Glad Halloween!

Kan vara en dag för sent, men ändå värt ett försök. Bu!

Aphonopelma species from Western Texas.

Tillbaka i fält

Morgon börjar stadium 1 av fältarbete / galen körning och semester. Jag kommer att fokusera på att samla in för denna etapp av resan, hitting southern Texas just in time for the tail end of fall flying moths in the genus tillbaka. Men microleps är mitt främsta intresse, and I’m sure I’ll come back with hundreds of stunning specimens. I’ll be taking as many photos as I can, and I hope to post an update as I hit Chicago just in time for Halloween. Of course if I do see something too incredible, I’ll have to try and post from my cell right away. As for stage II, it will be a visit with my family and friends back in Chicago, and stage III will be a quick drive back to San Francisco across I-80 with fingers crossed to avoid the snow. If anyone is en-route and wants to join me in the field, send me an e-mail!

Stay tuned and wish me luck.


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Genius av Press XIII

Veckans (som om jag hänga med denna vecka) GOP skickades till mig av commenter “Subverted“. Tack för bidraget! Gör som en mycket enklare, och jag rekommenderar att framtida bidrag från andra läsare.

För de nya till min blogg – the Genius of the Press series is a contest to see who can identify the blatant errors of the press. So what’s wrong with the article below?

From the pages of Science News:

We get this gem.

Huvud i molnen

Staden jag arbetar i råkar vara en av de största städerna i världen – så låt mig gnugga den i korthet. Här är en fantastisk video om San Francisco Bay fångas av en lokal konstnär. Se till att titta i HD, det är fantastisk.

The Unseen Sea from Simon ChristenVimeo.

Ring mig skeptisk…

I came across this interesting device and had an instant gut reaction.. “Naturligtvis en dum vatten glödlampa inte stöta bort flugor, detta är en bluff!”…

djupt andetag…

OK det är fruktansvärt skepsis. Faktiskt, Det är cyniskt och det är precis vad skeptiker hatar att bli kallad. Det är också något som händer alldeles för lätt – I’m pretty convinced that ghosts don’t exist, there has been no compelling evidence, ever. But every time I hear a story of a haunting it is far too tempting to just think of a few plausible explanations and dismiss the case without a closer look. And when we do this we give fodder to the credulous investigator who will throw it back in our faces faster than a spirit-orb zipping across a room. Discovering a real ghost for the first time ever is pretty nearly impossible; yet the answer isn’t always the most obvious hypothesis and you can stumble upon a zebra every once in a while. The point is that investigation is the only real way to remain skeptical.

Continue reading Call me skeptical

Det bara inte kommer att lämna mig ifred

På min dagliga pendla tillbaka till Berkeley, Jag har upptäckt detta (ber om ursäkt för ful bild). Faktiskt, Jag har sett en handfull av dessa dyker upp runt San Francisco och det får mig att vilja slita mitt hår ut varje gång. För dem som är nya på min blogg, this goes back to my Genius av Tryck på X. I’m also not the only one to have noticed this mexican butterfly billboard taxonomy fail.

Tiden har flugit

Wow det har varit ett par veckor sedan min senaste inlägget, och jag är lite pinsamt att ha låta det gå så långt. Vad har jag haft för sig? Inte helhet inte. Inga imponerande uppsamlings resor, inga nya arter eller upptäckter. Egentligen har jag suttit vid ett mikroskop dissekera genitalier eller databasing parasitflugor. I’ll have to do a followup post to delve into those a bit more

But for now, here is a picture form last August. I was standing on an open stretch of Chihuahuan desert right outside of Douglas Arizona; a whopping one mile from the Mexican border. I arrived that evening with my collecting colleague, microlepidopterist Peter Jump, and we had just set up camp as the roll of thunder grew close. Aside from the extinct cinder-cones surrounding us and an occasional illegal immigrant, we were the only (and highest) thing around for miles. But the lightening was too hard to resist, I need a picture! But I didn’t have a cable release, nor a tripod, or even a good camera. So what to doI chose the genius option of standing outside for 40 minutes with my Canon point-and-shoot. I missed 99% of every shot I took, while with every passing minute the lightening grew closer. Till sist, I stumbled upon this decent image. The storm ended up being brief, we huddle in the car (that you can just make out in the picture) while the lightening approached and it drizzled on us for an hour then moved on. Collecting that night was impressive. There were so many moths in the trap that everything had gotten beaten to bits. I managed to rescue a handful of good specimens, but lesson learned for next time.

Genius av Press XII

En annan inte så svårt GOP utmaning, found here from the Scottish TV website. Vad är fel med berättelsen nedan?

Lite brittisk Humo(och)r

Ett kort klipp från den lysande show, Ganska intressant. Starten av diskussionen är i fråga om att cochineal buggar – även om de hänvisar till dem som skalbaggar! (ser buggirl)

A Spider Sierran

En helg utan nattfjärilar kan leda en lepidopterist att göra galna saker. Galet nog att fotografera en spindel. Under helgen var jag tillsammans med den östra Sierra med stipendiaten insekt bloggare, medarbetare och arachnologist, Tamas Szüts. I was on the quest for more specimens of a new Hepialidae of which you may be familiar with from an earlier post. I heard reports from others that at elevations of 11,000’ there was still a significant snowpack even by the end of July. I figured the moth may be flying late this year, if at all. I was hoping to catch the end of summer and the moth both in perfect synchronization. Such was not my luck. I awoke on Saturday morning, sat upright, and brushed the frost off of my sleeping bag while desperately willing myself to brave the morning chill. Temps must have been pushing 25 degrees, a sign that autumn had return to the mountains. Two traps, a black light sheet and running around at dusk yielded zero Hepialidae and only ten moths in total (four species).

And so I was encouraged by Tamas to actually photograph a non-lep, something that I should do more often. He had joined me eager to not only see the Sierra for the first time, but to find the beautiful SalticidaeHabronattus americanus. This little jumper can be found in the western states in rocky areas above 7,000′. After an hour or two of searching, Tamas finally captured a stunning pair. I must agree that this is a beautiful little spider. Visit his blog (in Hungarian) to see some of his stunning images as well.

Continue reading A Sierran Spider