of the male variations found in Hyphantria cunea here just at my home in Louisiana. There are females variations as well not illustrated here, nor are additional variations found in the first annual brood, nor are the male and female variations found in the second, third and fourth annual broods.

vabrou · by vabrou » Mon Apr 29, 2024 1:59 pm

The answer to these questions is that if one collects long enough, you will see that what you assume to be, is not so. Having collected continuously non-stop since 1969 to today 2024 (55 years) (=more than 51,000,000 trap hours), we also identified and logged millions of adult insects daily during most of this time. What we discovered is that most of the information found in all our centuries of scientific literature is false, and are just the anecdotal ramblings of any particular author. You will find no actual evidence presented by all of these authors.

Here is the first such phenology inforrmation in existence concerning P. interragationis, though, I have yet to publish it. Attached is a phenogram concerning Polygonia interrogationis (Fabricius) adults in Louisiana. Here there are five annual broods, adults captured in all 12 months. Sure, some years adults did not appear e.g. January our coldest month here. But, in other less colder years, many are active in January. Bottom line, don't make uninformed assumptions based upon insufficient investigation, nor repeat what you read in publications, as fact. And of course in Canada, this species probably does not have five annual broods. Key word (probably), as I didn't perform my investigations there, so I can't be sure.

Chuck · by Chuck » Mon Apr 29, 2024 12:03 pm

Wisconsin is more like Canada than Upstate NY, so it's quite likely that many or most species can't overwinter. In Upstate NY we have several Nymphalid species that overwinter.

The appearance of various Nymphalid species may be migration (e.g., Vanessa) or it may be just massive population explosion every summer. It depends on the species; some have no qualms about flying hundreds of miles "just because".

If of great interest, it's best to pick one species and start reading/ researching. Each Nymphalid species mentioned may well behave differently in Wisconsin.

Tiger swallowtails, according to iNat, seem to have been observed in number this year from Chiraq NW into Wisconsin. It likely is linked to any early warming this year. They, like many species of animal, somehow know whether it's going to snow again or not.

Chuck · by Chuck » Mon Apr 29, 2024 11:53 am

This type of message is usually used when the host servers are swamped. It's to avoid further usage of the servers, which may serve one website or twenty. Typical causes of high traffic swamping are (1) content that is getting a lot of views [not likely on insectnet, but they might also host a porn forum] and (2) Denial of Service attacks. It could also indicate a failure in the servers. The cause should be readily known to the service provider, this isn't magic.

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Trichiotinus lunulatus

IN Marketplace, Classifieds difference?

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Re: Need help finding Ebay seller Ameriana

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Re: Exactly what is Hyphantria cunea?

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Re: Need help finding Ebay seller Ameriana

Need help finding Ebay seller Ameriana

Morpho wings in liquid nitrogen

Re: Exactly what is Hyphantria cunea?

Re: Thoughts on NABA?

Re: Blood Sucking Mites living on our skin

Blood Sucking Mites living on our skin

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Re: Exactly what is Hyphantria cunea?

Exactly what is Hyphantria cunea?

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