Subject: Moth
Geographic location of the bug: Manaus Brazil
Date: 12/09/2019
Time: 07:51 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Hi! Hope you´re still in buisnes. I received some help from you 2016.
No 1 This Moth was photographed in Manaus Brazil 2019-10-03, in the graden of hotel Tropic(al). I have come as far as “it is probably” a Notodontidae.
No 2: This butterfly was photographed on a forest road along Rio Aripuana, about 450 km upstream from Manaus 2019-10-06. Is this really a Merpesia?
No 3: Photographed along Rio Arapuana Brazil 2019-10-10 in forest flooded 6 months a year. Fuligoridae family. I have more photos of this creature, but this is the clarest one. Is it possible to get any further? (- Would love it).
Best regards
Stefan
How you want your letter signed: Stefan
Dear Stefan,
We are going to attempt to handle your identification requests one at a time. Your second image is actually a moth, not a butterfly. We are confident it is a Mania Moth, Mania empedocles, from the family Sematuridae which we identified on Project Noah. The species is also pictured on iNaturalist. According to a FlickR posting: “Mainly, the family is made of nocturnal and crepuscular individuals. There are 35 species in the family Sematuridae; a single genus with one species occurs in Africa (as far as my knowledge goes, so this requires confirmation) whilst the others occur in the Neotropical zone. The wingspan of adults in this family can go from 42 to 100mm and their body is robust in most species. The wings are triangular; posterior wings present a tail-like projection with oceli designs.”
Dear Daniel!
Thank you for the Id of the id. of the Mania Moth.
Linnaeus said: “Knowledge without names is worth nothing”
Now about 250 years later, I can extend his statement by feeling and saying: “Sightings without names are worth nothing”
The bugs I´m sending you currently are from a mammal- and bird-trip.
In Sweden, my home country I have seen all the Nymphalides and most of the Moths and Hawk-moths. When I´ve been out and have done my best to determine what I have seen, every addition to that is a bonus, for which I´m grateful.
I have in mind to send you two more images. I´ll send them to your Bugman page but give you some background here. The target species on the first image I´m sending you is a Heraclides (Papilio) anchisiades, Id´ed by Jorge Bizarro, one of the top people on Nymphalides and Moths and Hawk Moths in tropical America. Both the yellow ones and white ones on the same photo I have not even tried. In Pantanal 2012 I identified Phoebis sennae, but there were probably several species on these river banks. It´ll be interesting to see if you can id any of the yellow ones and white ones on this image.
The second image i´ll present on your Bugman-page.
Best regards
Stefan