দ্বারা ক্রিস Grinter, on September 8th, 2010 While I work on a more substantial post, you can name this butterfly – and the plant should be pretty easy too. Extra bonus if you can guess the county (state won’t be too impressive) in which I took this photo. This was pre-DSLR, but my old beat up canon point-and-shoot did manage to get some good ones.
দ্বারা ক্রিস Grinter, সেপ্টেম্বর 7 তারিখে, 2010 
একটি দু: খিত গল্প বেলিজ থেকে তার পথ তৈরি করেছে – দ্য American Crocodile Education Sanctuary has burned to the ground. প্রথম নজরে এটি একটি গবেষণা এবং সংরক্ষণ সুবিধা সম্পর্কে একটি দুর্ভাগ্যজনক প্রতিবেদন যা একটি মর্মান্তিক আগুনে হারিয়ে গেছে. যে, কিন্তু, পুরো গল্প নয়. It turns out that a mob of indigenous Mayans flew into a rage and torched the facility. কেন? Because a psychic told them the owners had murdered children and fed them to their crocodiles!
It was like something out of a Frankenstein movie,” Cherie Rose said Tuesday. “If we’d been home, they would have killed us. They said they were going to chop us up and feed us to the crocodiles.”
National police confirm that the indigenous Maya villagers were acting on the advice of a psychic who said the Roses had something to do with the August 7 disappearance of 9-year-old Benjamin Rash and his 11-year-old sister Onelia.
The question often comes up – “what harm is it really?” – in regards to this sort of anti-scientifc woo. Most of the time, there really isn’t any damage done, except to the pocketbook. কিন্তু, every once in a while, something tragic happens and it all could easily have been avoided with even the tiniest bit of rational thought or discretion. The psychic in town was far and beyond reckless by blaming these gringos – and she should suffer the consequences for her actions. She deliberately blamed two innocent people for the death of local children, which quickly resulted in a severe loss of personal property. ধন্যবাদ, Cherie and Vince Rose were both away at the time rescuing a crocodile – they may have not escaped the angry mob had they been at home. Examples of this always make me sad, but reignite my passion for debunking these thieves and criminals.
I suggest visiting the ACES website and blog and either donate or write a note of support. If I weren’t a broke scientist myself, I’d offer more assistance for their efforts to rebuild. এখন – who will help educate those villagers before this happens again?!
দ্বারা ক্রিস Grinter, on September 6th, 2010 For regular readers of my blog you might already know my stance on the monarch, কিন্তু catch up here if you’d like to. Yesterday I came across এই নিবন্ধটি in the LA times – regarding the overwintering colonies of monarchs in Pacific Grove, সিএ. Out here, west of the continental divide, there are quite a few monarchs that migrate to coastal California and Baja del Norte instead of traveling into central Mexico. Not all monarchs from California stay in the state, but there are dozens hundreds of known roosting sites (.পিডিএফ) up and down our pacific coast.
Pacific Grove has one of the best known localities and has built the local economy around their seasonal migrants (yet no one is deporting these Mexicans). সংক্ষেপে, the town government hired an arborist to cut back dangerous eucalyptus growth. Why was that necessary? Back in 2004 a limb from a diseased native-pine had fallen and killed an 85-year-old woman while on a walk with her grandchildren. In wake of the million dollar settlement paid to the family of the deceased the town decided to preemptively cut back old tree growth. But now everyone is running around screaming foul, the trees were trimmed খুব much. হ্যাঁ, the precious homes of the monarchs were disturbed and it has riled the townspeople into a fury. What if the monarch’s don’t return?
Don’t worry, local filmmaker Bob Pacelli has a solution. Let’s just scatter as many eucalyptus trees as we can find into the grove to attract more butterflies.
In desperation, Pacelli came up with a plan: Find boxed trees — preferably blue gum eucalyptus — around 20 feet high and place them at strategic spots to help shelter the incoming monarchs. But the city has been slow to respond, Pacelli said. One official, Pacelli said, wrongly accused him of stepping on a butterfly, a violation of city code. No charges were filed.
For those paying attention, হ্যাঁ, the city council of Pacific Grove has a law on the books that imposes a fine of $1,000 on anyone who molests a butterfly. Good things monarchs don’t roost in catholic churches.
Continue reading Monarch Madness
দ্বারা ক্রিস Grinter, on August 27th, 2010 This genius of the press is extra special, not for its difficulty, but for its redundancy. I found the same story carried on two separate sources, with different images – and both equally incorrect! I can imagine that it won’t take long for someone to point out exactly what’s wrong with these stories (hint, সেখানে 2 things).
Here is the first from the Mirror.co.uk “Giant rare moth found in Devon”.
And the second from the Daily Mail online ” Rare Luna moth found on Devon…”
দ্বারা ক্রিস Grinter, 24শে আগস্ট, 2010 And while I catch up you can watch some creepy Isabella Rossellini re-enact the mating strategies of a bedbug. You should also read, if you haven’t caught it already, দ্য excellent bedbug article written by the distinguished (and my former professor) May Berenbaum.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MakIB_IJnu0&feature=search]
দ্বারা ক্রিস Grinter, on August 14th, 2010 আজ রাতে, আপনি যদি সান ফ্রান্সিসকোতে থাকেন, আপনি Showdogs বার আপনার পথ করা উচিত (SoMa এর কাছাকাছি) শ্রদ্ধেয় জেমস রেন্ডির সাথে পাবটিতে সন্দেহবাদীদের জন্য! আমি উপস্থিত থাকব, কয়েকজন সহকর্মী কীটবিজ্ঞানী বন্ধুদের সাথে. এটা চেষ্টা কর ফেসবুক লিঙ্ক – কিন্তু যদি তা ব্যর্থ হয়, ইভেন্ট 9pm এ শুরু হয়.
আপনি যদি SF তে না থাকেন, পরিবর্তে কিছু Randi ভিডিও উপভোগ করুন!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo]
দ্বারা ক্রিস Grinter, আগস্ট 10, 2010 
Pictured is a black-veined white (Aporia crataegi ssp), and it is currently being returned to the Korean Institute of Biological Resources. Loans get returned, as they should be, every day – and can even number in the thousands of specimens. I myself have a few hundred moths out on loan from a handful of museums that are pending research. As soon as I finish my work (or request an extension), the specimens are promptly returned accompanying my paper. Unfortunately it is not a rare occurrence where loans have gone out, and remained out without permission, for decades. At least in one case to my knowledge (names and institutions redacted) the loaned specimens were out so long they created a small international incident. Foreign ambassadors had to formally request the specimens, which had to be presented in person by our ambassador to their country.
This butterfly, কিন্তু, I don’t believe was part of a loan. So why is it going back to Korea?
Continue reading A Disturbing New Trend?
দ্বারা ক্রিস Grinter, on August 9th, 2010 এই এক শুধু খুব সহজ. বিলবোর্ডটি Burleson এর দক্ষিণে I-35-এ রয়েছে, টেক্সাস.
আমি এই ছবিটির আসল উৎস জানি না, কিন্তু ওমর বোকানেগ্রা থেকে মাইক কুইন হয়ে টেক্সাস লেপিডোপ্টেরার তালিকা-সার্ভে আমার পথ এসেছিল.
দ্বারা ক্রিস Grinter, on August 8th, 2010 
I stumbled upon (not on stumbleupon) these colored SEM images on the Telegraph webpage today. I especially love this image of a Calliphoridae larva (Protophormia sp.) that seems more out of a C-rated science fiction movie than nature. It reminds me of both a freakish Star Wars character and a Muppet at the same time. The abrupt departure from standard mammalian body architecture makes insects prime candidates for other-worldly aliens. Insects must have been used as a guide for movies like District 9, Starship Troopers, Alien, Galaxy Quest… just to name a few recent ones. I am sure that other, more well-accredited, sci-fi geeks out there can think of even better examples. Along the same lines I recall these images I snapped of a Cerambycidae beetle below – Moneilema gigas. This was in the earliest days of my new camera so I can’t look back on them as perfect shots.
Continue reading Muppet Monsters
দ্বারা ক্রিস Grinter, on August 6th, 2010 
এখানে একজন পাহাড়ি পুরুষ প্রজাপতি জেলিয়াকন, বা মৌরি গিলে ফেলুন. এই প্রজাপতিটি পশ্চিম প্রশান্ত মহাসাগরীয় রাজ্যগুলিতে বিস্তৃত এবং সম্ভবত এটি আগের তুলনায় অনেক বেশি সাধারণ. মৌরি প্রবর্তনের পর (সাধারণ মৌরি), এবং পরবর্তীকালে উদ্যানপালন থেকে অব্যাহতি, anise swallowtail একটি সাধারণ ক্যালিফোর্নিয়ার প্রজাপতি হিসাবে ধরেছিল. সম্ভবত আগে এই উদ্ভিদ আমাদের রাস্তার ধারে অতিক্রম করেছে জেলিকাওন সিয়েরা পাদদেশে সীমাবদ্ধ থাকতে পারে, এখন আপনি ক্যালিফোর্নিয়ার সমস্ত বাগানে এটি খুঁজে পেতে পারেন৷. যদিও, দক্ষিণ CA-তে জিনিসগুলি উল্টে যাচ্ছে বলে মনে হচ্ছে যেখানে এই প্রজাপতিটি শহরাঞ্চল থেকে অদৃশ্য হয়ে যাচ্ছে. ভেনচুরা/এলএ এলাকায় জিপসি মথের সাম্প্রতিক পরিচয় কীটনাশক স্প্রে করার ব্যবস্থা শুরু করেছে – একটি আক্রমণাত্মক পরজীবী ট্যাচিনিডির চেহারা উল্লেখ না করে যা বড় লেপস পছন্দ করে. পূর্ব উপকূলে এই পরজীবী মাছি এবং ভারী স্প্রে ইম্পেরিয়াল মথকে নিঃশেষ করে দিয়েছে (EACL imperialis) এর অনেক পরিসর থেকে, নিউ ইংল্যান্ডের বেশিরভাগ ক্ষেত্রেই এটি বিপন্ন হয়ে পড়েছে.
Continue reading Butterfly Porn
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8 মন্তব্য - (মন্তব্যসমূহ বন্ধ করা হয়) 
পতঙ্গবিজ্ঞান 
প্রজাপতি, প্রতিযোগিতা, পতঙ্গবিজ্ঞান, Lepidoptera, Plants 
