Hello from a Butterfly Curator

[tsukineko9]

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!

 

[revmdn]

Welcome to the forum Diana.

 

[Rick]

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

 

[ismart]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Katnapper]

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!

 

[sbugir]

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

 

[Orin]

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?

 

[tsukineko9]

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.

 

[hibiscusmile]

hELLO AND WELCOME to the forum! enjoy!

 

[cloud jaguar]

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

 

[wero626]

Welcome...

 

[[email protected]]

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

 

[kamakiri]

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

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

 

[PhilinYuma]

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)

 

[hierodula]

welcome!