Inde litora Pericopinae. Recordantes quod video, situm in septem annis Global. Cumque venissem ad colligunt usque hoc tinea, ad vitare dura animadversione moribus. The tinea, Chetone angularis (Erebidae: Pericopina) ((usus esse Arctiidae)), quia hoc habet a communi defensionis mechanism group – they excrete hemolymph to deter would-be attackers. Lots of moths do this, but I have never seen it so spectacularly displayed. If you listen carefully you can hear the hissing sound as the fluid is pumped form the body. What was most impressive is how strongly it smelled of peppermint… strongly enough that I just had to give it a go. Triste, it didn’t taste as advertised. While it wasn’t excruciating, the most noticeable effect was an abrupt numbness that lasted for a several minutes. Pretty potent stuff, and I can imagine the effect on a small bird or mammal might be far less amusing.
It seems like biologists have a funny habit of tasting their subjects. I recently sat in on a herpetology talk regarding poison-dart frogs. On a slight tangent, did you know that the coloration of these famously aposematic frogs has NEVER been tested until recently? The fact that they were poisonous is well known, but no one ever took the time to see if their colors actually fit a true aposematic model, ille est – do they really deter predators in the wild? Turns out not surprisingly, Imo, they do. But it’s nice to actually have quantitate data to support this long held assertion. Back to tasting – a well known herper test is to give the frog or toad a lick. While this can actually help to identify the species of herp, it more likely seems to be an amusing side effect of long hours in the field. Not being a herper I can’t recall the name or group this applied to; but a famous paper went into great depths to describe the tastes, potent effect and the potential dangers associated with each licked toad species (this was a legit taxonomic review).
The only example for useful tasting in insects that I can think of right now is for two strikingly similar butterflies- Papilio thoas/cresphontes. I believe thoas has a sweet flowery smell when you catch it fresh (Imo, not a taste… but close), however I’ve never seen this published or tested it myself, so it may be apocryphal. It is however well known that many butterflies smell strongly of their hostplant: ut Speyeria coronissmelling ofApocynum(strong vegetable odor). Lots of room for further investigation here. But without a doubt a biologist uses all five of his senses whenever he can.
Nunc enim sum in weekends anser venandi quattuor, nam neque tinea demolitur, Heliolonche celeris. Est pulchra parva Noctuidae pinkish, cum pulchra alas anteriores et aurantiaco-rufus hindwings. It isn’t very often encountered and only found along the northern California mountain ranges feeding onMalacothrix floccifera– CA a flore endemic. Every trip I have gotten skunked, until today – I collected two! As you may recall my first outing was about a month ago, no moth, but a beautiful series of specimens andphotographs of Adela tinea. The last few trips haven’t even come close to being as productive as the Adela one. So what to do when not finding your target? Get a sun burn and take some crummy photos.
Nuper venit per aliquid ridicule horrendum genus a Sinis (.pdf). Si librum usque ad frenum potes videre translationem anglicus. Hoc primo aspectu similis est chartae normae taxonomiae cum descriptionibus osseis nudis speciebus. Etiam te ipsum putare potes, “huh, mirentur cur species ex uno tantum specimine describuntur”. Non est finis mundi, Ego quidem feci. CALLIDE, pulchrum esse, Vitam integram habui historias et DNA ad illa iudicia promovenda. Hic – nec habent. Et, semel inspice exempla exempla, quid mirum facti apparent. Quid haec specimina communia habent? (quam pauper imago qualis)?
UFO a congressu ad fake? Recordantes quod video biennium turpis in deserto. Confiteri, factum est cor meum ad primum ictum a skip. Et conversus sum et tria luminaria motis nitantur in silentio plus quam me candentis. Ego litteram cogitavi mecum, “Nolo in hoc% s @ sanctus crap!”. Video quidem, noverit hominem perditum, sed non erant ingens, Et sub alta nube cover. Video ubi se videas zooms luminare minus in quantum in terra. Nostri cerebro, cum ita inclinatum, Haec facit ut prius triangulum ingens lumina copulantur.
Et regressus est ad solliciti a car, dum servo oculum sicco pro cacti et rattlesnakes (Ego autem in die photographing a Mojave rattler), et tulit par binoculars. Cum honestam visu clara esse haec flammae. Iam modo videtis tremulum labris ubi lumen in nubibus, sed umbram fumum supra illos. Ut vos secuti in flammis sensim descendit de despiciens – tantum ut procul locis exstant (aliud stilla). Hoc deinde continuatis Pugnator rumpit perquam humilis volat in deserto. Basically, quod facit hic idem exigo “luceant super phoenix” is tumultus momento temporis, paucis abhinc annis,.
Sic, Juvenis ad hoc video non me vocare uploaded UFO – Sicut luminaria Arcano. An experimentum in adoptionem UFO? Sic EGO certus Spero. Non solum autem,, Spero ita futurum apparet in aliquo documentali UFO. Suus 'non ut “coactis” quod aliis “UFOs” videos, Canon punctum-quod-surculus camera, sed solum poterat facere bene.
Terrestium verisimile est, dum extra-, non est absolute necessarium, nullis indiciis ad suadeant quod pugnet pro nobis, – leges physicae et benedictionem, Et probabile est quod nunquam fieri posse videret quantumcumque technicis progrediebantur.
Conservationists opus est ut fideles, conservatione wetlands, silvae, aperta spatia et litoribus. Nos postulo ut reducere vastum — plastic purgamentum et sicut. Sed id ipsum eget magna, new ideas: novas vias distribuere ac reponere vis electrica potestatem, novas vias conservare et distribuere aquam mundam ad agriculturam et deglutitionem, et nova via nosmet ipsos et onera nostra circumvenimus, ut nimis climata Telluris non mutamus sicut fossilia nostra urimus.
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… sic subsisto tuned.
2009 was a great season. I explored tons of new land and collected at least 6 species novae. 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. Thisnews 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!
Rumex, this first one islong – but well worth the read.
1 Martii 2006: 3:23post meridiem.
“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. Also, I do not know if this spider is male or female. I have had the spider for 2 hebdomades. 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,”
