Bait for Lepidoptera
Leptraps at aol.com
Leptraps at aol.com
Mon Oct 11 09:01:20 EDT 1999
There are many baits for attracting Lepidoptera. Having used bait traps for a
few years, I have tried everything and anything. Some of the most difficult
species to visually see much less collect with a net can easily be caught
with a trap. Here are some examples.
Eunica tatila tatilista: This species occurs in hammocks in the Florida Keys
and south Florida mainland. Collecting in a dense thick hammocks can be
challenging. I have visited several hammocks on Key Largo in mid-February and
found several individuals of Eunica tatila tatilista. However, I came upon
Soapberry Tree that was heavy with fruit, much of which had dropped to the
ground and began to rot. Eunica tatila tatilista was all over the rotting
Soapberry's. I immediately got a bait trap, gathered several gallon zip-lock
bags full of rSoapberry's, baited the trap with some and took the remainder
to bait other traps. I collected several dozen Eunica tatila tatilista in
each trap. I found them in hammocks I visited regularly, and never saw the
one until I used soapberry's.
Eunica monima: While visiting Bauer Hammock in Dade County, I was collecting
along the North edge in an Avocado Grove. Field workers had trimed the
suckers from the lower tree trunks and placed them in piles to rot. Upon
these piles were numerous Eunica monima sipping fluids from the ends of the
limb that had been cut. I wanted to try this. I stopped at another Avocado
Grove, cut some very green suckers, took them home, ran them through my
blender (Yes, I have two blenders just for making bait. One for sweet bait,
fruit. The other for sour bait, toads, frogs, feces, etc.), placed the pulp
in zip-locks and baited several traps a day latter. I trapped hundreds of
them. However, the bait only worked for a few days. I tried it several times
afterwards without any luck.
Basilarchia weidemeyerii: I have visited Colorado on numerous occasions and
always used bait traps. I used my standard Apples, Bananas and Sugar mix and
would take a few Basilarchia weidemeyeri. Near a small boggy area on Four
Mile Creek in Park County. An ATV had run over some Blueberry Bushes and I
observed several Basilarchia weidemeyeri visiting the crushed blueberries. I
picked about a pint of the BeeBee size berries and baited a trap. I trapped
about a dozen Basilarchia weidemeyeri on my last day. I returned to Colorado
a year later and brought some store bought berries. They did very well in
Grand and Park Counties. Unfortunately, they produced not one Basilarchia
weidemeyeri in Gilpin, Boulder or Grand Counties although I saw many on the
wing.
If you don't try you never found out!
In 1994 I used bait traps along St. Louis Creek in Grand County, Colorado for
Polygonia. Instead of Polygonia, I collected several Oeneis jutta. I enjoy
collecting above the tree line and after my success with Oeneis jutta, I
wanted to trap Oeneis polyxenes above the tree line on Horseshoe Mountain in
Park County. I set out a bait trap by suspending it between a tree limb that
I wedged in the rocks of a steep ravine. I baited the trap with Apples,
Bananas and Sugar. When I returned the next day, the harsh mountain wind had
knocked the bait out of the trap. However, when I went to gather trap, much
to my surprise, inside were eleven Erebia magdalena and two Oeneis polyxenes.
They found the bait before the wind could knock it out. I have not been back
to try it again.
These are just a few success stories. I have had many more without success.
It includes a trip to west Texas and Arizona this year with absolutely no
success.
Be observant, what you see may get you a few good bugs!
Try bait trapping. It works for me.
Oh yes, try your urine after drinking lots of beer. You may get a surprise!
Leroy C. Koehn
Lake Worth, FL
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