Bugs and Butterflies

[Turtle]

is it politically incorrect/morally wrong these days to capture, kill, & mount bugs & butterflies for study?

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Vladimir Nabokov, H/T Stephen Jay Gould, I Have Landed p. 46

Dark pictures, thrones, the stones that pilgrims kiss
Poems that take a thousand years to die
But ape the immortality of this
Red label on a little butterfly

Read the whole thing, its fascinating....

Flutterby,
Buffy

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Buffy

Read the whole thing, its fascinating....

Flutterby,
Buffy

acknowledged. use red labels for butterfly species pollinating my radish plants that are a nice beigy color with a spot..

better buy,
Turtler

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Turtle

acknowledged. use red labels for butterfly species pollinating my radish plants that are a nice beigy color with a spot..

Originally Posted by Stephen Jay Gould, I Have Landed p. 46

Museum curators traditionally affix red labels only to "holotype" specimens--that is, to individuals chosen as the official recipients of the name given to a new species.

Linnean to a fault,
Buffy

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Buffy

Linnean to a fault,
Buffy

roger wilco: identify species before choosing label color. wouldn't it be awful to capture, kill, mount, and red-label the last of a species?

reptilian to a blame,
Turtle

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

roger wilco: identify species before choosing label color. wouldn't it be awful to capture, kill, mount, and red-label the last of a species?

reptilian to a blame,
Turtle

Heres a list where you can find out which butterflies are protected in Oregon:

Species Profiles — Butterfly Conservation Initiative

Heres a list of Oregon butterflies, but I dont know if its complete or partial:

http://www.thebutterflysite.com/oreg...terflies.shtml

Personally, I dont collect live critters for my collection, I find enough of them dead along the road and stuck to the front of cars to keep me going.

One thing I really liked about the bugguide was a 'rule' that you dont post pics of dead insects for ID purposes. I like that they were not encouraging the collection of live animals.

[TheBigDog]

Shannon and I visited Niagara Falls about a month ago. While there we visited the Butterfly Conservatory and took tons of pictures. There are over 60 species of butterfly to be found there. Finding them all would be fun, and could take the better part of a day.




I have more that I will edit to size and upload later.

Butterfly Conservatory - Niagara Parks, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Bill

[Ganoderma]

old collections are very valuable if in good condition and have labels. fr example not long ago there was 3 new species and 4 species not known to be here. these collections were made in the early 1900's and have since not been found again, presumably extinct/extirpated. the thing is development, and a country such as taiwan that has grown ENORMOUSLY in the last century, these old collections may be the only proof of a specie.

[Cedars]

I have submitted and received verification for a MN butterfly via the MN contact on the Butterflies and Moths of North America site I linked to earlier in the thread.

This particular contact does not have a website that I am aware of (but I will verify with the next submission). This person says to submit all data even if the main site already recorded the info, as they are using this to track trends in populations. They do not keep the photos after ID is made so any copyrights are still yours.

Here is the response I received:

"I have verified your photo as Epargyreus clarus and the data has been recorded. Excellent photo and data. good job. I will forward this to the group and they will be adding this info to the MN database. I don't know when they will update the maps and species list on the website. Please send in more species as you find them. Your attachment worked fine and data format are great."

The data requested was this:

I gave common name - Silver Spotted Skipper
> Genus Species: Epargyreus clarus
>State: Minnesota
> County: (deleted for post)
> Location detail (town): I gave town and nearest road i.e. My street and Nearest cross road.
> Date: June 24, 2007 (date picture taken)
> Name of person with data: (deleted for post)
> Data type: Photos (attached)

If someone is thinking of doing this, I would contact your state person and ask them what they need for the data.

Next submission I am going to try to remember to ask about sighting data requirements, are they interested in numbers seen in a location, and is there anyone who can help if an ID cant be made (I have several of those in the skipper family).

One of the pics I submitted for this ID:

[Racoon]

Interestingly enough, on Oregon Field Guide yesterday evening, there was a bit on the Taylor's Checker Spot Butterfly.
One of the rarest in the World! and could be extinct very soon!

Oregon Field Guide — This Week's Episode · Oregon Public Broadcasting

Taylor Checker Spot Butterflies have been diminished into a few spaces in Oregon..
The Oregon Zoo is trying to gather catepillars and "breed" them back into the wild.
The biggest problem is habitat loss. (more people!)

A small park in Benton County is home to the largest population of one of the rarest butterflies in the world. Until recently, little was known about the Taylor's Checkerspot, but studies now confirm their numbers are declining. They need a specialized prairie meadow habitat to survive and that habitat is disappearing. See how the Oregon Zoo and some private landowners are trying to bring hope for the survival of this beautiful creature.

For more information: Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Located in Portland, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation takes a leading role in the effort to protect biodiversity worldwide.
Online: Leaders in Invertebrate Conservation: Endangered Butterfly Protection, Pollinators, Stream Biomonitoring

More Info:
Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly — Butterfly Conservation Initiative