Subject: Re: butterfly bait

From: [email-masked] (Terry Kaan)
Date: 12 Aug 1995 04:12:19 GMT

Eric Hein ([email-masked]) wrote:
>On a similar subject, just wondering if anyone has had any success
>capturing butterflies using mesh traps and bait?  We tried a variety
>of different baits including a mixture of beer, bananas, and yeast,
>rotten fruits, sugar water, etc but had no success  attracting
>butterflies (Nymphalidae and Satyridae).
>Eric W. Hein
>Los Alamos National Laboratory
>Los Alamos, NM  87545
>505-665-7329
>[email-masked]

Rotten pineapple is cheap (and nasty), but works well.  Take care to keep
the fruit out of the rain if you want it to work.  It seems to attract
butterflies very selectively.  Some will be strongly attracted, others
won't even condescend to investigate the bait.  For instance, here in
southeast Asia, many Nymphalids of the subtribe Adoliaditi (Tanaecia,
Euthalia, and especially Lexias) are strongly attracted.  So are various
large Noctuid (Catocalinae, Ophiderinae and the like) moths. 

It seems to me that one thing which many of the butterflies and moths that
are attracted to the baits have in common is that they tend to be rather
large and heavy bodied, but then again I may not have noticed the smaller
ones!  Anybody knows why?  They also tend to be butterflies that prefer to
fly in deep shade in heavily wooded areas. 

Terry Kaan
[email-masked]

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From: Eric Hein <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 1995 14:27:08 MST

> Is this "wine roping" technique similar to the fruit/wine mixture which
> is often used to attract catacola?  I have had great success with this
> method.

> a mixture of  beer, brown sugar, and cut up apples, painted on the
>bark of oak trees in order to attract Catocala moths.

Any suggestions??

Thanks,
Eric W. Hein

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From: Neil Jones <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 95 20:36:00 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] "Terry Kaan" writes:

> Rotten pineapple is cheap (and nasty), but works well.

Morphos seem to love it. The only problem is that you can't get them to
open their wings when they're settled to get a photograph.

-- 
Neil Jones
[email-masked]