In all my years, I’ve only caught 2 ruperti and 4 bunkeri. Some years C. cerogama are more common than other years. There are a couple of other odd ones as well. Most all did come to my sugared trees as opposed to lights.

How sad. Jackie and her husband Lee were so very nice and taught me tons. I was honored to have had the pleasure of collecting with them in the 80s in FLA. I still have the one of a kind lep belt buckle they sold me. RIP Jackie.

Here’s that pic.

Both were nearly A1, came to my sugared trees and, imo, freshly eclosed. I’ll have to get out a pic later.

I once caught two in my backyard here in north central IL. Not seen any since. Oddly, it was the same year we had a relicta outbreak and I nabbed dozens at three locations. Sent many of them to my friends who never see relicta bc they’re too far south. Every 5-10 years, good numbers of northern Cats ...

Here is a closer view/comparison. It was caught in north central Illinois.

One of my favorites…..C. coccinata. Any idea about the one at bottom where yellow marker is? It’s unlike any other coccinata I’ve seen. While dark, it has all the wing markings of coccinata…..maybe a mere melanistic form/abberation???

I, too, visited Chuck many times and he was always a gracious host, fun to be with, and generous with both specimens and the effort to acquire desired bugs wanted by me. Every time I walk by my 2’ tall amethyst crystal geode, fish fossil, or view my insects from him, I’ll remember the 30+ years he ...

I caught them at two very specific locations. I’m not sure if there is a verified rearer of this moth. One place a friend took me to (I drove a 1600 mile round trip just for this moth) and another spot he took me to, we just happened to get them there. The first place is now void of them bc the ...

My rarest are probably the C. marmoratas, but here are a few….
Catocala cara And Catocala carissima Catocala atocala, sappho with maestosas

Trehopr1 and mothman55,

Love your Cats. Very impressive. This is also a favorite of mine. I don’t have time to resize pics of all my 30 drawers of Cats, but did do a couple that I really like. If I had to pick favorites, I’d spend more time and do up about 10 drawers for sure. Top is C. relicta ...

First….dodouble check to see if there are holes on the top of the thorax.

While size 0 pins would work, I’d tend to use size 2 to do the job. Size 0 will leave the specimen in drawer a bit “springy” which could go “boing” and snap off an abdomen or antenna. The trick (and I’ve done hundreds this ...

I personally caught one of these beauties back in 1987, on a visit to Vernon's Anita Springs home in Louisiana. It was a mothing weekend, but Vernon allowed us to collect during the day on hisDSCF7089.JPG property. That's when I came across the female (top one). The other pair are ex-ova which I ...

Gotta love da Morphos. Wish my female M. cyprus “cyanites” had her abdomen . I have not bought a Morpho in years, but sure love viewing the 2’x2’ drawer of them.

I’ve seen four and caught three of these little gems. Love them.
Top….from Citrus Co., FL leg Norm Seaborg, 1975 (from Norm S. Collection)
Middle two……from Ocala Nat Forest, FL leg Bill Garthe, 1987
Bottom….St. Tammany Parish, LA leg Bill Garthe, 2017

While the insect numbers are way down, I did manage to get this short vid of a nectaring Papilio troilus recently. And….with so few leps seen this year and my collection having enough of this species, I merely watched it and refrained from collecting it. It is not very common this far north as I’ve ...

I haven’t collected butterflies in FL for many years. Even back then, it was nearly impossible to get permits, especially for butterflies. Imho, the best way would be to ask permission from private land owners. Personally, I’d first focus on the Homestead area for general good populations/varieties ...

Years ago I had the distinct pleasure to collect A. louisiana in the exact spot it was discovered and I was fortunate to have met and blacklighted with Vernon and Mike. I got a call from Mike that they on the wing and, within an hour or two, was on my way from n. IL to LA to setup. I also got some ...

Very good to see you once again Billg ! ☺️

Hope we see more of you in the future....

Those are some terrific specimens.🎉👏


Thanks Trehopr1 and Adam. The insect collecting last year was really terrible and my emphasis switched to more of my tropical fish, becoming a new grandpa for the first ...

My Morpho rhetenor…… Antheraea polyphemus gynandromorph caught by me on mountain top at blacklights
and
Antheraea polyphemus dark form….reared