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Post by trehopr1 on Dec 26, 2017 2:36:55 GMT
This is 1 of 3 Morpho recovery drawers which I have. All were culled from old collections being parted out. Morpho's remain ever popular among collectors so virtually every collection I've ever seen has some. The task for me is seeking out the clean ones. Females always exact a premium price so I have only 6 or 7. My 3 drawers represent at least 9 different collections. These butterflies still continue to dazzle and delight me. My two favorites in this drawer are Morpho absoloni (male), 2nd column/2nd specimen;
and my Morpho theseus frustoferi (male), 3rd column/1st specimen.
M. frustoferi was a particularly challenging one to achieve as mine is clean and free of the usual scratches so prevelant on this subspecies. The powdery white shows everything !
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Post by cabintom on Dec 26, 2017 23:32:22 GMT
So many missing abdomens! Is this a common practice for keeping morphos?
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Post by deliasfanatic on Dec 27, 2017 0:37:06 GMT
Yes, they're removed by commercial collectors because they grease so badly, esp. males.
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Post by jshuey on Dec 27, 2017 15:16:12 GMT
Yes, they're removed by commercial collectors because they grease so badly, esp. males. I wonder how great the threat of grease really is in Morpho. I only have specimens that I've collected myself - perhaps 70 specimens total. They all have their abdomens intact. And none of them are greased up.
John
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Post by deliasfanatic on Dec 27, 2017 15:31:24 GMT
I've seen some that were really bad, even females.
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Post by Paul K on Dec 27, 2017 16:06:45 GMT
Yes, they're removed by commercial collectors because they grease so badly, esp. males. I wonder how great the threat of grease really is in Morpho. I only have specimens that I've collected myself - perhaps 70 specimens total. They all have their abdomens intact. And none of them are greased up.
John
I think It is more of the myth than true. All Lepidoptera families get grease abdomen here and there. I only collected three Morphos my self but they are fine too. Ornithoptera tend to have grease abdomens and no one selling them without. Sphingidae they also like to get often grease and no one selling them with no abdomen, besides they would look very weird. Indeed Morphos have very small abdomens but I have a drawer of them purchased long time ago and I don’t like the fact they all have amputated body parts.
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Post by deliasfanatic on Dec 27, 2017 18:03:52 GMT
Yes, it's annoying about the missing abdomens. If I collected them seriously, it would be frustrating to get them "without" and have little other choice.
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mothman55
New Aurelian
Posts: 33
Country: Canada
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Post by mothman55 on Dec 29, 2017 3:59:17 GMT
Why don't people just remove the abdomen, soak in acetone for a bit, then reattach. Just like for saturnid males. Why not with morphos, always see with missing abdomen and never understood why as they do look incomplete.
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Post by bobw on Dec 29, 2017 9:56:38 GMT
Unfortunately Morpho abdomens are very badly prone to greasing and this spreads easily to the wings. It seems that the brownish species of the hecuba/theseus/telemachus groups are affected worse than the others. Males are affected mostly and routinely have their abdomens removed; most dealers just discard them but some of the better ones include them separately wrapped in cotton wool, these can then be treated and glued back on. Females are usually supplied with abdomens although I have had them grease up too.
I recently had 30 specimens of Morpho returned from setting and three of them were badly greased, a hecuba, a cisseis and a marcus; the cisseis was a female unusually! This seems to be about a typical percentage. They are easy enough to degrease by immersing in a solvent (I use paint thinners), however, the grease usually reappears after a while.
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