A Drawer a day will keep the winter blahs away

The interest in Maynardi is amazing, given that any American can inexpensively jump on a flight and be in Florida in a half day. And Florida is far more comfortable then PNG. For me, I simply haven't caught Maynardi when I was there, odd.

My collection material falls into three categories: research, instruction, and silly desire. Research material is that which largely I've caught and use it to continue research and comparison. Instructional material is the big showy stuff used for school presentations, etc. And admittedly, the silly stuff is commercial material I just love but can't catch myself- in my case I have a weakness for Ceratocampinae, of which none exist in my area...I have two drawers of them.

My collection isn't static, nor does it grow and grow. As I need space, material goes out. And I've donated thousands of specimens to museums and sold at low prices to esteemed collectors.

To each their own- what fits my needs may not fit others. I'm glad Leroy shared his Maynardi, they are beautiful! Keep it up.

Chuck

Timing is everything when it comes to the capture of insects. While it may be said that any American can inexpensively jump on a flight and be in Florida in a half day; it is another thing to then get off that plane and start swinging at Maynardi's.... I have been to Florida 6 different times since 2006 and have stayed there a minimum of 9 days and a maximum of 14; and still I have only seen the "beast" on but, 3 of those 6 trips (always as single individuals) and never in numbers.
Even if you happen to see one you may not have net in hand nor will it necessarily always be a nice "keeper" condition one. Those large wings get damaged fairly quickly once the butterfly is on the wing and "yellow phase" tigers are a obvious target of birds (hence many individuals sport bird attack damage).
That being said, the only reliable way of ever acquiring a nice series such as Leroy's is by living there for a period (such as he did). He mentioned himself that he lived there for a 5 year stint and then later on for 3 year stint. I suppose if you know someone who happens to live there and they are willing to get out and swing a net when they see them "out and about"; than maybe you will get an occasional good specimen out of the lot which are captured.
Another thing to keep in mind is that when a brood of Papilio's starts emerging and showing up in your local flower garden or field; there is only a short period of days or maybe a week when the individuals are really quite fresh and worth catching. After that initial "hatching out period" the passing days quickly trash them and leave a collector with few viable good examples.
Leroy was VERY fortunate to have lived there for a time and experianced the wonder of this far southern subspecies of P. glaucus

Indeed D.rubicunda must be localized species. In fact I haven’t seen it anywhere else by chance only one spot which is also 180km from Toronto.

You are still lucky to have some nice moths in your back yard.
I could run 2000W MV on my back yard ( which is a balcony on sixth floor condo ) and nothing will come to it.

It is odd, I found many nice silk moths from around the world but I still don’t have our cecropia!
I think I might have to use some MV lights this season.

Paul

That is interesting why H.cecropia is not attracted to light.

I found one (1) cocoon of cecropia two years ago but pupae was dry dead inside, I went back to the same place few times in early spring and late fall but never found anymore.

Got my Maynardi today. Not perfect and took three hours but I got one.

Is collecting still allowed in the Fakahatchee Strand?