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Post by EarlyStages on Nov 13, 2017 22:44:34 GMT
Welcome Ming! Having lived in Taiwan for nine years during the 1970s and fallen deeply in love with its beautiful people (我的太太是台灣人) and butterflies, I surely must comment. One of my most thrilling memories (I have many!) was a magnificent May morning on 太平山 (Taiping Mountain) when I found numerous P. maraho ova and larvae on several seemingly preferred roadside 台灣檫樹 ( Sassafras randaiense*) saplings. The majority were successfully reared and later donated to the California Academy of Sciences, but I still vividly remember the almost uncontrollable shaking and shout of excitement that occurred upon finding the first caterpillar! FYI on this Facebook post. P. m. sylvina is indeed very rare, but I do not think extinct. It is certainly now restricted to high elevations in the middle of Taiwan's Central Mountain Range – undoubtedly flying lower decades ago and always uncommon – and though I never saw one during my fieldwork while living there nor on trips since, a close friend and colleague (吳立偉) at National Taiwan University in Nantou knows several local butterfly watchers who claim to have seen it in the recent past. Keith Wolfe 孫臥虎 * In the lab, P. maraho cats will readily accept and grow normally on Magnolia × alba (" Michelia alba"), which is in a different but chemically related family.
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Post by wollastoni on Nov 14, 2017 8:22:20 GMT
For our ICF members without fbk account, I will link your spendid pictures Keith here on the forum :
Picture by Allen Liu :
Pictures by Keith Wolfe :
It must have been a thrilling experience to discover and raise P. maraho early stages ! Congrat ! And good news for sylvina.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge about Taiwanese Papilionidae with us !
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ming
New Aurelian
Posts: 10
Country: Taiwan
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Post by ming on Nov 14, 2017 12:50:01 GMT
Welcome Ming! Having lived in Taiwan for nine years during the 1970s and fallen deeply in love with its beautiful people (我的太太是台灣人) and butterflies, I surely must comment. One of my most thrilling memories (I have many!) was a magnificent May morning on 太平山 (Taiping Mountain) when I found numerous P. maraho ova and larvae on several seemingly preferred roadside 台灣檫樹 ( Sassafras randaiense*) saplings. The majority were successfully reared and later donated to the California Academy of Sciences, but I still vividly remember the almost uncontrollable shaking and shout of excitement that occurred upon finding the first caterpillar! FYI on this Facebook post. P. m. sylvina is indeed very rare, but I do not think extinct. It is certainly now restricted to high elevations in the middle of Taiwan's Central Mountain Range – undoubtedly flying lower decades ago and always uncommon – and though I never saw one during my fieldwork while living there nor on trips since, a close friend and colleague (吳立偉) at National Taiwan University in Nantou knows several local butterfly watchers who claim to have seen it in the recent past. Keith Wolfe 孫臥虎 * In the lab, P. maraho cats will readily accept and grow normally on Magnolia × alba (" Michelia alba"), which is in a different but chemically related family. Wow, you are such a lucky guy. As far as I know, the larvae of P. maraho were first identified in 1966, only a few years prior to your discovery. I can totally understand your excitement for encountering such rare and spectacular species. I will never forget the first time I saw several male P. maraho flying along the valley. It's was a wonderful experience to me. I also read about using Michelia alba as a alternative host plant in this article: core.ac.uk/download/pdf/13400069.pdf(Chinese) Did your pupae emerge in the same year? or hibernate? P. maraho seems to have at least two generations in a year. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. Ming
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Post by Adam Cotton on Nov 14, 2017 13:56:15 GMT
For our ICF members without fbk account Thanks Olivier, that's great. Superb photos of the early stages from Keith, as always. I was talking about maraho with Prof. Frank Hsu yesterday, as he visited me while on holiday in Chiang Mai and he mentioned how he thinks that the Agehana group may be related to Papilio garamas. The larvae are certainly similar in appearance. Here's a small snapshot of Frank, myself and Inayoshi-san in my collection room: Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Nov 14, 2017 13:59:17 GMT
Can you translate the author name(s) to English and tell us the citation details of this publication, please. Adam.
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Post by EarlyStages on Nov 15, 2017 2:18:09 GMT
Here's a small snapshot of Frank, myself and Inayoshi-san in my collection room: Adam. Adam, if Frank is still there, please say hello for me. I've known him since his grad years at UC Berkeley, and always marvel at his endless supply of "Cal" shirts, sweaters, etc. He's obviously very proud of his US alma mater (and rightly so), as I've yet to see him in person or photos where he's not wearing said attire. A very smart and talented guy! Keith
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Post by EarlyStages on Nov 15, 2017 2:40:37 GMT
Did your pupae emerge in the same year? or hibernate? P. maraho seems to have at least two generations in a year. Ming Ming, if I remember correctly, the " Michelia"-fed larvae pupated in May and eclosed two months later in July (summer generation, pupae overwinter). Keith
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ming
New Aurelian
Posts: 10
Country: Taiwan
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Post by ming on Nov 15, 2017 5:51:02 GMT
Can you translate the author name(s) to English and tell us the citation details of this publication, please. Adam. Wang, Li-Hao 2008. Study on ecological requirements and behaviors of Agehana maraho. Dissertation, National Taiwan Normal University. 46 pp. The advisor is Dr. Yu-Feng Hsu. It's a master thesis written in chinese. Ming
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Post by Adam Cotton on Nov 15, 2017 12:56:12 GMT
Ming,
Thank you very much, that's very helpful.
Adam.
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Post by wesley1997 on Sept 23, 2018 2:59:35 GMT
you have the instagram account @wmaraho right?!
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