InsectNet forum

I have a few questions about a butterfly species from my area and need help finding someone. I follow this person on YouTube and his channel name is ”Zelicaon”. Eight or so years ago, he made a video about collecting the Sonoran blue butterfly, https://youtu.be/9j4XwuKAx68 and that has inspired me to go out and collect it myself, as I’m a 45 minute drive away. I ended up being pretty successful in the process and managed to get 12 specimens of Philotes sonorensis.

As seen near the end of the video, the guy behind the camera and his friend Claude managed to bring multiple female specimens home, and rear their eggs. I was interested in doing this too, so I tried and it didn't go very well. I tried to replicate everything they did, but I got no eggs.



(Hopefully it shows above ↑ , If not, here's the link https://ibb.co/GfmHzkQ)

As you can see in the photo, there are two live females in the small cup, which are siting on what I'm pretty sure is the host plant. This small setup was about three feet under a 200 watt incandescent lamp. I'm also skeptical about the "dudleya" I harvested, which is possibly the wrong host plant species. I'm not really sure what prevented the butterfly from oviposition, but maybe someone familiar with this would know.

I'm planning on trying to rear the Sonoran blue again next march. I want to contact either one of these people in the video, as they could potentially provide some good info. The guy behind the camera mentions the website “Insectnet” throughout, and at the end of the video, it says it was produced by this website. This leads me to think that maybe the guy behind the camera might be working for Insectnet, or would've worked for this website in the past, so maybe someone know who he is, or could find out who he is, and If possible, I could have his email or any way to contact him or Claude. If this is possible, it would be a life saver.

Any information on rearing this incredible species would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Some interesting "comments" with the video. A handful of twits. if there is anything amusing, it's watching people who will never meet,
argue. I think I recognize one name, it would be helpful if people used the same or their actual names when they get involved with things like this.
Maybe whoever made the video will see your post.
I've been a member here for years, and I wasn't aware Insectnet produced video like this.

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

Perhaps this video (I haven't watched it) was made by the previous owner of Insectnet, who lives in California. Insectnet itself does not actively make videos, and the current owner lives in Europe.

I am sure that Claude will see this thread and reply.

Adam.

adamcotton wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 9:10 am Perhaps this video (I haven't watched it) was made by the previous owner of Insectnet, who lives in California. Insectnet itself does not actively make videos, and the current owner lives in Europe.

I am sure that Claude will see this thread and reply.

Adam.

Indeed the man behind camera is Clark Thompson, founder of Insectnet.

Hi Seth, great to hear that you enjoyed the video and that it inspired you to get out in the field! My first name is Claude and I am the person in the video.

The video was taken by Clark, who is the founder and the previous owner of insectnet.com. I have been a regular poster since 2009 and I have met Clark multiple times, even tough I live in Europe. Clark was really good at taking videos and he is an avid photographer. On one of the previous versions of insectnet there was 2 more videos (one of them featuring Chris, another regular poster) which in turn inspired me to go out to look for Philotes sonorensis.

In the early 2010s I was really lucky that my work as research scientist would regularly bring me to California in February/March and I could just add some holidays to the trip.

Paul K told you the correct name of Clark, just reverse it to Last Name First Name, and check for that person on Facebook. Clark isn't that much into butterflies anymore, but he might meet up with you and show you some spots.

So for your questions. I am sure that the plant you got isn't a Dudleya species, or at least it isn't Dudleya cymosa. Philotes sonorensis is very picky, and in the range where they occur they will only lay eggs on Dudleya cymosa. In captivity, I did manage to continue the breeding on a different Dudleya species, but it was still in the same genus. Dudleya is a very flat plant, it doesn't have a stalk like the one you got. It likes to grow in shady areas and crevices. Also be aware that the protection for Dudleya in the area is a lot stricter than it used to be in the past. While the thing in the video back then was an infraction, and at worst a small misdemeanour, things have changed. People have over collected succulent plants in California because there was a huge demand on Asian markets. Unfortunately, in recent years people have collected them by the truck load which had a negative impact on local fauna and the plants. I hope that my doing in the video didn't inspire any of those.

Also, the video makes it look easy, but in reality there was a fair amount of luck. I did catch a fresh female and put it into the shown cup. I kept it there and had it next to a window in my hotel room. During collecting, I would place the cup under the car in the shade to prevent it from overheating. The female did lay around 16 eggs and I can remember that I got around 10 of them to adult. That was the first year I got there, we were lucky. The second year when I met with Clark to get more eggs for another attempt at breeding them, I only got 5 eggs from the females. Of those eggs only 3 caterpillars hatched I think and the caterpillars died early and didn't make it to adult.

Feel free to ask more questions here or to send me a PM with your questions. When the questions are of interest to others I prefer to discuss them in public.

Wow! I'm glad to hear this. Thank you for the response and information as well, and sorry it took me so long to respond. I'll definitely try to get the right host plant next time I go, and I actually have a spot in mind with dudleya that I found on google earth, so hopefully that goes well.

That's a stiff penalty for collecting Dudleya:

https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/kcrw-fe ... aching-law

It looks like the Asian market loves those Dudleyas!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.thegua ... ng-dudleya