從薄荷Pericopinae的. I recorded this video on-site in northern Costa Rica a few years ago. When I reached down to pick up this moth, 這是很難避免注意的行為. The moth, Chetone angulosa (蚯蚓科: Pericopina) ((用於Arctiidae)), 這組有一個共同的防禦機制 – 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. 可悲的是, 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, 那是 – do they really deter predators in the wild? Turns out not surprisingly, 是, 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 (是, 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: 如 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.
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 onMalacothrix floccifera– 一個CA特有的花. Every trip I have gotten skunked, until today – I collected two! As you may recall my first outing was about a month ago, 無蟲蛀, but a beautiful series of specimens andphotographs 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.
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 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. 基本上, this is the exact same thing that caused the “lights over phoenix” flurry a few years ago.
所以, 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 “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 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.
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.
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 islong – but 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 try “what ever I can do” to get these pictures to you. Thank you for any help you can give me,”
