What do Hesperidologists dream of?

[Chuck]

As a kid, I'd dream of turtles all winter. Being so far north- in fact, more northerly than parts of Canada- we have no lizards, thus our only reptiles are snakes and turtles. Summers would find me net in hand, catching turtles. But during the long seven months of winter, when the turtles are submerged seemingly forever, I'd dream of catching turtles.

As an adult, I will admit, I dream of butterflies.

Often my dreams are similar: (1) I'm catching some new large exotic papilios, nearly always black, and misplace my specimens; (2) I'm rummaging through old papered material at an institution and spot some large, colorful (usually Papilio) butterflies that are undescribed, but then something distracts me and I put them back.

Yesterday I dreamt that I was standing on a roadside with other people, and spotted some nectaring butterflies, like Idea but tan instead of white (I don't even care for Idea) with 30cm wingspans...there were five or six 30m away, and I was sure there were others I couldn't see. But for whatever reason, I couldn't break myself away to catch them.

Now, the dreams undoubtedly reflect on the realities of adulthood- being so close to achieving something, but daily priorities get in the way.

But all that said- what do Hesperidologists dream of? A field of a million small brown things? Discovering a box of small brown things papered in an institutional collection but not having the time to sort through the nearly identical thousand specimens? Do they dream of giant Skippers the size of monarchs? Do they secretly dream of changing focus to Speyeria? What do they dream of?

[kevinkk]

Interesting.
I have never dreamt of any entomology related subjects.
Not being able to act,or not acting is the thing that happens in
dreams, at least that is what happens to me.
Turtles are cool though! I've caught wild ones in
northern Calif, and seen a bunch of babies once
in a pool by a mountain road.
At the coast here, it seems to be just snakes.

[wollastoni]

I've dreamt several times of catching a new unknown species, most of the time big Papilio and Delias.

[jhyatt]

I do truly love collecting skippers, but I've never dreamed about them that I can remember. The only butterfly dream I can vividly recall is one of being on a small island, apparently in the New Georgia group, and watching a male O. victoriae rubianus flying out of reach overhead, just above the edge of the sea on a beach. Don't recall ever dreaming of collecting in North America, or exploring forgotten stuff in a museum. Maybe I only dream of the inaccessible?

jh

[Jshuey]

Once or twice a year, I have a recurring dream that in my Indiana back yard, I have a blooming shrub, that is covered with butterflies, several of which are tropical (usually metallic metalmarks). It's always fantastical - it wakes me up because none of these bugs belongs in the back yard.

Being Freudian by nature - I've always interpreted this as a blend of two overriding issues in my life - the back yard is always out of control and the shrubs need trimmed but I'd rather be wasting my life in the tropics. Probably my mother's fault...

John

[Chuck]

Well, we have our answer.


Now I'll move on to Tortricidae. I know a Tortricidologist, and will see him soon, I'll have to ask.


Jyhatt, nice dream, thank god that's all it is because if you're waiting by the sea for Victoriae, it's going to be a long wait.


As for wollastoni, I should not be surprised. Lemme guess- undescribed Delias, at a pub on the seaside, while you're drinking a pina colada.

[papiliotheona]

I've had numerous butterfly dreams; probably about 20% involve them in some fashion.

Two standout dreams were 3' wingspan males of Phoebis philea mud-puddling (each FW 18" in length) and an 8" wingspan female of Chlosyne leanira.

The first dream was pretty intimidating.

[Paul K]

I usually dream of all kind of butterflies and moths but many times huge moths similar to Alcides species but with the wingspan of 40-50cm. And the sad thing is I never have net with me and try to catch them with my hands or hat, the scenery is usually like in “Avatar” movie out of this world or in tropics, very weird !?

[EdTomologist]

Picture this: My recurring nightmare is like a comedy sketch. I'm sprinting through the steamy jungles of South America, feeling like a butterfly-catching champion. I finally net what seems to be an elusive arctiidae wasp mimic moth. With trembling excitement, I plunge my hand into the net, only to discover it's not a moth but a sly Pepsis wasp!

Fortunately, this wild mix-up has never actually happened, but I did have a recent hilarious mishap in Brazil. I hesitated, and my overactive imagination made me mistake two copulating wasp moths for, you guessed it, actual wasps! Life's full of entomological surprises, isn't it?

[Chuck]

the sad thing is I never have net with me

That used to be reality for me. Then I started carrying my collapsible net in a pack everywhere. In fact, I just took it out of the vehicle two days ago (it snowed last night, I think I'm good for the season.) I even have an iNat observation netted over Lake Ontario from a boat.

Not only is a net more effective, it prevents embarrassing and potentially law-involved situations. Some years ago I spotted a new-to-the-area Neuroptera high over the entry to the grocery store. Not having a net, I had to take my shirt off and knock it off the wall with my shirt. Needless to say, I got some strange looks. Yeah, I got it.


My dream about papered material at an institution no doubt comes from finding a box of such material, OLD material, from a country that's seen some endemics disappear. I thought I saw a now-extinct species, but was in such a hurry that I didn't have time to get into it then. Figured I'd do it "next time" which in fact is coming up in a couple weeks.


But anyway, as you can imagine, when I reflected on these most recent dreams I wondered what Skipper people dream about, because, you know, they're all small, brown, and identical. Coleopterists I'm pretty sure all dream about great big things with big horns or pincers, no matter what their micro-focus is.

[Panacanthus]

“Coleopterists I'm pretty sure all dream about great big things with big horns or pincers, no matter what their micro-focus is.”

I’ve only dreamt of highly “exaggerated” specimens of brightly colored beetles such as Buprestids and Chrysinas. Not extra large - just extra fantastical shapes and colors. One recurring dream is finding incredible color forms of the most (solid) metallic Chrysinas, either around the outside of my house or nearby, which is impossible since I live in the low desert of AZ. Although, I have collected the local AZ Chrysinas many times, which may be the reason for the dreams. Always such a disappointment to wake up!

[livingplanet3]

...I’ve only dreamt of highly “exaggerated” specimens of brightly colored beetles such as Buprestids and Chrysinas. Not extra large - just extra fantastical shapes and colors. One recurring dream is finding incredible color forms of the most (solid) metallic Chrysinas, either around the outside of my house or nearby, which is impossible since I live in the low desert of AZ. Although, I have collected the local AZ Chrysinas many times, which may be the reason for the dreams. Always such a disappointment to wake up!

I can recall, over a decade ago just before going on a collecting trip to the Santa Rita Mountains, having a dream in which I kept finding Chrysina beyeri specimens that were MUCH larger than in real life - at least 4 inches (100 mm) long!

[Eleodes]

"Coleopterists I'm pretty sure all dream about great big things with big horns or pincers, no matter what their micro-focus is."

Funny, I usually dream of small black or brown beetles when I dream of beetles. Interestingly, I recently dreamed of an immaculate specimen of an extremely rare butterfly stray to my area after coming across some in a museum. Unfortunately, in my dream I didn't have a net and it got scared off.