On the road again

Over the next week and a half I’ll be driving up to Washington state for the annual Lepidopterists’ Society Meeting. It is located in the tourist-trap town of Leavenworth, which is aBavarian themeddiorama of postcard and clog shops. While I can never quite understand the appeal of themed towns, it is something . . . → Weiterlesen: On the road again

Vox Populi, volume II

And now for the even more infrequently reoccurring series, vox populi! For those without scarring high school memories of latin class (through no fault of my teacher) I’ll bring you up to speedthe title roughly translates tovoice of the people”. Here is another old e-mail that I’ve been saving. It is a . . . → Weiterlesen: Vox Populi, volume II

Genius of the Press VIII

Welcome to volume eight of the inconsistently reoccurring series, Genie der Presse. I came across this article recently regarding an endemic Puerto Rican butterfly. Who can tell me exactly why this report is misleading? It may be a little trickier than the standard GOP (I suggest discarding any previously associated acronyms with those letters). . . . → Weiterlesen: Genius of the Press VIII

Die Motte und ich #12

Welcome to The Moth and Me #12, and my first blog carnival. Despite blogging for a few months I have yet to take a look back and reflect on exactly how I became enamored with lepidoptera in the first place. Remembering a time or location where this happened is impossible, and like . . . → Weiterlesen: Die Motte und ich #12

Biologie eines Geistes

Diese Motte ist genauso selten wie ihr paranormaler Namensvetter (außer dass es echt ist) – es ist ein Gazoryctra sp. in der Familie Hepialidae. Sie stellen eine Grundlinie der Lepidoptera dar und werden allgemein als Geistermotten oder Schnellmotten bezeichnet. Geist – because males of some species are known to fly in . . . → Weiterlesen: Biologie eines Geistes

Genie der Presse VII

Who can see what’s wrong with this article?

Schätzungen der globalen Artenvielfalt

This recent article in the American Naturalist has taken a second look at some of the famously inflated species estimates, some going high as 100 million (Erwin, 1988). Estimates conducted by the authors indicate that projections above 30 million have probabilities of <0.00001. Their estimated range is more likely to be between 2.5 und . . . → Weiterlesen: Schätzungen der globalen Artenvielfalt

May Butterflies (and a moth)

Just a few images of common California leps, taken along the coast range near Santa Cruz a few weeks ago. Starting to work my way through some photo backlog

Euphydryas chalcedona

Plebejus acmon

Plebejus acmon

. . . → Weiterlesen: May Butterflies (and a moth)

Sonntags-Quiz

For the rarely reoccurring quiz series, here is a new image. Who is this moth?

Hast du mich gesehen?

Für jene Kalifornier, die lesen, besonders die im Süden, Halten Sie Ausschau nach dieser schönen kleinen Spinne, Latrodectus Geometricus – die braune Witwe. Arachnologists at UC Riverside are monitoring the spread of this invasive species. Ironischerweise erweist es sich als nicht so gefährlich wie unsere heimische Schwarze Witwe. dennoch, it is not . . . → Weiterlesen: Hast du mich gesehen?