Butterfly odors...

Michael Gates Gates at ucrac1.ucr.edu
Wed Aug 2 09:51:46 EDT 2000


Hi all,

I've never smelled a butterfly, but I have smelled certain other taxa
worthy of note (sorry, they're not Leps. but I thought it might be of
general interest in terms of aromatic emanations!).  Try sniffing tiger
beetles which have a very nice odor or tarantula hawks which have an
unusual pungent/petroleum odor that's hard to describe.  Obviously, don't
handle the wasps unless you can confidently ID males which don't sting;
rather sniff them through the net after immobilizing and controlling
abdominal movement.

Mike
At 12:07 AM 8/2/00 EDT, you wrote:
>Hello all...
>
>Once a few years back, I remember a good friend of mine in Louisiana told me 
>to smell a tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). Of course I thought he was 
>kidding, but of course I went out there and tried it, and it smelled just 
>like the popular breakfast cereal "Fruit Loops!!" Another fellow told me to 
>smell an Aporia craetegi, and even having been caught 20+ years before, it 
>still had a scent like that of a common thing (I forget what it is though). 
>Of course it was still papered, I'm sure a spread specimen would lose it's 
>scent. I was just wondering what other butterflies are out there that bear 
>familiar scents? I would be very interested in knowing of any other 
>Lepidopterans to smell. And to the rest of you, take a whiff of the next 
>tiger swallowtail you encounter!
>
>Thanks,
>Randy
>
>P.S. DON'T SNIFF CARRION BEETLES!
>
>
Michael Gates
Department of Entomology
University California
Riverside, CA 92521
(909) 787-5740
gates at citrus.ucr.edu
All opinions expressed are my own and not UCR's


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