The Tupi people, one of the main ethnic groups of Brazilian indigenous people, believe in a male supernatural being called “Curupira” that guards the forest in Tupi mythology. I crowned this BLOG with his name because I aspire the BLOG, which deals with insects as part of the nature, to play a role just like Curupira who protects the forest from the destructive habits of man.
10 Sep, 2008
I have been tied up all week, identifying the 930 butterflies, which the federal police had seized and INPA conducted the spreading of the wings on, and more than 5000 butterfly and coleopteran (beetle) specimens in my storage by their family, genus, and species names.
Compared to those collections of avid collectors, the size of my collection really puts me to shame. In order to be true to the name, I would like my museum to have at least 50,000, and preferably more than 100,000 specimens in stock, but a permit for collecting insects is extremely hard to come by.
The people in Manaus will enjoy a three-day weekend from tomorrow (Sept. 5th, Friday) which is a holiday only for the state of Amazonas but not for the other states.
Every state in Brazil has their own holidays, so you have to be careful when you plan to visit other states on business. Most municipalities also have their ‘birthday’ holidays. For your information, the city of Manaus celebrates its anniversary day on October 24 by taking an official day-off.
Penned on the 4th of September
