|
|
Post by jshuey on Oct 27, 2014 8:00:48 GMT -8
Here’s my second attempt to get this going - Protesilaus macrosilaus penthesilaus. I know this bug isn’t super rare or anything, but the first time I ever saw it was in 1999 along a small creek in Mayflower Valley (Stann Creek District). It was puddling on a sand bar about 10 meters away from the bridge I was watching from. I hopped into the knee-deep stream and waded up to get it, but of course it flew off to a new spot. We kept up this back and forth game for about 15 minutes and I took a few stabs at it, but to with no luck – it was clearly taunting me. At some point, it discovered a new sand bar, and without thinking, I moved toward its new spot without really noticing that I was crossing a very deep pool in the stream. Up to my neck, I’m thinking that this can’t be very good for my wallet but what the hell, I’m in it now. We played this little game for about quite a bit longer, and the specimen below was my first! I would guess the entire affair took about one and a half hours… Two postscripts. Two days later I was back in the states, in the emergency room with kidney stones. I suspect my time in the creek and open sun without my water bottle contributed. I remember thinking how darn hot I was, even wading through cool water. second - I do not invest that kind of time any longer in big butterflies. I probably could have collected between 20 and 30 other bugs in the time I devoted to this specimen. Now days, if I can ID it on the wing, I typically just write it down in my field notebook (data are data). Sure, if something wants to play nice, I’ll take it. But otherwise – data are data – and I have little brown skippers to catch! John Attachments:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Post by jshuey on Oct 29, 2014 7:02:14 GMT -8
You Guys disappoint me. I posted this because I wanted to hear your stories. Like Tom's amazing adventures in Africa.
Come on!!!
John
|
|
|
|
Post by cabintom on Oct 29, 2014 9:24:49 GMT -8
John! I was excited too! I haven't had much time to write here lately... so my apologies. Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute to both of these threads soon.  |
|
|
|
Post by exoticimports on Oct 29, 2014 11:51:52 GMT -8
My favorite catch was graphium codrus christobalus on San Christobal, Solomon Islands. It was early morning, I was walking through a hedgerow and bam, this thing dropped out of the sky at high speed, hovering over a flower. I started to shake and figured I'd blow it, but the gods were with me and I netted it. That made my day! Never have seen another before or since.
Then there was Rio Napo, Ecuador. We were using a MV and had literally heaps of moths. I was standing along a vertical beam and glanced up to see two huge eyes looking at me- thysania Agrippina. Scared the hell out of me. Now how do you catch a bird size moth that's looking right at you? With concern, I can tell you. But I did net the darn thing!
|
|
|
|
Post by obiwankenobi55555 on Oct 29, 2014 12:35:22 GMT -8
Protesilaus macrosilaus penthesilaus is very cool specimen John. For me worth of effort and I only wish to wild catch that ssp.
In my story I have not catch butterfly but one night I had driven a bike. I was returning home from one place and there was night. Only light was on my bike and road light lanterns. Night was clear and silent but from no where some large night moth crashed in my head so hard that I was surprised/ crashed down to flor. I was lucky that I didn't break nothing but from no where large moth crashed direct into my face. Thanks God that no one saw me, obviously that looks like comedy. I searched floor with light to see what I 'picked up' but I have not find anything. I don't think that was Saturnia, only I remember is that moth was little bit yellow I think but really large. I think that was Antheraea yamamai but its very awkward situation hehe.
|
|
|
|
Post by exoticimports on Oct 30, 2014 5:17:21 GMT -8
One of my best "catches" was copiopteryx Jehovah (IIRC) in Ecuador. I caught one, but the tails were half length as if somebody had taken scissors to them. After the outing we arrived late into Quito and were comparing big catches and Alex had a gorgeous CJ that he said he'd promised to a friend. Then Alex declared he had to go get a gift for his wife. I informed him that all the shops were closed. I swapped an alpaca sweater to Alex, thereby "capturing" a beautiful copiopteryx.
We should have a separate thread called "storefront window catches: stuff I caught indoors". Mine would include any number of NA papilios and saturnids, as well as papilio montrouzeiri. I've taken dozens of sphingids from all over in the men's rooms in the morning, and a satyrid in the airport men's room in Tonga!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Post by jhyatt on Dec 20, 2014 6:44:24 GMT -8
I'll never forget an April, 1978 experience on a dirt road in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. It had rained recently and butterflies were all over the road - swarms of B. philenor, P. glaucus, troilus, Pierids (P. virginiensis, A. midea). Right in the middle of the road I noticed a little Lycaenid that I couldn't immediately identify. I clapped the net over it and it didn't move - I finally shooed it into the net and into a killing bottle. Took it home and identified it as Erora laeta female using the old A. B. Klots field guide. At the time I was too inexperienced to have recognized the rarity of the bug until I read up on it. The thrill came a few hours after the catch, but it's never been forgotten!
The next weekend I returned to the site and found a male, still alive, struggling to escape from a spider web at chest height. Now I had a pair! Wish I'd also taken the spider for identification. Not much in the literature on predators of E. laeta...
|
|
|
|
Post by mikelock34 on Dec 20, 2014 14:55:45 GMT -8
Too many to remember. My first Ornithoptera species, Ornithoptera priamus poseidon in PNG. Anetia cubana in Cuba, the glowing magenta on the verso floored me. My first Morpho, Morpho didus near Tingo Maria in Peru. My first Cocinocera hercules in PNG. My first Titanus giganteus in French Guiana. My first female Atlas moth in Thailand. My first Agrias species in French Guiana. My first Thysania agrippina in Brazil. My first Papilio ulysses in PNG. My first Papilio weymeri on Los Negros. My first Siderone in Peru. My first female Battus zetides on the Dominican Republic. My first Papilio palamedes when I was a kid. I had no idea what it was. My first Actias luna as a kid. I had no idea those were in my area. My first female Papilio memnon in Malaysia. My first "white" Morpho in Mexico. My first lantern fly in Costa Rica. My first Graphium celadon in Cuba. My first African Charaxes in Cameroon. My first Morpho eugenia in French Guiana. First time that I caught a Morpho flying in the dark. Many other butterflies, moths, beetles.
|
|
ckswank
Full Member
Posts: 239
Country: USA
|
Post by ckswank on Dec 20, 2014 19:55:26 GMT -8
The insect collecting hobby has been full of memorable & exciting moments over the years. I fondly remember catching common Cabbage Whites (P. rapae) & Common Sulfurs (C.philodice) in my backyard when I was around six years old. This is probably one of my most favorite catches, Thysania zenobia. I was 18 at the time. I was fortunate enough to catch another one in Damon, TX on September 11, 2000, nearly 39 years later. Really gets the heart pounding! images.peabody.yale.edu/lepsoc/jls/1970s/1972/1972-26%283%29196-Swank.pdfCharlie |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2014 21:54:07 GMT -8
Interesting....... My earliest prize was the P. glaucus I caught while dodging cow pies in cow pasture thistle stands in 1975 in WI. My more recent prize was also a Thysania zenobia caught while sugaring for Catocalas here in n. IL. There were others, but these two kind of stand out memory-wise for me.   There was also my first A. odorata I ever caught ( from TN ), my Eumorpha satellista from AZ, and a Sthenopsis pupurascens female from WI. That first Witch Moth got my blood going. A few years later in AZ, I had a dream night black lighting and caught 5 more in that single night. I do agree that we older collectors have many many very fond memories. Some involve not rarities, but merely the first capture of a sought after bug. I still well remember the first female S. diana I caught with my buddy Tom....I had to change my clothes if u catch my drift. My first sighting of an A. oculea coming into my lights.......I must have chased that thing down as it flopped all over for ten minutes only to find it was an A5 specimen. After having caught a nice series of A. oculea, my friend Eric and I would put the beaters in a paper bag for a few hours so as to not tease us each time we thought a new one came in, only to find it was one of the beaters returning that we released earlier. At night's end, we'd let the bagged ones go. This hobby is a treasure trove of great memories. Thanks for the thread. It made me think back when..... |
|
|
|
Post by trehopr1 on Dec 21, 2014 19:51:25 GMT -8
My compliments ckswank and billgarthe on making such an extraordinary capture of T. zenobia. Charlie, do you still have your example? So far as I have gathered (Zenobia) has only been captured in Illinois 7 times all told. This number includes billgarthe's record ! Three are held in the Ill. Nat. Hist. Survey. A collector I know (J.Wiker) has one he personally collected in Aug.1994 and he was given another by someone who likewise picked one up at the same location he caught his. I have not seen any record of your capture Charlie other than what you posted above. Your capture Charlie makes no.8. The years that captures have been recorded are 1930,1945,1977,1994 (2),2001,and 2007. This is to the best of my detective abilities.Charlie,can you post a picture of your specimen? Best regards....
|
|
ckswank
Full Member
Posts: 239
Country: USA
|
Post by ckswank on Dec 21, 2014 23:34:15 GMT -8
Unfortunately, it fell victim to dermestid beetles about 10 years ago and I had not taken any pictures of it. I had stopped collecting about 1975 & left my collection at my folks house in Illinois when I moved to Houston in 1981. I always checked on it when I returned home for visits about once a year. For some reason, no pests had done any damage over the years. Might have been due to the heavy use of moth balls in all of the closets in the house! After my dad died in 1999, I moved the collection here to Houston a couple of years later. Within just a couple of years, I lost nearly all of my specimens to dermestids. Thinking I wasn't going to be doing any more collecting, I sold the cabinet & the 18 Cornell sized drawers on eBay in 2006. Seeing it packed up & leaving is what rekindled my interest in collecting.
Charlie
|
|
|
|
Post by trehopr1 on Dec 22, 2014 0:25:37 GMT -8
Very sorry to hear your zenobia was lost to dermestids and that you have no photo of such a notable rarity in Illinois. After looking at the listed dates of the 7 known captures it appears to have only been picked up largely in August or Sept. (with only one July record).Your capture was almost 2 months LATER than the latest capture record of (Sept.28.1945). That was most certainly an ERRANT wind or perhaps (late season hurricane) in the Gulf which pushed it up north.
Despite the sale of your cabinet and drawers I do hope you can start things anew --- one drawer at a time.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2014 7:07:05 GMT -8
I, too, am sorry for your loss ckswank......those dermestids are a pain  . I once lost many drawers in a flood and the mold that followed. Luckily 3/4 of the collection survived the 1984 event. Trehopr1, since you seem 'into' the T. Zenobia, mine was caught in Aug. of 2007 in LaSalle Co., IL. |
|
|
|
Post by trehopr1 on Dec 22, 2014 11:00:39 GMT -8
Nice to hear from you billgarthe and thank you for your collecting info.(mentioned in an earlier post of 2011-2012). I'm not necessarily fascinated by any one species of anything. However, I am captivated by the capture of "strays" within Illinois --- particularly larger things any average joe might notice. To me they are much like finding that proverbial "white elephant" or much like catching that incredible large mouth bass out of a lake known only for panfish. I enjoy the intrigue that this hobby offers up at times.
|
|
. I once lost many drawers in a flood and the mold that followed. Luckily 3/4 of the collection survived the 1984 event.