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, akaonekana 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.
Julai mbinu mimi kuwa kuangalia mbele Pacific Coast mkutano wa Lepidopterists’ Jamii. Mwaka huu utafanyika katika Prescott Arizona, kuhusu 2 masaa kaskazini ya Phoenix. Na kama ya sasa hivi ni moja wapo ya maeneo machache huko Arizona sivyo moto. Ninauhakika wote mmesikia habari za moto mkubwa sasa, lakini hapa kuna sasisho kutoka kwa maoni ya kibaolojia kidogo. Muhimu zaidi sote tunapaswa kushukuru kwa wazima moto wanaohatarisha maisha yao kupigania moto huu.
Kwa sababu nyingine sikuweza kuunganisha kwenye ramani zinazoingiliana moja kwa moja kutoka kwa wavuti ya InciWeb, lakini tafadhali fuata viungo ili kutafuta zaidi. Wakati kuna ramani nzuri zinazoingiliana za moto huu kwenye Ramani za Google, wana umri wa siku chache. Chini ni picha-msingi za ramani chini ya 12 masaa ya zamani.
Moto 1: Kubwa zaidi, Moto wa Wallow ni 20% 29% zilizomo, binadamu unasababishwa na umekuwa ukiwaka kwa muda wote 15 siku. Nilikuwa nikitarajia kwenda kukusanya karibu na mji wa Greer na Alpine, lakini zote mbili zina moto haraka. Kanda ya Milima Nyeupe ya Arizona ni eneo lenye mchanganyiko kati ya spishi za kusini mwa jangwa na zile za Rocky Mountain – nondo nadra nilikuwa natarajia kupata hapa, Alexicles aspersa, uwezekano wa kunivuta tena mwaka huu.
Nimekuwa inayojulikana kwa wakati kwamba mende na inverts nyingine mara kwa mara na wenye uti wa mgongo kwenye orodha yao, lakini mimi si kweli kujua jinsi kubwa ya wanyama wangeweza kuwaangamiza! Hata wakati vunjajungu isiyo ya kawaida grabs hummingbird ukubwa tofauti si kama kikubwa kama ni umeonyesha chini. Video hii ya kuvutia ilichapishwa hivi karibuni katika online bure journal Zookeys.
Hapa ni mmoja wa viongozi kutoka jarida, kuonyesha mende zaidi kulisha juu ya aina mbalimbali ya Amfibia!
Gil Phoenix, Avital Gasith (2011). Predation ya amfibia na mende carabid wa jenasi Epomis kupatikana katika wazi kati ya pwani ya Israel Zookeys, 100, 181-191 : Doi:10.3897/zookeys.100.1526
Whoops, it’s almost Tuesday! Above isSchinia ligeae(Noctuidae) resting on its host plantXylorhiza tortifolia, akaonekana 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-sizedSchinia 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!
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.
Nani anaweza kuniambia nini kibaya chini? Si tu ni dhahiri tatizo picha, 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.
Mpya kwa wavuti wiki hii ni nyenzo bora kwenye Mecoptera ya Amerika Kaskazini. Dr. Norm Penny ameweka pamoja mwongozo ulioonyeshwa kwa spishi zote za Amerika Kaskazini na picha za tabia na sehemu za siri.. Ingawa sio tofauti sana, Mecoptera yathibitisha kuwa kikundi cha fumbo na cha kuvutia. Chukua muda kuchunguza tovuti na utambue vielelezo vyako!
Kama wanyama wengine wengi mijini, Mission Blue Butterfly (Plebejus icarioides missionensis) ni moja kwamba ni vikubwa hatarisha. Hii ndogo ya maisha ya bluu katika vipande vidogo ya makazi sambamba milioni mbalimbali ya maendeleo ya dola na kuzunguka 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. Kabla ya 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).
Haishangazi, 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 (only17% 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.
Pole kwa kukatika kwa ajabu kwa siku mbili zilizopita – Mtandao wa Kukaanga Kusini umekuwa ukipitia ukuaji mzuri ambao umetoza ushuru kwa seva zetu. Trafiki hii ya juu iliendana na uhamishaji wa seva zetu halisi ambazo seva pangishi alikuwa akifanya. Matokeo yake yalikuwa faili zilizoharibika ambazo ziliisha kwa akaunti yetu kusimamishwa.
Tatizo limewekwa! Kurasa nakala, akaunti imeboreshwa, mambo yanapaswa kwenda haraka kuliko hapo awali. Bado nina matatizo ya kusuluhisha kurasa zangu – unaweza kugundua baadhi 404 makosa hadi nijue nini kinaendelea na hayo…
Kila mtu anajulikana na maarufu kichwa cha kifo cha mwewe, lakini nadhani ni aibu tumeeneza tabia mbaya kama hii. Hapo juu ni Neotropical Arctiinae mwenye furaha zaidi kutoka French Guiana ambaye anaonekana kama anacheza sura ya mcheshi.. Cha kusikitisha ni kwamba hii sio picha yangu, lakini unapaswa kuchukua muda kuchunguza Lepidopterists wa Ufaransa tovuti. Picha zao kutoka kwa safari zao za kila mwaka hunitia wivu!
