Grading of Butterfly Specimens

Customers often ask about the grading of butterflies being offered for sale. As butterflies are not a manufactured product, quality of specimens can vary greatly, especially if they have been flying around for a while.

Below is the grading system we use at Insect Designs. Most resellers use the same grading system.

A1 - This refers to perfect quality specimens with no damage, or as perfect as you can get from a wild caught specimen. Sometimes a grading of EP is used for farmed specimens harvested as soon as they have emerged. At Insect Designs we use A1 for both farmed and wild caught specimens.

A1- - This refers to specimens with very minor damage such as antenna damage, a tiny chip or a small scratch.

A- - This refers to specimens with minor damage such as antennas missing, small chips, minor scratching or some flight wear such as minor scale damage.

A2 - This refers to specimens with considerable damage such as large chips, small pieces missing from the wings, severely damaged abdomen, major scale damage, staining, small tears.

second grade - This refers to specimens with more severe damage than A2.

More Specimens from Cameroon

Hello Everyone

The African Singles page at Insect Designs has just been updated with lots of nice new specimens from Cameroon, including, amongst others, a variety of colorful Euphaedra and some Charaxes. The photos below gives you just a taste of what's available.

Fresh Specimens from Cameroon

Hello Everyone

We have a reliable supplier in Cameroon who sends us packages on a regular basis. These packages contain mixed specimens, which makes it hard to list them on our regular pages, hence the African Singles page. On this page you will find a listing of just over 100 individual specimens with a photo of each one. This page is updated regularly with new items. Many of the specimens are unidentified and there is often a bargain to be had.

Butterflies in Interesting Art Pieces

Not all of our customers put the butterflies they purchase into collections. Several of our regular customers are artists. Fern Petrie incorporates butterflies into the most interesting art pieces, some of which are pictured below.

All of the pieces were inspired by a book she first read as a child - 'The Butterflies Ball' by Alan Aldridge and William Plomer. She wanted each sculpture to become a little icon, a poem in itself to be treasured and wondered over.

These pieces as well as butterflies she has decorated with pen and ink will be shown at Art Melbourne this coming April. If you would like more information, please contact Fern directly.

If you would like your butterfly art displayed on this blog, please contact me.

New Lower Price on Rare Species

Hello Everyone

Insect Designs is pleased to announce new lower prices on several rare species available on our web site such as Agrias amydon athenais and Prepona werneri from Ecuador, Papilio birchalli devriesi pairs from Costa Rica and Chilasa osmana from the Philippines. Stock of some of these is extremely limited. You may also like to check out some of the other rare items we have available.

Natural Solar Collectors On Butterfly Wings Inspire More Powerful Solar Cells

The discovery that butterfly wings have scales that act as tiny solar collectors has led scientists in China and Japan to design a more efficient solar cell that could be used for powering homes, businesses, and other applications in the future.

In the study, Di Zhang and colleagues note that scientists are searching for new materials to improve light-harvesting in so-called dye-sensitized solar cells, also known as Grätzel cells for inventor Michael Grätzel. These cells have the highest light-conversion efficiencies among all solar cells — as high as 10 percent.

The researchers turned to the microscopic solar scales on butterfly wings in their search for improvements. Using natural butterfly wings as a mold or template, they made copies of the solar collectors and transferred those light-harvesting structures to Grätzel cells. Laboratory tests showed that the butterfly wing solar collector absorbed light more efficiently than conventional dye-sensitized cells. The fabrication process is simpler and faster than other methods, and could be used to manufacture other commercially valuable devices, the researchers say.

Taken from ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2009)

 

New Shipment from Costa Rica

Hello Everyone

I am pleased to say that a small parcel has just arrived from Costa Rica containing some fresh Parides childrenae pairs, Eurytides calliste olbius males, Papilio birchalli devriesi pairs (rare) and some very nice Pierella helvetia incanescens males (rare). Stock is very limited.