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Post by wollastoni on Sept 27, 2016 8:23:11 GMT
Yes splendid photos ! cabintom, which software do you use to remove the background behind your specimens ? I am looking for an easy-to-use one.
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Post by cabintom on Sept 27, 2016 13:55:55 GMT
which software do you use to remove the background behind your specimens ? I am looking for an easy-to-use one. I use Photoshop, though I imagine you could use a free one like GIMP. The process isn't complicated, but it really depends on the specimen in regards to how much time it takes. With a darker specimens like the Heliconiinae above, I can crank out the composite images in a couple of minutes. But, if it's something with a lot of cilia, or is white, like many Mylothris, it can take 20 minutes to get the final product.
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Post by cabintom on Oct 14, 2016 19:08:45 GMT
Elsewhere, I mentioned having unintentionally stepped in a bush of biting-stinging ants while catching an Osmodes thora. Osmodes thora is in my opinion quite a lovely skipper, but in the excitement of the moment (ie. I panicked having narrowly escaped a great deal of pain) it seems I had misidentified what I caught. Turns out it's Osmodes lindseyi lindseyi, an equally lovely, but much much rarer species. In his work of revising African Hesperiidae (sadly unpublished), Torben Larsen only encountered 3 specimens which had come out of the DR Congo (all in Ducarme's extensive collection). I guess the "excitement" was more than worth it in the end! 20/VII/2016 Nebobongo, Haut-Uele (2°27'N, 27°38'E) 790m
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Post by mcheki on Oct 15, 2016 14:11:27 GMT
I have only seen specimens of this subspecies from Cameroon previous to your pictures. Excellent catch.
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Post by cabintom on Jan 10, 2017 8:21:43 GMT
MBOGI TRIP - DECEMBER 3rd, 2016 We left Bunia early the morning of December 3rd (a Saturday), at around 6:30am. My goal was to travel the 30km to our forest entry point of Mbogi without to much hassle along the road. Fortunately, the various security officials have started to recognize me and it's been easier going, with much less questioning and hassle at each of the roadblocks. Our main difficulty this time around was mud. It had rained heavily along large stretches of the road the day before (despite not having rained in Bunia), so the road was very slick. The mud here is incredibly sticky, and soon the back tire of the motorcycle was entirely clogged up. This meant going was slow and we had practically no traction (similar to driving on ice), so it took us twice as long to get to our destination. Fortunately, my colleague Biro has lots of experience driving in these conditions. Once there, we resisted the urge to collect among the hundreds of butterflies that habitually mud-puddle along the Tumani river, instead opting to explore and search for a path penetrating into the forest understorey. We followed the river bank for some distance, receiving directions from several gold-miners along the way, and finally we were directed to a small bridge crossing the river and leading up into the forest. It's amazing how different the observed species are just a few meters into the forest shade. Well, since we had set our minds to exploring we pushed on along the path, stopping for no more than a few minutes at a time when we found interesting spots (small sunny clearings, fallen fruit, a stream, etc.). This probably meant that we didn't catch as many butterflies as we could have otherwise, but at least I now have an idea where I can place traps next time around. We were so engrossed with what we were discovering that we lost track of time, and didn't come leave Mbogi until much later than planned. My wife wasn't impressed with me arriving home well after dark... though, she's not wrong... this isn't exactly the safest place to be traveling once the sun has set. I still think it was worth it though! Biro on the "bridge" across the river. Collecting Mylothris for Haydon Warren-Gash, near the "bridge". Mylothris bernice must have just emerged, as I caught 6 specimens in under 5 minutes feeding at the yellow flowers here. A group of ladies heading to Bunia with their produce to sell at the market. They won't arrive until the next morning. This path is the only path connecting their village to the rest of the world. There's excellent cellphone service though. A group of gold-miners who work along the Tumani River and are finishing up for the day. Incidentally, I caught Junonia ansorgei sitting on one of their jackets.
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Post by cabintom on Jan 10, 2017 8:37:29 GMT
MBOGI TRIP - DECEMBER 3rd, 2016
The Overall Results:
Number of species previously captured at Mbogi: 191 Number of species now confirmed from Mbogi: 227 80+ individual specimens caught 63 distinct species 16 new-to-me species Hesperiidae
Hesperiinae
Hypoleucis tripunctata draga (New Species) Meza indusiata (New for Mbogi) Osmodes laronia (New Species) Semalea pulvina (New for Mbogi) Pyrginae
Apallaga sp. (New Species: Michel Libert has said this is either a female A. fulgens montanus Libert, 2014 or a male A. hecqui. A dissection is necessary to confirm one way or the other. If it's hecqui, this would be the second specimen known.) Eagris decastigma purpura (New for Mbogi, my first time finding a male)
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Post by wollastoni on Jan 10, 2017 9:01:31 GMT
Once there, we resisted the urge to collect among the hundreds of butterflies that habitually mud-puddle along the Tumani river, instead opting to explore and search for a path penetrating into the forest understorey Indeed, that's often the most difficult thing in the tropics : resist temptation. I somewhat regret having focused too much on mud-puddling Delias in Papua, instead of looking for rare females in the canopy. But overlooking 100 males for an hypothetical female is not an easy decision ! Congrats for your new discoveries, and thank you for sharing your Congolese adventures with us !
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Post by cabintom on Jan 10, 2017 9:53:13 GMT
I was going to post this all sequentially, but got pulled away for a meeting. Anyways... Lycaenidae Miletinae Megalopalpus simplex Megalopalpus zymna (New Species) Polyommatinae Anthene ligures ligures Azanus isis Tuxentius margaritaceus Uranothauma heritsia intermedia (New for Mbogi, first time capturing a male) Poritiinae Falcuna sp. (New Species, anyone know what this is?) Larinopoda lagyra lagyra (New Species) Liptena despecta (New Species) Obania tulliana (New Species) Ornipholidotos amieti angulata (New for Mbogi) Pentila alba (New Species) Pentila sp. (New Species, ID help?) Theclinae Hypolycaena antifaunus antifaunus
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Post by cabintom on Jan 10, 2017 10:04:57 GMT
Nymphalidae Apaturinae Apaturopsis cleochares cleochares (New species) Biblidinae Mesoxantha ethosea ethoseoides (New for Mbogi) Charaxinae Charaxes brutus angustus (New for Mbogi) Heliconiinae Acraea (Bematistes) epaea epaea Acraea (Bematistes) tellus tellus (New for Mbogi) Telchinia (Alacria) quirinalis Telchinia (Telchinia) encedana (New for Mbogi, male f. alcippina but with an unusual amount of black on the HWs) Telchinia (Telchinia) jodutta jodutta Telchinia (Telchinia) lycoa Telchinia (Telchinia) peneleos pelasgius Telchinia (Telchinia) pharsalus pharsalus Limenitidinae Bebearia aurora aurora (?) (New Species, Can someone confirm this ID?) Cymothoe herminia herminia Euphaedra (Euphaedrana) preussi preussi (male w/ yellow sub-apical band, even so I'm positive it's preussi.) Euphaedra (Medoniana) medon fraudata (New for Mbogi) Euphaedra (Proteuphaedra) rubrocostata rubrocostata Euptera schultzei (New Species) Euriphene (Euriphene) goniogramma (New for Mbogi, first time finding a male) Euriphene (Euriphene) tadema nigropunctata Evena angustatum (New for Mbogi) Neptis laeta Neptis nemetes margueriteae (New for Mbogi) Neptis metella metella (New for Mbogi) Neptis cf. melicerta Pseudacraea rubrobasalis (New Species) Nymphalinae Junonia ansorgei (New Species) Junonia westermanni westermanni Kallimoides rumia jadyae (New for Mbogi) Precis rauana silvicola (New for Mbogi) Protogoniomorpha parhassus Protogoniomorpha temora temora Satyrinae Bicyclus collinsi Bicyclus mollitia (New for Mbogi, first time finding a female)
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Post by cabintom on Jan 10, 2017 10:13:09 GMT
Papilionidae Papilioninae Papilio (Princeps) cynorta (New for Mbogi) Papilio (Princeps) zenobia (New for Mbogi) Riodinidae
Nemeobiinae Afriodinia neavei kivuensis (New for Mbogi) Pieridae Coliadinae Eurema (Terias) floricola leonis Pierinae Leptosia marginea (New for Mbogi) Mylothris bernice berenicides (1st:female, 2nd:male) Mylothris sjostedti hecqui Mylothris continua continua Mylothis mafuga (New Species, apparently this species is very rare this far north) Nepheronia pharis pharis (New for Mbogi)
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Post by cabintom on Jan 10, 2017 10:15:45 GMT
Well, there you go! If you'd like to see photos of any of the non-illustrated species, let me know, I'll be glad to post them over the next few days.
And thanks to anyone able to help me with those few IDs!
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Post by mygos on Jan 10, 2017 12:18:12 GMT
Thank you Tom for sharing I would like to see the Cymothoe herminia when you have time ... A+, Michel
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Post by wollastoni on Jan 10, 2017 14:59:00 GMT
Tom, I'd like to understand your photography system.
You have perfect pictures and I can guess some "threads" ("fil" en francais) behind the specimens. Do you use Photoshop (or another software) to work on your pictures or do you really obtain this perfectly white background ?
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Post by cabintom on Jan 10, 2017 17:09:44 GMT
I would like to see the Cymothoe herminia when you have time ... Here you go! One of my favourite species. Too bad about the strange tear at the base of the FW... though it leaves me wondering how it might have happened?
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Post by cabintom on Jan 10, 2017 19:24:56 GMT
Tom, I'd like to understand your photography system. You have perfect pictures and I can guess some "threads" ("fil" en francais) behind the specimens. Do you use Photoshop (or another software) to work on your pictures or do you really obtain this perfectly white background ? Yes, to get straight to the point, Photoshop completes the effect. The whole process is really simple actually. You can see my set-up in a previous post here: collector-secret.proboards.com/post/7539In the year that's followed I've improved this in 2 ways: First, I followed advice given and am using the manual white balance setting on my camera (this makes post-processing a lot easier). Second, I've switched from white thread to clear fishing line. Clear fishing line is almost invisible behind lighter coloured specimens, whereas the white thread created noticeable lines in the images. Since I don't have a stand to hold my camera steady, I usually snap 3 to 5 pictures of each side of a specimen, then once transferred to my computer, sort through them to pick out the clearest/sharpest results. Unfortunately, this method does not immediately give the pure white background. Usually, I get a light greyish-blue background, but after a bit more white balancing (if needed), and slight brightening (if needed), I use Photoshop's wand and lasso tools to cut out the background and replace it with white.
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