I’ll keep the ball rolling with Arctiinae and post a photo today of Ctenucha brunnea. This moth can be common in tall grasses along beaches from San Francisco to LA – although in recent decades the numbers of this moth have been declining with habitat destruction and the invasion of beach grass (Ammophila arenaria). But . . . → Read More: Monday Moth
 One comment - (Comments are closed)  Entomology  California Academy of Sciences, Entomology, Lepidoptera, Monday Moth, Moths, Species Well as you may have guessed the subject isn’t as shocking as my title suggests, but I couldn’t help but to spin from the Guardian article. I really find it hilarious when I come across anything that says scientists are “astounded”, “baffled”, “shocked”, “puzzled”, – I guess that’s a topic for another time… Nevertheless a . . . → Read More: Curators Astounded! Share this! 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Butterflies, Entomology, Evolution, Genetics, Lepidoptera, Museums Today’s moth is a beautiful and rare species from SE Arizona and Mexico: Lerina incarnata (Erebidae: Arctiinae). Like many other day flying species it is brilliantly colored and quite likely aposematic. After all, the host plant is a milkweed and the caterpillar is just as stunning (below). Lerina incarnata (Erebidae: Arctiinae)
This . . . → Read More: Monday Moth Share this!
It seems like there is a preponderance of urban legends that involve insects crawling into our faces while we sleep. The most famous myth is something along the lines of “you eat 8 spiders a year while sleeping“. Actually when you google that the number ranges from 4 to 8… up to . . . → Read More: All New, Attack Moths! Share this! 5 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology, Skepticism Entomology, Health, Media, Moths, Myths, Skepticism, Spiders Micronecta scholtzi The hills of the European countryside are alive in the chorus of amorous, screaming, male aquatic bugs. The little insect above, Micronecta scholtzi (Corixidae), measures in at a whopping 2.3mm and yet produces a clicking/buzzing sound easily audible to the human ear above the water surface. To put that in . . . → Read More: The incredibly loud world of bug sex Share this! 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Bugs, Entomology, Genitalia, Hemiptera, Mating, Research Blogging, Sound Production I’m going to keep the ball rolling with this series and try to make it more regular. I will also focus on highlighting a new species each week from the massive collections here at the California Academy of Sciences. This should give me enough material for… at least a few hundred years. Grammia . . . → Read More: Monday Moth Share this! One comment - (Comments are closed) Entomology California Academy of Sciences, Collecting, Ecology, Entomology, Extinct, Lepidoptera, Monday Moth, Moths, Species Maps/containment % updated: 16 June As July approaches I being to look forward to the Pacific Coast meeting of the Lepidopterists’ Society. This year it will take place in Prescott Arizona, about 2 hours north of Phoenix. And as of this moment it is one of the few places in Arizona not on fire. . . . → Read More: Arizona on Fire Share this! One comment - (Comments are closed) Entomology Arizona, Conservation, Entomology, Fire, Hazards of Collecting, New Species 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 . . . → Read More: Take that, vertebrates! Share this!
Whoops, it’s almost Tuesday! Above is Schinia ligeae (Noctuidae) resting on its host plant Xylorhiza tortifolia, the Mojave Aster. I photographed this about three weeks ago outside the town of Big Pine, California. The asters were thick in the valleys below the snow capped Sierra, and the moths were abundant. . . . → Read More: Monday Moth Share this! 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Collecting, Entomology, Flowers, Lepidoptera, Moths, Photography
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 . . . → Read More: Genius of the Press XVIII Share this! One comment - (Comments are closed) Entomology, Skepticism Contest, Entomology, LBAM, Logical Fallacies, Moths, Skepticism |
Skepticism |
