Welcome to our Blog

Insect Designs has been on the Internet since 2003. We are currently the largest supplier of quality insect specimens in Australia, and we ship worldwide. This blog features the latest news from our store as well as the occasional interesting news we have uncovered about the wonderful world of bugs.
If you would like to view the range of insect specimens we have available, please visit our store.

Monday, November 30, 2009

New specimens just arrived

Hello Everyone

This is just a quick note to let you all know that packages from India and Thailand arrived today. You should see some interesting new specimens on the web site in a few days.  Packages from the Philippines and Cameroon are also in transit. I have also been able to secure some really nice items from Indonesia, including a newly described, very rare, Papilio ulysses ssp from Ambon.  I will be getting two of these. These should arrive within the next one to two weeks, depending how things go in customs.



Thursday, November 26, 2009

Fresh specimens from RCA just added

Hello Everyone

Things have certainly been busy at Insect Designs during this past week!

Today we have just added some fresh specimens from RCA, including several that have have been out of stock for a while. We were also able to purchase some nice Papilio zalmoxis at a good price, so we have been able to reduce the price for these on the site.


We have also been ordering lots of material from our suppliers. We were hoping to receive fresh packages from India and the Philippines this week, but the ail has been slow. These should arrive next week. We are also expecting new specimens from Thailand and Cameroon within the next week.


Friday, November 20, 2009

New specimens from Brazil and Colombia

Hello Everyone

Things have been very busy again at Insect Designs. Today we uploaded several new species onto the web site, including Caligo sp. from Colombia, Morpho catenarius marmorata females, Heliconius burrneyi, Parides eurimedes females, Eueides isabella and Morpho hercules.




Next week we are looking forward to receiving new specimens from India and the Philippines. We are also working with new suppliers in Mexico, so we hope to get some interesting material from there soon. New orders will also be placed soon with our regular suppliers in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Fresh specimens from Colombia, Argentina and Brazil

Hello Everyone

Insect Designs has just received some fresh specimens from Colombia, Brazil and Argentina, including some that have been out of stock for some time. In this update you will find Morpho violacea, Morpho aega, Morpho catenarius males and females, Morpho cisseis, Morpho menelaus, Asterope sapphira pairs, Asterope sonkai males, Heliconius tales, Callicore codomanus, Caligo atreus pairs, Caligo memnon males and Morpho peleides males.



Monday, November 16, 2009

Nice specimens from Peru now available

Hello Everyone

Today we received a fresh package from Peru containing some nice specimens, including the rare female Morpho urania ugenia and male Papilio xanthopleura. The package also contained fresh Cithaereas merolina, Batesia hypochlora, Nessaea species, Asterope hewitsoni and Papilio garleppi interuptus.

For those of you unfamiliar with these butterflies, the pictures are below.


 
 
 

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Fresh Specimens from Cameroon just added

Hello Everyone

The African Singles page on Insect Designs has just been updated with some fresh material from Cameroon. The photographs on the African Singles page are of the actual specimens you will be purchasing.

Most specimens are unidentified and there are often bargains to be found by the keen collector.  The page is updated regularly with new specimens.




This week we are also looking forward to receiving parcels from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and perhaps even India.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Some Good Butterfly Books

Hello Everyone

I am often asked by beginners what books to get. There are lots of books around, and the best are very expensive and only for those seriously into the subject.

For those just starting, there's a good book by Bernard D'Abrera that's cheap and packed with photos, several thousand in fact, and it's a good one to give you an overall idea of species that are to be found. You should be able to get it at Amazon.


Eventually I would love to get the entire series by Bernard D'Abrera that the above book draws from, but this will cost me several thousand dollars.

In the mean time I am collecting the wonderful Butterflies of the World series by Bauer and Frankenbach. Several volumes are published every year. They are large format and feature wonderful full sized color photographs. The cheapest way of getting them is by subscribing to the series. The only catch if you do this is that you have to purchase all of them. You can also purchase them one by one. I get mine direct from the publishers. Visit Insecta for more details.


Friday, November 6, 2009

Fresh specimens from Peru now available

Hello Everyone

The box from Peru has been opened and the specimens are now available. We have fresh Morpho didius, Morpho godarti assarpai, Morpho theseus juturna (new lower price), Morpho achilles and Morpho adonis. We also have fresh supplies of Ancyluris formosissima.


New Specimen Photos

Hello Everyone

It has been a really busy week this week at Insect Designs. Lots of customer orders to prepare has meant that a box of fresh specimens from Peru has been sitting unopened all week. Hopefully these will go up on the site over the weekend.

A box of specimens from Argentina has just been shipped. All things going well, it should arrive within the next week or so.

You will notice on the web site that a few new specimen photos have been uploaded of specimens that arrived last week from Malaysia. These are female Amathuxidia amythaon dilucida and Zeuxidia aurelius, as well as Polyura delphis peninsularis and Kaniska canace perakana.