Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2014 13:32:25 GMT -8
Happy to report my stress level can now return to normal as my fournierae arrived today unharmed, and escaped the grip of french customs officials. I took a few pics of the unboxing for your enjoyment (removed collecting data for photographing purposes.) The iridescence of the wings doesn't show up well in these pics, but in the sunlight it is quite stunning-a real gem of the animal kingdom.   The body is absolutely massive relative to the overall size. This is my first Charaxes specimen, so I don't know if this is true for all charaxinae. Truly a majestic creature, would really love to see this species live in person.  |
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terry2014
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Birthday April 14 1938
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Post by terry2014 on Jun 7, 2014 14:03:30 GMT -8
Your first Charaxes specimen, thats what I call "starting at the top". beautiful specimen. Terry
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Post by cabintom on Jun 8, 2014 5:45:07 GMT -8
Yup, Charaxinae have relatively large bodies. I was out in the Ituri forest again yesterday, and was amazed to watch the spectacularly quick and agile flight of several Charaxes species... man, I really do wonder how fast they can go... Anyways, I assume it has to do with their relatively stiff wings and large muscle mass.
Tom
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Post by cabintom on Jun 8, 2014 6:32:55 GMT -8
Just googled it. Charaxes brutus apparently can hit 40mph/65kph!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2014 9:29:38 GMT -8
Yeah I can definitely see what all the fuss is about when it comes to spreading them. Luckily this specimen came spread or I would've been quite nervous-the muscle mass must be astronomical. It looks like somebody put wings on a Spanish fighting bull-and 40mph! Wow! I would be weary of trying to net one Tom-I'd hate to have you get packed away by an angry Charaxes  |
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Post by lordpandarus on Jun 9, 2014 11:24:13 GMT -8
I find spreading Charaxes easier than Prepona
C. fournierae is on my top 10 list of butterflies to get in my lifetime
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Post by nomad on Jun 9, 2014 11:46:40 GMT -8
Charaxes fournierae is super rare buterfly and that's a very nice specimen. Which Charaxes species do you consider the rarest that you can obtain today.
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Post by africaone on Jun 9, 2014 12:54:17 GMT -8
Charaxes fournierae is super rare buterfly and that's a very nice specimen. Which Charaxes species do you consider the rarest that you can obtain today. lydiae is probably more difficult to obtain ! some of the "black Charaxes" are more difficult to obtain, and females such as the thysi female |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2014 14:07:25 GMT -8
The thing I find rare is information on the species. I've been studying the very well put together list on: atbutterflies.com/downloads/nymphalidae_charaxini.doc, but to me this shows how much we don't know. Especially with species like C. fournierae and acraeoides, which I would think should be household names for most collectors/entomologists.
Granted, bait trapping is fairly new, but the fact we don't know what the host plants are blows me away, or-as far as I know, what the ova, larvae, and pupa even look like!
I recently bought a copy of Thierrys' paper on jolybouyeri, so we'll see what that has to offer, plus I am planning an expedition to Ghana and Gabon to do my own research. At least Charaxes caterpillars are easy to identify-you can't mistake that dragon like head. Lets just hope they don't reside in the canopy.
I have a feeling the adults will require a very large flight cage if one hopes to successfully breed them in captivity. The phenotype tells me you're not simply going to stick them in 20x20' greenhouse. This brings to mind the efforts to successfully house a great white shark in captivity. A predator that's meant to prowl the open ocean is not going to be happy in a tank-even if it is over a million gallons in size.
Anyways, I'll stop with the ranting, it's just something I can't stop thinking about.
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Post by bobw on Jun 9, 2014 14:29:31 GMT -8
I have a feeling the adults will require a very large flight cage if one hopes to successfully breed them in captivity. I only have experience of European C. jasius but they're fairly easy to hand-pair. Wild-caught females are reluctant to lay in captivity but captive-bred females happily lay lots of eggs in a fairly small cage. Bob |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2014 14:51:46 GMT -8
Hey Bob,
Jasius is quite beautiful, I'm sure it was a pleasure seeing them grow. They're about the only species of Charaxes I've seen captive raised (videos on youtube,breeding reports.) I should make a correction that I was told a female fournierae was reported to have seen lay eggs, so at some point somebody has observed them, I've just not been able to find a description of the egg. But anyways, hopefully fournierae can be "domesticated." The videos I've seen of jasius in captivity, they're just clutching the top of the enclosure and don't look very happy. Of course, I have no experience so this is just a mere observation.
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Post by lordpandarus on Jun 9, 2014 15:45:36 GMT -8
yeah I hope it's bred one day so the price of specimens goes down. You can get a male C. acraeoides for 50$ (or less) so I hope to see that with founrierae one day
There's a few butterflies that seem to be creeping down to my price range like Prepona werneri and Agrias amydon phylatelica because they seem to be bred now
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Post by africaone on Jun 10, 2014 2:42:55 GMT -8
breeding Charaxes is not difficult. many have been yet bred !
you can believe that many collectors yet tried to find eggs or caterpillars of fournierae, acreaoides, lydiae !
holotype of fournierae is an ex pupa, at least one collector obtained eggs from a female and some (including top African breeders) have seen females in laying behavior (without succes of identifying the foodplant despite their great experience!)
In some localities, the species is not uncommon and the problem remain the biotope (High deep forest) that is difficult for oberserving laying behavior.
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Post by wollastoni on Jun 10, 2014 3:49:12 GMT -8
The type of fournierae is said to have been found on the corpse of a dead tribeman by M. Pichot, the French collector of Madame Fournier. Don't know if it is true. Thierry ? This one :  |
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Post by africaone on Jun 10, 2014 6:25:16 GMT -8
The type of fournierae is said to have been found on the corpse of a dead tribeman by M. Pichot, the French collector of Madame Fournier. Don't know if it is true. Thierry ? This one : it is necessar to re-read Lemoult's paper who explain the story ! Lemoult's collector thirst tought He caught female of acreaoides. Of course Lemoult realised immédiately it was not and described it as fournierae that he dedicated to his (good ) Customer Mme Fournier. As I remember, the story is not in the original paper but in a second one (I have to recheck it) and as i remember, it was caught ex pupa (may be I am wrong as my memory tends to fail with age)! |
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