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Post by trehopr1 on Mar 1, 2016 11:07:58 GMT -8
Hey Bill, could you show us a recto photograph of that huge cecropia female you have? If you could show us one of your average/typical size females pinned above it that would be great ! Many thanks... Did you collect that giant in your own area? Any background story about it?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2016 13:49:52 GMT -8
Trehopr1, My collecting buddy Tom Payne and I were doing the gas station runs looking for large specimens of Lucanus elaphus and Dynastes tityus in TN when we happened across this girl. She was dazed/stunned on a car vacuum station island and her recto was worse than her verso. The abdomen was split in a few spots w ova oozing out. I almost did not bother w her until I realized she was a pig.....the largest I've seen. The bottom regularly-sized female is also from TN, but was from another night. I'm from Illinois and was visiting Tom that trip.  |
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Post by trehopr1 on Mar 1, 2016 16:50:42 GMT -8
Thank you kindly Bill for the comparison photo of cecropia's ! You were really very fortunate in finding such an oversized female. At 164mm oh' my ! I don't think most collectors realize that cecropia females VERY rarely reach that wing expanse. That particular female is at or near the extreme for species size. I have seen my fair share of cecropia's in various collections as well as from cocoons I found; and of the whole lot I have seen perhaps 6 or 7 total measuring 150mm to 155mm (6 in. plus) tip to tip. Your's is solidly 6.5 inches. Extraordinary !
Of coarse, extreme examples like yours are only found wild collected so I would say that was a very good collecting night !
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2016 18:59:29 GMT -8
Yes, that was a good night indeed. Honestly, most collecting trips to Tom's result in really great stuff. He knows his stuff and seems to have that "where the insects are" instinct. My collection has greatly benefitted from having him as a friend. It seems that most every night we head out, something good happens. My L. elaphus and D. tityus collection is nice like it is largely because of his skills, not to mention how he got me into, and gave me tips, for rearing both those beetles. The female cecropia was a bonus as good luck also prevailed, for we just came up on her one hot summer night in TN. I could go about Tom's skills, but his friendship is most highly valued and appreciated by me.
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Post by beetlehorn on Mar 2, 2016 21:05:43 GMT -8
Well Bill....all I can say is true friendship like ours is difficult to find. There are very few people we meet in our lifetimes that hold the distinction of being like family to us. The times we shared collecting and hunting insects are fond memories. My wish for fellow collectors out there is that they can find the same enthusiasm we share for this hobby, and the camaraderie we enjoy. No matter where we go collecting, swampy river bottoms, sonoran desert, high in the Appalachians, or some remote forest, I always find the experience more rewarding when I can share it with someone like Bill!
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Post by mothman27 on Mar 3, 2016 17:34:34 GMT -8
Here is one of my boxes of lepidoptera.  |
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Post by joee30 on Mar 3, 2016 22:06:32 GMT -8
I got to be on one of your videos, Tom. lol I agree with Bill, Tom definitely knows his bugs, rearing, and localities, It was always awesome to get to go collecting with him and get away from the barracks when I was stationed in Fort Campbell. His collection is a sight to behold.  |
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Post by exoticimports on Mar 4, 2016 6:25:19 GMT -8
Well Bill....all I can say is true friendship like ours is difficult to find. There are very few people we meet in our lifetimes that hold the distinction of being like family to us. The times we shared collecting and hunting insects are fond memories. My wish for fellow collectors out there is that they can find the same enthusiasm we share for this hobby, and the camaraderie we enjoy. No matter where we go collecting, swampy river bottoms, sonoran desert, high in the Appalachians, or some remote forest, I always find the experience more rewarding when I can share it with someone like Bill! Well said. As a kid, I had a friend with whom I collected. But after college he moved to California and had a family long before I did, and with that I'd been on my own. My other collector friends, though local, are much older and unable to tromp around. It wasn't until 2003 that I accidentally ran into another collector in the field! I've done some hikes with the local "butterflies through binoculars" club, but they are a different breed (bird people who think butterflies are pretty) and it isn't the same as being with a hard-core collector! Chuck |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2016 16:09:12 GMT -8
I love these guys......especially the lidderdali.  |
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Post by joee30 on Mar 12, 2016 23:58:07 GMT -8
I would love to get a B. lidderdalli, but aren't they a CITES species now? Those are some very nice swallotails, Bill.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Mar 13, 2016 2:44:13 GMT -8
My winter blahs are over. I collected several butterfies, all Colias philodice and all with dark green scaling on the underside of the hindwing and all with flight wear. This indicates over winter hibernated. I found no females. This mid-March warm up filled three light traps with moths. I also found several Polygonia comma and a very wing worm Nymphalis antiopa in my two Bait Traps. A large female which I kept for Ova. I bet it has been 40 years since I reared Morning Cloaks.
Rains came in late in the afternoon. Did not attempt to set out light traps.
It was good to get into the field with a warm sun and a net in my hand.
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Post by joee30 on Mar 14, 2016 1:11:03 GMT -8
Good job Leroy! I'm waiting for next Sunday to drive to California and do some collecting since Reno doesn't start popping till about April.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2016 15:26:05 GMT -8
I collected a very nice Nymphalis antiopa off a tree in my back yard that's leaking sap. Nice way to start the season. I guess it's time to get the bait trap out.
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Post by exoticimports on Mar 16, 2016 4:43:32 GMT -8
What's the story with lidderdali these days? I bought one commercially decades ago, it was "expensive" but not "outrageous"- I think it was somewhere around the price of a pair of O. goliath
Chuck
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 7:19:22 GMT -8
When last I checked, it was listed as Cites II. Now.....material coming out of India I've read is tough indeed. I rarely see them for sale here in the USA.
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