I’ve been a bit remiss at posting regular challenges, so I’ll try to pick up the pace. Who can tell me anything about this butterfly? The most you’re getting is that it is from the Western half of the US. Credit for family, genus or species andridiculouscredit for subspecies and where it is from.
Euphydryas anicia cloudcrofti
Tedmanaged to pretty quickly ID this lep with stunning accuracy for a beetle-guy. You lep-ers reading this should hang your head in shame for not jumping on it faster.
As mentioned in the comments, this butterfly only flies around the resort town of Cloudcroft, New Mexico in the Sacramento Mountains. For years they have been fighting to have this listed as an endangered species, but have failed at every attempt (the most recent rejection was August 2009). The town relies almost exclusively on winter ski resorts and developers have put up a successful fight against protection. The entire area is within the Lincoln National Forest, but they have only closed the area to butterfly collecting, not development. When asking the forest service about this butterfly they unequivocally state that the checkerspot is endangered (even though it’s not). Of course they do not want you to collect it – but if you offered a few million to develop its habitat, that’s a different story.
I sat rapt in front of my TV on Sunday watching the latest installment of the BBC/Discovery series “Life”. The first thing that comes to my mind… “WHY was Oprah chosen to narrate!?” Naturalmente, Esperei que os insetos especiais ao ar antes eu escrevi sobre isso, but having to listen to Oprah for the last few weeks has been scratching at the back of my eyes. I guess I could have gone out and purchased the BBC version with the iconic voice of Sir David Attenborough instead…
To get a better grip of just how obnoxious Oprah is, you can watch thesame clip on Discovery. I have never considered Oprah to be anything close to scientifically minded – and her lavishsupport of Jenny McCarthyproves the point. For those who are not up to date – McCarthy is the leading proponent of the anti-vaccination movement. You can even go as far as attributing her PR campaign topreventable deaths.I’ll have to return to this subject another time.
Back to the topic at hand. There was some incredibly stunning insect footage, and a few vignettes about insect life I might not have otherwise ever seen. It seems like the US version of Life has been slightly re-written with zero factual contribution. Basic lines are changed from “she was not in the mood” para “uh-oh, looks like a headache”. Seems like a step down to me, albeit a tiny one. I was also a little annoyed with the continual focus on vertebrates – birds that eat flies, bears that eat honey, lizards that mimic Carabids – and anthropomorphizing intention, por exemplo. the ants “crowning achievement of large complex communities… the closest thing in nature to human cities”. While it may be true that giant ant colonies superficially resemble human cities, I wouldn’t call them the “crowning achievement of insects”. Mind boggling in complexity, sim – but overshadowing other non-social adaptations? This all boils down to a false premise that evolution is striving for human-like qualities and is directional.
But nothing to be overly critical about. Given the diversity and complexity of the insect world, I wouldn’t have even been happy with two weeks of solid footage. I would love to see what was left on the cutting room floor!
Foi um lindo dia hoje na área da baía, então fui para Napa e Pope Valley. Eu estava explorando um novo território em busca de uma pequena mariposa, Heliolonche é rápida, que aparentemente está esperando que um clima agradável mais contíguo surja. Esta temporada está um pouco atrasada por causa do frio e da chuva, mas tenho esperanças de uma revisita bem-sucedida dentro de algumas semanas. Contudo, Eu encontrei um punhado de lindos microleps. Todas essas mariposas estão no gênero Adela e família Adelídeos (ou alguns diriam Euncurvariidae). Eles são comumente conhecidos como “mariposas fadas” porque parecem dançar sobre canteiros de flores – o que aparentemente as fadas adoram fazer. Parecia que os machos estavam defendendo uma pequena área, com dois a três de cada vez, girando um em torno do outro alguns centímetros acima das flores. Presumo que essas danças fossem territoriais porque nenhum acasalamento foi observado. Enquanto as fêmeas têm antenas longas, os machos levam isso ao excesso. Eu colecionei uma série legal, mas eu ainda não descobri a espécie – Quantos você vê? Agradecidamente, todos os Adelídeos estavam cobertos por um 1969 artigo de Jerry Powell, que também mora na minha rua.
Depois de ver as coleções aqui no CAS, e lendo a monografia, parece que a maioria deles são Adela trigrapha. É um Adelid comum na área da Baía de São Francisco e na maioria das áreas costeiras da Califórnia.. A variação é considerada considerável, com faixas quebradas e contínuas, bem como variação do vermelho na coroa. A outra Adelid é facilmente identificada Adela flammeusella.
Another installment of Genius of the Press, and perhaps a bit of a softball. (Yikes these are easy to find) Who can tell me whats wrong withEste artigo?
The clouds broke this afternoon in San Francisco and the sun began to shine. The upcoming warm weather induced an all too familiar feeling, one that I should be out collecting insects and not sitting indoors! While I have already been to a handful of places this spring, Eu tenho uma longa temporada de recolher à frente. Olhando para a frente eu não podia ajudar, mas para refletir sobre os últimos dois anos espetaculares que o ocidente tem me dado. Para ilustrar o meu vício, aqui é uma legenda dos meus pontos de GPS do Google Earth.
Cada bandeira representa um evento de coleta separada (desconsiderar os pinos amarelos), entre queda 2007 e no inverno 2009. Eu não tenho mantido a par das milhas para viagens de coleta dedicados (talvez para evitar choque), mas deve ser aproximando 30,000. Meu Honda Accord pode não ser um veículo típico campo, mas faz a distância substancialmente mais acessível. É claro que os dois pneus furados e pára-brisa rachado não ajudam. Você pode facilmente dizer que eu vivi no sul da Califórnia com que blob gigante de bandeiras. A maioria das pessoas estão focados em Santa Barbara County, que rendeu duas novas espécies e dezenas de registros do condado. Arizona vem em segundo lugar com dois 10 passeios de um dia a cada noite em um local diferente. Eu, então, quebrou livre do verão sudoeste passada e levou um longo loop através do midwest ao longo de duas semanas e meia. Puxei em torno de 4,000 Lepidoptera e tem apenas começou dando os últimos retoques no último dos espécimes. Até aqui, apenas uma nova espécie – um único espécime de um pequeno acrolophidae do Texas ocidental (determinada por Peter salto que está escrevendo o fascículo MONA sobre o grupo). Plenty esquerda para ainda ID.
Na placa para este ano: Uma viagem para Leavenworth, Washington para o 2010 lepidopterists’ Reunião da Sociedade. A viagem de coleta de duas semanas vai atirar ao norte de Washington seguida, repetir a leste através de Idaho, Utah e Nevada a caminho de casa. Mas, como sempre, Arizona and Mexico are beaconing. And now that I live in Berkeley I will have to get into the Sierra a few more times this year!
I am really at a loss for understanding yet anotherpositive acupuncture studythat was as well designed as my 8th grade science fair project. Garantido, I was a nerdy science kid, but I could do a better job drunk. I think I should conduct a followup study in which I test the efficacy of porcupines tossed at your back. It would certainly be more amusing; and full of just about as much scientific value. Para não mencionar, porcupines are kinda cute.
The real problems with the study:
Unblinded
n=15. Their x² tests may have resulted in a significant response, but in no imagination of any universe does 15 equal a statistically significant sampling of any population, anywhere.
No negative control. They treated all of their patients with acupuncture or vitamins. Vitamin B complex is a treatment (still a very poorly supported one), and only a positive control. Whose to say smell didn’t naturally improve over the course of the study? The authors can not.
So my question is, what can possibly be the motivation for this study? I can imagine how this was dreamt up, around the coloring books one day “Hey Doc Julia, acupuncture sure works huh?” “Why yes it does fellow idiot, let’s create a really crappy study to show just that!”. Take a look atmy older acupuncture postfor more links and a bit more discussion on why ancient chinese medicine is a waste of money. Of course if you test 15 people you can scrape together a positive result for just about anything. But as you start to introduce larger and more tightly controlled studies the positive effects start to shrink.
Ridiculous. And now that I look at it, my 8th grade science fair project was conducted with two sets of controls, blinded, and had a sample size of 18 (antibacterial effectiveness of kitchen cleaners). Obrigado, I’ll kindly take my position at the University of Cologne Medical Center now.
A continuation of the aquamoth series, this time withvideo from Science Friday! Sim, I have to link it because wordpress won’t embed… Graças Ted, figured it out!
A few images from my weekend mothing trip down to Shell Creek, San Luis Obispo County. Early spring along the central coast is stunning, and the back roads were packed with flower watchers. There were dozens of cars occupied by families out for a weekend drive, many had packed lunches and sat to watch the flowers grow. While I am happy to see people enjoying the natural beauty, it is difficult to see the damage their trampling can cause. Contudo, if more people could get out to appreciate nature, perhaps it would be easier to protect. The flowers were so bright and dense it was difficult to focus on moths, and after a few hours I started to go a little snow-blind (or as it shall forever be now known, flower-blind). Here are a few feeble attempts to capture the beauty.
These pieces of art are the creation ofRobert J. unicamente. Provavelmente, se você já viu algum origami insano do que eram sua criação. Sim, aqueles que são realmente feitas a partir de um único pedaço de papel sem cortes. Ele fornece o padrão de dobras para a maioria de seus projetos, but actually folding something from that pattern has to be nearly impossible without knowing the sequence. It’s very impressive, but if you’re a bit lazier, you can cut and fold out your own simple insectsem vez.
Para quem viu a entrevista FOX com MSU entomologista Dr.. cunhado (Está bem, para aqueles que não o fizeram, Aqui está), você estará interessado em ouvir o seu lado da história.
Aproveite o tempo para registar (desculpe, é chato, mas eu não poderia encontrá-lo em qualquer outro lugar) e ler uma resposta para a entrevista pelo Dr.. cunhado, aqui. In summary, he basically confirmed what was suspected, that they weren’t 100% straightforward with him in the first place and only gave him about six hours to prep. It is nice to hear that Tucker Carlson was actually interested in the entomolgy collection (although, perceived interest is a key tactic in the reporters tool-belt to disarm his interviewee…). Todavia, Cognato did a good job battling off the mindless, anti-science, right wing, propaganda machine. It is clear that he was put in a difficult situation, FOX came to him and wanted to discuss the collection. He knew he wasn’t going to be the best prepared for the interview (I know I sure wouldn’t be either!), but had to stand up for the collection in fear that they might have trampled on it without any fair rebuttal. It is sad we have almost no source of unbiased news nowadays. If you followed this story you should take the time to read about how it really happened.
