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Post by wollastoni on Jun 19, 2015 16:31:51 GMT
This is Milionia callima, a splendid Geometridae I have caught in West Papua near Wamerek village (Baliem Valley).
This is a day-flying moth. It must be toxic for birds as it flies very slowly and you can even catch it with your fingers.
Milionia is a very colourful genus that is popular among day-flying moth collectors. Any of you has some Milionia in their collection, I would be happy to see some pictures.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jun 19, 2015 18:58:05 GMT
Some Geometrids are very colourful indeed. Here's a photo of a thinner me with a couple of mud-puddling Dysphania militaris in Thabok, C. Laos in late February 2005. This species also flies in my garden here in Chiang Mai (about 15km outside the town). Adam.
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Post by wollastoni on Jun 19, 2015 19:35:42 GMT
Nice pic Adam !
Dysphania militaris is a special moth for me. When I was a kid, my grandmother who travelled a lot brought me back a Dysphania militaris from a trip to Lhassa in Tibet. She found it dead and put it inside a book to bring it back to me. For a French kid, such a colourful moth was very impressive ! The specimen is still in my collection in France.
Another splendid species indeed
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jun 19, 2015 21:14:15 GMT
You have a great grandmother, doing things like that for you. I didn't know that Dysphania militaris reached Lhasa, as I always imagined it as a predominantly low to mid elevation species. It is seasonally rather common here, often flying around my garden mostly early morning and late afternoon. Probably the fact that I have a stream running through the back of the garden and plenty of trees makes it a suitable habitat. The larva is also rather beautiful, and is illustrated here: www.mothsofborneo.com/part-9/dysphaniini/dysphaniini_1_2.phpAdam.
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Post by deliasfanatic on Jun 22, 2015 5:32:25 GMT
I've taken a quick snap of a drawer with Milionia and related genera, plus Dysphania, which I also like. I've never made much effort to go after Milionia, hence the small smattering; I do like them and wouldn't mind getting more. There are also a few Alcidis in the right column; they don't really belong here, but are placed temporarily in this drawer for want of a better place at present. Dysphania drawer by D B, on Flickr
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Post by wollastoni on Jun 22, 2015 7:44:11 GMT
Splendid drawer Danny ! The Milionia are fantastic !
I will check if I have any remaining Milionia callima papered from my Papuan trip and will put it aside for you.
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