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 17 marking moths DHJanzen100610.jpg high resolution
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| The unique coding marked on a wild-caught male Rothschildia with a marking pen (Sanford Delux works particularly well). He will then be released. By continually trapping and releasing in this manner with females in many traps over an area of ACG tropical dry forest about 20 km long and 5 km wide, it was determined that a male Rothschildia lebeau may fly as far as 13 km in one night of searching for females, that males may live 5-8 days in nature, and that there can be as many as 200-500 males circulating at one time in a forested area of this size. It should be noted, however, that no matter how many traps are put out baited with virgin females, all the males circulating in an area cannot be caught in the same night because each male that finds a free-living female before he arrives at a trap will remain in copula with her for the remainder of the night. | ||
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