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

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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.

New Butterflies from Indonesia, Papua and the Philippines

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Insect Designs has just been updated with some restocks and new specimens from Indonesia, Papua and the Philippines. This includes some rare items including the very rare, newly described Papilio ulysses spp. Elizabeth from Ambon, and one very nice Morphotaenaris schoenbergi pair from Arfak. We also have a couple of Papilio ulysses females from Ceram.

I will be going away on holidays from tomorrow until Thursday. You are still able to place an order, but it will not be shipped and emails won't be answered until Friday morning. Thank you for your understanding.

Fresh specimens from the Philippines

Hello Everyone

A new box from the Philippines arrived today containing fresh specimens of previously out of stock items. Also included were a few very nice Papilio (Achillides) hermeli males. All of these items are now available on the web site for order.

In other news, a box from Cameroon arrived on Monday. Items from this box will be appearing in the African Singles page and Single Beetles page as they are updated over the next few weeks.

We are expecting a box from Indonesia to arrive today and a box from Costa Rica should arrive before the end of the month. Watch this space for further announcements.

Moths and Butterflies from Cameroon

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The African Singles page at Insect Designs has just been updated with 109 different butterfly and moth specimens from Cameroon.

This page is different to the rest of the web site as only one of each specimen is available. Photographs on the African Singles page are of the actual specimens being offered. This page is popular with our regular customers as there are often hard to get specimens at great prices.

New Butterflies from Thailand, India and the Philippines

Hello Everyone

This week has certainly been busy at Insect Designs with several parcels arriving. In this latest update you will find lots of restocks as well as quite a few new items. Some of the new items include Chilasa osmana, Papilio antonio, Euthalia evelina pairs, Lexias khasiana, Kallima inachus, Euthalia franciae, Papilio memnon females of various varieties, Polyura eudamippus, Graphium sikhimica, Sumalia daraxa, Moduza procris, Meandrusa payeni evan, Lexias cynipardus pairs and Pachliopta hector pairs.

In other news we are expecting parcels from the Philippines, Cameroon and Indonesia to arrive early next week.

New Beetles from Thailand

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We have just updated the web site with some fresh beetle specimens from Thailand, including some new ones such as Xylotrupes gideon males, Batocera parryi males, stunning Batocera roylei pairs and huge Neocerambyx gigas pairs (the golden sheen on the gigas is amazing).