From a peppermint Pericopinae. I recorded this video on-site in northern Costa Rica a few years ago. When I reached down to pick up this moth, it was hard to avoid noticing the behavior. The moth, Chetone angulosa (Erebidae: Pericopina) ((used to be Arctiidae)), has a common defensive mechanism for this 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. Sadly, 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, to je – do they really deter predators in the wild? Turns out not surprisingly, áno, 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 (áno, 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: ako je 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.
Za posledné štyri víkendy teraz som bol na husí, pre jedného mesiaca, Heliolonche speedy. Je to krásny malý Noctuidae s ružovkastými forewings a krásnym oranžovo-červené zadných krídlach. To nie je príliš často stretávame a nájsť iba pozdĺž severnej Kalifornie pohoria kŕmenie na Malacothrix floccifera– CA endemická kvetina. Každý výlet som dostal skunked, až do dneška – Zbieral som dve! Ako ste si možno spomenú môj prvý výlet bol asi pred mesiacom, nie mora, ale krásna séria vzoriek a fotografie Adela mory. Posledných pár výletov sa ani priblížiť k bytiu rovnako produktívne ako jeden Adela. Takže čo robiť, keď nemôže nájsť svoj cieľ? Získajte spálenie slnkom a vziať nejaké mizerný fotografie.
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. OK, to be fair, I had complete life histories and DNA to support those decisions. Here – they have neither. A, 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)?
to fake a UFO encounter? I recorded this video two years ago over the desert of Arizona. To confess, it made my heart skip a beat at first. I turned around and there were three glowing lights floating silently above me. I literally thought to myself “holy s#@% I don’t believe in this crap!”. 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.
Tak, 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.
Musíme byť pamiatkari si byť istí,, zachovanie mokradí, lesy, otvorené priestory a pobrežia. Musíme znížiť náš odpad — plastové odpadky a podobne. Ale to, čo naozaj potrebujeme, je veľká, nové nápady: nové spôsoby, ako šíriť a uchovávať energiu pre elektrickú energiu, nové spôsoby na zachovanie a distribúciu čistej vody pre poľnohospodárstvo a prehĺtanie, a nové spôsoby, ako si sami seba a náš náklad okolo, tak, že sa nemení podnebie Zeme je príliš veľa, ako by sme spáliť fosílne palivá.
Bol som zaneprázdnený šíri microleps v posledných niekoľkých dňoch, a tu je malý výber z mojich letných zhromažďovania ciest. Stále platí, že najmenej ďalšie 200 potrvá, než lov na mojom nevybavených. Ja som pracoval na ilustrujúci, ako šíriť tieto mory… takže zostaňte naladení.
2009 Bola to skvelá sezóna. I explored tons of new land and collected at least 6 nové druhy. 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. Tento 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. Dúfajme, I will come across these every once in a while, and keep this as an ongoing series. Submissions of your own are encouraged!
Pardon, this first one islong – but well worth the read.
1 Marec 2006: 3:23popoludnie.
“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. Tiež, I do not know if this spider is male or female. I have had the spider for 2 týždne. 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,”
