Cryptoentomology

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03.02.2012 9:17, Dracus

Against the background of winter boredom, I remembered a cryptoentomological story from my distant childhood. At that time, my family visited the village of Vityazevo, near Anapa, every summer. One of the attractions was the vineyards stretching for many kilometers behind the village. In those years, either the chemicals were used differently, or they were not treated so regularly, but, one way or another, insects - the most common, cicadas there, dragonflies - were in these vineyards. Along their edges, along the roads, there were a lot of fillies, to which, of course, I was not indifferent

Once, during an evening walk along the edge of the vineyard, a large filly flew out from under my feet. When she landed a few meters away from me, right into a camel thorn, she immediately got stuck in it. When I was ready to catch it, I ran up - and was taken aback by the surprise. The filly was bright and noticeable, white (!) color, covered with a contrasting black pattern of stripes and spots. The seconds of delay cost me my loot. My hand dropped to an empty spot. And that, having got out of the bush, jumped up and flew 30 meters deep into the vineyard, immediately disappearing behind the trellis. I couldn't find her, of course, and it was already dark.
I still remember this meeting very clearly and I am sure that what I saw is not an exaggeration typical of children's perception. Here is the only photo taken by Ted C. Macrae that vaguely reminded me of that locust field. This is one of the color forms of the famous North American "lichen" filly - Trimerotropis saxatilis McNeill, 1901. And even the instance in this photo is much darker than the one I missed. Of course, the probability of meeting this species in our country tends to zero, and probably it was some rare color form of Sphingonotus or Sphingoderus. However, I have never met either of them in the vicinity of Vityazevo. Even more interesting is how a filly with such a color could survive and survive to the imago...

Pictures:
picture: Ted_C._Macrae.jpg

Ted_C._Macrae.jpg — (179.08к)

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11.02.2012 21:43, Горыныч23

Colleagues! Friends! Who can enlighten a layman about the steppe fat man?
I can't find any information about its distribution area. Nothing but the Red Book of Russia. It seems that everything is known about its Russian fate, it was rare, narrowly detailed, finds were not recorded often, and specialists have not met it for a long time. I wonder:
- where, apart from our country, did you meet him?
- how can we talk about its successful laboratory breeding, if the clutch is incubated for three to five years
- what do you think about this photo
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/4409/693276...3d80_888e95fe_L
it seems to be made recently in the Rostov region. Does it indicate that the fat man is still alive?

15.02.2012 15:55, Bad Den

As a child, in the village of Usali in the Republic of Tatarstan, I turned over stones in search of beetles. I saw an old roofing material lying on the ground. I turned it over and saw a black beetle 2.5-3 centimeters long with mandibles like a deer beetle. I quickly grabbed it, but it bit me painfully, fell out of my hands and ran away. Who could it be? Some kind of ground beetle?
Then, in the same field, I turned over stones and found a dark brown beetle half a centimeter long with three horns on its head. Who could it be? Some kind of dung beetle?

The dimensions that grunt in the memory from childhood are a relative thing

If the beetle "ran away", then it is definitely a ground beetle, deer are quite slow. For some reason, it seems to me that this is Broscus cephalotes

The beetle with 3 horns could be either Odonteus armiger or Typhoeus typhoeus, but its presence in Tatarstan is very doubtful, the former remains

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15.02.2012 16:49, Victor Titov

As a child, in the village of Usali in the Republic of Tatarstan, I turned over stones in search of beetles. I saw an old roofing material lying on the ground. I turned it over and saw a black beetle 2.5-3 centimeters long with mandibles like a deer beetle. I quickly grabbed it, but it bit me painfully, fell out of my hands and ran away. Who could it be? Some kind of ground beetle?

The dimensions that grunt in the memory from childhood are a relative thing
If the beetle "ran away", then it is definitely a ground beetle, deer are quite slow. For some reason, it seems to me that this is Broscus cephalotes

And for some reason it seems to me that it could have been a Carabus coriaceus (based on the size). However, what is there to guess now? Children's impressions are vivid, but...

18.02.2012 0:00, gonkem1986

I also have mysterious cases of insect encounters from my childhood that still come back to me.The first of them occurred in the Kemerovo region, near the city of Prokopyevsk in the village of Novosafonovo, a few kilometers from the border with the Altai Territory, where I spent every summer with my grandparents.One day,on the wooden staircase leading to the roof of the private house in which we lived,my sister found a huge beetle.In my memory, he remained as clearly belonging to the barbel, and to the woodcutters.Although I was still very young at the time and didn't know much about insects.Awareness of its systematic affiliation came much later with the acquisition of relevant knowledge.The beetle was comparable in size to the child's palm,i.e. 7-9 centimeters.In general build, it is similar to a relict barbel, only it was completely green in color with a metallic sheen.A couple of years later, I saw exactly the same barbel in the same place, it flew heavily and loudly and landed on the roof of the house, where it attracted the attention of sparrows that were slightly larger than it.I never saw or heard of anything like it again.
Another 1 case occurred in the city of Kemerovo.I was already older-a teenager.On the bank of the Tom River, I turned over rocks in search of interesting animals.Under one of them I found a huge freckle with velvet-black wings.The length of the wings was 4-5 centimeters,i.e. the span was about 10 centimeters.Then I let her go,because I was not very interested in this group of insects, and I was looking for something completely different,that is, I was "on a different wave".
Such are the memories) ...

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18.02.2012 23:37, gonkem1986

Maybe a musky sawyere?

And even the desire to take did not appear because of the size? What month was it?

I thought about the musky sawyere first of all because of the natural color.But apart from her, all the other signs clearly indicate that this is not him...
There was a desire to take the springberry, but there was no suitable container where it could be placed-the copy would clearly be lost...I think I used to catch lizards back then...I went to the riverbank and automatically,out of habit,turned over the first boulders that I found most appetizing, from my point of view...I caught it,picked it up,and realized that I wouldn't keep it(I can't put it in my pocket)...and let him go...which, after an indefinite amount of time, I regretted...I still regret it...The month was July or August...the heat was intense...Moreover, the body of the insect seemed to be quite bright yellow, which in combination with the velvet-black wings looked quite impressive...

This post was edited by gonkem1986 - 02/18/2012 23: 41

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07.03.2012 1:39, Dracus

Everything is approximately as described in the article, except for translation errors (the article was clearly translated from English) and just incorrect phrases, while the journalist is clearly not even close to the topic. In general, of course, this is one of the most cool entomological discoveries of the 2000s, in my opinion.

Dryococelus australis is a stick insect (order Phasmatodea, family Phasmatidae). Its English name is tree lobster and was translated as "wood lobster", in fact, the species does not have a Russian name. It was found en masse on Lord Howe Island, even to the point of being used as bait for fish. But in 1918, the cargo ship SS Makambo brought black rats to the island, and they quickly began to destroy the population of stick insects. The latter was caught in 1920, and in the 1930s the species became extinct (officially declared so in 1986).

As for the Bols Pyramids, until the 60s, no one tried to examine it in detail and the presence of a population of stick insects there was not known. The object is really interesting-it is a remnant of the volcano's caldera, about 7 million years old, unusually narrow (300 m wide with a length of 1.1 km) and high (562 m). Because of the obvious difficulties, only a few people attempted the ascent. In 1964, a team from Sydney led by Dick Smith tried to conquer the rock for the first time. One day, they found dried stickworm specimens right on the rocks and even photographed them. The climbers did not manage to complete the ascent, they left the rock 5 days after it began due to the depletion of water and food supplies. After them, other teams made successful ascents, but no one else was lucky on the stickman, and the species continued to be considered extinct. And in 1986, access to the rock was completely closed, and the search stopped.

And so, in 2001, the rock was first visited by a team of entomologists (David Priddel, Nicholas Carlile and two others). From the water, they could see small patches of vegetation that might have been suitable for stick insects. Climbing up there, entomologists found only a few grasshoppers. On the way back, they saw a single Melaleuca howeana bush on a very sloping section of rock, at an altitude of about 100 m, and under it - the excrement of a large insect. After examining the bush, they found no one and decided to return at night with flashlights. One can only imagine how difficult it was, especially for people who had very little mining experience. When they reached the plant, they almost immediately saw two magnificent specimens. In total, after examining the plant, they found 24 stick insects. Repeated surveys over the course of 2 years proved that this was indeed the only population on the rock. Naturally, it was immediately necessary to propagate them in culture. But Australia is known for its hypertrophied environmental laws, so it was only two years later that bureaucrats gave permission to capture two pairs for breeding in the laboratory. One pair was given to a well-known stickman keeper in Sydney, but the animals died two weeks later. The second pair was entrusted to Patrick Honan at Melbourne Zoo (pictured in your post). This pair gave rise to the laboratory population, although breeding was not without clouds (in particular, at the very beginning, "Eva" - the female from the original pair-became seriously ill, and the zoo staff shook her like a baby. The cure was only due to luck and intuition of Honan). As a result, by 2008, the population consisted of 700 specimens. This population will now be used for reintroduction to Lord Howe, after the black rats are eliminated there.

So this species became one of the most famous examples of the "Lazarus taxon" (when a taxon that was long considered extinct is found). In captivity, by the way, a lot of data was obtained on the biology and behavior of these stick insects, which were not known before. For example, males and females form permanent pairs, up to the point that the male (for protection purposes?) covers the female with its legs during sleep, and when awake tries to stay close. In Pearl's Russian-language article, " Females, laying eggs, create a clone of the male. Hatched males ensure the survival of the species" does not correspond to reality, since during parthenogenesis (reproduction without fertilization), females hatch from eggs, and this species is not even parthenogenetic (otherwise everything would be much easier

Balls Pyramid (photo by John White) and Nicholas Carley (photo by Patrick Honan):

This post was edited by Dracus - 07.03.2012 01: 44

Pictures:
picture: balls_pyramid_John_White.jpg

balls_pyramid_John_White.jpg — (29.18к)

picture: carlile_nick_Patrick_Honan.jpg

carlile_nick_Patrick_Honan.jpg — (47.33к)

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07.03.2012 11:45, Zlopastnyi Brandashmyg

In our department (ZIN RAS), the parcel with the material disappeared altogether. According to tracking, it left Italy, but did not arrive in Russia. Back in September-October, a search application was submitted, since then there have been no traces. There is a faint hope that the parcel is delivered somewhere at customs...

Yesterday we received the latest (unfortunately, literally) news.

Our laboratory assistant got through to Moscow, which in itself is not an occupation for the faint of heart, and heard that: "You were sent an official letter last year about the termination of the search, i.e. the parcel was finally lost. According to the law, only the sender has the right to claim damages. We will stop communicating with you." In form, the conversation was correct, but in essence-rudeness.

By the way, their "official letter" never reached us.

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11.12.2012 23:41, Wild Yuri

Thank you for the article. Read. I visited Gaivoronovskaya Sopka many years ago, but I didn't find the epicopee. It may have flown away. It was early August. I haven't looked in other areas, because I don't know the exact "loci". You need to know literally up to the tree. Epicopea, according to the stories of seaside entomologists, inhabits individual trees and "does not apply"to others. In fact, you need to walk with your head up and look at the elm trees all day. I walk like all entomologists, looking down and straight.

Two of the authors of the article, Glushchenko and Tarasov, are ornithologists. They are constantly looking into the trees. Good binoculars. It is much easier for them to detect epicopeia. For the last 25 years, I have no information about the discovery of epicopeia in our Far East. Maybe our species is extinct? In general, I will buy binoculars for next season and will walk in these and other places, peering into the crowns. No kidding. There is an epicopee. It can't help but be there!

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12.12.2012 3:07, Dracus

By the way, in connection with the epicopoeia, I just remembered a completely cryptoentomological case. In August 2008, in the Sukhodola Valley, descending from a hill near Romanovka and passing by several trees, I startled a very small butterfly from the rocks. That incredibly quickly disappeared from sight (and around-lespedets, you can not run), the only thing that I remember is a very dark, almost black color and prominent red spots. What is not an epicopee? But-not the right time, not the right place, I didn't pay much attention to those lonely trees, but I remember that around, in general, oak trees predominated. I'm sure it wasn't some catocala, but who was it?..

In general, a great place, Romanovka. And sericin flies, and Penelope, and much more.

12.12.2012 3:21, lepidopterolog

By the way, in connection with the epicopoeia, I just remembered a completely cryptoentomological case. In August 2008, in the Sukhodola Valley, descending from a hill near Romanovka and passing by several trees, I startled a very small butterfly from the rocks. That incredibly quickly disappeared from sight (and around-lespedets, you can not run), the only thing that I remember is a very dark, almost black color and prominent red spots. What is not an epicopee? But-not the right time, not the right place, I didn't pay much attention to those lonely trees, but I remember that around, in general, oak trees predominated. I'm sure it wasn't some catocala, but who was it?..
In general, a great place, Romanovka. And sericin flies, and Penelope, and many other things.

Alcina