Maklumat untuk peta dan pembendungan peratusan telah dibuat kepada post saya sebelum ini. Berikut adalah peta api 4 membakar dalam SE Arizona, yang Monument fire. Yang ini adalah hanya 10% 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.
Sebagai Julai menghampiri saya kerana untuk mengharapkan mesyuarat Pacific Coast daripada Lepidopterists’ Persatuan. Tahun ini ia akan mengambil tempat di Prescott Arizona, kira-kira 2 jam utara Phoenix. Dan pada masa ini ia adalah salah satu daripada beberapa tempat di Arizona tidak sedang terbakar. Saya pasti anda semua pernah mendengar tentang kebakaran besar-besaran sekarang, tetapi di sini adalah kemas kini dari sudut pandangan biologi yang sedikit. Paling penting kita semua harus berterima kasih kerana anggota bomba mempertaruhkan nyawa mereka untuk memerangi kebakaran hutan ini.
Atas sebab tertentu saya tidak dapat memaut ke peta interaktif terus dari tapak InciWeb, tetapi sila ikuti pautan untuk meneroka lebih lanjut. Walaupun terdapat peta interaktif yang baik tentang kebakaran ini di Peta Google, mereka berumur beberapa hari. Di bawah ialah tangkapan skrin bagi peta yang kurang daripada 12 berjam-jam lamanya.
Kebakaran 1: Yang terbesar, Api Berkubang adalah 20% 29% terkandung, manusia disebabkan dan telah terbakar selama lebih 15 hari-hari. Saya telah berharap untuk pergi mengumpul di sekitar bandar Greer dan Alpine, tetapi kedua-duanya mempunyai api dengan cepat menceroboh. Wilayah White Mountains di Arizona ialah zon campuran yang menarik antara spesies gurun selatan dan yang Rocky Mountain – rama-rama yang jarang ditemui di sini, Alexicles aspersa, mungkin akan mengelak saya lagi tahun ini.
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! Above isSchinia ligeae(Noctuidae) resting on its host plantXylorhiza tortifolia, yang Mojave Aster. I photographed this about three weeks ago outside the town ofBig Pine, California. The asters were thick in the valleys below the snow capped Sierra, and the moths were abundant. Somehow these medium-sizedSchiniaget 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!
For the next three weeks my colleagues from the Arachnology lab at the California Academy of Sciences are in the Philippines! (no, 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.
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!
Seperti banyak haiwan bandar lain, Misi Blue Butterfly (Icarioides kampungan missionensis) adalah salah satu yang serius terancam. Ini kehidupan kecil biru dalam fragmen kecil habitat di samping berjuta-juta dolar pembangunan di dalam dan di sekitar Teluk San Francisco. 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. Sebelum ini 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 (sahaja 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.
Maaf untuk downtime yang pelik sejak dua hari lepas – yang Fried Rangkaian Selatan telah mengalami pertumbuhan yang indah yang teruk dikenakan cukai pelayan kami. Ini trafik yang tinggi yang berlaku kepada sesuai dengan perpindahan pelayan fizikal kita tuan rumah telah menjalankan. Hasilnya ialah fail rosak yang berakhir dengan penggantungan akaun kami.
Masalah dibetulkan! Halaman disandarkan, akaun dinaik taraf, perkara harus berjalan lebih cepat daripada sebelumnya. Saya masih menghadapi masalah menyelesaikan halaman saya – anda mungkin perasan beberapa 404 kesilapan sehingga saya mengetahui apa yang berlaku dengan mereka…
Semua orang kenal dengan yang terkenal kupu kupu kepala kematian, tetapi saya rasa memalukan kami telah mempopularkan watak yang suram itu. Di atas ialah Neotropical Arctiinae yang lebih ceria dari Guiana Perancis yang kelihatan seperti berwajah badut. Malangnya ini bukan gambar saya, tetapi anda perlu mengambil sedikit masa untuk meneroka Lepidopteris Perancis laman web. Gambar mereka dari ekspedisi tahunan mereka membuatkan saya cemburu!
