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, theMonument 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.
Kako se bliži srpanj, veselim se susretu lepidopterista na obali Pacifika’ Društvo. Ove godine održat će se u Prescott Arizoni, oko 2 sati sjeverno od Phoenixa. And as of this moment it is one of the few places in Arizonaneon fire. I’m sure you have all heard of the massive fires right now, but here is an update from a slightly biological standpoint. Most importantly we should all be thankful for the firefighters risking their lives to battle these wildfires.
For some reason I couldn’t link to the interactive maps directly from the InciWeb site, but please follow the links to explore further. While there are good interactive maps of these fires on Google Maps, they are a few days old. Below are screen-captures of maps less than 12 hours old.
Vatra 1:The biggest one, The Wallow Fire je 20% 29% contained, human caused and has been burning for over 15 dana. I had been hoping to go collecting around the town of Greer and Alpine, but both have fire quickly encroaching. The White Mountains region of Arizona is a fascinating blend zone between southern desert species and Rocky Mountain ones – the rare moth I was hoping to find here, Alexicles aspersa, will likely evade me yet again this year.
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, it’s almost Tuesday! Iznad je Schinia ligeae(sovice) odmara na svom domaćinu postrojenjaXylorhiza tortifolia, theMojave Aster. Sam fotografirao još prije oko tri tjedna izvan grada Big Pine, Kalifornija. The asters were thick in the valleys below the snow capped Sierra, and the moths were abundant. Nekako to srednja Schiniadobiti daleko s bio napadan i lijeni, ne morate imati ni net da ih pokupi. Dovoljno je prošetati i savjet ih u staklenku – Mislim da je pritisak da se razvije više zagonetni ili vozni ponašanje nedostaje.
Govoreći o upadljivo lijeni, Ja sam bio otišao za mnogo svibnja, a time i uspavati u bloganje. Sad kad su svadbe i proljeće polje sezone su više, Vratit ću se na stol i natrag na bloganje!
For the next three weeks my colleagues from the Arachnology lab at the California Academy of Sciences are in the Philippines! (Ne, not jealous at all…) The trip is part of the CAS Hearst expedition, a massive effort spanning all of our research departments to survey the deep seas, shallow seas and terrestrial environment of Luzon. Dr.. Charles Griswold brought two of his PhD students – Hannah Wood and Natalia Chousou Polydouri – to help collect spiders and insects. Particularly, I’m looking forward to the Lepidoptera that Natalia will be bringing back! (I gave her a quick course on field collecting moths). Sadly I’m not there to photograph and collect this diversity myself; but we can all watch enviously as the teams post updates on their progress over the next monthon the expedition blog. There are already lots of great entries and images from the aquatic people – stay tuned for the insects.
Tko mi može reći što nije u redu u nastavku? Ne samo da je očiti problem fotografije, ali autor članka poduzima neke logične korake kako bi podržao svoju premisu. Tko mi može reći koje su njegove logičke pogreške? 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.
Ovog tjedna novo na webu izvrstan je resurs o Mecoptera Sjeverne Amerike. Dr.. Norm Penny sastavila je ilustrirani vodič za sve sjevernoameričke vrste sa slikama habitusa i genitalija. Iako nije jako raznolika, Mecoptera se pokazuje kao zagonetna i fascinantna skupina. Odvojite trenutak da istražite mjesto i identificirate svoje primjerke!
Poput mnogih drugih urbanih životinja, Misija Blue Butterfly (Plebejus icarioides missionensis) je onaj koji ozbiljno je ugrožena. Ovaj mali plavi živi u sitnim fragmentima staništa uz multi-milijun dolar razvoj ui oko San Francisca. 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).
Nije iznenađujuće, 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 (samo 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.
Morat ću to provjeriti na web stranici NABA-e - Twin Peaks SF
Žao nam je zbog čudnog stanke tijekom posljednja dva dana – Southern Fried mreža je doživljava divno rast koji je ozbiljno oporezuju naše poslužitelje. Ova visoka prometa dogodilo odgovarati na potezu od naših fizičkih poslužitelja domaćin bio poduzeću. Rezultat je korumpiran kartoteka koji je završio naš račun suspendirani.
Problem fiksna! Stranice back up, nadograditi račun, stvari treba trčanje brže nego ikad. Ja sam još uvijek ima problema s rješavanjem svoje stranice – možda primijetiti neke 404 Pogreške dok sam shvatiti što se događa s onima…
Svima su poznati poznati smrtonosni jastreb, ali mislim da je šteta što smo popularizirali tako mračan lik. Iznad je mnogo veselija Neotropical Arctiinae iz Francuske Gvajane koja izgleda kao da ima lice klauna. Nažalost ovo nije moja fotografija, ali trebali biste odvojiti trenutak za istraživanje Lepidopteristi Francuske web stranica. Njihove fotografije s njihovih godišnjih ekspedicija me čine ljubomornim!
