South and Central America

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06.01.2011 5:48, Виктор Синяев

Uncle Vitya, and post a list with photos on the topic of sinjaevi

Hello, Pasha!
On the "sick" stepped...
Here's what's "at hand":
Dorcadion_klaudiae is named after my Mom!
Brachyllus_svetlanae is named after my Wife!
In the article about brazhniki Genus Dahira: viksinjaevi, svetsinjaevi, nili, ulijanae, klaudiae & dianae
In general, in honor of my Mother, Wife, Daughters and Son (Me, too).
Ah, what can I do... if out of hundreds of new Saturnias, Hawk Moth..., only, grateful descriptors gave these names, but, after all, this is what is "at hand"...
The morning wasn't over... Pour it!

This post was edited by Viktor Sinyaev - 06.01.2011 06: 16

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26.01.2011 23:52, Victor Gazanchidis

December 10 - January 11. Central selva, Satipo, Peru. We were in the village for 2 weeks, traveled almost the entire central part. Butterflies were caught decently, and at night more than a day, as the weather was rainy. I didn't even begin to analyze the catch, so I'll give it a general outline. Saturnium and hawk moth species are 20 each, ursa bears are less and you still need to understand who is who there. There are a lot of large shovels, agrippins, etc., but there are a lot of torn ones among them. From the day - four types of morpho, 5 types of large beautiful sailboats, some very cool thickheads, a lot of colorful stuff.
The photo shows the house where we lived and typical jungle landscapes.

This post was edited by vicgrr - 27.01.2011 00: 51

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26.03.2011 4:07, Виктор Синяев

I came across an article from the newspaper... In Peru.
An anaconda swallowed a 17-year-old boy...
The quality is not very good, the photos are old and faded, but the impression remains...
Well, good morning! (heh-heh).
P.S. A female Bramei from China was born, well, very interesting... And there is nothing to photograph, Canon exploded in Peru, as pitarda exploded...
3 wheels also exploded, I had to buy. The tents are all broken, the roofs are leaking, the mattresses are blown off, just bad luck... Mosquitoes ate all the legs-you can't sleep, everything itches, the rivers are enraged, the car breaks down, even got into a small accident, both bumpers were repaired and repaired again and paid extra in the company..., ah-ah-ah, the lens was "buggy", lost the SIM card, money was stolen... My wife doesn't talk... Exactly, I forgot a lot: lack of sleep, 4600 km he drove, the rains washed out the roads and collapsed, on the passes, under 5 thousand, snow everywhere, cold, at night the stars and the moon..., butterflies and beetles do not fly and the Indians break prices, 280 tanks per night,......, in general: " I want to kill someone."..

No, Life is getting better!..

This post was edited by Viktor Sinyaev - 26.03.2011 05: 57

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26.03.2011 22:25, Виктор Синяев

Well, a little bit of Entomology...

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02.04.2012 16:15, Romyald

And on a long journey beckons again
How the cards will fall – to live and know.
This time we will venture to take
the Cold mountains - the surface of the fog,
The Forests of rainy grace,
And only the net handle
In our hands would freeze at all five.
It should be easier to pick up the key, the
Contrast of the country, accept it with your heart,
As if you were dancing with Shakira.
Dedicated to Colombia, a country of contrasts.
New Caledonia, Ambon, Halmahera, Costa Rica? Maybe Mauritius or Reunion? Where to go? This time I'm not going alone, and there must be agreement in everything. The decision does not come immediately, and after a short discussion, the lot falls on the country of drug trafficking - Colombia.
Tickets are purchased and the destination is selected. In the remaining month before departure, you need to collect the maximum amount of information about the country. The information is contradictory: on the one hand, the criminal situation, on the other hand, the complete absence of entomological fees. What will outweigh it? Two days before departure, information received from a former employee of the Russian Embassy in Colombia adds fuel to the fire. He tries in every possible way to dissuade us from going to this country, telling us about countless robberies on the streets of cities, about a bunch of homeless drug addicts with knives, about armed bandits holed up in National Parks, etc. In the first minutes after receiving such information, we are at a loss, trying to change tickets to another country. In the end, it is possible to bring the situation back under control. Nothing can be changed. Mobile Entomological Special Forces should be ready for any course of events. Orders from the vocation are not discussed.
In search of the Bearded Peacock Eye.
The flight to the city of Sante de Bogota, with a landing in Paris, lasts 17 hours. During this time, you can get a good night's sleep, mobilize the internal forces of the body, learn Spanish, or you can just listen to music, watch a cartoon, or enjoy a flight from AirFrance.
El Dorado Airport greeted us with light clouds. We go through passport control and get our luggage . After checking my luggage, as always, the airport staff has questions about my unusual cargo. There's a generator in my backpack. Please invite me English-speaking inspectors. The conversation lasts no more than two minutes, after which my cargo is successfully admitted to the territory of Colombia. We change money at the exit from the airport, and fussily go out into the city. There's a whole crowd of greeters, and we're making our way through them to meet the unknown. My consciousness is sharpened by the new environment, new smells, and I freeze in place, from the sudden glimpse of a sign with Russian letters in the crowd.
As it turned out, a young man named Dmitry was waiting for the arrival of a companion from Russia. We hurriedly approach him and engage in a dialogue. Let's get acquainted.
In the future, a random fellow countryman played an invaluable role during our trip: he gave valuable advice, helped in the search for an English-speaking guide.
Our hotel was located in one of the hot spots of Bogota, and you can appreciate the fullness of the bottom, inhaling the forbidden smoke, without leaving the ticket office. There was a wide variety of people present, and glamorous couples sitting on the steps, and stupid tramps twisting their faces from a dose of some drug, and showmen (jugglers, acrobats, buffoons), and policemen looking for something in this teeming mess. But the most important figure of this performance was a small mobile kibitka with a vendor, where you could buy, as it seemed: lollipops, chocolates, chewing gum, chips. But, it was a small, visible part, a huge invisible Colombia, where a variety of drugs for feeling full of life are freely bought.
We eat dinner, take a shower, and fall asleep to the roar of music from the warmed-up crowd outside the window. Sleep is constantly interrupted , and the crowd gets completely out of control by midnight. Everything subsides by morning, the arrival of light wins, freeing the narrow, cobbled streets for a new day, filling them with the beautiful singing of birds left behind in the city of darkness.
In the morning, we plan to take a pre-ordered car and get out of Bogota as quickly as possible. But first we had to go to Sipacon for our guide.
Our guide turned out to be a fragile and at the same time hardy Colombian girl. We are surprised, we explain to Dima that a woman will not be able to pass the harsh tests, but a fellow countryman responsibly declares her physical abilities, and we agree.
Andrea, that was the name of our new acquaintance, turned out to be a really fast and cheerful fellow traveler, who could cook well, sleep wherever she could, and most importantly, was crazy, just like us. She had a great feminine, sexy timbre that made anyone passing by stop and tell us the way, no matter where we were.
Once we passed a crowd of armed soldiers at a checkpoint from the National Security Center.Sumapaz Park. We were stopped, checked, and released with very tense faces, and Andrea, like a sorceress, turned a company of angry soldiers into laughing boys with a single word. I don't know what she said to them, but we rode out to the laughter and smiles of menacing soldiers with lowered submachine guns. In the future, she often helped us out in ambiguous situations with police officers in night-time insect collection sites.
This time we made a mistake with the car, we took a car that was too low. Spared the money. But I still managed to drive a car, drive along the broken roads to National Parks, causing the locals, as it seemed to me, respect.
In total, we managed to examine five national centers. Parks of Central and Western Colombia. The main collection sites for insects are the Terra fria zones, located in the Andes system from 2000m, as well as the Terra templada zones, which extend their holdings from 1000m. Of course, the warmest areas were the most plentiful on the map, but even in the cold zones there was something to see.
The first place of acquaintance was Nat.Chingaza Park. It is the closest to Bagota, and we reached it on the same day. The road was disgusting and the car, like a grader, flattened the bottom of the swollen clay on the road. Fishing at night in the park was not possible, my faithful friend generator ordered to live for a long time. Annoyed at the breakdown, we still managed to catch the headlights. Small scoops arrived, and a bear, which we did not meet anywhere else in the future. I called her the Nafar Chingaz Dipper. Later, we duplicated night fishing in this National Park.In the park and at the very end of the expedition, the slopes of the Park were again illuminated with two 150 W lamps, but this butterfly remained in one copy.
The next Park, Sumapaz, was located south of Bogota, it was higher than Chingaza, had good roads, and it was not difficult for us to pass through it. The eastern slopes remained inaccessible to us, and the military at the checkpoint forbade us to go down, saying that it was not safe there. We didn't tempt fate. Having found a good night spot, we fished bright-colored scoops, moths and crested whales at an altitude of 3800m. Even a slightly battered peacock-eye arrived.
In the afternoon, when the sun came out , there were bizarre Damon-like Andean Yellows, whiteflies, unusual satyrs, and even more unusual black needle flies with yellow legs.
The nature of summer is exactly similar to all the previously surveyed points ( Mountainous Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pamir) - the sun disappears, and the butterflies disappear as if they never existed.
The vegetation is very modest-a litter of groundcover plants, gray soldiers from the Agave family rise above them, and only on leeward slopes up to an altitude of 4000 m., near rivers, you can see small , stocky trees with a wide variety of mosses twining like a spider's web around their branches. The view is really mysterious, somehow unearthly, fabulous. Perhaps in such places, and found this elusive-Bearded peacock eyes?
After the frozen limbs during the night, we decide to go down and fish at altitudes from 1500m. The closest place was the Nat.Park-Kinini. Here we spent two days, as there was a good night and day fishing. During the day, transparent Itomias and miniature Gretas fluttered in the forest, warmed by the slanting rays of the sun, and at least five species of Helikonius of various colors twisted aerial feints on the edges. Bright and at the same time large pigeons, now and then flew up from under their feet, and quickly flew away into the crowns, sitting there on branches, curiously examining the bumblebees who disturbed them.
Nymphalids were rushing along the edge of the forest at great speed, and we occasionally snatched one or another of them out of their ranks, swinging our nets. I was lucky enough to catch one Fontainea Nessus. From the strokes of the net in the undergrowth, Marigolds flew up from their habitable place, the nimble Himadrias, maneuvering through the bushes, like a fighter, changed its location points, instantly sticking to the trunks and merging with them into one whole. In general, the forest turned out to be alive, despite serious human intervention. Here, like everywhere else in Colombia, people graze cattle, cut down glades for bananas, and build comfortable housing. In general, I got the impression that there are no National centers in Colombia.Parks, the edges of Parks that change their borders from year to year look too barbaric.
In this Park, I was able to see and catch Morpho Helenor for the first time in my life. The sight is certainly impressive, hands tremble when such a butterfly approaches. It is very difficult to catch it in years, despite its size. The butterfly randomly changes its flight direction, blinding the catcher with flashes of blue lightning.
We met these beautiful butterflies in almost all places of our trip. Once, in the afternoon, on one of the passes, at an altitude of at least 2500m., two zero Morphids gave us a colorful performance. It was on the road, and there was no way to get a net, despite the fact that we were alone. We could only enjoy the wonderful mating game of these butterflies. They swirled low in the road like gymnast's sports ribbons, glittering in the light, gradually rising higher and higher until they were completely hidden in the roots of the trees. And once again, Morfida jumped out into the road, and I shouted loudly, drawing the attention of my sleeping companion to a gorgeous trophy. Of course, I couldn't catch her, but my partner finally woke up. I'll never forget how big his eyes were as he watched her fly.

This post was edited by Romyald - 02.04.2012 17: 54

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02.04.2012 16:16, Romyald

The night in this place pleased with a large abundance of scoops. Serpentines ( of three kinds), large scoops, and even Agripina arrived, cutting through the air like a pigeon, hitting the screen, and then flying away again into the darkness. Big-eyed Peacocks were also not uncommon guests.
The next park, Los Nevados, was located on the third ridge of the mountain system. Between them stretched an approximately 80-kilometer valley (the height above sea level is less than 500 m), where, unfortunately, we did not manage to fish, we had too little time.
Overnight stop at the second ridge pass of the Andes mountain system. The height is 3300 meters. We find the place randomly. There are no fogs, winds and heavy rain. The day is more modest, mostly Marigolds. You can catch it for several hours, after lunch the fog comes, and the sun closes. Years are being stopped. Getting ready for the night. At night, various insects come out of the foggy and damp forest, clogging the screen with huge scoops. Heavy rain starts after 12 o'clock. We stand a little longer, get wet, and eventually go to bed. In the morning, the rain does not stop, a hurricane-force wind rises. We shoot from the point, like the Americans from Vietnam.
Having replenished our food supplies, we are trying to move up to the National level.Las Nevados Park. It is even higher than Sumapaz, and there is snow in the mountains. Then we suddenly discover that our guide Andrea can no longer accompany us, and wants to return home. We try to persuade her, but all in vain, she is, as I suspected, frightened by the harsh trials of a wandering life. There's nothing we can do, so we go back to the city and put her on the bus to Bogota.
Despite the obvious setup, I, and Alexey, are still grateful to her for the work done. We have gained invaluable experience in traveling and communicating with Colombians. All good things come to an end, and now, having lost such a valuable companion, you have to get a Spanish dictionary out of your bag and make up for the loss. Rest is over, the chicks must leave the nest.
Due to the changing environment, we are changing our plans. Now we are not going up to Las Nevados, but are heading for the Nat.Tatama Park, located at the Western foot of the mountain system, is basically one of the wettest places on Earth.( For reference: the highest amount of precipitation falls in the area of the city of Cuibdo and is estimated at an annual rate of 10000mm.).
We don't find the entrance to the park right away. On the wrong road, being tied to the navigator, our tire breaks on sharp stones. Changing a wheel on the road, a local tractor driver helps. By nightfall, we are on the right course.
In the morning, we decide to look around and find a suitable place. We find them quickly. Near a clear river, we find a large number of daytime butterflies. They are everywhere, mostly in the moist clay soil left behind by passing buffaloes. Quickly fill envelopes with material. After lunch, as always, the sun disappears. Enjoy a romantic lunch of fried potatoes on the banks of a crystal-clear river. In the evening, we try to climb three kilometers upstream of the river. The road here is clearly not for my car, but Alexey agrees to go ahead and clean the road, discarding large stones. In the late afternoon, our car crawls out to the last farmer's house. He's dumbfounded, thumbs up. How is it possible to get up to such places by car?
With the help of a dictionary, I manage to negotiate with him about catching mariposa (Spanish butterfly) at night on his site. The payment for two days was $ 15. The places here are great, excellent day fishing, plus, the most diverse, in the specific sense, night fishing makes you forget about time. Containers fill up instantly. The only bad thing is that we were half a month late, the material of the night is mostly broken. Here is the most diverse approach of Peacock Eyes, from small ones with transparent eyes, to Attacuses of various variations. A variety of scoops, moths, and cocoonworms. As soon as it gets dark, fireflies fly out, and here and there small bulbs light up. The generator starts, and small beetles are hung on the screen, followed by cicadas, then butterflies, heavy artillery arrives, and the screen shudders from the impact of large rhinos. The bombing continues all night.
We've been working on the point for two days. During the day, you can only fish for two hours, then the fog creeps up again, and the fishing stops. Night in the species composition remains unchanged.
The next day, we move in the direction of a new point-Nat. Los Orcideas Park. The acquired experience and memorized phrases lead us to the goal, but we can not reach the Park, the road begins to be completely killed. We find a point for night fishing not far from the place of spiritual worship of the Colombians.
Alexey, who often attends Entomology seminars in Moscow, recalls how once Uncle Vitya mentioned the unpredictable night fishing in South America. About what you can find and put up a screen near a gorgeous forest, and not catch anything, but you can stand on the road next to a small church and collect untold riches of diversity overnight. The place we found exactly resembled the Entomological Master's point: a road, the remains of an uncut forest, something like a church.
There was less and less time to test the hypothesis. As dusk began to fall, I started the generator. The approach really stunned, first small hawk moth flew up, then larger ones, followed by peacock eyes, scoops, and after an hour our screen was clogged, as if it was no longer 7 pm, but 12 o'clock. The height of this point is just over 1000m. This is the most active point of all our surveys. It had the largest number of hawk moth species, but there were fewer peacocks than in the National Park. Tatama Park. After 12 hours, I concluded that this point is the most active, but not the best in terms of species diversity. Maybe if you get closer to Okideas Park, the result will be absolute, but, alas, we could not verify this. Our car is not for extreme sports. With bitterness in our hearts, we were forced to retreat. The park is at least 40 km off-road from our point. Perhaps this is the only place where our Entomology Team was unable to complete the task to the end.
The end time of our expedition was drawing to a close. We decide to return to Kinini Park, and then close the issue with Chingaza Park, where, due to a generator failure, we did not catch fish at night. The plan was even bigger, we wanted to visit the Caribbean coast, and through the city of Cucuta, which is near Venezuela, to return to Bogota. But whatever God doesn't do, He does for the best. The roads of Colombia, although good, are too ornate, because of the mountainous terrain. And the distance of 400 km can be overcome as much as two whole days. Yes, don't be surprised! In addition to the serpentine passes, there is a lot of cargo transport on the road, which rises up the hill like a turtle. And if you take into account their number, and one lane of traffic, then you can only accelerate by passing the driving skills along the MKAD in the slippery season. Here I am, although a well-bred driver, but I had to remember the dashing 90s, and press the trigger harder.
Tourists in Colombia have a clear advantage, almost a "crust". Of the three times I was stopped for crossing a double solid road, I only paid a fine once. The inspector asked for as much as 350 US pupaars, but in reality he was satisfied with 15. And, just like our traffic cop, professionally crushed the bill under the license in a tube, and imperceptibly put it in his pocket. Yes, don't tell me, butterflies are different everywhere, and the cops, as if they don't have any nationalities, are painfully the same.
We get back to Kinini Park in two days, after which we take a course to the last Chingaza Park. It rains every day, and the road in this park is obviously a mess. We don't risk going up in a car, and I'm trying to find a driver with an SUV. This process happens quickly, and we start getting up early in the morning. As we move along, the owner of the car stops, and I catch marigolds gawking on the road. Soon the road leads us to the lake, but first we need to pass the checkpoint. We get permission to visit the lake quickly, but the park manager does not allow us to stay there at night. Dangerous. During the day, we catch the same egg yolks that we caught in Sumapaza, then we have lunch. I swim in the crystal clear waters with ice-cold water, somewhat reminiscent of Lake Sarez in the Pamirs. In the evening, we go down to the forest below to search for night fishing.
The forest in this place is high-altitude, moist, with an abundance of mosses on the branches. Immediately after starting the generator, small scoops arrive, similar to those caught in Sumapaz. Another species of small hawk moth arrives. It won't be many years, because we are at an altitude of 3300 meters. By 9 o'clock it gets cold, but the rain doesn't stop. An interesting bear was huddled in the grass. I collect at least three species of this butterfly. Alexey is about to go to bed, and collects gear, when suddenly an unusual butterfly flies up to the screen. I don't immediately recognize her as a peacock's eye. The butterfly gets stuck under the gauze lying on the ground, and I have to pull it out. Lifting the gauze, I see huge eyes, never seen before peacock eyes. And the color of the front wings, the contour of the wing is quite unusual.
During our trip to Colombia, we came across many different peacock eyes, but this is perhaps a special butterfly, shrouded in fog and hidden from human eyes by abundant moss. I do not know whether this species is known to science or not, for me, in my memory, it will remain the Bearded Chingaz Peacock-Eye.
This concludes our report. In conclusion, I would like to thank my partner Alexey Romanenko for his tolerance in difficult situations, Dmitry, our random fellow countryman in Colombia, for helping us find a guide, Andrea, who prepared us for an independent flight around Colombia, all the peasants and farmers who kindly allowed us to catch insects on their territory, the police officers who helped find the road, and all the Colombians who made our trip comfortable and memorable.

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