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.

Friday, December 31, 2010

New Butterflies from Peru

Insect Designs has just received a new shipment from a new supplier in Peru. We received some stunning Lycaenidae species, some of which are pictured below,  and some Morpho hecuba werneri. Although the werneri are slightly damaged, they are great value. When you visit the site you will also notice that the Lycaenidae singles and Heliconidae singles sections have been updated. We have also reduced some prices of some of our rarer items from Ecuador and New Caledonia.


Stunning Beetles from Peru

Insect Designs has just been updated with some stunning beetles from Peru, including Megasoma actaeon, Macrodontia cervicornis and Calliphogon armillatus. These specimens are of good size and would look stunning in any collection. Stock is very limited, so please visit soon for a browse.


Monday, December 27, 2010

African Singles Page Updated

The African Singles page at Insect Designs has just been updated with several interesting specimens from various places in Africa. More than 100 individual specimens are now available and the photographs on the African Singles page are of the actual specimens being offered for sale. Many are not identified, so you have a good chance of securing a bargain.

Please visit soon for a browse.


Saturday, December 18, 2010

Fresh Beetle Specimens from Cameroon

Insect Designs has just received some nice beetle specimens from Cameroon. You will find these on the specials and single specimens page on the site. There is only one of each specimen available and the photographs on the single page are of the actual specimens being offered. The best ones normally go very quickly, so please visit soon for a browse. Some of the items available are shown below.




Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Large Goliathus Available

Insect Designs has just received some fresh beetles from Cameroon. We have only 2 Goliathus goliatus males available. Large sizes are always the most desirable for collectors. We have a giant one measuring 105mm and a slightly smaller male at 94mm. They are stunning specimens. You will find them on the Cetoniidae page on the web site.


New Stock from the Philippines

Insect Designs has just been updated with some restocks and new items from the Philippines including, amongst others, Papilio karna iruana males and Menelaides memnon lowii f. zephyria. Please visit soon for a browse.


Fresh Specimens from Brazil and Argentina

Insect Designs has just been updated with a number of restocks and new items from Brazil and Argentina, including some females and rare items. Stock of these is extremely limited. For example, we have Morpho aega females, Euryades corethrus (2 forms), Eurytides rurik males and a female and Parides bunichus perrhebus pairs.  Please visit soon for a browse.



Rare Dynastor napoleon female from Brazil

Insect Designs has just received a large Dynastor napoleon female from Brazil. You can find it on the Brassolidae page of the web site. The photo below is of the actual specimen available. We also have a number of other nice Brassolidae species available from Argentina, Peru and Colombia.


Sunday, December 5, 2010

Fresh Morpho Butterflies Available

Insect Designs has just received a new package from South America, including some nice Morpho males and females of various species from Brazil and Argentina. Other butterflies will be uploaded shortly.


Thursday, November 25, 2010

New Beetles and Other Bugs from Thailand

Insect Designs has just been updated with some restocks and new material from Thailand, including beetles, spiders, leaf insects, lanternflies, cicadas and scorpions. You will find these on the beetles pages and Other Bugs page. Please visit soon for a browse.  



New Butterflies from the Philippines and Thailand

Insect Designs has just been updated with some restocks and new specimens from the Philippines and Thailand. Stock of some of these is very limited. While you are visiting please be sure to check out recent additions from Indonesia, Peru and Mexico.


Thursday, November 18, 2010

Fresh Birdwing Specimens

Insect Designs has finally received the long awaited parcel of birdwing butterflies from Indonesia. You will find all of the items now listed on the web site.

The specimens are immediately available to all of our Australian customers. International customers may also purchase them, but orders will not be shipped until our new re-export permit arrives. We expect this in a few weeks. 

Unfortunately we are not able to ship birdwing specimens to our customers in the United States. The extra documentation now required by US Fish and Wildlife on top of the normal CITES permit makes it too costly for us to ship CITES species there. We are sorry about this.


Fresh Specimens from Indonesia

Insect Designs has just been updated with lots of restocks and new items from Indonesia, including some very nice Papilio blumei females. We also have a number of new beetles and dragonflies available. Please visit us soon for a browse as stock of many of these is very limited.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Charaxes Cynthia Gyandromorph

One of our long time customers is an avid collector of Charaxes and has a super impressive collection featuring many very rare species. He has just obtained an extremely rare Charaxes cynthia gyandromorph. For those of you who have not heard of this before, a gyandromorph is half male and half female. These are always prized by collectors and normally very expensive. His specimen is picured below for your interest.

If any of you have special items in your collection you would like to share, please let us know.


Thursday, November 11, 2010

African Singles Page Updated

The African Singles page at Insect Designs has just been updated with some nice butterflies and moths from Cameroon, Togo, Tanzania and Uganda. There are 120 specimens available and the photos on the singles page are of the actual specimens being offered. Most are unidentified. Be quick before the best ones are gone.


Wednesday, November 3, 2010

New Pericopinae from Peru

The Moths section at Insect Designs has just been updated with some interesting Pericopinae specimens from Peru. We now have singles listings for many of these with the photo shown in the listing being of the actual specimen being offered for sale. Where there are a number of the same species available, you will still find these for sale in the regular listings. Please visit soon for a browse.


Tuesday, November 2, 2010

South African Natural History Photographer

Simon Joubert is a South African based natural history photographer and amateur entomological field worker.  He has, during the past 15 years, assisted in collecting and recording insect data from the eastern section of Southern Africa.  This information and data has been used by institutions such as the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife data bases and the South African Butterfly Conservation Assessment.  As a Natural History photographer Simon specialises in insects and flowers.  Images are provided to a number of Stock Photography web sites.  Recently Simon has produced a limited range of black and white images of collected items and butterflies as well as a range of colour images of museum specimen butterflies.  The butterflies used are all endemic to the South Eastern region of Southern Africa.  Please see Simon's web site for more images as well as the black and white range.



Friday, October 29, 2010

Massive Update at Insect Designs

Insect Designs has just had a large update with many new specimens and restocks from Peru, Mexico and RCA. As we have been able to obtain some species more cheaply, you will notice several price reductions all over the site. Please visit us soon for a browse.


Saturday, October 23, 2010

Mexican Butterflies

Recently Insect Designs received a large parcel of mixed butterfly specimens from a new contact in Mexico. Although many are still on the setting board drying and awaiting identification, several have just been listed for sale in the store. You will find these scattered throughout the site.


Lycaenidae, Heliconidiae and Riodinidae Pages Updated

The singles listings in the Lycaenidae, Heliconidae and Riodinidae pages at Insect Designs have just been updated with some interesting unidentified species from Mexico and Peru. The photos you will find for these on the web site are of the actual specimens you will be purchasing. There are often hard to obtain species in these lists, so please visit soon to secure the best ones. Rarer ones normally sell very quickly.


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Fresh Butterflies from RCA

Insect Designs has just been updated with some fresh specimens from RCA (Republic of Central Africa). You will find these scattered around the web site. Please visit soon for a browse.


Friday, October 15, 2010

New Beetles Just Added

Insect Designs has just been updated with three new beetles - Batocera parryi from Sumatra, and Pyrodes pulcherrimus females and Cantharolethrus stenheili (only a few left) from Peru. We have also received fresh stock of the stunning jewel beetle, Euchroma gigantea, also from Peru.


New Beetles from Indonesia and Peru

The beetles section at Insect Designs has just been updated with some really nice Lucanidae and Cerambycidae from Indonesia and Peru. Stock is really limited on several of these. Photos of some of these are already on the web site with the rest of the photos being posted within the next two days.


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

New Butterflies from Malaysia

Insect Designs has just added two new butterflies from Malaysia. The first is the beautiful Lexias pardalis dirtea and the second is the hard to get Polyura schreiber tisamenus. We only have 3 A1 quality specimens available.


New Cicadas from Malaysia

Insect Designs has just updated its 'Other Bugs' page with some interesting cicadas from Malaysia. We also still have some stunning cicadas available from Thailand. The season is finished now, so many species will not be available again until May next year.


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Fresh Butterflies from Peru

Insect Designs has just received a new package from Peru with quite a few restocks of previously out of stock items, including various Morphos, Papilionidae, Nymphalidae and Pieridae. Please visit the site soon to see what's new.




Friday, October 8, 2010

African Singles Page Updated

The African Singles page at Insect Designs has just been updated with some nice butterflies and moths from Togo and Cameroon, including females. Some interesting specimens from Tanzania and Uganda are also still available. In total 120 different specimens are on offer. The photographs on the African Singles page are of the actual specimens you will be receiving. Many items are unidentified, so you may be lucky and grab a real bargain.



Stunning Lucanidae from India

Insect Designs has just received a selection of stunning Lucanidae from India. Stock is very limited, especially for the larger sizes. Please visit soon for a look.


Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Insect Designs Updated Today

Insect Designs has just been updated today with some nice specimens from the Philippines and Mexico, including some new items. New items from the Philippines include Pachliopta mariae and Dacalana species from Leyte, Lexias satrapes and lovely Euploea bloosomae species from Negros, and Lexias panopus miscus, Eiuthalia evelina and Prothoe francki from Surigao. Stocks of some of these are very limited. The single Lycaenidae, Riodinidae and Heliconidae listings have also been updated with some interesting species from the Philippines, Mexico and Peru.