Archivos de diario de febrero 2020

19 de febrero de 2020

Saving effort finding observations

Here's a tip for finding new observations to add to the project without having to sort through observations that are already in the project. For example, let's say that you want to look for parasitized caterpillars of the Northern Apple Sphinx moth.

Start with this link, which provides all of the observations on iNaturalist that are not part of this project (might be slow, since it's currently 34 million observations):
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?has%5B%5D=photos&not_in_project=bus-passengers-parasitoids-on-or-in-caterpillars&place_id=any&verifiable=any

Then in the Species search box at the top, type Northern Apple Sphinx. The number of qualifying observations drops to 300-something, and this group retains the property of not already being in the project. You might need to click on the "Grid" format to scroll through them if the page defaulted to "Map" or "List" format.

Publicado el 19 de febrero de 2020 por d2b d2b | 3 comentarios | Deja un comentario

24 de febrero de 2020

Documented parasitoid/host pairs

Below are a couple of references that list documented parasitoid/host pairs involving lepidoptera. The list in the Tuskes book has notes referring to the primary literature for each parasitoid/host pair.

Arnaud, P.H. 1978. A host-parasite catalog of North American Tachinidae (Diptera). USDA Misc. Publ. no 1319. Washington, D.C.

Krombein, K.V., P.D. Hurd, Jr., D.R. Smith, and B.D. Burks. 1979. Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico. Vol. 1, Symphyta and Apocrita (Parasitica). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Tuskes, P.M., J.P. Tuttle, and M.M. Collins. 1996. The Wild Silk Moths of North America, a Natural History of the Saturnidae of the United States and Canada [Appendix 1]. Cornell University Press.

Publicado el 24 de febrero de 2020 por d2b d2b | 2 comentarios | Deja un comentario

25 de febrero de 2020

When complex is simpler! Suggested name changes to improve accuracy.

In our world of parasitized caterpillars there are three very commonly used identifications:

  1. Hornworm Parasitic Wasp Cotesia congregata
    Applied to practically all wasp pupae that parasitize Sphinx caterpillars.

  2. White Butterfly Wasp Cotesia glomerata
    Applied to most wasp pupae that parasitize the Cabbage Butterfly family Pieridae

  3. Saddleback Caterpillar Wasp Cotesia empretiae
    Applied to most wasp pupae that parasitize Saddleback Caterpillars in the Acharia genus

While these terms are extremely useful in specifying the kind of caterpillar parasitized, they are inaccurate as to the exact species of Cotesia involved. Thanks @josefernandez-triana for pointing this out to my attention. I have asked if it would be possible to change each of these designations to refer to a complex of related species rather than a single species. As it is, these three species C. congregata, C. glomerata, and C. empretiae represent a whole lot of species yet to be better known, or even to be discovered. We need simplification with proper representation!

Publicado el 25 de febrero de 2020 por botanicaltreasures botanicaltreasures | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario
Vida Silvestre es una entidad asociada a la Organización Mundial de Conservación