Hi All,
If any of you are aware of common names used for Saturniidae by local people for African, Asian, South and/or Central American species, please send names along.
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Vernon Evans has provided me with images of Gamelia abas from French Guiana. The species was not previously depicted on WLSS.
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I returned from my trip to New Jersey. Travelling was good and I used purchased shipping boxes to send out over eighty orders--sure beats cutting your own boxes out of cardboard slabs.
Everyone is in good health. Lots of deer in the backyard, including a couple of bucks.
I got thoroughly skunked at pinochle. Mom kept getting the aces and Dad the runs in diamonds. I got nothing but nines and jacks for most of the five days in N.J.
It should be noted, however, that I reminded my father to discard before he began card play on his first winning hand. No one was about to warn him, however, the following evening when he almost discarded on a no cat/kitty hand.
Got a little melancholy as I said good-bye to the folks and the river--good boyhood times for fishing, swimming and tubing. The leaves were falling and drifting by. Where does the time go! Lots of memories.
Mom still makes the best apple pie, lemon chiffon pie, tapioca pudding and spaghetti sauce! Each of my sisters also shared some treats.
On the way back home I had a fun night with my sister, brother-in-law and children in Massachusetts.
On the way down I had a nice visit with Bonnie Caruthers in New Hampshire. Bonnie has a very interesting collection of "older" books about lepidoptera. I took notes from An Introduction to the Study of Insects by Donald J. Borror and Dwight M. Delong, 1954. Of particular interest was a section on pronunciation of scientific names. I have posted some notes on this topic in Bill's Articles Section.
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Lots of cocoons still available from my father in New Jersey
big lunas
monstrous polyphemus
ios and promethea and cynthia
more cecropia came in and are available
Automeris cecrops pamina, Callosamia angulifera, Citheronia regalis
and Eacles imperialis pini sold out very quickly, mostly to WLSS
members--now at over 440 members.
My father's prices are slightly different than mine so inquire before sending payment. You can reach him directly at gamster28@hotmail.com
There are also very nice butterfly pupae available:
Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail) and Papilio troilus
(Spicebush Swallowtail) at $4.00 and Papilio polyxenes asterius
(Black Swallowtail) and Eurytides marcellus (Zebra Swallowtail)
at $4.40. I also left some Sphinx cerisyi pupae there at $3.00 each.
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Christmas is coming. Now is time to consider some presents
that could provide a lifetime of enjoyment:
Kirby Wolfe Saturniidae Collection CD
See http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/kirbywolfe.htm
Robert Thompson Limited Edition Fine Art Prints
See http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/rthome.html
Robert Thompson Macro Photography book
See http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/RobertThompsonbookcovershot.htm
Gift memberships to WLSS or Caterpillars Too!
More cocoons and/or chrysalids
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Bernhard Wenczel had sent me a cd of images of many species a while back and descriptions of many new species are now published so I will shortly work on posting the new images and will be creating a special section for the photography of Bernhard Wenczel and Viktor Suter.
New species include: Copaxa wolfei; Lonomia frankae; Periga anitae; Periga boettgerorum; Periga kishidai; Hylesia extremex; Gamelia dargei; Molippa luzalessarum; Automeris tatiae; Automeris diavolanda; Automeris suteri; Pseudautomeris boettgeri; Cerodirphia peigleri; Dirphia centrifurca.
A more recent release covers the following: Gamelioides denisae; Automeris claryi; Automeris labriquei; Molippa pilarae.
All will shortly be displayed on WLSS. I will also shortly be launching the Bernhard Wenczel Viktor Suter Saturniide Collection.
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Melody Lytle has also sent me cds of foodplant images from Texas so I will be putting together pages for those as well.
Her data base will be built at http://www.huffmantaxidermy.net/oehlke/melodylytleindex.htm
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Salvador Soares has just sent beautiful images of Argema mimosae second instar larvae, feeding on sweetgum. I have posted them to photgraphy section and to mimosae file. I have also linked to the John Campbell Foodplants Index.
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Rainer Plontke has sent me very nice images of early instar larvae of Antherina suraka, Automeris larra, Epiphora bauhiniae and Rothschildie lebeau yucatana.
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Victor Siniaev has just sent me images of Aglia ingens and an Actias kongjiaria, not previously depicted on WLSS. Images are up in the Photography section and also in the species file.
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Robert Thompson has provided some stunning images of Citheronia guayaquila and Rothschildia lebeau forbesi larva and some great shots of Gynanisa maia and Epiphora bauhiniae, posted to photo section.
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I have now posted most of the new images sent to me by Dr. Mielke. He also sent me a correction: The image displayed as Almeidella almeidai is actualy Almeidella corrupta. Carlos has indicated he will soon send me an image of Almeidella almeidai as well as images of many of the Brazilian species missing from WLSS.
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Miguel Chumpitasi of Costa Rica gave me permission to post his image of a fifth instar Citheronia volcan larva.
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Kirby Wolfe's new Saturniidae CD got a rave review by Clark Thompson, owner/moderator of insectnet.com.
Clark begins his review with the following lines:
"This compact disk is not just a disk of image files. It is a fully navigable, searchable, and printable 'e-book' with a mix of informative text and astounding color images of worldwide Saturnid moths. Kirby Wolfe has put together one of the best works I have ever seen on this subject - covering over 250 species. His photographs are a delight to the senses: up close, in focus, and saturated with breathtaking color. His text pages are very informative, yet not too long and laborius as you will find in many reference books on Saturniidae.
"Mr. Wolfe is a Research Associate of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California and has spent more than 25 years photographing these moths.
"Last time I checked, this CD was selling for $25.00. Well worth it at twice the price for any student of Lepidoptera."
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I have added images of several new Copaxa species to the Kirby Wolfe Collection and/or individual species files: Copaxa bachuea, Copaxa bella, Copaxa intermediata, Copaxa wolfei. The first three are courtesy of Kirby Wolfe, while C. wolfei is courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel.
A correction has also been made to the Copaxa semioculata file and the moth previously named Copaxa semioculata orientalis is now listed as elevated to full species status.
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Sphingidae Express
Nice new images of Eumorpha satellitia licaon and Erinnyis ello ello larvae posted courtesy of Mike Quinn, southern Texas.
Also recently posted is a larva of Sphinx istar, not previously depicted on Sphingidae site.
I have also recently posted a pictoral checkist of Texas Sphingidae larva. I have also posted a beautiful image of Sphinx libocedrus larva and an image of its host, courtesy of Michael van Buskirk.
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I received a shipment of dried specimens from la Ode Nahruddin from South Sulawesi. About forty percent of the specimens are approximately A1. I am trying to get confirmations of ids, but I believe there are two good Attacus erebus, about a dozen Samia vandenberghi, about a dozen Loepa minahassae, five Antheraea rosemariae and some other Antheraea. Two Actias isis came, but they are not in the best condition.
I have posted some images to http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/SouthSulawesisLon.htm
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Please check the Members' Wish list periodically and help when you can.
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Arctiidae Art
I continue to update file of a Platarctia parthenos (Arctiidae) that I took at lights in Montague. The moth is beautiful and yielded many eggs.
I will be trying to rear a batch and will document my efforts. Ron Gatrelle had asked that I document this rearing about three weeks before his passing.
I have placed the larvae outside in a big plastic tub under a large pile of leaves. Hope they overwinter successfully.
My condolences to all who knew and appreciated Ron. He has been a great help to me with the Butterfly Site.
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I'm making steady progress on Caterpillars Too!, a North American butterfly website featuring caterpillars as well as the adult butterflies. I will use links to flower images sent to me by John Campbell and Melody Lytle.
Several WLSS/Caterpillars Too! members have purchased gift memberhips for others and that has practice has been well received.
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