Post by vabrou on Feb 7, 2022 9:39:44 GMT -8
Note, I do have the largest collection in the world of Eudocima (~10,000 adults) and have at least 44 species from 43 countries/locations. Perhaps my avatar could be a giveaway. When I earnestly began collecting these in bulk about 12 years ago, there were only 44 species of Eudocima known in the entire world. But back then the literature was a giant mess, more notably and worse in Seitz, and on the web nearly every species was misidentified. Some species described long ago have never been pictured in scientific literature, that is until about 2017 when we pictured many of these unknowns in full color, while describing three new species. My research coauthor and I have discovered (10-12) new species of Eudocima in the past 12 years.
You did not ask for me to identify this specimen, so I can only assume you wish someone else to id this moth (a male, and truly a major agricultural pest across the globe). I do have some of these from the Solomon Islands received going back to the early 1970s. This pictured specimen, a pest species from more than 100 world locations is a male, female being very sexually dimorphic in appearance. This species has not yet been recorded in any of the Americas. This genus is well known for many sexually dimorphic species; early workers in past centuries sometimes descried the males and females as different species in scientific literature. This why describing species from single specimens or before things can be properly studied is bad science. Look at all the fools wanting to describe species from only photographs. I have a new species of hawkmoth, first taken here at my home nearly 40 years ago. I have not described it because I was hoping to collect additional specimens to use in the formal description. But alas, I only have captured ~12 specimens at this point. How many persons do you know here in North America that has discovered two new species of hawkmoths in their yard at home. I discovered Lapara phaeobrachycerous in 1972, but not until I captured thousands of adult specimens did I describe it in 1994. My type series from Louisiana collected (1983-1992) included 899 excellent quality spread adults.
You did not ask for me to identify this specimen, so I can only assume you wish someone else to id this moth (a male, and truly a major agricultural pest across the globe). I do have some of these from the Solomon Islands received going back to the early 1970s. This pictured specimen, a pest species from more than 100 world locations is a male, female being very sexually dimorphic in appearance. This species has not yet been recorded in any of the Americas. This genus is well known for many sexually dimorphic species; early workers in past centuries sometimes descried the males and females as different species in scientific literature. This why describing species from single specimens or before things can be properly studied is bad science. Look at all the fools wanting to describe species from only photographs. I have a new species of hawkmoth, first taken here at my home nearly 40 years ago. I have not described it because I was hoping to collect additional specimens to use in the formal description. But alas, I only have captured ~12 specimens at this point. How many persons do you know here in North America that has discovered two new species of hawkmoths in their yard at home. I discovered Lapara phaeobrachycerous in 1972, but not until I captured thousands of adult specimens did I describe it in 1994. My type series from Louisiana collected (1983-1992) included 899 excellent quality spread adults.
