?? Large Cerambycidae distribution in Solomon Islands

Well that’s interesting!! Porioni is una. That’s a hell of a distance from Makira to Vanuatu. And again kibleri known only from two islands 600 miles apart.

I can only imagine what’s on the other major islands. Wish I was there to figure it out. So many mysteries, so many discoveries sitting in wait.

Chuck

Bandrow, I vaguely remember we touched on this subject in an old thread.


Back until 20-40 years ago (depending on location) many regions had a thriving export on reptiles, birds, insects, fossils, etc. As always, there are "field people" typically distant villagers who would (and still do) feed the material to a central clearing house. For the sake of expediency, some clearing houses would stamp the specimen with the location of the clearing house and processing date; neither are accurate. "Chang Mai" and "Bulolo" are particularly notorious.

Properly labelled specimens at the source depend(ed) on the ability of the source. In Solomons, for example, many specimens were correctly labeled, down to the name of the individual. Today I don't know.

As far as sourcing material, it's a dying career, largely because of global anti-collecting efforts. The old-time experts have quit, retired, etc. Thus, AFAIK there's nobody really doing much except ranching Ornithoptera in New Georgia Province, Solomon Islands. There are some remote Centers of Expertise, such as on the island of Ranongga, but that too is reduced in scope (to Ornithoptera) and the young kids don't bother with ecological studies, specimen capture, etc.

Availability of regionally occurring species has always been hit-or-miss. Clearly, those specimens that could be bred near the capitals/ airports are readily available. Of course, the lower-demand species are largely ignored, so sadly they don't even bother picking up beetles they find every morning at the airport lights.

When we look at Solomon Islands as an example (and, not too far a logical stretch to apply the same to the remote islands of PNG) the focus is on the "big ticket" stuff that's easy to market. Specifically, Ornithoptera and Papilio. Even then, some entire islands are not well worked- Choisul and Isabel, for example. Meaning, there's virtually nobody there to breed or catch specimens, and if there is "one guy" he's focused on Ornithoptera, which provides enough cash to get by. Then there are the more remote islands/ island groups, and there's NOBODY there to collect insects.

Beetles are one thing, pick 'em up stick 'em in a jar of vodka. Butterflies, from the perspective of a remote collector and the clearing house, are a PITA. Everyone wants perfect, and the only way to get perfect is extreme luck or breeding. Largely, they aren't worth the time.

Oddly enough, the large batocera (kibleri, una, lamondi), and Xixuthrus costatus, are not hard to catch. Likewise the stick insects. The locals have a method to do so, and told me about it, it just takes 2-3 days advance notice. So applying those same techniques to the "unknown" areas like New Georgia, Isabel, Choisul, and in PNG New Britain and New Ireland, would be easy. It's getting somebody to do it, then getting the specimens to you.

The fact is though, we have huge black holes of knowledge, and with the anti-collecting climate, those conundrums are going to remain unresolved.

Chuck

I too have heard through my retired dealer/friend (for many years running) that the Japanese
get 1st "dibs" on the marketing of insects...

Hi Chuck, I'm interested in your Xixuthrus costatus. However I'm new to this forum and don't know how to use the private messaging, could you possibly send me a personal message?

I doubt that you will ever get a reply to your questions because he indicated in his (last) post that he was "signing off".