You would think that a moth of this sort of wingspan would be badly damaged after just its maiden flight. There now seem to be a lot of perfect specimens on the market so I assumed that they must be captive-bred. It comes as rather a surprise that the foodplant is not known!

Knowing Paul Smart as a person, I found it hard to buy his book on principle. There was a very similar book out at the sam time by H L Lewis, which I used a little.

It's difficult to be certain as the specimen is very worn and there's no indication of size, but it's either C. sponsa or C. dilecta.

I think it was Bill Garthe who used to recommend gin.

Try to soak the kitchen paper with vodka, it works better than boiling water and avoid moisture. With vodka, you can then leave big specimens like Agrias for 2 or 3 days if needed and don't have to inject them. Now, I only use this method, that I learnt last year from an entomological friend. Olivi...

Trehopr1 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 18, 2022 2:59 am I don't believe the color in the pictured specimen to be true as the species is more of a turquoise color. Yet, it does have a unique wingshape and the females are as rare as hens teeth.

They also don't have bright red antennae!

As long as the name is valid it's always available and is fixed to the primary type(s). This is regardless of the rank assigned to it by anybody. If someone were to assign a new name as in your example, cottoni would immediately become a synonym of glaucus , unless someone were to show that the type...

Some of the South American subspecies of cesonia have females that routinely have these extra black markings.

Just a deformity.

Nice little series of junctura (?).

lamprima2 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 7:03 am Next time I'll try to spread the hind legs as well (I hope, no one will find this statement offensive).

Each to their own!

Nice slightly melanic female!

Claude is on here regularly and should see your post. I'm sure he'll reply then.

jhyatt wrote: ↑Wed Oct 19, 2022 1:16 pm I caught one Castniid on the wing in Peru back around 1985. Still a fond memory!
jh

Not easy to do!

There are only about 5 or 6 serious collectors of Castniidae. The problem is that they fly fast, many are crepuscular and they're difficult to find, and when they are found they've often shredded their wings. Then there are many bauble collectors who like the big showy ones, which forces the prices ...

wollastoni wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 10:39 am Very common species in French Guiana too.

Olivier

I believe that T. atymnius is actually very rare in French Guiana. The species that is very common there, as it is throughout most of South America, is T. licus.

Yes, it's certainly the most common species in most Central American countries.

John

The living specimen in your photo is a male of Telchin atymnius futilis.

They are sometimes known as "Giant butterfly moths". Some are very colourful and they do have clubbed antennae.

Below are my drawers of these genera, which was part of the material used to produce the new paper (above), Sorry about the picture quality but they were just quick snaps with my mobile: