చిమ్మటలలో అతి చిన్నది

ResearchBlogging.org

నెప్టిక్యులిడే కుటుంబం తెలిసిన కొన్ని చిన్న చిమ్మటలను కలిగి ఉంటుంది, 3-8mm రెక్క-చిట్కా నుండి వింగ్-టిప్ వరకు. ఒక పోలిక కోసం నేను పైన రెండు మాత్‌లను చిత్రించాను: తెలిసిన అతిపెద్దది – Coscinocera hercules that tips the scales at nearly 9 అంగుళాలు, మరియు చిన్న వాటిలో ఒకటి (yes that tiny little speck below the Hercules moth) – Ectoedemia rubifoliella, also imaged below. The Nepticulidae are surprisingly diverse, పైగా 800 species described that likely represent only 10% of the actual diversity (Powell, 2009). In the United States we have only 80 జాతులు, వీటిలో 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. నిజంగా, 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, నిజంగా చిన్నది, 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. డేవ్ వాగ్నెర్. 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 మధ్య 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 మిలియన్ సంవత్సరాల క్రితం). 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 స్టిగ్మెల్లా మరియు 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)

References

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

Labandeira, సి. (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 (లేపిదోప్తెర) Bulletin of The Natural History Museum. Entomology Series, 71 (01) DOI: 10.1017/S0968045402000032

Powell, J.A., Opler, P.A. (2010). Moths of Western North Americaby J. ఒక. Powell and P. ఒక. Opler Systematic Entomology, 35 (2), 347-347 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3113.2010.00525.x

కాంబ్రియన్ నుండి ఒక వింత సాయుధ lobopodian

ResearchBlogging.org ప్రారంభ కాంబ్రియన్ సముద్రాలు (542-488 మిలియన్ సంవత్సరాల క్రితం) had a plethora of strange and bizarre creatures almost unimaginable to even the best sci-fi dreamer. Arthropoda పూర్వగాములు బహుశా ఒకటిగా (also Onychophora మరియు Tardigrada), lobopodian పరంపరలో ఒక వింత సమూహం ప్రాతినిధ్యం “కాళ్ళు తో పురుగులు” that once roamed the ancient sea beds. Exactly how close they are to the true arthropods is up for debate (tree below), but this newly discovered genus and species, Diania cactiformis (walking cactus), represents the most well sclerotized and arthropod-like of any known to date.

This whopping two and a half inch monster helps us understand the transition from a soft bodied worm like creature into a hard-shelled arthropod; it also gives a better impression of how diverse these lobopodian appendages may have been. It’s a fascinating question because the advantage of jointed, sclerotized, limbs was one that exploded and diversified amongst the creatures we know today. Exactly how this happened is not any closer to being resolved, but it appears as if the legs of this animal were sclerotized before the body (arthropodization vs. arthrodization). One small fossil discovered and yet another small insight into evolutionary history.

 

References

Liu, J., Steiner, M., Dunlop, J., Keupp, H., Shu, D., Ou, Q., Han, J., Zhang, Z., & Zhang, X. (2011). An armoured Cambrian lobopodian from China with arthropod-like appendages ప్రకృతి, 470 (7335), 526-530 DOI: 10.1038/nature09704

Further reading: A colleagues blog on the lobopodian in Hungarian.

రివ్యూ ఇయర్

అయ్యో, నా మొదటి 'blogoversary' తప్పిన చేసారు! సోమవారం 21 నా బ్లాగ్ కోసం ఒక సంవత్సరం మలుపు; మరియు నేను మీరు అన్ని తో నా ramblings కొన్ని భాగస్వామ్యం గత సంవత్సరం గడిపారు చాలా సంతోషంగా ఉన్నాను. నేను దక్షిణ ఫ్రైడ్ సైన్స్ నెట్వర్క్ అన్నిచోట్ల తరలి నేను కొంతవరకు నేను ఎన్ని హిట్స్ వివరాలు కోల్పోయి, నేను ఎప్పుడూ ఎప్పుడూ పన్నెండు నెలల క్రితం ఒక newbie బ్లాగర్ వంటి ఊహించిన ఉండవచ్చు కంటే కానీ అది ఇంకా. నేను గత సంవత్సరం చూస్తున్నప్పుడు కొన్ని పోస్ట్లు నా ఇష్టమైన వంటి స్ఫురణకు వస్తాయి:

ఆడేలా trigrapha (నాపా మాత్ టేస్టింగ్)

Continue reading A Year in Review

చక్రవర్తులు అన్ని కుడి

Shockingly, stunningly, amazingly; ది monarchs are back (but not co-staring Julianne Moore). సరే, it’s not that amazing; 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 లో 1993). Actually I believe I saidI will bet anything on the population making a recovery in the years to come…”. ఈ విధంగా, 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? అవును, 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) – ఒక 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?

 

క్రొత్త శీర్షిక

I’ve uploaded a new header as you can seehow does it look? I’m playing around with the settings, but please let me know if the moth on the right gets cropped awkwardly, and what your screen resolution is if that is the case.

ధన్యవాదాలు!

బీర్ కోసం సీతాకోకచిలుకలు

(క్రెడిట్: డేవిడ్ కాపెర్ట్, Insectimages.org)

 

మీరు యోలోలో నివసిస్తున్నట్లయితే, సోలానో లేదా శాక్రమెంటో కౌంటీలు మీరు నెట్‌తో బయలుదేరాలి. డాక్టర్. ఆర్ట్ షాప్రియో తన 40 వ సంవత్సరానికి ఇచ్చింది క్యాబేజీ వైట్ సీతాకోకచిలుక పోటీ. మీరు క్యాబేజీని తెల్లగా పట్టుకున్న మొదటి వ్యక్తి అయితే (పయరిస్ rapae – దురాక్రమణ) ముందు డాక్టర్. షాపిరో అతను మీకు ఒక మట్టి బీరు కొంటాడు! మీరు నమూనాను బట్వాడా చేయాలి సజీవంగా గుర్తింపును నిర్ధారించడానికి పరిణామం మరియు ఎకాలజీ విభాగంలో రిసెప్షనిస్ట్‌కు (మీరు గత సంవత్సరం చనిపోయిన సీతాకోకచిలుకను మరియు మోసగాడిని రక్షించలేదని నిరూపించాలని నేను అనుకుంటున్నాను).

చివరలో 30 సంవత్సరాలు సీతాకోకచిలుకలు అంతకుముందు ఉద్భవించాయి – ఇప్పుడు సగటున రెండు వారాలు. మీరు తొందరపడండి, యొక్క మొదటి క్యాబేజీ తెలుపు 2010 జనవరి 27 న సేకరించబడింది.

నేడు మీ జాతకం పరిశీలించండి?

నేను చేసిన, ఇది సారా పాలిన్ ద్వారా రాయబడింది వంటి మరియు ధ్వనులు. నిజంగా, నేను ఈ మెటా విశ్లేషణ అంతటా వచ్చింది 22,000 horoscopes over on Information is Beautiful. ఇది అద్భుతమైన ఉంది – కానీ నేను ఇక్కడ కొన్ని పాయింట్లు డౌన్ అమలు చేస్తాము:

ఈ వరకు 22,000 రాశిచక్రాల అత్యంత సాధారణ పదాలు ఒక చార్ట్ వచ్చింది (దిగువ), 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? ఖచ్చితంగా? 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, ఆశాజనక, 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 years ago. 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. ఓహ్, 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 all along!”

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

 

 

 

Entomophagy: moths for dinner

This post was chosen as an Editor's Selection for ResearchBlogging.org I have always known that in many places of the world, especially off the beaten track, caterpillars of moths and butterflies are on the menu. From Africa కు ఆస్ట్రేలియా 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.

(వికీపీడియా నుండి)

Continue reading Entomophagy: moths for dinner

జీనియస్ ఆఫ్ ది ప్రెస్ XV

పత్రికా మేధావి ఈ సంచికకు, who can tell me what’s wrong with ఈ వ్యాసం? ఇది చాలా సూక్ష్మమైనది, కానీ స్పష్టమైన తప్పు, ముఖ్యంగా లైవ్ సైన్స్ కోసం.