Hi everyone,
To give you a little background: I am an entomology student from Belgium, and I have some experience with moth rearing. I am currently in Madagascar to study endemic butterflies and ways to promote them. I've investigated the threat of illegal catches of caterpillars/pupae in rainforests here, and I work with local farmers to teach them how to rear butterflies while reforesting lost habitats. In May, I will return to Belgium to finish my thesis. The last experiment I am willing to conduct is to study the development of Antherina suraka larvae under different abiotic settings (temperature, humidity, and lighting) to establish the most adequate environment.
Thus, I am planning on bringing Antherina suraka from Madagascar to Europe (I have the necessary permits as I work alongside the national university).
However, my experiment has to start in May, with enough eggs. I was planning on bringing eggs from local pairings, but I'm afraid of the short timeframe to collect and transport them, and that the flight might damage the eggs due to pressure variations. If I bring pupae, I don't know if I will have enough time to wait for them to emerge, breed, lay eggs, and hatch.
Have you ever experienced loss of eggs over long flights? If not, how did you protect the package (which will be in my luggage) ?
Which option seems to be the most efficient?
If my eggs don't hatch or if I fail to pair them on time, do you know any suppliers with F0 or F1 generation as a backup plan?
Thank you so so much for your help and insights.
Happy spring!
Robin
