Does anyone know if the female of this species is known?
Cheers,
jh

I bought a pair of OC toeantei. The males look exactly the same. Makes me wonder. Chuck, In re subspecies of doubtful validity or usefulness, I was taught this philosophy by a collector-friend: If I have a specimen or series of the ssp in question, then it's obviously a valid name and I curate it a...

Chuck, I'm very glad you posted that inaturalist thing. I've paid no attention to that site heretofore, but I shall in future. One of the inaturalist records is from Laurel Run Rd. Hawkins Co., TN, from early May this year. Laurel Run Rd. was the gravel road where I took my first E. laeta out of a s...

Unusual to see a species where the female is more brightly coloured than the male. Adam. Adam, It's unusual to see this particular species at all - either sex.! Alexander Klots' famous Peterson Field Guide to Eastern (US) Butterflies from the 1950's describes habitats where "laeta should be so...

I love Lycaenids, and one of my favorite Lycaenids is Erora laeta . This species is one of the least often collected in North America. This little series was taken in Hawkins Co., Tennessee and Harlan Co., Kentucky in the late 1970's and early 1980's. There was apparently a sort of population boom o...

Looks like a male to me.
jh

Kill efficiency depends a lot of wind velocity. On a really breezy night, the ethyl acetate fumes seem to get blown out of the trap and reduce efficiency. I generally use two paper-towel wick acetate jars in a trap made from a 5-gallon bucket.
jh

Was the specimen retained? Could we see a photo of it spread, and of the underside?

jh

adamcotton wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 8:21 am

jhyatt wrote: ↑Sat Jul 02, 2022 11:29 pm The word is that he's working on a book on the butterflies of the Milne Bay region of PNG now.

Yes, he's been working on that for a number of years now.

Adam.

Tennent's Meek biography had a pretty long diapause too, but was well worth the wait!

Cheers,
jh

Pretty sure these are Euphydryas desfontainii. Beautiful!! Yes! But the ssp is hard to say. I can look it up if you like. Tennents book on Morocco is fantastic. Yes it is, and so are his books on the Solomon Island butterflies and the Meek biography! The word is that he's working on a book on the b...

I took one of those in Peru, ages ago. Fastest-flying butterfly I ever did see!
jh

Thanks, John. I have an older (15-20 yrs) receipt from John Peacock that was a 2-part mix of fermented bananas and apple juice/sugar or molasses. One let the bananas ferment, drained off the liquid, and replaced it with the apple juice mix. Worked well for me; I guess his mix has evolved over the ye...

BTW, the C. marmorata hostplant is almost certainly different in the southern Appalachians - I've taken it (a group of 4 samplers took 4 specimens, in fact) at MV light above 4000' in eastern Tennessee in early July. I don't think swamp cottonwood would occur up there.
jh

John, What kind of bait do you spray on trees??? My baits are all so thick and lumpy (rotten bananas/molasses and maybe some beer) that a paintbrush is the only way to go. Be interested to learn what you use. But generally I use bait trap, not "sugaring"...


cheers,
jh

Hello All, Jhyatt here, from the mountains of eastern Tennessee. I was a member of the old forums for many years, and look forward to keeping up with the new version. I even have hopes of posting the occasional photo now! I collect butterflies generally (worldwide except Africa) and skippers (US onl...