Biex reignite-serje it-tnejn Moth hawnhekk hija stunner: Cupcake Melemaea (Kamla geometer).
Dan sbuħija rari qabel biss ġie magħruf minn lokalitajiet mifruxa madwar l-punent tal-muntanji u biss minn ftit individwi kull staġun ieħor. That is until Denver Museum volunteer Barbara Bartell began inventorying moths on her property near Golden Gate Canyon State Park in the Rocky Mountain front range. Over 8,000′ these moths turn out to be a regular visitor at her cabin blacklight and we now have the largest series known of this stunning species (and all perfectly curated!).
Ħalli Denver li jgħaqqdu żewġ affarijiet perfetta għal dan il-blog – entomoloġija u xettiċiżmu! Jekk inti ma bbenefikawx dawn clips mbagħad jieħu t-tieni biex tara l-video ta 'hawn fuq. Għall-inqas dan jidher li jkun fenomenu reali, camera crews from the news station were able to record the very same effect. So what could they be?
I had an instantaneous recognition of what these UFOs were – flying insects, probably flies of some kind (Ditteri) mating in the warm afternoon sun. It has been nice here in Denver and the hours around 1pm are always the warmest (strangely the same time the “UFOs” are most active). But it’s hard to tell with any degree of certainty what these objects are because of the way thatKDVR shows the clips. Odd angles, 2 second flashes, fast forward, super slow motion, super contrast… you only have fractions of a second to see the clip in real time. But when you do it seems so very obvious – and in my professional opinion – that these are insects.
Unfortunately they now have a quote from a Denver entomologist, Mary Ann Hamilton (misspelled as Mart on the KDVR website), saying these are not insects. Facepalm. I don’t know Mary and I certainly can’t blame her for being uncertain as to what these are after staring at the footage over and over and over again. In my opinion it was too hasty to rule out insects. Especially because once you enhance… enhance… u ENHANCEthe footage you being to lose all track of reality. The camera footage has recordedveryout of focus insects, and the very nature of optics means you have lost most of the information outside of the depth of field. And so enlarging and slowing down these images only makes this problem infinitely worse. The pixels become too large to render any meaningful information and an effect known aspareidoliastarts to kick in. Our brains start jumbling together often meaningless data into something recognizable. This is why people see a face on Mars, or rocket boosters coming out of the butts of these insects flying over Denver. And I don’t blame Mary for looking at some of these shiny objects whipping around in weird directions and not seeing insects. But perhaps KDVR could have requested an interview with someone at the Denver Museum (which they did not) – they would have been given an entomologist with much more field experience. I can’t say Mary is unqualified and I don’t mean any disrespect to her, but I don’t believe running a butterfly house is the same thing as being an active research entomologist.
This video is pretty excellent for explaining insect UFOs – although these are much larger insects than the ones captured above Denver.
And check out this cool video of a Syrphidae fly hovering in the sun – imagine these out of focus and hurtling around in front of the camera…
Li sajf żgur tellgħu mill, u Irrid nammeti li qed qiegħda verament, veramentturned my productivity into crap. But the good news is that I’ve just relocated to Denver for a job in entomology at theDenver Mużew tan-Natura u x-Xjenza! I’ll be working on databasing and photographing insects for the Southwest Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN). It’s wonderful to be back to work and I’m feeling a lot more blogging coming on… not to mention this is one of the most amazing ecoregions in the United States. I am already plotting lots of ways to take advantage of these mountains in the spring.
So why not take a brief tour of my new office through the looking glass of creationist wackos. It’s nice to remind myself why I love talking about science.
A it-tnejn kamla fil roża fuzzy – Dryocampa rubicunda (Saturniidae). Dawn moths aġġru rosy huma pjuttost komuni fl-Illinois nofsinhar, imma dejjem stunner meta dawn jiġu biex dawl.
Mhux kamla mhux komuni, iżda distinti tfittex waħda. Dan hu Dik catocala (Erebidae) ((li qabel kienet Noctuidae)), u feeds fuq numru żgħir ta 'Oaks. Daħal fis-dawl tiegħi matul il-weekend fil Southern Illinois, fid-Trail ta Dmugħ Stat Foresti. Bħal ħafna kamla oħra din l-ispeċi mifruxa għandha għadd ta’ varjazzjonijiet li jistgħu jirriżultaw li huma distinti – sakemm issir monografija tal-ispeċi…
Stajt issa bankarju numru żgħir ta 'stampi sbieħ tal-kamla għalhekk nistenna aktar kamla tat-Tnejn! (minkejja li din hija kamla tal-Ġimgħa).
L aħbarijiet lokali għal ħafna mill-Istati Uniti tal-Lvant u l-Kanada kien aflutter (għandha) reċentement ma 'rapporti ta' l-irruption ta Vanessa Atalanta – l-farfett Red Admiral. Filwaqt li dan huwa okkorrenza komuni kull rebbiegħa għal dawn friefet li jemigraw tramuntana mill-raġunijiet overwintering tagħhom fl-Istati Uniti tan-Nofsinhar, -numri taqwis din is-sena huma xokkanti. Hemm pjuttost litteralment eluf ta 'Admirals fil-btieħi lura tagħna.
Allura x'hemm differenti din is-sena?
Hemm ħafna spekulazzjoni dwar it-temp rebbiegħa sħun (aktar sħan Marzu fuq rekord għal ħafna postijiet) u spiss lottijiet ta 'misinformazzjoni li jmorru flimkien ma' xi entomoloġija pultruna. Ħafna mill-aħbarijiet sorsi stajt jiltaqgħu jgħidu l-rebbiegħa sħun ppermettiet dawn friefet jiffjorixxu u jirriproduċu f'numri anormali. Dan mhuwiex kompletament possibbli madankollu, V. Atalanta overwinters bħala adulti. L-istati tan-Nofsinhar jipprovdu temps biss sħun biżżejjed għall-adulti Vanessa friefet biex jaħbu fil-waqgħa u tkun l-ewwel li jgħarraf fir-rebbiegħa biex tikseb tibda tiżdied fuq tgħammir. Anki jekk il-friefet kienu imqajjem fi Frar il-pjanti ospitanti ma kinux għadhom sa (thistles); -friefet fil-btieħi tagħna huma mill-aħħar sena.
Imma x'jiġri jekk temp ma għandhom rwol f'dan iċ-ċiklu boom? Sena li għaddiet kienet sena La Niña ma xitwa sbieħ u ħafif tagħna. Is-sena qabel kienet El Niño, ħafna mill-Istati Uniti tal-Lvant kienet attakkati ma 'xitwa u aħna sofra fl-idejn ta' l-Chicago epika “snowpocalypse”. Forsi din il-kombinazzjoni batuti numri popolazzjoni biżżejjed 2010/2011 li mbagħad naqas tagħbija parasitojdi, tippermetti aktar fekondità farfett ġenerali fis-sajf ta 2011. Dawk friefet overwintering kienu mbagħad mogħtija xitwa sħun li seta 'permessi għal mortalità xitwa aktar baxx. Peress li l-friefet mċaqalqa tramuntana din ir-rebbiegħa ma kienx hemm iljieli Frosty biex maqtugħa popolazzjonijiet – biss lottijiet ta 'għasafar bil-ġuħ. Ir-riżultat ikun influss anormali ta friefet migrazzjoni.
Kamla lum hija Crambidae kannella sottovalutati, Brunneitincta Loxostege. Filwaqt li dan mhux kamla partikolarment captivating hi ma jkollhiex storja interessanti li juri l-ħtieġa għall-kollezzjonijiet xjentifiċi u self mużew. Jekk inti taqra l-immaġini tikketta tinduna l-kamla kien oriġinarjament miġbura 1927 minn U. P. Van Duzeein Truckee, CA. Van Duzee was a noted Hemipterist and a curator at the California Academy of Sciences for 24 years until his death in 1940. His collections of bugs (in the literal sense) alone totaled164,442 kampjuni, and like many entomologists Van Duzee collected everything he came across and likely added another 100,000 specimens to the museum of groups he wasn’t even studying. And so this little brown moth remained in the CAS until the 1970’s whenEugene Munroeborrowed specimens for his work on the genusLoxostege.The resulting 1976 fascicle described this species as new to science and even used this specimen as an illustration in the book. If you’re unfamiliar with the term paratype it’s a specimen from the series (excluding the holotype) that was used to describe that species. And while this particular moth doesn’t seem to be abundant, the genus does have some more notorious pests like the southern beet and alfalfawebworms. More often than not the pets themselves are well known but the genera they belong to might be enigmatic. But thanks in part to Van Duzee and many entomologists like him, Munroe was able to assemble a collection of specimens that would have taken decades (if not longer) to gather. And only with a sufficient collection is a comprehensive assessment of species possible.
Fuq mgħaġġel 37 grad filgħodu fil Northern Illinois I iddeċieda li trab off my camera u tesplora l-progress ta ' “rebbiegħa”. I hit Rollins Savanna Forest Preserve minn 6:30fil-, biss fil-ħin għall-ewwel dawl biex jiddewweb il-ġlata mraqqa. Ġimgħa u nofs ilu t-temps kienu qed jimbuttaw it-80's ta' fuq u s-sajf inħass fl-aqwa tiegħu. Fil-moda tipika ta 'Chicago l-affarijiet ma damux ħafna, it-temp reġa’ lura għall-forma tar-rebbiegħa fickle tiegħu b’maltempati u (dak li issa deher) kesħa morra.
Minkejja a 3 tlugħ ta' siegħa ltqajt ma' farfett wieħed biss – ammirall aħmar, Vanessa Atalanta, u madwar nofs tużżana qurdien tal-klieb (Dermacentor sp.). It-tallab ma jistgħux jagħżlu, bilkemm kien hemm insett wieħed barra. Nista’ wkoll nieħu ritratti ta’ għasafar…
L-ewwel għasafar u l-aktar abbundanti kienu l-Ibla tas-Siġra, Tachycineta bicolor. Dawn it-tnejn kienu biss isellmu lis-sebħ u jifirxu saqajhom ċkejknin. Dehru li kienu suġġetti pjuttost pazjent, ritratt tajjeb ta' l-ewwel għasfur li qatt!
Prairie mhix kompluta mingħajr kor ta’ Redwinged-Blackbirds.
Minkejja l-aħjar sforzi tiegħi din hija waħda mill-immaġini Sandhill Crane aħjar li stajt nikseb. Jekk tikklikkja fuq is-sett tiegħi tal-Flickr issib wieħed ieħor, iżda sneaking up fuqhom fil-bassasa kien pjuttost diffiċli. Għadni ma niksibx għasafar…
Dan il-Coyote ħallini noqrob pjuttost, qisu huma mitmugħa tajjeb fis-subborgi.
Back to the Monday Moth! This beautiful insect isStiria dyari (Noctuidae) collected on a February trip outside of Cataviña, Baja California Mexico. I believe the host plants are still unknown, but all of the moths in the genusStiriahave these brilliant yellow forewings that help camouflage them on the stem of a yellow flowered plant. Hemm 7 currently described species most of which are found in the SW United States and northern Mexico, iżda Stiria rugifronsmakes it into the great plains. All of the species have poorly defined and often overlapping ranges, not to mention the genitalia can highly variable. It’s very likely the final word has not been written about these beautiful noctuids quite yet.
Lura mill-waqfa u lura għas-serje Genius of the Press insetti-aħbarijiet-falliment! Frisk mill-preses mis-sena li għaddiet, id-Dipartiment għall-Ambjent, L-Ikel u l-Affarijiet Rurali fir-Renju Unit ingħalqu minħabba infestazzjoni massiva ta’ kamla tal-ħwejjeġ. L-istampa murija hawn minn “In-Nazzjon” story is a far cry from a proper clothes moth (Tineidae) – looks like a Noctuidae of some kind.
But it’s hard to blame them for getting this moth wrong when UK pest control companies don’t even know what a clothes moth is. Here isInstakil’s versionof “the moth” that happens to be a Plusiinae noctuid.
And the winner for failed identification goes to this other UK company “Hawk Force“. Not even a moth – but a skipper butterfly!
