Our project is a curious collaboration of entomologists and artists. Which originated from an inquiry of James Prosek's:
The fascination started when I saw a dead specimen on the wall of a Eco lodge in the mindo valley in Ecuador. I asked the owner what it was and he said "that's a small one." He told me he'd seen one with a wingspan of 16 inches at least. I became obsessed with this creature and it took me the better part of a year to figure out that the lodge owner in Ecuador had been pulling my leg. He never returned my emails. But in the process I learned that no one knew of any record of the caterpillar ... They suggested I contact Dan Janzen [ecologist, lepidopterist] in Costa Rica, which I did, and Janzen told me he'd raised Thysania zenobia but didn't know the caterpillar of the white witch. He contacted a few colleagues in South America and none of them knew either. I became more interested.
James later collected the white witch in Suriname. And sought out an entomologist collaborator in the person of Dave Wagner, a moth and caterpillar expert. Dave immediately appreciated the intrigue. The quest became a "project" that simmered for a few years. James was thinking about documenting the quest. Dave was thinking about the biology, how he might apply his knowledge of noctuid moths, and put together hypotheses about where the white witch larva might occur, on what host plants, at what time of year?
David Cappaert was an entomologist moving to Connecticut in 2011, to work at an environmental sciences magnet school. He met Dave Wagner through their mutual interest in insects and education. They talked about ways that students might participate in some kind of research--something exciting. David was laid up for a couple of months, so he started to organize some of what's known about white witch, and created a www site.
Our project is mostly informal and involves many interested parties, and support from the Garmany Fund of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. A partial list of players below.
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David Cappaert was an entomologist moving to Connecticut in 2011, to work at an environmental sciences magnet school. He met Dave Wagner through their mutual interest in insects and education. They talked about ways that students might participate in some kind of research--something exciting. David was laid up for a couple of months, so he started to organize some of what's known about white witch, and created a www site.
Our project is mostly informal and involves many interested parties, and support from the Garmany Fund of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. A partial list of players below.
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James Prosek (www site) is a naturalist/artist/writer given to serial obsession with the beauty and mystery of his subjects. These have included trout, American eels, and the white witch (James is the one among us that has seen the WW moth, in Suriname, on a trip led by Kristof Zyskowski [Yale Peabody Museum], an early collaborator on the project.)
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David Wagner (UConn www page here) is a lepidopterist at the University of Connecticut. His interests and research agenda are far-reaching , but a particular strength for this project is his penchant for nocturnal prowling in pursuit of caterpillars across the New World.
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David Cappaert (www site) is an entomologist with a background in biological control, retired Resident Scientist at the Environmental Sciences Magnet School in Hartford, CT. Six hundred students at this school know the white witch story, and shared in David's 2015 research trip to French Guiana. Together David Wagner, he collaborates in offering a Biodiversity Camp for Hartford students.
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Maishe Dickman (www site) is principally an artist - of pottery - but has a parallel career as a preparator at the Yale Peabody Musem. He is also an experienced and enthusiastic insect collector. He has observed and collected more white witch moths (in French Guiana) than anyone living (to our knowledge).
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