RBD #747 Slender scotch burnet (fr: Zygène du lotier)

RBD #747 Slender scotch burnet (fr: Zygène du lotier)

A day-flying moth (Zygaena loti) with bright colours, so it has a nasty taste. This comes from precursors to hydrogen cyanide (linamarin and lotaustralin) synthesized and collected for self defense. But split them open and you find a tiny ball of sweet nectar; a wonderful treat for the children from northern Italy wandering through the meadows on a hot summer day. The whole moths are somewhat toxic, with an LD50 of 170 moths for a small child, though dizziness and intoxication would set in well before.[DOI:10.2993/0278-0771-29.1.64]

On the right is a green Cryptocephalus leaf beetle, whose larvae are protected by a shell of dung.[wikipedia:Camptosomata] This is initially prepared by their mother, but they extend it as they grow older. “Leave No Trace” taken to the limit.

2023-07-12 Ruisseau des Moulins, Montricher-Albanne, France

RBD #748 Five-spot burnet (fr: Zygène du trèfle)

RBD #748 Five-spot burnet (fr: Zygène du trèfle)

A pair of burnet moths (Zygaena trifolii?* (right) and Z. osterodensis (left)) on a pincushion flower (Scabiosa sp) with some bug eggs between (Graphosoma italicum?). Most moths use odour to find mates, with the female wearing a strong perfume that attracts males from afar. Most butterflies use sight,** with the males flying around until they spot a perching female. Z. trifolii, a day-flying moth, does both. In the mornings, the female will perch up high and wait for the male but in the afternoons she will be deep in the grass emitting pheromones.[doi:10.1017/S0007485316000158]

2023-07-12 Ruisseau des Moulins, Montricher-Albanne, France

* The genus name Zygaena comes from Ancient Greek for hammerhead shark. The species name trifolii comes from Ancient Greek for clover, which is not the host plant.
** This image shows the visual acuity of longwing butterflies.[doi:10.1098/rsbl.2023.0476] Moths are forced into the olfactory strategy because they fly at night. One wonders how poor it must be if the visual strategy is preferred for diurnal butterflies and moths.
*** Found the following while reading about Zygaena. It’s a caterpillar-eat-caterpillar world out there: Hofmann A and Kia-Hofmann T (2012) Cannibalism of unhatched siblings by larvae of burnet moths (Zygaena Fabricius, 1775), with notes on oophagy and the behaviour of newly hatched larvae (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae). Entomologist’s Gazette 63:3-36

RBD #749 European striped shield bug (fr: Le graphosome d'Italie)

RBD #749 European striped shield bug (fr: Le graphosome d'Italie)

Aposematic: Away from danger (Ancient Greek). Bright colours to advertise that Graphasoma italicum emits a defensive odour when disturbed. If you have a supply of fresh fennel and lots of seeds you, too, can raise your own colony (8400 eggs per week, with minimal cannibalism or inbreeding![1]) Not enough to make an omelet, but great for breeding parasitic wasps to protect your hazelnut crop.[2]

2023-07-12 Ruisseau des Moulins, Montricher-Albanne, France

[1] Binazzi, Francesco, et al. "An effective method for Graphosoma lineatum (L.) long-term rearing." Redia 98.1 (2016): 155-160. [2] DOI:10.1080/09670874.2017.14

RBD #750 Attulus rupicola

RBD #750 Attulus rupicola

Jumping spider species (Salticidae) can leap up to 10 cm,[1] deploying a drag line for control and braking. For the full bungee experience, they anchor their line, snapping back with their prey dangling in the air. This even works in zero gravity, after a few bumps on the head during trial-and-error learning.[2] A single meal is enough to last them several days,[3] or the many months of hibernation for those with 2-3 year life-cycles.[4]

2023-07-12 Ruisseau des Moulins, Montricher-Albanne, France

[1] Hill, D. E. 2018. The jumping behavior of jumping spiders: a review (Araneae: Salticidae). Peckhamia 167.1: 1-8. [2] Hill, D. E. 2016. Jumping spiders in outer space (Araneae: Salticidae). Peckhamia 146.1: 1-7. [3] Bruce, Will. 2024. How often to feed your jumping spider.  TheSpiderBlog [4] Matsumoto, Seiji, and Yasunosuke Chikuni. 1987. Notes on the life history of Sitticus fasciger (Simon, 1880)(Araneida, Salticidae). Journal of Arachnology 205-212. DOI:10.2307/3705730

RBD #751 Oak spider (Female; fr: Épeire cirée)

RBD #751 Oak spider (Female; fr: Épeire cirée)

An orb weaver rather than a jumping spider, Aculepeira ceropegia spins her web and waits for her prey. Webs are recycled every few days giving her some water and veg (pollen makes up ¼ of the diet for juvenile spiders).[DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0082637] The much smaller male mostly doesn’t bother with a web. Instead he will reel out some silk and let the wind carry him in search of a mate (“ballooning”).

Gravity plays a role in web building. Various schemes have been devised to test this, such as attaching a weight to the spider or rotating the box during the build. You can even send them into space, but be sure to feed them! They don’t build nice webs when they are dying of hunger and thirst (1973 Spacelab). Live fruit flies seemed like a good idea, until the population explosion covered the observation windows (2008 ISS). The reprise (2011 ISS) went much more smoothly, with characteristic asymmetric webs constructed by golden silk spiders (RBD #483) when the lights were on. In the dark they lacked direction and only built circular webs.[DOI:10.1007/s00114-020-01708-8]

2023-07-12 Ruisseau des Moulins, Montricher-Albanne, France

RBD #752 Empis tessellata (Female; fr: Empis marqueté)

RBD #752 Empis tessellata (Female; fr: Empis marqueté)

Normally nectar drinkers, the wedding day calls for a heartier meal. Guys are expected to catch an insect to present as a nuptial gift. Food in hand, he flies into a swarm to hook up with a willing female. If his gift is acceptable they retire to a nearby leaf, and a few minutes later (2.94 ± 0.84; n=27) it is back to the dance. Only a bit of the gift is consumed each time but after several rounds it’ll be sucked dry and rejected. Time to catch another gift, which may happen to be a rival male. Some guys cheat, and instead of an insect they will pick a bit of willow fluff to mold into a ball. This is usually rejected, but try enough times and you might get lucky! [DOI:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1999.tb00987.x]

Although catching insects is hard work, the alternative used by E. trigramma is harder. Males of this species convert some of their body mass into liquid as a gift for the female. After several rounds, each with a different female, he becomes emaciated and dies. By the end of the mating period most of the males are gone, and those guys that were rejected earlier start to look pretty good.

2023-07-12 Ruisseau des Moulins, Montricher-Albanne, France

RBD #753 Hairy-eyed flower fly (Male; Dutch: Bosbandzweefvlieg)

RBD #753 Hairy-eyed flower fly (Male; Dutch: Bosbandzweefvlieg)

Syrphus torvus (from Greek for “fierce”) has hair growing out of its eyes (shown here). This is not uncommon for insects, but most require a microscope to see them. The hairs act like eyelashes, keeping dust off the lenses. By lowering wind on the surface by 90% they reduce evaporation.[doi:10.1140/epjst/e2015-50094-x] They also act as airflow sensors: shave them off and honey bees fly slower and report the wrong direction relative to the sun in their post-flight dance.[doi:10.1007/bf00367159; doi:10.1007/BF00367159]

2023-07-13 Les Karellis, France

RBD #754 Common drone fly (Male; fr: Éristale tenace)

RBD #754 Common drone fly (Male; fr: Éristale tenace)

Eristalis tenax on Doronicum grandiflorum (large-leafed leopard’s bane). Another amazing bee mimic from the Syrphidae family.

2023-07-14 Pointe de Chaudannes, Montricher-Albanne, France

RBD #755 Leafcutter Bee (Male; Fr Mégachiles)

RBD #755 Leafcutter Bee (Male; Fr Mégachiles)

Megachile sp on Bidens aristosa. Perhaps Megachile rotundata, the alfalfa leafcutter bee. A solitary bee, each female will cut pieces of leaf and bring them back to her nest to form chambers for her eggs. She fills each chamber with regurgitated nectar and pollen swept from her abdomen, providing enough food for her children to become adults. In exchange she provides pollination service. When supplied with 100,000 to 150,000 bees per hectare, an alfalfa seed crop yield increases 14-fold, producing 1300 kg of seed, compared to 450 kg/ha for honey bees and 90 kg/ha for unmanaged crops.[DOI:10.1146/annurev-ento-120709-144836] Curiously they are not very common in alfalfa fields in their native Europe.

2023-09-03 Bethesda, MD

BD #756 Eurasian bee beetle (Male; fr Trichie fasciée)

BD #756 Eurasian bee beetle (Male; fr Trichie fasciée)

Trichius fasciatus on Heracleum sphondylium.  A scarab beetle dressed like a bee to warn off predators, it was featured in the first publication by Alfred Russel Wallace, the entirety of which reads:

Capture of Trichius fasciatus near Neath --- I took a single specimen of this beautiful insect on a blossom of Carduus heterophyllus near the falls at the top of Neath Vale.[Zoologist 5:1676 (1847)]

You can tell he’s male because his legs aren’t built for digging. A female would have large spikes on the end of the tibia to burrow into rotting wood and deposit her eggs.[Wikipedia] Yet again, the female is the homemaker.

2023-07-13 Les Karellis, France

RBD #757 Spotted firebug (fr: La punaise de la jusquiame)

RBD #757 Spotted firebug (fr: La punaise de la jusquiame)

Corizus hyoscyami is easily spotted with its bright red back. These are not mimics, but bugs with defenses that warrant the “don’t eat me” signal. It seems they pick up hyoscyamine in their diet, for example, from henbanes (fr: jusquiame; genus Hyoscyamus). This is an alkaloid that messes with the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, acting as a powerful hallucinogen. Used by witches, it gives the sense of flying (grind henbane seeds into fat and rub it on a broom handle so it can be absorbed through the thin membranes of the nether regions as you ride). Or like the Oracle of Delphi, burn the seeds and breathe the smoke so you can see the future. Circe used henbane to turn Odysseus’ crew into pigs (the genus hyos + kyamus means “hog bean” in Greek).

2023-07-12 Ruisseau des Moulins, Montricher-Albanne, France

[1] Paulsen, BS (2010). Highlights through the history of plant medicine. In Bioactive compounds in plants-benefits and risks for man and animals, Ed. A. Bernhoft, p18-29.
[2] Alizadeh A, Moshiri M, Alizadeh J, Balali-Mood M. (2014) Black henbane and its toxicity - a descriptive review. Avicenna J Phytomed. 4(5): 297-311.

RBD #758 Alpine aster (fr: Aster des Alpes)

RBD #758 Alpine aster (fr: Aster des Alpes)

Native to alpine meadows, Aster alpinus is adapted to a harsh life with poor soil. This makes it a lovely ground cover for a rocky area of your garden. In Pakistan, the flowers are used for respiratory ailments such as whooping cough or for malarial fever.[DOI:10.1016/j.jep.2016.02.039]

2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France

BD #759 Alpine forget-me-not (fr: Myosotis alpestre)

BD #759 Alpine forget-me-not (fr: Myosotis alpestre)

Myosotis alpestris is another high altitude plant adopted by gardeners, with many cultivars available in your local seed supplier. The genus was named by Linnaeus for the leaves (greek myos+otis = mouse’s ear). That’s a little surprising given that the common name forget-me-not has been used most languages (Vergissmeinnicht,  nomeolvides, nontiscordardimé, niezapominajki,, vergeet-mij-nietje, ne-m'oubliez-pas, …) since Medieval times.[Wikipedia] Even Chinese uses 勿忘我 (don’t-forget-me) or 勿忘草 (don’t-forget-grass), which was borrowed by Japanese and Korean.[Wiktionary]

2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France

RBD #760 Alpine toadflax (fr: Linaire des Alpes)

RBD #760 Alpine toadflax (fr: Linaire des Alpes)

Linaria alpina: From latin linum because the leaves of toadflax resemble those of flax. The relation to toads in the name is not clear,[1] but seems to be unique to English. This is yet another alpine plant adapted for rock gardens. It was already present in England by 1570,[2] well before the gardening craze of the 1800s. I’m surprised that alpine plants need protection from frost in the English countryside; they don’t have the blanket of snow for insulation that they have in their native Alps. 

2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France

[1] https://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/pal/why-is-linaria-called-toadflax [2] Gorer, R., & Harvey, J. H. (1979). Early Rockeries and Alpine Plants. Garden History, 7(2), 69. DOI:10.2307/1586606

RBD #761 Glacier crowfoot (fr: la renoncule des glaciers)

RBD #761 Glacier crowfoot (fr: la renoncule des glaciers)

Surviving off the tears of dying glaciers, Ranunculus glacialis is not just cold tolerant, but heat intolerant. These alpine buttercups need the steady moist coolness provided by extended snow melt to keep their roots cool and maintain carbon balance.[1] Because the growing season is short, they are adapted to pushing out leaves quickly as soon as it warms. But they have no “off switch”, so when it warms too much they exhaust their stored carbon. Other alpine Ranunculus species (e.g., R. pygmaeus) control their respiration, allowing them to survive in warmer soil.

2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France

[1] Cooper, E. J. (2004). Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Thermal Acclimation of Root Respiration in Arctic *Ranunculus*. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 36(3), 308–313. DOI:10.1657/1523-0430(2004)036[0308:OOSOO

RBD #762 European globe flower (fr: Trolle d’Europe)

RBD #762 European globe flower (fr: Trolle d’Europe)

Trollius europaeus, from Old German Trol meaning “globe”, because the flower never opens. The pollination economics are unusual in that service is rewarded with both nectar and seeds.[DOI:10.1007/BF00377197] Flies of the genus Chiastocheta, squeeze between the petals to find a comfy little room inside. Males zip from flower to flower hoping to find a mate, but it seems that oviposition (egg laying) is the primary pollination method.* Because the larvae grow by eating seeds the female is careful to lay one or sometimes two eggs per flower, depositing a little pollen along with each egg  (C. rotundiventris). Seed set rate is relatively stable up to about 10 eggs per flower (C. trollii, C. inermella), with more eggs leading to more pollination. Of course there are cheaters who pick the largest flowers with the most seeds and ignore the existing load (C. dentifera), in one case leading to 83 eggs on a single flower. Somehow systems survive such abuse (up until they don’t).

2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France

* 25% of flowers were pollinated without eggs present, so males must have some effect

RBD #763 Purple emperor (fr: Le grand mars changeant)

RBD #763 Purple emperor (fr: Le grand mars changeant)

Apatura iris(?), a butterfly which feeds on the honeydew secreted by aphids in deciduous forests (el. 1350-1600m) found itself high in the mountains near Pointe d’Emy (2750m). Unfortunately it didn’t pose for photos, so I can’t show its vibrant blue diffraction grating on top of pigmented brown scales.[DOI:10.1002/jemt.22021] Why did the butterfly climb the ridge? Perhaps like us it was out for some exercise and enjoying the view of the Aiguilles d’Arves in the distance. These sandstone peaks were laid down 35 MYA along deep underwater valleys formed by the nascent Alps. Called turbidite, a great river carried clay, silt, sand and gravel into the remnants of the Tethys Sea, settling out in finer and finer grain sizes as it flowed. Further movement pushed the entire seabed up into the jagged mountains we see today, 3500 m above sea level.[1]

2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France

[1] Rob Butler (2023) The Annot Sandstone Part 1 and Part 2. [YouTube videos]

RBD #764 Chimney sweeper (fr: Ramoneur)

RBD #764 Chimney sweeper (fr: Ramoneur)

An Odezia atrata moth “puddling” on my arm. With a diet of plant sap as a caterpillar and nectar as an adult, essential minerals such as sodium and nitrogen are hard to come by. Where there are high concentrations such as wet mud, dung, carrion or sweat then you may get a dozen butterflies or moths crowding around to get suck up what they need. Apparently it’s a guy thing; they get a little more energy for flight and they transfer extra nutrients during copulation, though that doesn’t seem to help them with the ladies. [DOI:10.1093/aesa/saaf007]

2023-07-10 La Plagnel, Montricher-Albanne, France

RBD #765 Mazarine blue (fr: Azuré des anthyllides)

RBD #765 Mazarine blue (fr: Azuré des anthyllides)

More puddling, this time by Cyaniris semiargus [Polyommatinae] (from Greek “Blue rainbow half-Argus [Many-eyed]”). The species name semiargus presumably refers to Argus Panoptes (“All-seeing”), the 100-eyed giant set by Hera to guard the nymph Io from the wandering attention of Zeus.[Wikipedia] The French name “blue of the kidney vetch” comes from Anthyllis vulgaris, a host plant for the caterpillars. The English name presumably comes from the rich blue of 18th century ceramics from Chelsea and Derby.[encyclopedia.design] It is unclear why this was called Mazarine Blue, though perhaps it was named for the blue on the cover of the Mazarine Bible,[Wikipedia] one of the original bibles printed by Gutenberg, which is located in la Bibliothèque Mazarine[Wikipedia] in Paris. 

2023-07-12 Lac de Pramol, Montricher-Albanne, France

RBD #766 Centaur

RBD #766 Centaur

In the constellation Sagittarius (Latin sagitta+arius = arrow agent, or archer), depicted as centaur with bow drawn, lies Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of our galaxy.[1] With 4 million solar masses it has entire star systems in its orbit.[Wikipedia] For example, S2, a star 14x larger than the sun, has been tracked through its entire 16 year cycle. This is really fast, up to 2.5% the speed of light. In comparison, the dwarf planet Sedna with approximately the same orbit requires more than 11,000 years to complete its cycle.

2023-07-14 Pointe de Chaudannes, Montricher-Albanne, France

[1] Fletcher, S. (2022).  The First Picture of the Black Hole at the Milky Way’s Heart Has Been Revealed. SA Space & Physics 5(3). DOI:[10.1038/scientificamerican062022-D9jmr5UqK6kYZeCOIM0go]