Updates to the maps and containment percentages have been made to my earlier post. Here is a map of the 4th fire burning in SE Arizona, an Monument fire. This one is only10% 17% 15% 27% contained and is burning in the southern end of the Huachuca Mountains into Mexico. I also just received the sad news that the home of Noel McFarland has been claimed by the fire. Noel is a well known and respected entomologist who has made a massive impact in the moth field. While I don’t have the full details (and I don’t believe anyone has been injured by this blaze); it is likely that his landmark collection of hundreds of thousands of Lepidoptera has been lost. I wish Noel the best of luck, and can only hope the loss was not total.
Agus mí Iúil ag druidim linn beidh mé ag tnúth le cruinniú na Lepidopters ar Chósta an Aigéin Chiúin’ Cumann. I mbliana beidh sé ar siúl i Prescott Arizona, faoi 2 uair an chloig ó thuaidh den Fhionnuisce. Agus ón nóiméad seo tá sé ar cheann den bheagán áiteanna in Arizona ní ar tine. Táim cinnte gur chuala sibh go léir faoi na tinte ollmhóra faoi láthair, ach seo nuashonrú ó thaobh beagán bitheolaíochta. Níos tábhachtaí fós ba chóir dúinn go léir a bheith buíoch as na comhraiceoirí dóiteáin a chuir a mbeatha i mbaol chun na tinte fiáine seo a chomhrac.
Ar chúis éigin ní raibh mé in ann nasc díreach a dhéanamh leis na léarscáileanna idirghníomhacha ó shuíomh InciWeb, ach lean na naisc le do thoil chun tuilleadh iniúchta a dhéanamh. Cé go bhfuil léarscáileanna idirghníomhacha maithe de na tinte seo ar Google Maps, tá siad cúpla lá d'aois. Anseo thíos tá scáileáin-gabhálacha de léarscáileanna níos lú ná 12 uair an chloig d'aois.
Dóiteáin 1: An ceann is mó, An Tine Wallow Tá 20% 29% atá, ba chúis leis an duine agus tá sé ar lasadh le breis 15 laethanta. Bhí mé ag súil le dul ag bailiú timpeall baile Greer agus Alpach, ach tá tine ag cur isteach go tapa ar an mbeirt. Is limistéar cumaisc iontach é réigiún na Sléibhte Bán in Arizona idir speicis fhásach theas agus speicis Rocky Mountain – an leamhan annamh a raibh súil agam a fháil anseo, Alexicles aspersa, is dócha go seachnóidh sé mé arís i mbliana.
I’ve known for a while that beetles and other inverts occasionally have vertebrates on their menu, but I didn’t really know how large of an animal they could subdue! Even when the odd mantis grabs a hummingbird the size difference is not as substantial as is shown below. This impressive video was published recently in the free onlinejournal Zookeys.
Here is one of the figures from the paper, illustrating more beetles feeding on multiple species of Amphibians!
Gil Wizen, Avital Gasith (2011). Predation of amphibians by carabid beetles of the genus Epomis found in the central coastal plain of IsraelZookeys, 100, 181-191 : DOI:10.3897/zookeys.100.1526
Whoops, tá sé beagnach Dé Máirt! Above isSchinia ligeae(Noctuidae) resting on its host plantXylorhiza tortifolia, an Mojave Aster. I photographed this about three weeks ago outside the town ofBig Pine, California. Bhí na asters tiubh sna gleannta faoi bhun an sneachta tSáile Siarra, agus bhí na leamhain flúirseach. Somehow these medium-sizedar ais get away with being conspicuous and lazy, you don’t even need a net to collect them. Just walk up and tip them into a jar – I guess the pressure to evolve a more cryptic or evasive behavior is lacking.
Speaking of conspicuously lazy, I have been gone for much of May and hence the lull in blogging. Now that the weddings and spring field season are over, I’ll be back at the desk and back to blogging!
Ar feadh na dtrí seachtaine atá romhainn tá mo chomhghleacaithe ón saotharlann Seandálaíochta ag Acadamh Eolaíochtaí California sna hOileáin Fhilipíneacha! (aon, ní éad ar chor ar bith…) Tá an turas mar chuid de thuras CAS Hearst, iarracht ollmhór a chuimsigh ár ranna taighde go léir chun suirbhé a dhéanamh ar na domhainfharraige, farraigí éadomhain agus timpeallacht talún Luzon. Dr. Thug Charles Griswold beirt mhac léinn PhD leis – Hannah Wood agus Natalia Chousou Polydouri – chun cabhrú le damháin alla agus feithidí a bhailiú. Go háirithe, Táim ag tnúth leis an Lepidoptera a bheidh Natalya á thabhairt ar ais! (Thug mé cúrsa tapa di ar leamhain a bhailiú sa pháirc). Faraor níl mé ann chun an éagsúlacht seo a ghrianghrafadh agus a bhailiú mé féin; ach is féidir linn go léir a bheith ag faire go dian agus na foirne ag postáil nuashonruithe ar a ndul chun cinn thar na míosa seo chugainn ar an mblag expedition. Tá go leor iontrálacha agus íomhánna iontacha ann cheana féin ó na daoine uisceacha – fanacht tuned do na feithidí.
Who can tell me what’s wrong below? Not only is it the obvious photo problem, but the author of the article takes some logical leaps to support his premise. Who can tell me what his logical fallacies are? I won’t link to the entire article quite yet because a well known Lepidopterist has already commented – so resist googling the article for the easy answer.
New to the web this week is an excellent resource on theMecoptera of North America. Dr. Norm Penny has put together an illustrated guide to all the North American species with habitus and genitalia images. While not very diverse, the Mecoptera prove to be an enigmatic and fascinating group. Take a moment to explore the site and identify your specimens!
Cosúil le sin go leor ainmhithe uirbeacha eile, an Gorm Misean Féileacán (Plebejus icarioides missionensis) tá sé ar cheann go bhfuil nguais gravely. Seo saol beag gorm i blúirí beaga gnáthóige taobh il-milliún dollar Forbairt i agus timpeall an San Francisco Bay. A century ago this butterfly was already starting to decline, with hundreds of acres of beautiful seaside morphing into sprawl. Today the coastal sage scrub has nearly vanished and what little remains is infested with invasive plants and animals.
The Mission Blue was one of the first animals listed on the Endangered Species Act, acchieving offical protection in 1976. Efforts over the last few years have focused onrestoring the habitat and the bluewithin it – with limited success. Before 2009 the last blue seen within the city limits was on Twin Peaks in 1997 (and possibly the 1970’s before that). Today the SF Recreation and Parks Department along with Bay Nature has somewhat re-established the Mission Blue on Twin Peaks from healthier populations in the Marin Headlands and San Bruno Mountain (the only other locations the butterfly is known from). I believe last year they had around 30 individuals flying on Twin Peaks. This year the numbers are down, but on Friday I found three females ovipositing on lupine – while these females were probably transplanted a few weeks ago, it is hope for the future. Unfortunately the only males I saw were up in the Marin Headlands – and hopefully males were seen on Twin Peaks this year (pending 2011 data).
Not surprisingly, it turns out that reintroducing a species is a complicated game. The Mission Blue utilizes three host lupine species, Lupinus albifrons, formosus andvariicolor. Yet maintaining these native species amongst the invasives requires radical measures including heavily applications of herbicides (against fennel, pampas grass and french broom – but including 136 other invasive plants (Marin Flora)). It is unknown what effect the herbicides have on developing larvae (amháin 17% successfrom egg to caterpillar) or what it does to native ant populations that tend the caterpillars of the blue. Without native ants the caterpillars are much more likely to be predated, but even native ants are falling to the invading hoards of Argentine ants. And yet another key player is a newly found fungus that is killing lupine plants – devastating butterfly numbers in 2010.
If you compare this subspecies to other members within theicarioidescomplex there is a striking difference in abundance. Plebejus i. moroensisfrom the central coast is an incredibly abundant butterfly within good habitat. It is highly restricted, but not facing nearly the difficulties the Mission Blue is. I hold out hope for one of our last San Francisco blues – ifthe invasive species can be controlled – it won’t go the way of theXerces.
Sorry for the weird downtime over the last two days – the Southern Fried Network has been experiencing wonderful growth that has severely taxed our servers. This high traffic happened to correspond with a move of our physical servers the host was undertaking. The result was corrupted files that ended with our account placed on suspension.
Problem fixed! Pages back up, account upgraded, things should be running faster than ever. I’m still having problems resolving my pages – you might notice some 404 errors until I figure out what’s going on with those…
Everyone is familiar with the famousdeath’s head hawkmoth, but I think it’s a shame we have popularized such a grim character. Above is a much more cheery Neotropical Arctiinae from French Guiana that looks like it’s sporting a clown face. Sadly this isn’t my photograph, but you should take a moment to exploreLes Lépidoptéristes de Francewebsite. Their photos from their annual expeditions makes me jealous!
