Kõige pisemad ööliblikad

ResearchBlogging.org

The family Nepticulidae hold some of the smallest moths known, ranging from 3-8mm wing-tip to wing-tip. For a comparison I have imaged two moths above: the largest knownCoscinocera hercules that tips the scales at nearly 9 inches, and one of the smallest (yes that tiny little speck below the Hercules moth) – Ectoedemia rubifoliella, also imaged below. The Nepticulidae are surprisingly diverse, üle 800 species described that likely represent only 10% of the actual diversity (Powell, 2009). In the United States we have only 80 liigid, millest 25 are known from the west. When you compare that diversity to the 100 or so species known from Great Britain, it’s clear that the US knowledge is vastly lacking. Tegelikult, over 80% of all nepticulid diversity is known from Europe alone. A strange inversion when you consider that the neotropics are the world’s most diverse ecosystems yet have only 74 known Nepticulidae species! (Puplesis, 2000). Why is this so?

Ectoedemia rubifoliella 3.3mm

Stigmella ostryaefoliella 3.1mm

The European diversity can easily be explained away due to a high concentration of bored Lepidopterists. The Holarctic fauna is not the most diverse and it therefore has become the best understood on the planet, not to mention they have had a long history of gentleman entomologists dating back hundreds of years. But the rest of the Nepticulidae diversity remains a mystery because they are really, tegelikult väike, hard to spread, and difficult to identify as adults! I have actually had little practice or success with mounting Nepticulidae, and the above specimens should be credited to Dr. Dave Wagner. The very few that I do have in my collection are simply pinned and un-spread; and even the pinning proves hard enough when a slip of the hand can obliterate the entire specimen. Apparently the best method for mounting is to knock them down in the freezer and pin them while they are still alive. Not the most humane, but the only way to keep the moth from drying before your eyes and becoming impossible to manipulate. As hard as the adults are to manage, the larvae are rather characteristic in that most are leaf minersthey feed on the material vahel the leaf epidermises. This lends to the common name ofleaf blotch minersbecause you can see the translucent patches the moths have ‘minedout from inside the leaf. Not only is each species rather host-specific, but they tend to form very characteristic mine patterns within the leaf. So if you find a leaf mine and you know the species of plant, chances are you can find out the species of Nepticulid within it (however not all leaf mines are nepticulids, there are lots of other insects that do this as well). Rearing these moths are also rather simple, all you have to do is pop the leaf in a bag and wait for the moth to finish feeding. One caterpillar only needs one leaf (or tiny section of leaf) – but care has to be taken to keep the leaf green while the caterpillar feeds. If the leaf dies, so will the caterpillar. Because of this paradoxical ability to identify the mines and not the adults there is a surprising amount of ecological research done on them, especially since a few pose threats to commercial crops. The first image below clearly illustrates the caterpillar feeding within the leafand the trail of frass it has left behind.

Stigmella aceris (link to image credit)

Stigmella paradoxa (link to image credit)

If you look at the above images of mines it’s not all that difficult to imagine structures like this fossilizing. And amazingly, they have! The first image below (Labandeira et al., 1994) shows a variety of leaf mining Nepticulidae mines (and a Gracillariidae) from the mid-Cretaceous (97 miljonit aastat tagasi). The spectacular thing about leaf mines is that you can get down to genus level and sometimes even species. The authors were able to differentiate between the nepticulid genera Stigmella ja Ectoedemia based on the patterns preserved in the fossils; patterns we still use to help separate genera today. The bottom illustration is from a mine discovered in Japan that is only around 8 million years old (Kuroko, 1987).

(Labanderia, 1994)

(Kuroko, 1987)

Viited

Kuroko, H. (1987). A Fossil Leaf Mine of Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera) from Japan. Bulletin Sugadaira Montane Res. Cen., No.8, 119-121.

Labandeira, C. (1994). Ninety-Seven Million Years of Angiosperm-Insect Association: Paleobiological Insights into the Meaning of Coevolution Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 91 (25), 12278-12282 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.91.25.12278

PUPLESIS, R., DIŠKUS, A., ROBINSON, G., & ONORE, G. (2002). A review and checklist of the Neotropical Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera) Bulletin of The Natural History Museum. Entomology Series, 71 (01) DOI: 10.1017/S0968045402000032

Powell, J.A., Opler, P.A. (2010). Koid Lääne Põhja-Ameerikas – by J. A. Powell and P. A. Opler Systematic Entomology, 35 (2), 347-347 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3113.2010.00525.x

Kummaline soomustatud lobopodian kambrium

ResearchBlogging.org Varajase Kambriumi merede (542-488 miljonit aastat tagasi) oli hulgaliselt kummalised ja veidrad olendid peaaegu kujuteldamatu isegi parimale ulme-unistajale. Nagu olla üks lähteaineid lülijalgsed (ka Onychophora ja Tardigrade), lobopodian liini esindavad kummaline grupp “ussid jalad” mis kunagi rändas iidsetes merepõhjades. Selle üle, kui lähedal nad tõelistele lülijalgsetele täpselt on, tuleb vaielda (puu all), kuid see äsja avastatud perekond ja liik, Diania cactiformis (kõndiv kaktus), esindab seni teadaolevatest kõige paremini sklerotiseeritud ja lülijalgsetest.

See tohutu kahe ja poole tolline koletis aitab meil mõista üleminekut pehme kehaga ussilaadsest olendist kõva kestaga lülijalgseks; see annab ka parema ettekujutuse sellest, kui mitmekesised need lobopoodide lisandid olla võisid. See on põnev küsimus, kuna liigendi eelis on, sklerotiseeritud, jäsemed oli üks, mis plahvatas ja mitmekesistunud olendite seas, keda me täna tunneme. Kuidas see täpselt juhtus, pole lahendusele lähemal, kuid tundub, nagu oleksid selle looma jalad enne keha sklerotiseeritud (lülisammas vs. artrodiseerimine). Üks väike avastatud fossiil ja veel üks väike sissevaade evolutsiooniajalukku.

 

Viited

Liu, J., Steiner, M., Dunlop, J., Osta, H., Shu, D., Või, K., Neil on, J., Zhang, FROM., & Zhang, X. (2011). Hiinast pärit soomuskambriumi lobopodia lülijalgsete lisanditega Loodus, 470 (7335), 526-530 DOI: 10.1038/loodus09704

Lisalugemist: Kolleegid ajavad lobopodiani ungari keeles.

Aasta ülevaade

Oih, Paistab, et ma vastamata minu esimene "blogoversary"! Esmaspäeval 21. oli üks aasta pöördepunktiks minu blogi; ja ma olen väga õnnelik, et on viimase aasta jooksul jagada mõned minu Ramblings teile kõigile. I’ve somewhat lost track of how many hits I’ve had since I moved everything over to The Southern Fried Science Network, but it’s more than I ever could have ever imagined as a newbie blogger twelve months ago. When I look over the last year a few posts come to mind as my favorite:

Adela trigrapha (Moth Tasting in Napa)

Continue reading A Year in Review

Monarhidega on kõik korras

Shockingly, stunningly, amazingly; the monarchs are back (kuid mitte kaasnäitleja Julianne Moore). Korras, see pole nii hämmastav; I pretty much predicted this would be the case last March when everyone was running around terrified because the butterflies hit an all time low (since counting started aastal 1993). Actually I believe I said “Vean kihla sellele, et elanikkond lähiaastatel taastub…”. Nii, how about anything = beer, and who’s buying?

Perhaps I am celebrating a bit early. Maybe the news isn’t so good that I can run a victory lap quite yet, but preliminary surveys look like the overwintering populations have doubled this year. That’s a pretty good start, but we still haven’t hit the 18 year average (not an impressive statistic). But don’t misread my intentionsI’m not claiming this one year somehow has proven the decline insignificant. It may or may not be, all we can really say is that it’s just another data point. The fact is that our dataset is very weak and there are factors such as local weather that create massive margins of error. It’s also nearly impossible to extrapolate from what little data we do have. So is the monarch a very goodcanary in the coal mine”?

I would say poor at best. How is one insect species that roosts in massive singular colonies a good indicator of our ecosystem? Jah, they migrate from all reaches of North America, but their recent high mortality rates have nothing to do with the lives they lived outside of Mexico. Perhaps if millions of butterflies died of some strange toxin we could heed the warning, but such was not the case. Those poor monarchs are at the mercy of winter storms that are likely to become more frequent with a warming climate. So can we say that climate change is negatively impacting these animals? Turns out we can’t, at least not yet. If this were to be so then our data is telling us that the 1996-1997 season was a really healthy one where clouds of pollution parted and nature rejoiced. Did the 2010 season then become a post apocalyptic blade-runner-esque world where acid rain melted the orange off of butterfly wings? Clearly not. Neither climate nor pollution were drastically different in those years. The monarchs just had a really good year followed by some really bad ones. Maybe we should just find a better canary if we’re trying to blow the whistle on global warming or deforestation.

As a last thought here is a video from the above story. Just as you’d expect, it’s over dramatized and a bit hilarious.

 

Genius of the Press XVI

A softball for this GOP challenge. This image comes care of the Victoria Advocate (TX paper) – koos poorly written article about butterflies. This image flop is pretty easy, but for extra points who can tell me what else is incorrect in the text?

 

Uus Päise

Olen üles uue päist, nagu näete – kuidas see välja näeb? Ma mängides seaded, aga palun andke mulle teada, kui koi paremal saab kärbitud kohmakalt, ja mida teie ekraani resolutsioon on, kui see nii on.

Tänan!

Liblikad õlle jaoks

(Krediit: David Cappaert, Insectimages.org)

 

Kui elate Yolos väljas, Solano või Sacramento maakondades peaksite võrguga minema. dr. Art Shaprio on pakkunud oma 40. aastat kapsa valge liblika võistlus. Kui olete esimene, kes kapsast valgeks saab (Pieris välja – invasiivne) enne Dr. Shapiro ostab sulle kannu õlut! Peate näidise kohale toimetama elus evolutsiooni ja ökoloogia osakonna registratuuritöötajale tuvastamise kinnitamiseks (Eeldan, et tõestan, et te ei päästnud lihtsalt eelmise aasta surnud liblikat ega petnud).

Viimase üle 30 aastaid on liblikad varem esile kerkinud – praegu keskmiselt kaks nädalat. Parem kiirusta, esimene kapsavalge 2010 koguti 27. jaanuaril.

Vaata oma horoskoopi juba täna?

ma tegin, ja tundub, et selle on kirjutanud Sarah Palin. Tegelikult, Sattusin selle üle metaanalüüsi peale 22,000 horoscopes over on Information is Beautiful. See on tähelepanuväärne – aga toon siinkohal mõned punktid kokku:

Nendest 22,000 horoskoopidest tuli tabel kõige tavalisematest sõnadest (põhja), 90% of which happen to be exactly the same regardless of your sign. David McCandless also generated a meta prediction using these most common words. It goes something like this.

Ready? Muidugi? Whatever the situation or secret moment enjoy everything a lot. Feel able to absolutely care. Expect nothing else. Keep making love. Family and friends matter. The world is life, fun and energy. Maybe hard. Or easy. Taking exactly enough is best. Help and talk to others. Change your mind and a better mood comes along

Everyone, loodetavasti, should know that horoscopes and astrology have always been steaming piles. Seeing the data like this just makes it that much easier to laugh in the face of wackiness. I also love McCandless’s interpretation of star traits. I’m agemini” (or at least was), and the most common words for me areparty, stay, issues and listen certainly”. Interpreted asemotionally disturbed party animal who never says no”. Love it.

You might have also heard recently about the scandalous story of wrong star assignments. As it turns out our earth wobbles slightly in orbit; meaning the stars are not exactly where they are in the night sky tonight as they were a few millennia ago when the zodiac was first derived. So if the stars mold who you are at birth then they do so based on where they are now and not 2,000 aastat tagasi. Surprisemany people should now be assigned to a new sign! Ooooh scandal! The science of astrology didn’t even come close to predicting this (it greatly pained me to even mockingly call astrology science). But that’s OK it won’t perturb them, they are well adapt at dodging hard science and spinning BS, and have been doing so for hundreds of years. Back in 1781 astronomers threw a wrench at the heads of astrologers with the discovery of Uranusand a generation later Neptune appeared on the scene. Oh don’t worry! Astrologers fudged their own numbers, whined about differentcharts and systemsand snuck in two extra star signs to agree with the world as science understood it. Oi, and never mind the rest of the billion, billion stars and planets

Yet, I can still hear a faint cry down the street here in Berkeleysomeone slaps hand to head and exclaimsoh now it makes sense, I was a Taurus kõik along!”

You should go explore his blog and take a closer look at the analysis. Better yet, if you have a friend who loves their astrology, you should forward this in their direction.

 

 

 

Entomofaagia: ööliblikad

This post was chosen as an Editor's Selection for ResearchBlogging.org Olen seda alati paljudes maailma paikades teadnud, eriti pekstud rajalt väljas, Menüüs on koide ja liblikate röövikud. From Africa kuni Austraalia there are dozens of species that might taste good enough to be reasonably edible or even delicious. But here in the US insects rarely if ever make it onto our tables (at least not to our knowledge) – but occasionally into our bottles. I’m sure that many of you have seen the worm at the bottom of the tequila bottle: which is actually the caterpillar of the Cossid moth Hypotpa agavis. I have even heard reports that migrant Mexican workers dig up native plants on their lunch break to snack on the large pink larvae of a related moth; probably in the genus Comadia. Despite my previous knowledge, I was a bit surprised by a recent article discussing the massive diversity of Lepidoptera used as staple food sources throughout Mexico.

(Wikipedia)

Continue reading Entomophagy: ööliblikad

Genius of the Press XV

For this issue of the genius of the press, who can tell me what’s wrong with see artikkel? It’s pretty subtle, but a clear mistake, especially for LiveScience.