show your collection

Show us some of your collection

Some Lepidoptera:


Psychomorpha epimenis, 4 males.
This is an uncommon early spring, day flying moth. The larvae feed on vitis (grape).


Catocala nebulosa, Male
This is an uncommon late summer nocturnal moth. Collected at light sheet.


Papaipema arctivorens, Female
Not an overly common moth, just have to be in the right area. They fly in early fall. Collected at light.

Some Coleoptera:


My excotic beetles


Phanaeus igneus, 3 Females.
Collected in Florida.


Cicindella repanda, Male?
Collected on a lakeshore.

Awesome, collection, I collect both dead and alive Insects. Are you just a insect colllector or do you keep insects as well? I enjoy both really! How long did it take to collect all those?

All together I have about 700 insects, 9 boxes. (The empty box is now full)

All non-lepidoptera          Catocala, sphinx moths       US silkmoths

Native butterflies            US nymphalidae                  All other native moths

Exotic leps                      Exotic leps                         Native silkmoths

I have been collecting for two years seriously. Before that I only collected a few. I spend most of my time in the summer collecting and raising. I get exotic stuff and some other stuff off of ebay. I still have lots to pin.
I do keep lots of live insects, so far only raised lepidoptera. I would like to try stag beetle some time. I have raised several silk moth species. If you are interested you can buy livestock sometimes off of insectnet.com. For example I have bought some Automeris zephyria ova from AZ because it is legal and I can't go there to collect them.


Thanks,
Tim

That's truly Amazing! That is a lot of hard work right there. How many of those have been caught in your area. I mean you would of had to of done some traveling to get your hands on that many species! By the way, Insect.net forum is locked not allowing anyone to register, if your a member there you should let them know!

Thank you! Yes. I love doing it!
Boxes in order of where they were collected:

I collected all except the 7 exotic I collected all I collected most

I collected all I collected some I collected all

I collected none I collected none I collected all

99% of my collecting is at home. I have collected inn FL once, and once in Southern IN.
A couple times at other locations in NE IN where I live. I use various methods including:
Net, Bait trap, Light trap, Light sheet. I have done a couple trades to get western stuff. Exotic, most I get off of Ebay.

I would love to see some of your collection. What state are you in?


BTW I found this post on Insectnet, this is how I registered. Well worth the effort, I have learned sooo much from it.

"Jun 24, 2013 at 5:15pm Post Options Post by Clark on Jun 24, 2013 at 5:15pm
Self-registration in the Forum is no longer available. Forum registration is by invitation only. Send your request to: insectnet.com [at] gmail [dot] com

We no longer accept anonymous sign-ups. Be prepared to verify your identity (all info is strictly confidential and need not be shown in the Forum unless you choose to do so).

Thank you for your interest."

Hope this helps!
Thanks,
Tim

Hi, I live in Wisconsin, I have only been keeping living insects for know, i will show my collection sometime this week! And thanks for the insect.net help! Truly appreciated and great to have you on this forum!

I see. You probably could get some good catocala (Underwing moths) there.
About 80% of my collection was collected in the last year.
Here are the underwings I have caught.

P.S. I see you fixed the URL

Yeah I did. haha I was planning to do it, but I was recieving lots of criticism so i figured It would be better to do it sooner than later!

I have seen I believe almost all of those top row of moths around here!

Cool. Have you seen any silkmoths? eg. Cecropia, Polyphemus, Promethea, luna?
I pinned all of my bugs even the exotics. My favorites are Saturniidae, specifically the genus' Eacles, Actias and Citheronia. Silkmoths are fairly easy to raise. I have about 30 overwintering pupae/cocoons of several species.

Can I ask a question?

How do you make a dead bug stop smelling? We caught a dying Arrilus cristatus male (wheel bug) and kept him to pin him in a small box with our current female (when she dies). He smells so bad I had to put him outside.

Is there a way to dry him out? He is in a typical death curl, at least that is what spider people call it, with legs underneath the body.

Thanks!

Umm. Most bugs don't smell for long if at all. Hemiptera(wheel bugs/stink bugs/shield bugs/giant water bugs) do smell pretty bad. I would let it air out outdoors in open air.

Recently rearranged coleoptera collection with some new additions.
Left half is non-USA Right half is only USA

I don't pin insects or collect dead ones

That is really cool mothman. I've always thought about pinning my ant collection as it dies off from old age or other reasons. Pin the different sizes and casts along with the repletes.

I just did this quick snap shot of the inside of my claustral chamber. This is only the heated ant section and not my entire ant collection.

a videa

Mothman, I'm just curious if you have any specimens of Catacola relicta? That's a beautiful species that I've only seen very rarely.

Saw it once, before I was into insects but I didn't see any last year. They feed on Poplar which is near my house so I believe they are established here. To answer your question, no I do not have a pinned specimen. Hopefully this summer I can catch some. They seem to be one of the less common Catocalas, about as frequent as C. cerogama but not as rare as C. marmorata and C. Sappho. I do like how unique they are, somewhat like C. fraxini from England. The Western form of C. relicta is distinguishable from the eastern form, it is has darker coloring and is smaller.

Some general info on Catocala for those interested:
They are Noctuids who are attracted to fruit bait. They feed on many different deciduous trees. They overwinter in the oval stage under the bark of the host tree. Over 100 species in the USA, more worldwide. Caterpillars are very well camouflaged by appearing to be a twig. They usually fly in late summer.

Salmon: Do you collect any insects?

If anyone wants to see a box in particular let me know and I can take a photo that's not so blurry.

Thanks for your interest,
Tim

No, I don't currently collect dead specimens though I did go through a phase where I obsessively photographed and attempted to identify every single moth I came across. I mostly rear live insects though I plan to start an ant collection this year.