# Hello from a Butterfly Curator



## tsukineko9 (Oct 18, 2009)

Hello, all! *bows*

My name is Diana, and I work at a butterfly house in Michigan where I am the curator. We have recently added an insectarium to our facility, and we are happily hunting for exciting and exotic arthropods to display. I am currently in communication with a breeder in Malaysia, and I am very excited to be buying insects from him. I will be posting a lot of questions about care on this forum (especially for the Deroplatys I will be getting!), and I look forward to getting advice from so many enthusiasts.

Thank you for welcoming me to Mantid Forum, and I know I will have fun!

PS - If anyone has any butterfly or moth questions, please feel free to ask!


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## revmdn (Oct 18, 2009)

Welcome to the forum Diana.


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## Rick (Oct 18, 2009)

Welcome. Please try the search feature to assist in your research. Also, check out the classifieds. Chances are you will find something.


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## ismart (Oct 18, 2009)

Welcome to the forum!


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## Katnapper (Oct 18, 2009)

Hello Diana, and welcome...




very nice to have a butterfly/moth enthusiast here.  I'm sure you'll find the forum lots of help with expanding your interests and collections to include mantids. One of the best things I've found most helpful is to browse back through previous threads at your leisure. And if you have questions about specific concerns or areas of interest, use the Search feature. You'll find a weath of knowledge just reading back through the posts.

Again, welcome to the forum... great to have you here and I hope you enjoy learing and becoming a part of the community!


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## sbugir (Oct 18, 2009)

Welcome, I'm volunteering at the local Butterfly/Arthropod zoo, it's pretty cool.


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## Orin (Oct 18, 2009)

I have a question. I've reared a number of different saturnids, sphinx moths, butterflies and other leps and up to the point I thought 5 instars was pretty much a rule (with exception of the uncommon specimans of Eacles that are stunted at fith and seem to go through an extra molt to catch up). I foud out that Dicogaster apparently goes through at least seven instars. Do you have sources of info on other genera or species with required supernumery molts?


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## tsukineko9 (Oct 18, 2009)

Orin said:


> I have a question. I've reared a number of different saturnids, sphinx moths, butterflies and other leps and up to the point I thought 5 instars was pretty much a rule (with exception of the uncommon specimans of Eacles that are stunted at fith and seem to go through an extra molt to catch up). I foud out that Dicogaster apparently goes through at least seven instars. Do you have sources of info on other genera or species with required supernumery molts?


I have only ever dealt with the pupal and adult stages of leps (probably should have specified that... oops), so unfortunately, I can't answer your question. I flipped through my copy of "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World," but it just says that "shedding ... usually takes place four or five times before the larva is full grown." Sorry I couldn't help.


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## hibiscusmile (Oct 18, 2009)

hELLO AND WELCOME to the forum! enjoy!


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## cloud jaguar (Oct 18, 2009)

Hi and welcome! I'm from sunny california! Home of the Arizona Bordered Mantis!


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## wero626 (Oct 19, 2009)

Welcome...


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## [email protected] (Oct 19, 2009)

[SIZE=14pt]Yellow there wellcome from P-town Co[/SIZE]


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## kamakiri (Oct 20, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> Hi and welcome! I'm from sunny california! Home of the Arizona Bordered Mantis!


Ditto. But that's the *larger* Arizona Bordered Mantis!


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## PhilinYuma (Oct 20, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> Hi and welcome! I'm from sunny california! Home of the Arizona Bordered Mantis!


Welcome from Yuma, AZ home of the one and only *GENUINE* Arizona bordered mantis, _Stagmomantis limbata*_.

(*lives in my backyard and typifies ARIZONA)


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## hierodula (Oct 21, 2009)

welcome!


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