Alates piparmündi Pericopinae. Ma salvestasin selle video kohapeal Põhja Costa Rica paar aastat tagasi. Kui jõudsin alla kiirenemist see koi, see oli raske vältida märganud käitumine. Ööliblikas, Chetone angulosa (Erebidae: Perikopina) ((varem Arctiidae)), on ühine kaitsemehhanism selle grupiga – nad eritavad hemolümfi võimalike ründajate heidutamiseks. Paljud koid teevad seda, aga ma pole seda veel kunagi nii suurejooneliselt välja pannud. Hoolikalt kuulates kuulete vedelikku kehast pumbates susisevat heli. Kõige muljetavaldavam oli see, kui tugevalt see piparmündi järele lõhnas… piisavalt tugevalt, et pidin selle lihtsalt käest laskma. Kurb küll, see ei maitsenud nagu reklaamitud. Kuigi see ei olnud piinav, kõige märgatavam mõju oli mitu minutit kestnud järsk tuimus. Päris tugev kraam, ja ma kujutan ette, et mõju väikesele linnule või imetajale võib olla palju vähem lõbus.
Tundub, et bioloogidel on naljakas harjumus oma uuritavaid maitsta. Istusin hiljuti mürk-konnadega seotud herpetoloogiarääkimistel. Kerge puutuja peal, kas teadsite, et nende kuulsate aposemaatiliste konnade värvust pole KUNAGI testitud alles hiljuti? See, et nad olid mürgised, on hästi teada, kuid keegi ei võtnud kunagi aega, et näha, kas nende värvid sobivad tegelikult tõelise aposemaatilise mudeliga, see on – kas nad tõesti hoiavad kiskjaid looduses ära? Selgub, et pole üllatav, jah, nad teevad. Kuid on tore, kui selle pikaajalise väite toetuseks on tegelikult kvantitatiivsed andmed. Tagasi degusteerimise juurde – tuntud karjakatse on konnale või kärnkonnale lakkuda. Kuigi see võib tegelikult aidata tuvastada kariloomaliike, pigem näib see olevat pikki tunde põllul lõbustav kõrvalmõju. Kuna ma ei ole karjakasvataja, siis ma ei suuda meenutada nime või rühma, millele seda taotleti; maitsete kirjeldamiseks läks aga kuulus paber väga sügavale, tugevat toimet ja võimalikke ohte, mis on seotud iga lakutud kärnkonnaliigiga (see oli seaduslik taksonoomiline ülevaade).
Ainus näide putukate kasuliku maitsmise kohta, mis mulle praegu pähe tuleb, on kaks silmatorkavalt sarnast liblikat- Papilio thoas/kresfontid. Usun, et thoasil on magus lillelõhn, kui selle värskelt kätte saad (jah, mitte maitse… kuid lähedal), aga ma pole seda kunagi varem avaldanud ega katsetanud, nii et see võib olla apokrüüfiline. Siiski on hästi teada, et paljud liblikad lõhnavad tugevasti oma peremeestaime järele: nagu Speyeria coronis lõhnaga Apocynum (tugev köögivilja lõhn). Siin on palju ruumi edasiseks uurimiseks. Kuid kahtlemata kasutab bioloog kõiki viis meelt igal võimalusel.
Viimased neli nädalavahetustel nüüd olen olnud hane tagaajamine, üks koi, Speedy Heliolonche. See on ilus väike Noctuidae koos roosakas esitiivad ja uimastamise punakasoranž hindwings. Seda ei kohta eriti sageli ja seda leidub ainult Põhja-California mäeahelikes, mis toituvad Malacothrix floccifera– CA endeemiline lill. Igal reisil olen saanud nukraks, kuni tänaseni – Kogusin kaks! Nagu te mäletate, oli minu esimene väljasõit umbes kuu aega tagasi, ei ööliblikas, aga ilus seeria isendeid ja fotod Adelast ööliblikad. Viimased paar reisi pole olnud isegi nii produktiivsed kui Adela oma. Mida siis teha, kui sihtmärki ei leia? Põletage end päikese käes ja tehke näruseid fotosid.
Recently came across some ridiculouslyhorrible taxonomy from China (.pdf). If you scroll down a bit you can see the english translation. At first glance this looks like a standard taxonomy paper with bare-bones species descriptions. You might even think to yourself, “huh, wonder why they are describing species from only one specimen”. Not the end of the world, I’ve even done it myself. Korras, to be fair, I had complete life histories and DNA to support those decisions. Here – they have neither. Ja, once you take a look at the specimen illustrations, something should become shockingly apparent. What do these specimens have in common (other than the poor image quality)?
teeselda UFO-kohtumist? Salvestasin selle video kaks aastat tagasi Arizona kõrbe kohal. Et tunnistada, see pani mu südame alguses lööma. Pöörasin ümber ja minu kohal hõljus vaikselt kolm hõõguvat tuld. Mõtlesin sõna otseses mõttes endamisi “püha s#@% Ma ei usu sellesse jama!”. The scale is really lost in the video, but they were huge and hovering under a high cloud cover. When the video zooms in you see a small light on the ground for reference. Our brain, being so inclined, makes it appear as if these lights are linked together in a massive triangle.
I walked back to the car while keeping a careful eye out for cacti and rattlesnakes (I was photographing a mojave rattler at the time), and grabbed a pair of binoculars. With a decent magnification it was clear that these were flares. Now only could you see a flickering light on the clouds above, but long trails of smoke rising above them. As you followed the flares down they gradually winked out – only to reappear some distance away (another drop). This was then followed by a series of fighter jets flying extremely low over the desert. Basically, this is the exact same thing that caused the “lights over phoenix” flurry a few years ago.
Nii, I uploaded this video to Youtube and didn’t call it a UFO – just some mysterious lights. Will it be adopted as UFO proof? I sure hope so. Not only that, I hope it appears on some UFO documentary in the future. It’s not as “compelling” as other “Ufo” videos, but my Canon point-and-shoot camera could only do so well.
While extra-terrestrials likely exist, there is absolutely zero compelling evidence to suggest they have visited us – and thanks to the laws of Physics, it is probable that they will never be able to visit regardless of how technologically advanced they become.
We need to be conservationists to be sure, preserving wetlands, forests, open spaces and coastlines. We need to reduce our waste — plastic trash and the like. But what we really need is big, new ideas: new ways to distribute and store energy for electric power, new ways to conserve and distribute clean water for farming and gulping, and new ways get ourselves and our cargo around, so that we don’t change the Earth’s climates too much as we burn our fossil fuels.
I’ve been busy spreading microleps over the last few days, and here is a small selection from my summer collecting trips. Still have at least another 200 to go before catching up on my backlog. I am working on illustrating just how to spread these moths… nii stay tuned.
2009 was a great season. I explored tons of new land and collected at least 6 uute liikide. Let’s hope for twice that many in the year to come.
So what is wrong with this illustration below? Sounds like a great show at theKrohn Conservatoryin Cincinnati. See news storymade me look just a little closer…
I’ve come across a few e-mail transcripts of questions sent into our entomology department and I can not resist sharing them. I promise these messages are (and will be) 100% real and unedited. Names have been changed or removed to protect the innocent. Hopefully, I will come across these every once in a while, and keep this as an ongoing series. Submissions of your own are encouraged!
Vabandust, this first one islong – but well worth the read.
1 Märts 2006: 3:23pm.
“I am sending you pictures of a spider I possess that appears to be a Zoropsis spinimana. I need more information about this spider than is what is on the internet. Ka, I do not know if this spider is male or female. I have had the spider for 2 nädalat. It is still alive-but I am not sure what it eats. I have tried several things. If you are interested in this spider we can talk more-however, I get the feeling that this spider is not of real interest to your department. Please respond to me and examine the pictures. If you do not want me to email you again then, please tell me or I will assume that you did not get my email with the pictures. Both you and Dr. “X” are extremely busy and it appears that you travel a great deal. Probably with more interesting things than this spider. The pictures are below-if you cannot access them then please notify me and I will try “what ever I can do” to get these pictures to you. Thank you for any help you can give me,”
