Chris Grinter, na 25. julij, 2011 Ta ponedeljek sem se oddaljili od običajnega Arctiinae nekaj povsem drugačnega – microlep! To je Nepticulidae, Stigmella diffasciae, saj meri v na neverjetnih 6 mm. Ne morem vzeti kredita za širjenje tega molja – all of the nepticulids I have photographed are from the California Academy of Sciences and spread by Dave Wagner while he was here for a postdoctorate position.
The caterpillars mine the upper-side of the leaves of Ceanothus and are known only from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. If you’re so inclined the revision of the North American species of the genus is freely available here (.pdf).
 Stigmella diffasciae (pritlikavi listni zavrtači)
Chris Grinter, na 22. julij, 2011 To je bilo od zadnjega GOP izziv malo, vendar this is a softball. Jaz sem upal, da so preveč leni, da bi našli bolj primerne slike…
Chris Grinter, na 19. julij, 2011 Kaj bi Jezus storil, če bi imeli nekaj prostega časa – Mogoče ozdravi bolezen, konec vojne, ali krmo stradajo – ampak nah, vsakdo vidi, da prihajajo. Zakaj jih ne šokira z jedrom – opeklina vaš obraz na prejemu Walmart! Vsaj, that’s what a couple in South Carolina believe to have found, a Walmart receipt with Jesus’s face on it. This isn’t exactly new or exciting, humans have a wonderful ability to recognize a face in just about anything. Jesus and other characters “appear” on random things all the time, and even in 2005 a shrine was built to the Virgin Mary around a water stain in a Chicago underpass.
Pareidolia anyone? Dejansko, that face looks pretty convincing, I’m not too sure this wasn’t just faked or “enhanced”. The closeups even look like there are fingerprints all over it. Since I don’t have a walmart anywhere near me or a walmart receipt on hand I can’t determine how sensitive the paper is and how easy it would have been to do – but how long do you think before it shows up on ebay? Na kateremkoli dogodku, it looks much more like James Randi to me than Jesus (at least we actually know what Randi looks like!).
 from CNN
Chris Grinter, na 18. julij, 2011 Over na ARTHROPODA, kolega SFS blogger Michael Bok deliti sliko svojega kolega na terenu, Plugg zeleno drevo žaba. My first thought was of a similar tree frog that haunted welcomed me everywhere I went in Santa Rosa National Park, Kostarika. Ni treba posebej poudarjati, Costa Rica instills a sudden habit of double checking everything you are about to do. This species is known as the milk frog (Phrynohyas venulosa) for their copious amounts of milky white toxic secretions. One of the first stories Dan Janzen told me while while I was with him at Santa Rosa was about this species – and accidentally rubbing his eye after holding it. Thankfully the blindness and burning was only temporary.
 Milk Frog: Phrynohyas venulosa
Chris Grinter, na 18. julij, 2011 I’ll keep the ball rolling with Arctiinae and post a photo today of Ctenucha brunnea. Ta molj lahko skupno v visokih travah vzdolž plaž iz San Francisca do Los Angelesa – čeprav je v zadnjih desetletjih se je število te molja pa so se zmanjšale z uničevanjem habitatov in invazijo plaže trava (Vrsto Ammophila arenaria). But anywhere there are stands of giant ryegrass (Leymus condensatus) you should find dozens of these moths flying in the heat of the day or nectaring on toyon.
 Ctenucha brunnea (Erebidae: Arctiinae)
Chris Grinter, na 12. julij, 2011 No, kot ste morda uganili predmet ni tako šokantno, kot moj nakazuje naslov, vendar nisem mogel pomagati, ampak se vrti iz članka Guardian. Res zdi smešno, ko sem naletel na karkoli, kar pravi, da so znanstveniki “presenečen”, “nerazumljiva”, “šokirana”, “zmeden”, – Mislim, da je tema za drug čas… Kljub temu res cool butterfly has emerged at the “Sensational Butterflies” exhibit at the British Museum in London – a bilateral gynandromorph! The Guardian reports today that this specimen of Papilio memnon just emerged and is beginning to draw small crowds of visitors. I know I’d love to see one of these alive again – although the zoo situation would take away quite a bit of the excitement. I think the only thing more exciting than seeing one of these live in the field would be to net one myself!
One little thing tripped my skeptical sensors and that is the quote at the end of the article taken from the curator of butterflies, Blanca Huertas. “The gynandromorph butterfly is a fascinating scientific phenomenon, and is the product of complex evolutionary processes. It is fantastic to have discovered one hatching on museum grounds, particularly as they are so rare.”
Dobro, I don’t specifically see how these are a “product of … evolutionary processes” inasmuch as vse life in vse forms is a product of evolution. These are sterile “glitches” that are cool, but not anything that has been specifically evolved for or against. Perhaps it would be more adept to call this a fascinating process of genetics (which the article actually describes with accuracy). Prav tako – butterflies emerge as adults and hatch as caterpillars – but that’s just me being picky.
Chris Grinter, na 11. julij, 2011 Današnja molj je lepa in redka vrsta iz JV Arizoni in Mehiko: Lerina utelešena (Erebidae: Arctiinae). Kot mnogi drugi dan pluje vrst je briljantno obarvana in precej verjetno aposematic. Po vsem, gostiteljska rastlina je milkweed in gosenica je prav tako omamljanje (Spodaj).
 Lerina utelešena (Erebidae: Arctiinae)
Ta podoba starega, širjenju vzorec komaj počne pravice živali, ampak en srečen fotograf našel žensko ovipositing na samem vrhu hriba izven Tucson, Arizona. Medtem ko ste na to gredo preverite nekaj drugih velikih fotografij Filipa na SmugMug.
 Lerina utelešena - Philip Kline, BugGuide Kot sem že omenil zgoraj, ta molj ima tudi enako impresiven gosenico, ki hrani na Ascleapias Linaria (pineneedle milkweed).
Chris Grinter, na 5. julij, 2011 
Zdi se, kot da je prevladovanje urbanih legend, ki vključujejo žuželke plazi v naše obraze, medtem ko spimo. Najbolj znan mit je nekaj po vzoru “jeste 8 Pajki leto med spanjem“. Pravzaprav, ko google, da se število giblje od 4 do 8… up to a pound? Not surprising things get so exaggerated online, especially when it concerns the ever so popular arachnophobia. I doubt the average American eats more than a few spiders over their entire lifetime; your home simply shouldn’t be crawling with so many spiders that they end up in your mouth every night! A similar myth is still a myth but with a grain of truth – that earwigs burrow into your brain at night to lay eggs. It isn’t true that earwigs are human parasites (thankfully), but they do have a predisposition to crawl into tight, damp places. It is possible that this was a frequent enough occurrence in Ye Olde England that the earwig earned this notorious name. Cockroaches have also been documented as ear-spelunkers – but any crawly insect that might be walking on us at night could conceivably end up in one of our orifices.
I have however never heard of a moth crawling into an ear until I came across this story today! I guess a confused Noctuid somehow ended up in this boy’s ear, although I can’t help but to wonder if he put it there himself… Moths aren’t usually landing on people while they are asleep nor are they that prone to find damp, tight spots. But then again anything is possible, some noctuids do crawl under bark or leaves in the daytime for safe hiding. I even came across another story of an ear-moth form the UK (not that the Daily Mail is a reputable source).
Seveda, some lazy news sources are using file photos of “moths” instead of copying the photo from the original story. It’s extra hilarious because one of the pictures used is of a new species of moth described last year by Bruce Walsh in Arizona. Lithophane leeae has been featured on my blog twice before, but never like this!
On a closing note here is a poem by Robert Cording (also where the above image was found).
Consider this: a moth flies into a man’s ear
One ordinary evening of unnoticed pleasures.
When the moth beats its wings, all the winds
Of earth gather in his ear, roar like nothing
He has ever heard. He shakes and shakes
His head, has his wife dig deep into his ear
With a Q-tip, but the roar will not cease.
It seems as if all the doors and windows
Of his house have blown away at once—
The strange play of circumstances over which
He never had control, but which he could ignore
Until the evening disappeared as if he had
Never lived it. His body no longer
Seems his own; he screams in pain to drown
Out the wind inside his ear, and curses God,
Who, hours ago, was a benign generalization
In a world going along well enough.
On the way to the hospital, his wife stops
The car, tells her husband to get out,
To sit in the grass. There are no car lights,
No streetlights, no moon. She takes
A flashlight from the glove compartment
And holds it beside his ear and, unbelievably,
The moth flies towards the light. His eyes
Are wet. He feels as if he’s suddenly a pilgrim
On the shore of an unexpected world.
When he lies back in the grass, he is a boy
Ponovno. His wife is shining the flashlight
Into the sky and there is only the silence
He has never heard, and the small road
Of light going somewhere he has never been.
– Robert Cording, Common Life: Poems (Fort Lee: CavanKerry Press, 2006), 29–30.
Chris Grinter, veljati 30. junija, 2011 
 Micronecta Scholtz Gričevjem na evropskem podeželju živi v refren ljubezenski, kričal, moški vodnih hroščev. Malo žuželka zgoraj, Micronecta Scholtz (Corixidae), meri neverjetnih 2,3 mm in kljub temu zlahka oddaja zvok klikanja/brenčanja slišen človeku uho nad vodno gladino. Da bi dal, da v perspektivi: skoraj nemogoče je poskusiti slišati nekoga, ki govori pod vodo, medtem ko stoji ob bazenu, vendar ta minutna žuželka ustvari dovolj glasen klik, da bi ga zamenjali za kopenskega členonožca. Čeprav to ne zveni preveč impresivno, ko smo obkroženi z drugimi glasnimi žuželkami, kot je cikada, M. scholtzi se izkaže za osupljivo glasno žival, če upoštevate velikost telesa in medij, skozi katerega se zvok širi, da doseže naše uho. Povejte v številke, do katerih lahko doseže jakost klikov pod vodo 100 dB (Raven zvočnega tlaka, SPL). Skrči nas v svet žuželk in ta zvočna produkcija je enaka a udarno kladivo na isti razdalji! Torej, kaj za vraga je tej mali žuželki omogočilo, da naredi ta hrup in pobegne v svetu, polnem plenilcev?
Avtorji seveda poudarjajo, kako presenetljivi so ti rezultati. Prva stvar, ki postane očitna, je, da vodni čolnarji ne smejo imeti slušnih plenilcev, saj v bistvu plavajo naokoli in povzročajo največ hrupa, ki je fizično mogoč za katero koli majhno žival.. Pravzaprav to ni preveč presenetljivo, saj je večina podvodnih plenilcev strogo vizualnih lovcev (ličinke kačjih pastirjev, vodne žuželke in hrošči itd…). Zelo verjetno je, da je spolni izbor vodil razvoj teh stridulatornih klicev na tako osupljive ravni. Druga najbolj presenetljiva stvar je jasna, ko grafično prikažete, kako glasne so te žuželke glede na njihovo velikost telesa.. Na vrhu grafa je velik delfin (T. truncatus) s svojim znamenitim sonarjem. Toda največji izstop je pravzaprav naša mala žuželka spodaj levo z najvišjim razmerjem med zvokom in velikostjo telesa (31.5 s povprečjem od 6.9). Nobena druga znana žival se ne približa. Vendar je verjetno, da lahko nadaljnje preiskave drugih vodnih žuželk prinesejo podobne, če ne celo bolj presenetljive rezultate!
Da bi bili bolj natančni glede “kričal”, hrošči (napake v tem primeru so pravilne; Corixidae spadajo v red Hemiptera – pravi hrošči) bo verjetno razburljivo – drgnite dva dela skupaj, da ustvarite zvok namesto izdiha zraka, bobnanje, itd… V članku avtorji domnevajo, da “zvok nastane z drgnjenjem pars stridensa na desni paramer (privesek genitalij) proti grebenu na levem režnju osmega trebušnega segmenta [15]”. Brez dviga njihovega citiranja, zdi se, da je stridulacija samcev v rodu dobro dokumentirana za privlačnost partnerja. In kot bi pričakovali, berejo novice in znanstveni novinarji “privesek genitalij” in to prevedi v penis: in končaš z zgodbami Všečkaj to. Funkcijo paramerov lahko ohlapno prevedemo v podobno kot čeljusti v tem, da so nasprotne strukture (običajno oborožen z lasmi) za prijemanje. The njihova natančna uporaba se lahko razlikuje po vrstah ali celo redih, vendar se zelo razlikujejo od penisa (=aedeagus) saj preprosto pomagajo olajšati parjenje in ne dajejo sperme. Torej v resnici imate genitalije “sponke” z “kričeča zabava”. In najboljša ilustracija pars stridens je končana na stari blog Archetype. Ta struktura je spodaj označena z rumeno (in se zgodi, da obstaja na trebuhu mravlje). Ampak na kratko – je navadna žlebljena površina, podobna pralni deski. Na koncu je treba zgornji stavek prevesti v “dve strukturi na konici trebuha, ki se drgneta skupaj kot dva prsta”.
 Podrobnosti pars stridens (v rumeni barvi) na četrtem trebušnem tergitu pri delavki Pachycondyla villosa (Skenirni elektronski mikrograf, Roberto Keller/AMNH) Continue reading The incredibly loud world of bug sex
Chris Grinter, 20. junija, 2011 Bom obdržati žogo valjanje z te serije, in poskusite, da bi bilo bolj redno. Osredotočil se bom tudi na poudarjanje nove vrste vsak teden iz masivnih zbirk tukaj na kalifornijski Akademiji znanosti. To naj bi mi dal dovolj materiala za… vsaj nekaj sto let.
 Grammia edwardsii (Erebidae: Arctiinae) Vzorec Ta teden je tiger moth Grammia edwardsii. Do pred nekaj leti je bila to družina metuljev obravnavati ločeno od Noctuidae – vendar nedavni molekularni in morfološka analiza kaže, da je v resnici Noctuid. Družina Erebidae je potegnil ven iz notranjosti Noctuidae in Arctiidae so bili tam postavljeni, jih spreminja v poddružine Arctiinae. OK dolgočasno taksonomija odročen – vse v vsem, to je lepa molj in skoraj ni nič znanega o tem. Ta vzorec so bili zbrani v San Franciscu, v 1904 – v resnici so bili skoraj vsi osebki, za katere je znano te vrste zbirajo v mestu ob prelomu stoletja. Medtem ko je ta vešča je zelo podoben bogat in razširjena Grammia krasi, blizu analiza oči, oblika krila in antene trdijo, da je to pravzaprav ločena vrsta. Menim, da je zadnji primerek je bilo zbranih okoli 1920 in ni bilo videti, saj. Verjetno je, in žalostno, da so to molj lahko izumrla tekom zadnje 100 let razvoja regije SF Bay. Grammia, in Arctiinae na splošno, niso znani po visoki ravni specifičnosti gostiteljice; se nagibajo k biti kot malo krav in krme na skoraj vse, kar v svoji poti. Torej je še vedno bega, zakaj ta molj ne bi habitat danes, celo v mesto tako močno moten. Morda je to molj Specializirani Sečoveljskih močvirskih območjih, ki obkrožajo zaliv – ki so bile vse od leta izničil zaradi odlagališča za nepremičnine (1/3 celotnega zaliva se je izgubila, da izpolnite). Ali morda to molj ostaja z nami še danes, vendar se nikoli ne zbirajo, ker je neodkrit dan pluje vrste. Vedno sem da moje oko v parku spomladi za majhno oranžno blur…
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