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Post by trehopr1 on Mar 3, 2021 12:32:41 GMT -8
Thank you very much exoticimports (Chuck) for steering me to that wonderful article on S. cynthia dated Nov.2019
The area in northern N.J. described as the "meadowlands" seems the perfect place for it to be unseen and yet in plain sight.
Almost makes me want to plan a trip there for late this year to seek out some cocoons of what is probably the (now) most elusive Saturniid species east of the Mississippi.
Of coarse, getting around the area would not be so easy as the article mentioned that some is private (fenced) property and that it has R.R tracks in part of it not to mention a highway cutting (I believe) overhead but, thru it...
Anyway, I sure hope that it can somehow hold-on or hold-out in this last bastion of disturbed haunts of which it is now only found.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Mar 4, 2021 2:21:35 GMT -8
I would really like to join you Gentlemen at the Callosamia cynthia location in New Jersey(??).Email me the location and the date and I will do my best to make an appearance!
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Post by livingplanet3 on Mar 4, 2021 9:30:30 GMT -8
This lovely moth species is indeed an enigma of sorts... I can remember back in the late seventies and early 80s the butterfly company of Far Rockaway New York was selling Cynthia cocoons. I attempted to purchase some cocoons on two occasions however they were out of stock both times. I would wager that someone was likely collecting up the cocoons locally and selling them to the butterfly company in small batches as they found them... I purchased a dried specimen of cynthia from The Butterfly Company, circa 1984 (photo below). It was from this supplier that I obtained many of my first exotic insect specimens. I can well recall the great excitement I used to feel in the late 70s / early 80s whenever I'd come home from school to find that I had received another package from them! I still have their beautiful, full color catalog - I've attached scans of a couple of pages. This particular edition is dated 1993-94 - the final catalog they produced.
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Post by trehopr1 on Mar 4, 2021 18:04:58 GMT -8
I'm right there with you livingplanet3 when it comes to having fond memories of receiving orders from the butterfly company as well as their wonderful catalog.
I too have a copy of their catalog but, it is not the final edition like yours.
They sure had quite the crop of different Morpho species being offered. I also enjoyed looking through the two full pages of African material which was quite varied...
Sure wish I would have gotten more of those Charaxes they offered. I only picked up a couple of the species and then my attention shifted to other things in the catalog; as there was just so much great stuff that one could purchase if you had the money.
I was relegated to "dreaming" about a lot of the things I admired most.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2021 19:17:16 GMT -8
Here are a few from rearing in the 70s and again in 2010 from a collector/breeder in Maryland. I reared them on wild cherry both times. They were easy to rear w 0% mortality. My batch in 2010 was 75 ova to 75 cocoons. Only had one cripple and mounted it too. Gave the rest away to friends. I might even still have some papered stock.
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Post by livingplanet3 on Mar 5, 2021 19:49:03 GMT -8
I'm right there with you livingplanet3 when it comes to having fond memories of receiving orders from the butterfly company as well as their wonderful catalog. I too have a copy of their catalog but, it is not the final edition like yours. They sure had quite the crop of different Morpho species being offered. I also enjoyed looking through the two full pages of African material which was quite varied... Sure wish I would have gotten more of those Charaxes they offered. I only picked up a couple of the species and then my attention shifted to other things in the catalog; as there was just so much great stuff that one could purchase if you had the money. I was relegated to "dreaming" about a lot of the things I admired most. Below are scans of the last two pages of the catalog (beetles, etc.). I really wish that I'd kept the earlier catalogs; regrettably, they seem to have been discarded during a move. I do recall however, that the catalog that preceded the final edition had a red (or possibly orange) border instead of black. Somehow, I neglected to obtain any Charaxes at all back in my early years of collecting. Now however, this group is a favorite of mine, and I have quite a few species, including some of the less often encountered ones, such as Charaxes mars.
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Post by 58chevy on Mar 6, 2021 8:56:04 GMT -8
Thanks for the post. Brings back memories. I still have a Butterfly Company catalog from 1961 or 1962. Also a Bob Wind catalog from 1959.
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Post by foxxdoc on Mar 8, 2021 8:20:43 GMT -8
Interesting. all my cynthia are from cocoons from the butterfly company.
Has anyone actually caught one ?
Before I run off to N.J. I might contact one of the local University Entomology Departments for current info.
Tom
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Mar 8, 2021 8:55:43 GMT -8
I found a number of polyphemus cocoons along the Grand River near Fairport. Ohio. All on Aspen. The location is near the Fairport Beach area.
Surprisingly, no Cecropia.
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Post by leptraps on Mar 14, 2021 13:13:04 GMT -8
Somebody on this list lives close by. Or, traveled from some distance to collect them. I returned to Fairport Harbor after church today. I went down to the parking lot of the Beach Access area. All the Polyphemus cocoons are gone. Every last one.
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Post by exoticimports on Mar 14, 2021 14:12:44 GMT -8
Somebody on this list lives close by. Or, traveled from some distance to collect them. I returned to Fairport Harbor after church today. I went down to the parking lot of the Beach Access area. All the Polyphemus cocoons are gone. Every last one. About how many was that?
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Post by trehopr1 on Mar 14, 2021 20:21:51 GMT -8
There is an old saying from the WW11 era that "loose lips sink ships".
Unfortunately, in this life there are unscrupulous people (opportunists) at every turn; they think of nothing but, themselves and if one is not careful in choosing ones words then you will get bit (at some point) on your backside.
I do recall leptraps that you mentioned a couple years ago sighting some promethea cocoons off of some highway (exit?) or something like that. Then you further provided an approximate location and SURE ENOUGH some low-life jumped at the golden opportunity you provided.
You mentioned a week or so later that when you went back to investigate the cocoons --- all had been harvested !
All I can say is that a good fisherman never talks too loudly about his favorite fishing holes, best spots, ideal bait, or best times to fish. Those should be YOUR secrets and only yours...
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Post by Adam Cotton on Mar 15, 2021 0:02:33 GMT -8
Somebody on this list lives close by. Or, traveled from some distance to collect them. I returned to Fairport Harbor after church today. I went down to the parking lot of the Beach Access area. All the Polyphemus cocoons are gone. Every last one. It is quite likely that the 'culprit' was not actually a member. Anyone can read the posts on Insectnet, so anything that is posted on the forum is publicly visible. Adam.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Mar 15, 2021 2:14:24 GMT -8
One of the reasons I post some of the locations when I find cocoons is that others may want to come and collect them. Most of the cocoons I collect here in Ohio I give to others. I did the same when I lived in Kentucky.
This past winter while in Columbus, Ohio to assist the Ohio Lepidopterist Society to curate their collection, as I parked my car, I saw a number of Polyphemus cocoons in several Aspen trees around the parking lot. I took several of those folks out into the parking area and pointed out the cocoons. They managed to collect them all and to find several other Polyphemus cocoons at another location.
As for me, I still collect somes cocoons but I generally pass them on to others.
I currently have a drawer or two for each species of the Eastern USA Saturnidae. I just looked in my collection and I have two drawers each for cecropia (OH, KY, MI, IN, IL. VA & NC) & Polyphemus, (OH, KY, FL, NC, & VA). One drawer each promethea (OH, KY, IN & IL) and angulifera (OH, KY, NC, MI IL & IN).
Many of the cocoons I find I will give to the local elementary schools in Aurora with a note on how to care for them and what to do with them when the adult moth emerges.
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Post by leptraps on Mar 16, 2021 4:23:21 GMT -8
When you venture out to look for cocoons, especially Callosamia promethea, the fence rows around farmers fields, especially those of Row Crops (Corn, Soybeans etc.), you will seldom find any cocoons. The farmers use insecticide to protect their crops from insect pests. Those pestaside are very effective. The drift from the spray will typically reach the fence and beyond and kill the larvae on the trees growing in the fence row and beyond.
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