|
Post by luehdorfia on Apr 23, 2019 17:35:58 GMT
A good friend of mine in Beijing collected this very beautiful Dilipa fenestra in the mountains around Beijing, China, on the 13th of April.
Also caught this Araschnia, I dont know the species:
and this one, apparently pretty rare in Beijing, same date and locality. Does anyone know the exact name?
|
|
|
Post by Paul K on Apr 23, 2019 21:28:49 GMT
Last photo it is Polyura narcaea Araschnia looks like levana.
|
|
|
Post by Ed on Apr 25, 2019 18:13:21 GMT
The Beijing butterflies are looking nice! Your friend(I assume 太阴) and you seem to have found a good spot! How far away is this mountain from the city? I know the distance is a big factor in your ability to collect.
|
|
|
Post by luehdorfia on Apr 25, 2019 18:49:38 GMT
It’s about two hours from the city depending on traffic, very difficult to find and difficult to catch there since it’s on the road in the mountains so you have to dodge cars while running behind the Dilipa fenestra.
|
|
|
Post by Ed on Apr 25, 2019 23:42:19 GMT
It’s about two hours from the city depending on traffic, very difficult to find and difficult to catch there since it’s on the road in the mountains so you have to dodge cars while running behind the Dilipa fenestra. I know first hand how drivers can be! I personally prefer to chase my papilionidae through car free roads! Keep us updated on you and your friends catches! We love seeing your pictures! I should learn to use “!” appropriately! But I’m just really excited to get out and start collecting!!!
|
|
|
Post by xavm (Xavier) on Apr 26, 2019 8:31:25 GMT
I think you need a permit for collecting butterflies in China.
How difficult is it to obtain?
Best wishes, Xavier
|
|
|
Post by luehdorfia on Apr 26, 2019 9:23:54 GMT
I don’t collect personally in China. My collector friends there are Chinese, and they either have friends in the National Park system or are government officials themselves, so for them it’s fine. As a foreigner I wouldn’t do it, and I don’t think it’s possible to get a licence anymore. Another friend of mine studies biology and his university has collecting permits, and for research purposes they can collect. But China is getting more and more strict, last year two traders went to jail for 15 years because of importing cites 2 butterflies without permits, it was just a few trogonoptera brookiana and ornithoptera priamus.
|
|
|
Post by wollastoni on Apr 26, 2019 12:30:53 GMT
15 years for a common Trogonoptera ? They must have criticized the local Communist Party...
|
|
|
Post by Ed on Apr 26, 2019 12:55:47 GMT
I agree, for a foreigner in China it is almost impossible to get a collecting permit. A lot of the collecting in China is illegitimate but the problem mainly arises, like usual, when an individual is caught at an airport etc. Here’s a link to the story of a such case. www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-41917630
|
|
|
Post by Paul K on Apr 26, 2019 13:05:26 GMT
I agree, for a foreigner in China it is almost impossible to get a collecting permit. A lot of the collecting in China is illegitimate but the problem mainly arises, like usual, when an individual is caught at an airport etc. Here’s a link to the story of a such case. www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-41917630 ...where do we go from here.
|
|
|
Post by Paul K on Apr 26, 2019 13:11:15 GMT
I always wonder how do you guys get friends in foreign countries. Do you arrive to an airport and shout : a need a friend Entomologist who has permits and take me there and then there are just few of them approach? Do you speak Chinese? How do you get contacts especially in countries like China. Do they advertise somehow collecting trips?
|
|
|
Post by exoticimports on Apr 26, 2019 16:09:31 GMT
I always wonder how do you guys get friends in foreign countries. Do you arrive to an airport and shout : a need a friend Entomologist who has permits and take me there and then there are just few of them approach? Do you speak Chinese? How do you get contacts especially in countries like China. Do they advertise somehow collecting trips? 1. Forums- look how many international participants are here 2. Associations- Lep Soc for example probably has people from 50 countries 3. Dealers who advertise 4. via an ever-expanding network...people who know people, and will put you in contact 5. Go there sometimes works, particularly in small countries. Go to Guadalcanal, stay at Mendana Hotel, sit on the patio with a butterfly net. They will come to you. 6. Books/ journals: authors, contributors, etc. The preface to Butterflies of the Fiji Islands encourages field study. Maybe that includes you? 7. Contact museums well ahead of time, have a plan (not "me go catchum lotsa butterfly in your country")
I speak some Mandarin. Not well, and much of it phrases one only uses after a few Maotai. My Cantonese is limited to "Where is the white woman with an assh like a horse?" But we have a guy that's Chinese. There you go. And a guy in Iran. And a guy that studies in Belize. And I know lots of people in Solomon Islands, Tonga, Niue, etc.
Keep in mind some countries are simply off the list: Australia, Turkey, India.
Chuck
|
|
|
Post by trehopr1 on Apr 26, 2019 19:11:08 GMT
The way I see it is that nowadays if you are intent on collecting in a foreign land you had better do your homework!! A lot of third world countries traffic a lot of different goods back and forth. So, naturally the authorities of said countries police everything. If you cannot do your collecting legally and with all the appropriate credentials and paperwork then you don't do it. The laws, restrictions, and fines (or even jail time) can be harsh in many other lands. I say respect what you are told to the letter and collect only when you feel safe and unhindered when doing it. Better safe than sorry.... Of coarse there is nothing wrong buying things at insect fairs or from old collections. That's what I relegate myself to as far as exotic specimens goes.
|
|
|
Post by luehdorfia on Apr 26, 2019 21:58:30 GMT
Yes I can speak Chinese fluently, started very young and spent about seven years now already in Beijing. I got to know my chinese collector friends very slowly, first I contacted some Chinese eBay sellers, some didn’t reply, some were just shrewd traders, and only two or three real collectors, and then slowly I got to know some friendly ones, then met them personally, went on a trip together and now I know a few where I can say that their specimens will definitely have correct collecting data and they won’t charge crazy prices and are even willing to exchange some. Real collectors are still rare in China, and then the “quality” or diligence of collecting is very different from collector to collector. I know one in Tianjin who has a lot of good stuff but he is extremely horribly messy with his collecting data, most of his specimens don’t have data and he says he knows when they were caught, which just makes his whole collection pointless and worthless. Then I know another collector in shanghai who has super nice and very accurate Collecting data and really understands that that’s the whole point of it. This would never happen in Germany - a collection without data. I know Ed doesn’t speak Chinese, but he still managed to get to know some of the best collectors in Shanghai, and exchanged specimens with them, Without talking as I was told. Hahaha. Very impressive!
|
|
|
Post by wollastoni on Apr 27, 2019 15:43:49 GMT
I have more buyers from China than from Japan in my insectnet or ebay sales. I think there are a huge number of insect collectors in China, but as they don't speak well English, we don't really "see" them on the web.
|
|