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We got a titan beetle at 4:22. These 6” insects (outweighing a hissing cockroach by 50 times) fly towards the light sheet but end up in the surrounding brush. So you hear them rather than see them, and then run them down. Maishe was ecstatic.
Maishe and Bill are packing for the trip home tomorrow. But I’ll stay up for one more session at the light trap. I’d kind of (REALLY) like to get my own titan beetle. I’m holding out hope for some last minute white witches. And I’ll have one more night with the rain and mosquitos and a few thousand fluttering insects, an entomologist’s nirvana.
Maishe and Bill are packing for the trip home tomorrow. But I’ll stay up for one more session at the light trap. I’d kind of (REALLY) like to get my own titan beetle. I’m holding out hope for some last minute white witches. And I’ll have one more night with the rain and mosquitos and a few thousand fluttering insects, an entomologist’s nirvana.
One of the exciting things about moving 40 degrees of latitude (I am 4 degrees north of the equator) is that you can see into a different region of outer space. You can see the Southern Cross constellation, and you can’t see the North Star. But of course you can’t see anything when it rains all the time.
I have been thinking about how to pursue the white witch after this trip. Maybe we shouldn’t be spending a few thousand dollars to make short trips that will succeed only if we are lucky. Maybe we need a partner that lives in French Guiana or Peru, someone that can be looking for white witches all the time. Maishe had a great suggestion. In previous visits here, he spent time with a native named Aponto, who lived with his huge family on the property. Like many natives that grew up in the forest, Aponto had an amazing ability to see things invisible to us. He would head out on the same trails that we are using with his rifle. He would come back with game: monkeys, agoutis, macaws, toucans, and even a tapir. (Tapirs are huge pig-like animals of the Amazon; Aponto had to butcher his in the forest so that the parts could be carried home). Meanwhile, I’ve been here for 8 days and I have seen exactly one mammal (a sloth right in the path), and one kind of bird (hummingbirds that came within 6 feet of me).
I’ve heard other stories of natives with amazing perception. Dave Wagner, who has spent more time looking for caterpillars than anyone, has worked with guides in Ecuador that can see 10 insects for each one he sees. And it is well known that Amazonian shamans (we might call them botanists) can identify a couple of thousand plants.
SO, the idea is: find a native partner that can hunt the white witch moths over an entire season. We would have a ten times greater chance of getting mated females.
Last night we finally got to work the light trap in the best location. We were there from 10 to 5, and covered with moths (and the occasional wasp) the whole time. I got quite a few white witch relatives (including 2 black witches). I got a crazy variety of moths: little ones with ivory wings edged in gold; huge sphinx moths of a dozen species; gem-like arctiids with dots and stripes in blue, yellow, and green; Silk moths with windows through their wings; Copiopteryx, which have tails much longer than the wings. You have to see to understand.
Last night we finally got to work the light trap in the best location. We were there from 10 to 5, and covered with moths (and the occasional wasp) the whole time. I got quite a few white witch relatives (including 2 black witches). I got a crazy variety of moths: little ones with ivory wings edged in gold; huge sphinx moths of a dozen species; gem-like arctiids with dots and stripes in blue, yellow, and green; Silk moths with windows through their wings; Copiopteryx, which have tails much longer than the wings. You have to see to understand.