蛾香水

從薄荷Pericopinae的. 幾年前我在哥斯達黎加北部現場錄製了這段視頻. 當我伸手去撿這隻飛蛾時, 這是很難避免注意的行為. 飛蛾, 酮類 (蚯蚓科: 佩里考平) ((用於Arctiidae)), 這組有一個共同的防禦機制 – 它們分泌血淋巴來阻止潛在的攻擊者. 很多飛蛾都會這樣做, 但我從未見過如此壯觀的展示. 如果你仔細聽,你可以聽到液體從體內泵出時發出的嘶嘶聲. 最令人印象深刻的是它有多濃的薄荷味… 足夠強烈,我不得不嘗試一下. 可悲的是, 它的味道不像廣告中所說的那樣. 雖然這並不令人難以忍受, 最明顯的效果是持續幾分鐘的突然麻木. 相當有效的東西, 我可以想像對小鳥或哺乳類的影響可能遠沒有那麼有趣.

生物學家似乎有一個有趣的習慣,就是品嚐他們的研究對象. 我最近參加了一場有關毒箭蛙的爬蟲類學講座. 在輕微的切線上, 你知道嗎,這些著名的警戒青蛙的顏色直到最近才被測試過? 它們有毒的事實是眾所周知的, 但沒有人花時間看看他們的顏色是否真的適合真正的警戒模型, 那是 – 它們真的能阻止野外的掠食者嗎? 事實證明並不奇怪, 是, 他們做. 但實際上有定量數據來支持這一長期堅持的主張是件好事. 回到品嚐 – 眾所周知的皰疹測試是舔青蛙或蟾蜍. 雖然這實際上可以幫助識別皰疹的種類, 這更有可能是長時間在野外工作的一個有趣的副作用. 我不是皰疹患者,我不記得它所適用的名稱或團體; 但是一篇著名的論文深入地描述了味道, 每種被舔蟾蜍種類的有效作用和潛在危險 (這是一次合法的分類學審查).

我現在能想到的唯一有用的昆蟲品嚐例子是兩隻極其相似的蝴蝶- 蝴蝶/克雷斯豐特斯. 我相信當你新鮮捕獲它時,它會散發出甜美的花香 (是, 不是一個味道… 但很接近), 但我從未見過這個發布或自己測試過, 所以這可能是杜撰的. 然而眾所周知,許多蝴蝶都會聞到寄主植物的強烈氣味: 如 施派爾皇冠 聞到 羅布麻 (強烈的蔬菜氣味). 這裡還有很多進一步調查的空間. 但毫無疑問,生物學家會盡可能使用他所有的五種感官.

鵝大通的藝術

在過去的四個週末,我一直在鵝追, 一蛾, Heliolonche celeris. 這是一個美麗的小夜蛾科與粉紅色的前翅和令人驚嘆的橙紅色後翅. It isn’t very often encountered and only found along the northern California mountain ranges feeding on Malacothrix floccifera – 一個CA特有​​的花. Every trip I have gotten skunked, until todayI collected two! As you may recall my first outing was about a month ago, 無蟲蛀, but a beautiful series of specimens and photographs of Adela 飛蛾. 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.

Grinter Plebejus acmon matingCaught in the act. Plebejus ACMON

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Continue reading The Art of a Goose Chase

分類失敗

最近碰到一些可笑 來自中國可怕的分類 (.PDF). 如果你向下滾動一點你可以看到的英文翻譯. 乍一看,這看起來像一個標準的分類紙裸機種​​記述. 你可能會想到給自己, “呵呵, 不知道為什麼他們只從一個標本描述物種”. 世界上沒有結束, 我甚至做到了我自己. 行, 公平起見, 我有完整的生活史和DNA以支持這些決定. 這裡 – 他們既沒有. 和, 一旦你看看樣品插圖, 東西應該成為明顯的令人震驚. 做這些標本的共同點 (除了圖像質量差其他)?


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Continue reading Taxonomy Fail

它是多麼容易…

假一遇到不明飛行物? 我在亞利桑那州的沙漠錄製這段視頻在兩年前. 坦白, 我的心臟跳了一拍,在第一. 我轉過身,有三個發光燈上面我靜靜地漂浮. 我簡直以為自己 “神聖的#@%我不相信在這廢話!”. 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 outonly to reappear some distance away (another drop). This was then followed by a series of fighter jets flying extremely low over the desert. 基本上, this is the exact same thing that caused thelights over phoenixflurry a few years ago.

所以, I uploaded this video to Youtube and didn’t call it a UFOjust 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 ascompellingas other “飛碟” 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 usand thanks to the laws of Physics, it is probable that they will never be able to visit regardless of how technologically advanced they become.

新技術頁!

我只是說明我的方法散播microlepidoptera, 去探索的技術頁面. Who is courageous enough to attempt it?

快樂地球日

With a great message from Bill Nye, 科學蓋伊.

我們要保育,以確保, 保護濕地, 森林, 開放空間和海岸線. 我們需要減少我們的廢物 — 塑料垃圾桶之類的. 但我們真正需要的是大, 新思路: 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.

Continue reading Happy Earth Day

現在是我們的機會…

一 15 腳灰鯨 剛洗了 在舊金山灣. 現在是我們的機會爆炸鯨的一部分 2!

我該如何讓自己忙

我已經在過去幾天一直在忙蔓延microleps, 這裡是一個小的選擇從我的夏天收集的旅行. 還有至少另一 200 在我的積壓趕上去之前. 我的工作只是說明如何傳播這些飛蛾… 敬請關注.

2009 是一個偉大的賽季. 我探索噸的新土地,至少收集 6 新種. 讓我們希望的兩倍多在來年.

在按V的天才

那麼,什麼是錯的下面這個圖? Sounds like a great show at the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati. 這 news story made me look just a little closer

人民呼聲, 第一卷

我遇到的發送到我們的昆蟲學部門的問題幾個電子郵件成績單,我無法抗拒它們共享. 我保證這些信息是 (和將) 100% 真正的和未經編輯. 名稱已被更改或刪除,以保護無辜者. 希望, 我會遇到這些在一段時間每一次, and keep this as an ongoing series. Submissions of your own are encouraged!

遺憾, this first one is longbut well worth the read.

1 三月 2006: 3:23下午.

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. 還, I do not know if this spider is male or female. I have had the spider for 2 週. 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. “點¯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 trywhat ever I can doto get these pictures to you. Thank you for any help you can give me,”

誠摯, “woman X

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Continue reading Vox Populi, 第一卷