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Post by compsulyx on Nov 26, 2014 15:20:15 GMT -8
A nice male... Thierry
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Post by ash on Nov 26, 2014 17:30:47 GMT -8
So lovely to see photographs of them resting naturally! They are so beautiful. thankyou, Ash
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Post by compsulyx on Nov 28, 2014 0:28:03 GMT -8
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steve
Full Member
Posts: 231
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Post by steve on Nov 29, 2014 14:35:17 GMT -8
Great photos. Are they feeding on Citrus?
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Post by Zacatak on Nov 29, 2014 16:50:44 GMT -8
yeah citrus, apparently montrouzieri will feed on many species of citrus
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Post by compsulyx on Nov 30, 2014 1:10:13 GMT -8
Hello, Yes you can feed them on various citrus species and rutaceae, but the main hostplant is Acronychia laevis, another native rutaceae, and preferred host, mainly to get some eggs from the females. They lay also eggs on citrus, but not so many, they prefer this native host. I also notived more losses with dead larvae on citrus and less with this native plant. Size of specimens is also a bit smaller on citrus. Have a look on this link to see the native host-plant : www.endemia.nc/flore/fiche1621.htmlBest. Thierry
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Post by wollastoni on Dec 2, 2014 3:28:43 GMT -8
Thierry What about Graphium gelon, is it rare. There is a female for sale on Ebay here and it is rarely offered. Thanks Olivier
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Post by compsulyx on Dec 3, 2014 1:42:31 GMT -8
Dear Olivier,
I will give you the same answer as for Delias :you need to be at the right place, at the good period... The G.gelon is less common than P.montrouzieri, but it is an ubiquist sp, found on all mainland and the islands. Main difficulty is to collect a good quality specimen.....most of them are damaged, you need to collect a dozen spms to get one A1- / good A- specimen. The other ones will be A2 or B grade. They are also very speed flyers and just stay a short moment on flowers. Best to catch them is to know a good place where they are present, and found an opened area, sunny, with plenty of lantana flowers. They like it so much....So you just need to stay on site and wait... Breeding is a bit difficult, we just reached once, recently, from the eggs to the imagos. Main difficulty is to get some eggs from the wild caught females, very very hard !...we tried for years without any results, and we finally found the technique so we hope to be able to breed them more largely very soon. Thierry
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Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 3, 2014 7:08:29 GMT -8
Graphium spp. are somewhat difficult to get to lay eggs in captivity. One important point is that they only lay eggs on really fresh young shoots, and often only inside the developing leaf that has not yet opened out flat. It is no good just having the foodplant in a flight cage with them, the plant must also have very young growing shoots.
Adam.
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Post by compsulyx on Dec 4, 2014 0:08:33 GMT -8
I agree 100% Adam, the foodplant needs to get some young shoots to have more chance to get eggs. The technic we found is to put the females into a small cage, with the foodplant, potted, with the top leaves touching the top of cage, but the plant needs to be on a side. On the other side, put some fresh flowers into water like lantanas, pentas, buddleia....In addition, you need to feed them manually twice a day with a mix of water + sugar (brown is better)about 10%, not more. Graphium spp needs a lot of sugar and energy as they are speed flyers, and the females needs energy to lay their eggs. The cage must be placed in a shiny place, but not in direct sunlights. Then you wait, and if all is ok, the females starts to lay eggs the day after, or two days after, sometimes a week. It's a lot of patience and trials to find the good method....and I think each specie is specific... Here the G.gelon are feeding on a native and very tall tree called by locals "bois bleu" = "blue wood", it's a plant from the Hernandiaceae family, the name of host is Hernandia cordigera. Have a look on this link : www.endemia.nc/flore/fiche2034.htmlThe females can also lay eggs on various Annonaceae, like the common Annona squamosa or the Annona muricata. But the larvae are not easy to breed on these plants, the native host is better. I found also the plant cinnamomum camphora very good to breed them. I use the native host to get the eggs, then I breed them on camphor tree. In Australia many species are also feeding well on this tree. Thierry
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Post by compsulyx on Dec 4, 2014 1:54:06 GMT -8
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Post by Zacatak on Mar 29, 2015 15:55:45 GMT -8
A few papilio montrouzieri for my collection, I still have some females to set. Cheers Zac Attachments:
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