人民呼声, 第二卷

现在对于更为频繁重复发生的系列, 民声! 对于那些没有疤痕高中回忆拉丁班 (没有犯错我的老师) 我会带给你加快速度 – 标题大致翻译 “民声”. 这里是另一个旧的电子邮件,我一直留着. 它是一个 100% real message, but of course I have redacted the real names and addresses to protect the innocent. Enjoy! I also highly encourage submissions of your own-

冬季 2008:

“你好, I’m so glad I found you. 现在, I hope you can help me. 1982, while camping at an old gold mining camp in the Mendocino National Forest I was bitten by a large brown spider. It took three days for the venom to pass through my system. On day three I was 95% blind, the bite swelled to a large grotesquely deep red bump on my arm. I’ll never forget the 12 hours the venom attacked me. The price I payed to survive this spiders venom was…….to loose absolutely all my body fat. I spoke with a doctor from Santa Rosa by phone from a friends place in (some small CA town). He knew about this spider and couldn’t believe I suvived the venom when I told him I lost all my body fat. He also told me it was impossible for someone to survive loosing all their body fat in 12 小时. I reminded him that this was an impossible situation. He told me that this spider is being kept from the public. I believe this spider came from China or Russia. These spiders don’t share anything with other Cali spiders. They have big bodies and short stout legs. The female that bit me was about 4 inch’s and, had 5 males. Four years later, while living in the Hayward hills, I couldn’t believe my eyes, running across the floor, another one. This spider was about 6 inch’s. I know these spiders don’t climb walls or spin webs. They build nest’s, and obtain 4-5 males to protect her and find food. The female never leave’s the nest except…………when a larger female drives her out and, kills her males. This is when people are bitten by this spider, as she runs around looking for another nest. Bites are very uncommon. I wondered………….how big was the female that drove that 6 inch from her nest. 和………….how big do they get. Can I find this spider on display at (your museum)? Is it possible to find all the information their is on this very dangerous spider?”

Continue reading Vox Populi, 第二卷

新闻八天才

欢迎来到不一致再次发生一系列卷八, 全国联保新闻. 我碰到 本文 最近关于一种地方性波多黎各蝴蝶. 谁可以告诉我到底为什么这份报告是误导? 它可能是比标准的GOP棘手一点 (我建议放弃任何先前相关缩略词这些信件). 暗示, 只是告诉我图片中的蝴蝶来自马来西亚并不是我要寻找的答案!

景观封面地图

我一直想知道如何找到正确的术语用于土地覆盖给定区域. 通常, 我只是一个大概沿东西线 “柞小榭树”. 但现在我可以用这个 很棒的新地图 由美国地质调查局/国家生物信息基础设施提供给我们. 详细程度是惊人的, 您可以使用下拉选项卡指定准确度 (1-3). 现在有了高清美国地形图,我可以准确地看到最大的蒙特雷松林在哪里 (实际上它是一个 加利福尼亚沿海闭锥针叶林和林地) 所以我可以在这个周末最佳地放置我的陷阱.

Continue reading Landscape Cover Map

蛾与我 #12

欢迎飞蛾和我 #12, 我的第一个博客嘉年华. 虽然博客有几个月我还没有拿回来一看,反省我究竟是如何成为迷恋鳞翅目摆在首位. 记住一个时间或地点在哪里发生这种情况是不可能的, 和我的许多同事一样,我相信我的许多读者, 我有一个蝴蝶网和 “虫笼” 我一能走路就在​​手. 说到昆虫学,我相信几乎每个人一开始都会爱上一只大而引人注目的昆虫. 对我来说它是一只蝴蝶, 自然. 我还记得在保罗·斯马特 (Paul Smart) 的书中,我曾无数次地盯着鸟翅目和凤蝶的多样性。 名著. 在追求新事物的路上的某个地方,我开始迷失在夜间世界. 蛾类占鳞翅目多样性的大部分; 虽然几乎有 11,000 美国的物种, 只有几百只是蝴蝶. 这很快打开了一扇门 (也许进入深渊…) 到我们周围随处可见的令人震惊的丰富. 这种惊人的多样性现在让我深入了解鳞翅目的生物学和进化史. 一起编辑这十四篇飞蛾博客的贡献,我忍不住回顾了我自己的一些飞蛾之旅.

P或许 如果我是一个在欧洲的孩子这个飞蛾 (德莱菲拉 埃尔皮诺 猪笼草) 本来是第一个引起我注意的. 在 城市飞蛾 Ron Laughton 在他自己的后院发现了惊人的多样性,就像我在美国长大一样. 看看他一直使用的陷阱类型, 其中大部分是他自己建造的. 飞蛾最好的行为之一是它们愿意一头扎进光里. 离罗恩不远, 迈克比尔 也一直在写英国飞蛾的博客. 我们的两个动物群如此相似,真是令人惊讶 (实际上有几个飞蛾 相同).

Continue reading The Moth and Me #12

鬼生物学

Grinter Gazoryctra sp

这种蛾是罕见的,因为其超自然的同名 (除了它是真实的) – 它是一个Gazoryctra SP. 在家庭中蝙蝠蛾科. 它们所代表的鳞翅目基底谱系和通常被称为鬼蛾或迅速蛾. 鬼 – 因为已知某些物种的雄性会在真正的列克中飞行, 黄昏时分,它们在草地上上下盘旋,而雌性观察. 这些相同的雄性也需要具有信息素的雌性, 昆虫有点落后的情况. 迅速- 相当不言自明, 但众所周知,北方物种是强大的传单.

有助于表明这是基础血统的特征之一是将翅膀放置在身体上, 一些翼脉, 口器减少或缺失,以及缺乏强大的机翼耦合装置. 这些飞蛾有 “轭”, 这是从后翅顶部伸出的小拇指状突起. 飞蛾的其他谱系具有称为系带和支持带的紧密耦合机制, 刷毛将两个机翼钩在一起,因此它们在飞行过程中保持耦合. 休息时,颈胶会折叠起来,可能有助于将翅膀保持在一起 – 但不是在飞行中; 前翅与后翅不同步,飞行不是动态的 (斯科布尔 1992).

在美洲,Hepialid 生物学知之甚少. 在全球范围内只描述了少数生活史 – 所有这些似乎都是内吞的 (无聊的) 在植物根系中. 一些早龄幼虫在进入根茎之前可能会在落叶或根系地下觅食. 澳大利亚很幸运拥有种类繁多且令人印象深刻的Hepialidae动物群 – 许多是 色彩艳丽 和巨大的 (250毫米或高达 12 英寸!), 和更好的研究. 一些幼虫甚至很常见,以至于土著部落将它们用作主食来源.

但特别回到这个飞蛾. 去年八月,我在内华达山脉附近的黑光陷阱里收集了它 10,500 脚. 品种不详, 并且可能是新的. 最令人沮丧的部分是它是科学已知的唯一标本. 全属非常稀有, 除了一两个普通物种, 只有几十个标本存在. 那么它是只从雄性描述的物种的雌性吗?? 一个已知物种的怪异异常? 或者它实际上是新的. 我已经对 DNA 进行了条形码化, 这实际上什么也没告诉我,因为任何密切相关的物种都有零序列. 其实, 据我所知, 塞拉利昂的其他物种几十年来都没有被收集过,所以我什至无法从更古老的标本中获得序列. 锦上添花的是他们的行为. 他们很少, 如果有的话, 曝光 – 这可能是他们黄昏飞行的结果. 在正确的夜晚,他们可能会在机翼上 20-30 分钟, 通常是女性寻找男性, 或飞到产卵处的雌性 (可能只是广播把他们的鸡蛋撒在地上). 所以今年八月下旬,我将与昆虫学系的一些志愿者一起返回高山脉,希望能在陡峭的山坡上看到我的奇才. 如果我得到更多, 它可能会成为加利福尼亚令人印象深刻的新物种.

新闻第七天才

Who can see what’s wrong with 本文?

全球物种多样性的估计

最近的一篇文章 在美国博物学家已经采取了第二次看的一些著名的充气种估计, 有些会高 100 百万 (欧文, 1988). 由作者进行的估算显示高于预测 30 万人拥有的概率 <0.00001. 他们的估计范围是更可能是间 2.5 和 3.7 万种 (同 90% 信心). 这似乎有点道理给这些平凡的估计是基于大量的外推. 有在评估基础上的热带节肢动物多样性调查清楚了很多困难 – 本文再利用植食性 (以植物为食) 甲虫的估计. 他们谨慎地指出,这些方法没有考虑非植食性昆虫, 但认为他们将遵循多样性的传统生物地理格局. 这在某种程度上是一个新的概念给定的,当我还在大学里我被教导的寄生蜂是违反直觉 没有更多样化 在热带地区. 这个假设是,往往不是被证明是错误的更精确的现代分类学方法的光. 而骄傲的我帮玩的作用 寄生项目 在UIUC. 在短, 宿主特异性是在热带环境中与数百名被藏在快速辐射组神秘的物种更极端的如microgastrine茧蜂 (膜翅目) – 同样举行过类似的类群真.

有关纸张一个有趣的是将其列入二级估计基于鳞翅目树冠组合. 他们假设) 所有鳞翅目可以在树冠和b找到) 所有LEPS是植食性. 这显然​​给予了非常保守的估计,并非所有的鳞翅目昆虫被发现在树冠,而不是所有的都是植食性. 虽然我没有这方面的数字, LEP多样性的一定比例必须被排除于这些估计. 我也会出去的肢体,并假设作者 (诺沃提尼 2002) 不包括microlepidoptera形态种 – 而最有可能的估计丰度与我们目前的分类学的理解. 但是我没有访问该 2002 纸, 所以我可能是不正确的. 使用这些数字鳞翅目 (从相同的调查为鞘翅目) 一个全球性的多元化估计汉密尔顿等. 到. 大约 8.5 数以百万计节肢动物.

虽然我同意的几十几十的非凡估计 (或几百) 数以百万计节肢动物物种可能可笑; 我的阵营,目前的研究表明,较低的数以千万计的物种的估计是可能的. 笔者未能包括研究认为抵消其前提是热带树种表现出较低的β多样性 (诺沃提尼 2002, 2007). 在同一期杂志, 大自然 2007, Dyar等. 到. 表明,美国热带地区表现出更高的β多样性比以前承担. 或者可以说,β多样性在澳大利亚热带估计是不正确的, 或者它们与新热带森林的树种组合不兼容. 所有这一切都讲的难度在所有热带地区物种的外推估算的. 这些估计是基于新几内亚的全面昆虫调查, 也许他们并不能准确地反映美国的热带森林的真分集, 这些编号范围低.

作为最后一个想法, 最assesments都集中在热带节肢动物. 似乎太可能所有物种的总数, 包括细菌和古细菌, 可以很容易地超过数千万. 但是,推断这些数字甚至比节肢动物更加不稳定, 鉴于极度缺乏的知识,我们有.

D'哦!

能不能找到一种方法来环节的直接视频 (甚至没有VodPod), but here is the link to the Daily Show site. 有多少物理学家拉着自己的头发了,当他们听到这个? 哎呀, 他是新上任的新闻发言人. 不用担心 Neil, 你在这之后正在不会去任何地方.

Having not aired yet I can’t tell exactly how apologetic the show 是, but it seems heavily focused on finding thecreator”. I can hear it in John Stewart’s voice when he pulls back from ripping into Freeman’sgod of the gapstheory. Perhaps there was an edit and we missed the question where John Stewart askedMorgan, can you define a logical fallacy for usperhaps the god of the gaps one?” I believe that any physicist who ever saysgod was responsiblesays it with no deeper meaning than when Einstein famously evoked god’s dice. That’s to say, a non-literal and non-personal god found only in the beauty and splendor of nature.

一场艰苦的战斗

如果有一件事是我在大学里学到, 它是如何轻松地分散自己. 我倾向于保持我的电视上的背景,而我的工作我的电脑, 尤其是在深夜的时候我通常对抗睡眠获胜的战争. The other night something did catch my eye: a man holding dowsing rods in his back yard. Volume up, let the bullshit flow. It was just a flash of idiocy in an otherwise good program on home improvement. I’ve become accustom to crap-based TV on networks such as the History Channel or a Discovery network (quality of their shows include gems likeThe Haunted: ghosts and pets”), but I was a little surprised to see BS grace my local PBS station.

Over on theAmerican Woodshophost Scott Phillips was constructing a beautiful garden arbor. You can watch the entire thing here for free: Episode 1609: Period Architectural Moldings and Trim. There are no time stamps on the clip, but the dowsing comes in around the mid-point. While demonstrating the materials needed to secure the wood to the ground he cautioned against digging haphazardly into your yard without knowing where the underground water, electrical or gas lines were: solid advice. So in order to do this you should (释义) “take pieces of coat-hanger, anything will do, turn them into an “该”. As I walk forward the bars crossthere (they cross) – right there is the irrigation line. 9 出 10 people have this ability, but you should call in a professional if there is any doubt“. My translationOK guys, don’t worry about calling in some guy to do this, figure it out this way”. Please tell me what man who seriously watches a home improvement show at midnight would cede authority to someone else before giving it the good olcollege try? Even if we grant for a moment that 9 出 10 people could do this, what about that one guy who can’t? Isn’t it irresponsible to suggest that you can avoid power/water/sewer/gas only 90% 的时间? 哎呀, hit that pesky gas line

Being a scientist, a skeptic and a procrastinatorI wrote Scott a message about this so I could avoid my work at hand. Today he kindly replied saying: (excerpt)

Our bodies are electromagnetic fields. Disrupt a field and things happen…. I learned the technique mentioned from a city worker that they used to find lines. Not from a charlatan. My team witnessed the objective use of this technique.”

Briefly, 无, our bodies are not electromagnets. Everyone can hold a compass, or TVwithout screwing them up. Franz Mesmer coined the idea ofAnimal Magnetismin the last half of the 18th century (also inventedmesmerizationAKA hypnotism) – and had it abruptly debunked by Benjamin Franklin and others. I’m also a bit worried to hear that city workers are relying on dowsing to locate public lines! But to move onward, let us dig into the myths of dowsing. I agree that there seems to be somewhat of an intuitive truth when it comes to dowsing, however false it is scientifically, it remains compelling. 确定… electrical things underground effect sensitive wires above. And wow, look at all these guys who can find water, or power, 或… lost people… 或 bombs? 行, let’s stick to water for this conversation.

(continued)

Continue reading An Uphill Battle

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

Grinter Euphydryas chalcedona

大大理石

Grinter Plebejus acmon

大大理石

Grinter Plebejus acmon

大大理石

Grinter Ethmia arctostaphylella

Ethmia arctostaphylella Eriodictyon sp.

One interesting note on Ethmia arctostaphylellathe name is a misnomer, it does not actually feed on Arctostaphylos (Manzanita). At the time of description in 1880 Walsingham had found larvae pupating on leaves of manzinata and assumed it was their host plant. In Jerry Powell’s stunning monograph of the group he indicates this moth was reared from Eriodictyon which happens to be the flower the moth is perched on. The two plants grow side by side, and it’s pretty easy to see how a wandering caterpillar finds its way onto a neighbor.