19 June 2015 - Tom Friedel created a photo record of a white witch posted to http://www.BirdPhotos.com, which he confirms as observed in Saboneta, Antioquia, Colombia, 12 May 2015. I don't have a precise location, but Sabaneta is high (1600 m), cool, and receives ca. 1800 mm rain. He sent us a second photo (with coke can) to provide scale for the 28 cm specimen. In our communication, Tom referred us to Robert Oelman, a photographer (see his impressive images here) that sent us white witch photos from Colombia (shot here with girl). Location Farallones Mountains, elevation 1700 m; date about 31 Dec 2012 National Park, at low elevation, >3000 mm rain. Robert also reports: Professor Ranulfo Gonzalez, entomologist at the Univ. del Valle, Cali told me that this moth is very rarely seen here and appears to be on the path of extinction. In my 9 years of searching for insects, this is the only T. agrippina that I have seen, which includes extensive travel in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru...This moth did something interesting. I placed it on the tree which you see in the photo but parallel to the ground, that is, the wings were extended in a horizontal line. Immediately, it corrected its position to a vertical line, the wings then following the line of the tree (which you see in the photo). There was a noticeable visual difference between the two positions. In the horizontal position, the moth was visually easy to detect whereas in the vertical position, it impressively blended in to the tree...The length from wingtip to wingtip was 30 cms..... - DLC
"Expedition" in quotes because my principal reason for the trip is to visit my son when I visit Peru in July. I have only the faintest hope of seeing a white witch - I know of only 5 records in Peru (though many more are collected there and sold on EBay). But I will certainly make connections, in particular at the Los Amigos field station of the Asociación para la Conservación de la Cuenca Amazónica. In advance of this trip, I wrote a short article:
The Search for the White Witch Moth Peru this Week, 12 Jun 2015 |
AuthorDavid Cappaert Archives
December 2019
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