Zrodí se duch

Welcome to the new year, and nearly a full year of blogging! It’s amazing how fast the time flew by, but again it always does. As you likely noticed December turned out to be my weakest posting month with a whopping 2 posts. Resolution: more posting!

Now I haven’t started blogging about music (for those . . . → Přečtěte si více: Zrodí se duch

Biology of a Ghost

This moth is just about as rare as its paranormal namesake (except that it’s real) – it’s a Gazoryctra sp. in the family Hepialidae. They represent a basal lineage of the Lepidoptera and are commonly known as ghost moths or swift moths. Ghostbecause males of some species are known to fly in . . . → Přečtěte si více: Biology of a Ghost

Just too Easy

Přirozeně, it was named Phallus drewsii. This comes form the list of the top 10 species named in 2009, complied by Arizona State University (not a very good list if 7 of my new species weren’t on there…). While I tend to avoid phallic and O’Keeffesque botany, this one I couldn’t resist because it . . . → Přečtěte si více: Just too Easy

Taxonomie Fail

Recently came across some ridiculously horrible taxonomy from China (.pdf). Pokud se trochu posunete dolů, uvidíte anglický překlad. Na první pohled to vypadá jako standardní taxonomický papír s popisy druhů s odhalenými kostmi. Možná se zamyslíte i nad sebou, “aha, divit se, proč popisují druhy pouze z jednoho exempláře”. Not the . . . → Přečtěte si více: Taxonomie Fail

Možná jezdím moc

Dnes odpoledne se v San Franciscu protrhly mraky a začalo svítit slunce. Nadcházející teplé počasí vyvolalo až příliš známý pocit, že bych měl být venku sbírat hmyz a ne sedět doma! Zatímco letos na jaře jsem už byl na pár místech, I have a long season of collecting . . . → Přečtěte si více: Možná jezdím moc

Aquamoth!

Another amazing animal from Hawaiia completely amphibious caterpillar (published in the March 22 PNAS). While there are a few aquatic Lepidoptera, all of them have gills that keep them restricted to the water (mysli na to, we are talking only about the larval stage). If their stream dries up, so does the caterpillar. . . . → Přečtěte si více: Aquamoth!

Inaugural post

Tak, how do I begin a new blog? Tough question, but perhaps this is a good time to show off a fun new species. This moth was collected last year outside of Santa Barbara, CA. The massive wingspan, at 15mm, makes it pretty large for a Gelechiid moth. The genus, Gnorimoschema (pronounced nor-a-mosh-ma), . . . → Přečtěte si více: Inaugural post