Bob,

Your framed shots are beautiful. A real "trophy". They capture not only the beauty of the beast,
but also a fleeting moment that naturalists dream of. That is crossing paths with a rarity and being fortunate
to document the event forever. The discovery, the rapture, the memory simultaneously become one.
A Zen phenomenon for sure.

Dr. Platt was simply surprised that anyone could capture this in nature.
As far as he knows, rubidus has never been photo'ed in nature. His entire research career has been
with Limenitis. He had a breeding colony of L. arthemis & astyanax on campus in Baltimore.
His discoveries in butterfly evolution, phenotypism, and hybridization are classic.

Thanks for sharing your story. Some day I want to return to the Field Museum in Chicago
and photo Strecker's rubidus type specimen. I've been to 36 museums across the country,
including the Field Museum. But the one time I was there the Strecker collection was on loan
to the Allyn Museum in Sarasota, FL, which I've been to 8X. So I never crossed paths with
the 130-year old pinned specimen. Imagine how fortunate you are to cross paths with a live one!

David Wright