PS. Tobacco and alcohol are both useful in entomology, but personally I do not imbibe either. At the same time, I believe everyone is free to choose what they want to do.

Adam.

Moderator's WARNING:
Smoking is bad for the health.

Just in case anyone reading this thinks that Insectnet promotes unhealthy habits.


Mind you, the smoke helps protect specimens from pest infestations!

Adam.

As recommended by Chuck, I moved all the posts below this one to a new topic called Global travel collecting at:

viewtopic.php?t=1554

Please continue that thread there rather than here, so posts about Agrias can continue in this thread.

Adam.

Chuck wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2024 12:55 pm This discussion on Agrias has evolved into an important topic on global travel collecting, I hope it's split out on its own.

I eventually managed to do as requested!

Adam.

Ortiz-Acevedo E & Willmott KR 2013. Molecular systematics of the butterflies tribe Preponini (Nymphalidae: Charaxinae). Systematic Entomology 38(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/syen.12008. A subsequent paper is available to download here https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320658979_Using_Mol...

Sad news reverberates around the world.

RIP

Adam.

The reason Amphion floridensis is not called nessus is because Sphinx nessus Cramer, 1777 is a junior homonym of the Asian Sphinx nessus Drury, 1773 which is currently known as Theretra nessus (Drury, 1773).

Adam.

It is possible he was unable to obtain any samples of lydiae for DNA analysis, or perhaps it was at that time included within a larger species group. It is worth noting that Aduse-Poku et al. (2009) only included two species of Polyura and 3 Oriental Charaxes species, so they did not include all spe...

#1 : you have to follow the latest publication. So in this case Bouyer 2023. (We now have scientific techniques like DNA analysis we didn't have in 2009). Actually both the 2009 and 2023 classifications are based on DNA analysis to build a tree. Trees have been built from the results of DNA analysi...

There are 2 important rules in taxonomy I am not sure I agree with these 'rules' exactly ;) , particularly in relation to generic classification. Separation of two or more groups into two or more genera is basically subjective as long as each genus is monophyletic (all species in the genus are deri...

Now I know where it was described I was able to make a copy of the photos as I have the book.

Here it is:
Adam.

It is worth mentioning that Mt. Dempo in southern Sumatra does seem to have some different subspecies of several butterflies compared to other parts of Sumatra. It is possible that someone (Japanese?) described it, but I am not very familiar with Charaxini nomenclature.

Adam.

Adam, I'm asking if you know of a Polyura dehaani ssp carabus from Mt Dempo in Sumatra, or is this just a dealers name for ssp sulthan ??? Unfortunately I am not an expert on anything other than Papilionidae, but Wikipedia only lists two subspecies at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyura_dehanii T...

I believe that Thierrry Bouyer sorted that problem in 2023 by confirming Polyura as a genus. Yes, but what he did was split Charaxes ( s.l. ) into several different genera, thus also conserving Polyura as a genus. As a result many African species have changed genera, for example C. lydiae became Yd...

Putting dead specimens on baited ground should work well there. I often used this for Asian species. As for a decoy, I definitely think it would not be a good idea to cover, spray or paint the wings as that is likely to affect the attraction negatively. Perhaps a grooved piece of wood (plywood sheet...

I seem to remember that to get permits they are only allowed to import male pupae.

Adam.

jhyatt wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2024 9:36 pm Nice... but somehow that sort of exhibit gives me a touch of vertigo when I see Morphos and Caligos flying with P. memnon and the odd Troides!

John

Nowadays the specimen in the second photo is not called P. memnon, it's P. agenor agenor.

Adam.

Chuck,

This begs the rhetorical question whether they get MST down south before you do. I assume not.

Adam.

No problem about asking for dead specimens on Insectnet.

Thanks for the clarification.

Adam.

I suppose that to some extent whether the net in the video is good or bad depends on what you are trying to catch and how you use the net. When I was collecting large butterflies (swallowtails of course) mud-puddling I didn't need to use the net in the same way you describe, just place the extended ...