One of the Vernonia species, though I'm not sure which.

Can someone tell me what wildflower species
we have here. I live in Illinois and it is in bloom
for about a month in mid-summer.

I find that it works well at attracting swallowtail
species so, I'm always on the lookout for it.

I'm pretty lousy at plant/flower identification !

It really is great that we still have the Insectnet archive available to access. It is FULL of information.

I am still sad that both the older and more recent versions of Clark's old pre-Proboards Insectnet are no longer available. Those also had loads of important information and photos.

Adam.

The specimen is a male of Papilio alcmenor alcmenor
The label says
Doi Phu Kha
Pua District
Nan Thailand
The handwritten date 20 Nov 1988 looks like the writing of my late friend Prasobsuk Sukkit.

I checked the Insectnet archive and found it by searching for both words 'alcmenor' and 'Sukkit'!
https://archive.insectnet.com/thread/96 ... o-alcmenor
Scroll down to the 7th post on the page.

Adam.

Hello,


I actually bought the butterfly by mistake, I bid 1 Eur and it came with the other shipment. However, Adam recognized the label and whose collection the butterfly came from, however it was sold.

Unfortunately I couldn't find the entry, so Adam, do you remember?

https://e.pcloud.link/publink/show?code ... lqML4AaQp7


https://e.pcloud.link/publink/show?code ... JpvmbKJTWX


Greetings Joachim

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

25july2024: 73F/23C, partly cloudy; winds to 15knots; cold front.
Observed 4 (perhaps only 3), captured 2F

Took the decoy up, placed in field, nothing. Moved it next to the forest just before clouds came in, nothing.

Both females captured on Bergamot, the uncaptured (whether it was the same one or two?) flying on forest edge.

Once the dark low clouds came in poof no more butterflies.

This may have been my last day on the primary hill; if I go tomorrow that will be the last day. Ever. I'm off elsewhere for a while, when I get back they'll be on the Cup Plants. Next year we won't live here. Somewhat melancholy.

Many thanks for all the help! I am in the process of making a “wall display” featuring three large T. agrippinas - now I can include all the proper data on the nameplate. Once it is finished I’ll share a photo!

bobw wrote: ↑Thu Jul 25, 2024 8:06 am Picuroyacu is a well collected locality on the Amazon river just outside Iquitos in Loreto department, Peru. I'm not sure about the word at bottom left.

Punchana

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punchana

Wondering where these MST are feeding and if there is indeed a drop in population, I looked at iNaturalist.

Since July 11 there are only 17 observations of Tigers in NY state north of the 42nd parallel (NY/PA border) and they seem to be nectaring on "whatever."

Interestingly, in NY south of the 42nd (i.e., NYC area) there are plenty of iNat observations, and they (1) look like glaucus and (2) are nectaring on Butterfly Bush. We have BB up here, but I don't see them on it, and there's no photos of them on it.

Hibiscus is well in bloom, but I don't see Tigers on that either; in my experience mid-August is when they really hit the Hibiscus. Why? I dunno.

One more note from iNat, there's a good photo of a Tiger from the Buffalo area that sure looks like glaucus https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/231052630

Picuroyacu is a well collected locality on the Amazon river just outside Iquitos in Loreto department, Peru. I'm not sure about the word at bottom left.

Can anyone please help to clarify this data? It came with a specimen of Thysania agrippina. Some words are obvious, but others I am not sure of. I have searched, but cannot find a map which shows these words.

??? - River Amazonas (= Amazon River)
??? - Loreto - Peru

23july24: didn't go out, rained in afternoon.

24july24: 82F/28C, partly sunny T storm looming
Observed 5, capture 3 (1M 2F all on Bergamot) the two I didn't catch were on the forest edge; those I did catch exhibited the End-of-Bergamot-Blues: hopping 10m again and again to find a bloom they like.

This week reflects the same week of 2023, and I copy/paste: "But I checked the Teasel fields, and the Cup Plant field, nothing. Where are they?? This day last year [2022] was the second-highest capture of 2022. Where are they? Where did they go?"

But if this year follows past years, this week's low will be followed by next week's increase. However I'll not be afield then.

Only saw a few troilus, both M and F, which is way down from the 2022 population explosion.

Thank you very much Vernon for showing us the parade of smaller species which you have been able to get (in some numbers) in Louisiana. Living in a rural region with plenty of "natural" tracts of native trees and vegetation certainly produces a pallete of species which are not to be seen at least in the upper Midwest where I live (Illinois). Some of these could be native to only the Gulf States region....

Your specimens certainly look very "minty" so the en-masse collecting that you do combined with the ULTIMATE knockdown agent has provided you with some incredible personal series of otherwise hard to find species.

Wow, just my opinion, but I'd restore that upper covered walkout and the lower porch and railings too. Can't be tough after all you've done! LOL. Stunning, thanks for taking the time to share photos. Beats photos of skippers

Pretty cool house Jshuey.
I can see the "Vicky" in the black and white picture. I've seen a lot of them when I lived and worked in northern Calif. every time we
had to go to Ferndale, it was a mixed blessing, those things are not easy to put roofs on, but they were always different.

Chuck wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:46 am Clearly the original owner poured a ton of money into architecture and construction- but what style is it? I've never seen anything like it.

So..., it was built as a typical Queen Ann Victorian with all he gingerbread and stuff sometime in the 1880's. But in the 1920's, it was remodeled into a "modern" house that was like an American four-square - only wood (I'm surrounded by brick four-squares). At that point, they ripped off the wrap around porch and removed the peaks from the roof line and completely reworked the interior. Interestingly, much of the new woodwork, the windows and the fireplace facades were secondhand, so they painted everything (and put stucco on the griffin fireplace). They did the whole nine yards - adding a new (but previously used) grand staircase that they painted lime green, those arches, new (used) windows, wool carpet over the parquet floors, - you name it - anything that was upper-class fashionable back in the roaring 20's.

We purchased the place in 2000 after 80 years of neglect (probably more like 40 years that the previous owners lived there). We ripped out the carpet to find the floors, stripped most of the woodwork that was oak, stripped the stairway, faux-grained the parts of the woodwork that was poplar, stripped the fireplaces, and rebuilt the parts that were literally falling down (there was an alcove in the kitchen, where if you looked up, you saw the sky, and if you looked down, the dirt craw-space). My wife led much of the work herself and coordinated the contractors that did the real heavy lifting. There are still a lot of things that are not quite completed - mostly details.


The exterior was nicer before the remodel for sure! This is the "official" street-facing side of the house - although we really live in the back. I had a really hard time convincing our son (at ~ 10 years old) which side was which - since he grew up on the back patio (and it also faces a street).

John, incredibly impressive. If I saw the "before" photo 20 years ago I'd have driven you straight to the state hospital and had you committed. There is NO WAY I'd even think of tackling a reconstruction of that magnitude.

The results are astonishing- that building IS a museum itself. Clearly the original owner poured a ton of money into architecture and construction- but what style is it? I've never seen anything like it.

We purchased this house at an estate auction. If you hold your hand up long enough, you will quickly discover who the biggest idiot in the room is... . The contents were also auctioned off, and the owners were hoarders. So, people bought piles of stuff cheap, took the one item they wanted, and left the rest for us! I filled a 40 cubic yard dumpster so full that the driver made me re-pack it before he would hull it away. You can probably tell which photos are the before picture, and then the 20 years after picture. It has been a serious piece of work.

Back Yard

Living room

Powder room

Interesting, anything living in the Namib is going to be resilient. I read somewhere, that I can't find at the moment, that Coelocnemis can go
2 years, in captivity, of course, I don't think you can measure the lifespan of wild animals very easily, or with accuracy.
Well, hopefully I won't need provisions in my will for any long lived insects.

Jshuey wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 5:27 pm five hand-carved fireplaces

THOSE are friggin' impressive! Now that's a museum when even the building is vintage! Very cool. Love to see more.