מאנטיק מאָט

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 LAalthough in recent decades the numbers of this moth have been declining with habitat destruction and the invasion of beach grass (Ammophila arenaria). אבער . . . → לייענען מער: מאנטיק מאָט

מאנטיק מאָט

Today’s moth is a beautiful and rare species from SE Arizona and Mexico: Lerina incarnata (ערעבידאַע: אַרקטיינאַע). 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 (ונטער).

Lerina incarnata (ערעבידאַע: אַרקטיינאַע)

 

This . . . → לייענען מער: מאנטיק מאָט

אַלע ניו, באַפאַלן מאָטהס!

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 ofyou eat 8 spiders a year while sleeping“. Actually when you google that the number ranges from 4 to 8… אַרויף צו . . . → לייענען מער: אַלע ניו, באַפאַלן מאָטהס!

מאנטיק מאָט

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 forat least a few hundred years.

Grammia . . . → לייענען מער: מאנטיק מאָט

Arizona followup

Map/% updated June 20, 6PM.

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, the Monument fire. This one is only 10% 17% 15% 27% contained and is burning in the southern end of the Huachuca Mountains . . . → לייענען מער: Arizona followup

מאנטיק מאָט

Whoops, it’s almost Tuesday! Above is Schinia ligeae (נאָקטוידאַע) resting on its host plant Xylorhiza tortifolia, the Mojave Aster. I photographed this about three weeks ago outside the town of Big Pine, קאַליפאָרניאַ. The asters were thick in the valleys below the snow capped Sierra, and the moths were abundant. . . . → לייענען מער: מאנטיק מאָט

Genius of the Press XVIII

 

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 . . . → לייענען מער: Genius of the Press XVIII

Sunday Moth

 

Everyone is familiar with the famous death’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, אָבער . . . → לייענען מער: Sunday Moth

Blue Oak Ranch Reserve

A few weeks ago I was invited to join a Berkeley entomology class out in the field for the weekend. Our destination was the Blue Oak Ranch Reserve; one of the newest reserves to the University of California system located just outside of San Jose on Mount Hamilton (map below). It was a . . . → לייענען מער: Blue Oak Ranch Reserve

זשעני פון די דרוק קסוויי

Usually I come across horrible entomology articles regularly enough that I save a backlog for future series. This hasn’t been the case over the last few weeks, I haven’t come across the normal array of terrible media crud. Maybe I just get jaded and stop looking as carefullybut this week I even came . . . → לייענען מער: זשעני פון די דרוק קסוויי