minor musings on the macrocosm
We saw plenty of bushtits, heard many more. But failed our primary objective: locating a nest. Blame multi-tasking. The dog had his own agenda, primarily involving ground-squirrels. And, I kept getting distracted by insects:
We did make some consolation discoveries at least. Apparently the university is developing a special breed of semi-log horse. Some limb-allometry project or something. At least that’s what I heard.
We also managed to see some Killdeer sex so, you know, net plus overall.
Looks like another slow march around these parts, well, more of dirge really. Hence the carrion which seems as reasonable a metaphor for the rancid stench that’s been lately gathering on the blog (except for the jumping spider of course, that was delightful!)
Believe it or don’t there is some inspiration here actually: Dr. Vector’s hilarious post about the curious case of a snapping turtle carcass, which in turn was inspired by Darren’s incredibly informative tutorial on the fine art of skeletonization.
All of which recalled this large Geochelone (probably G. sulcata) tortoise I stumbled upon last year in the hills above greater Los Angeles. How the poor bloke wound up like this I suppose I will never know although most likely somebody dumped it, hopefully post-mortem. It would have been nice to salvage the thing (Matt’s suggestion of strapping it to the university van roof would have made for an entertaining spectacle), or perhaps I could have buried it on the spot and retrieved it later but, no such luck.
C’est la mort, I suppose.
Remember that old adage about flies and honey? Well, I suppose that explains Dr. Vector’s recent bizarre display of uncharacteristic magnanimity toward microecos. And I didn’t even have to bribe him with free tickets to “Robot Dinosaurs Gone Wild!”
Still, I have to say it’s rather unsettling when Matt effing Wedel compliments you. It’s like when someone comes up to you out of the blue and says “hey, nice shirt.” You just stand there staring back blankly, waiting for the “too bad you have such an ugly face” follow-up.
But seriously, I’m flattered. And the even better news is that I’ve worked out a 3.3 million dollar syndication contract with Univision. So put down your signs, get back to work, strike’s over baby!
Of course, I’m not at liberty to discuss the details of the deal but suffice to say there will be a lot more chicks in bikinis and fat guys dressed up like giant babies around here from now on… $ 3.3 million! That’s like easily 1000 euros right? Snap!
Sorry, I mean “¡GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!”
Moral of the story: “Honey works well for catching flies. But you just can’t beat a ginormous steaming, fetid pile of B.S.” QEFD
Stay tuned for a 2 year anniversarial spectacular in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile I might throw together an insightful, deeply-probibing post or two. So, uh, hold your breath.
Wow, 100% of respondents correctly guessed the ‘micromystery’ , unscientific polling suggests similar results by those who played at home…
Because, I suppose, of my photography people have developed a picture of me as an expert entomophile. I often get queries and anecdotes on the order of, ‘I found this beetle in my sink, yesterday, it was black with red spots…’
In fact, short of a lecture or two in an invertebrate biology class way back at the turn of the century, I have very little formal education in the ways of terrestrial arthropods.
Of course, you can learn far more about arthropods simply by watching them, than you can from a thousand lectures. Unfortunately, I must admit that I didn’t really pay much attention until relatively recently. Read the rest of this entry »
It gets worse (better?). Those frisky Asian Lady Beetles (Harmonia axyridis), stars of a previous post, are at it again. But this time they’ve brought a male Convergent Lady Beetle (Hippodamia convergens) along for the ride.
As if polyamory wasn’t risque enough, these beetles are blatantly breaking the “inter-species sex taboo“. I imagine the “spicy” personal ad in the Ladybird Beat went something like this:
Mature Asian couple seeks unattached male Coccinellid, gender unimportant, microsporidia and std free, for friendship first…then?
It’s nice to see a California native (though widely exported as a pest-control agent) on top, even if he is a bit too typically misguided.
I would not expect viable offspring to result from a Harmonia x Hippodamia mating, though my knowledge of the breeding biology of beetles is rather slim.
I also came across a Harmonia larva, mowing down aphids on a Fava:
Much commentary on the Pharyngula prop centered upon negative impacts resulting from the introduction of the Asian Lady (H. axyridis). No doubt may Harmonia may well turn out to be the beetle equivalent of the starling or mongoose. Still, I have to confess a personal respect for these super-predators after watching larva and adult alike carve swathes through pulsating flocks of aphids.
I also stumbled across a mating Crane Fly (family Tipulidae) couple adopting a more exotic position in the onion rows:
Crane Flies are throbbing here in California just as they are in Maryland and surely much of the Northern Hemisphere. Better Crane Fly pics and much more, including a stacking of Japanese Beetles that puts the ladybugs to shame, can be found at the Bug Love portion of whatsthatbug.com.
I’m still standing on the elytra of goliaths.
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