Merry Christmas!!

Mystery Arctiid Moth If anyone know what this gorgeous angel is please feel free to drop by and tell me =) One of many lovelies I found during research binges.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

First off to anyone reading this I wish you a splendid one and a wonderful New Year =) Secondly, long long time no see. I know I haven't posted on here often and I apologize. Life's a pain sometimes. XD I've been back and forth with so much it's amazing I haven't completely cracked under the stress and strain of it all. Idk  what's holding me all together (despite the fact that I've "broken" many times) but I'm extremely thankful for it.....whatever it maybe.

I think in part some of it has to do with my little friends. =) They have been wonderful this year. Once again they've outdone themselves. God bless you all =) So while I'm sitting here on this late/early Christmas morning/night (it's 2:27AM here) drinking hot cocoa and chai (most fave drinks in the world) I've been browsing the internet on various things and have come across some entomological Christmas carols that I'd like to share with you ^^

This is one of them:

Parcoblatta lata Wonderland
(to the tune of “Winter Wonderland”)

Roaches stink, are you smellin’?
Pheromones, they’re a-tellin’.
So succulent-sweet, what woodpeckers eat.
Parcoblatta lata wonderland.

Dr. Schal took a reading.
Found the compounds for breeding
By using some gas as roaches chased ass.
Parcoblatta lata wonderland.

Nuclear magnetic resonating
Let him know what turned a suitor on.
Then he synthesized a mix for baiting
And watched the males all falling for the con.

Now his sexy solution
Tells about evolution:
Viagra for some, for others it’s dumb.
Parcoblatta lata wonderland.

(Instrumental)

People say the lata’s a home-wrecker,
But the bugs are happy in the wood,
‘Til they’re chomped by red-cockaded pecker
Who wants a lata latte in the ‘hood.

Synthesized, it’s a winner.
“Go get laid, then be dinner!”
That pheromone blend helps avian friend.
Parcoblatta lata wonderland.
Parcoblatta lata wonderland.

Source:
“Cockroach Hookup Signal Could Benefit Endangered Wildlife”
NCSU Newsroom
http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/168mkschalpnas/

This pure genius! Whoever comes up with these masterpieces deserves a medal or something. Now anyone know of any Lepidopteran ones? Should I find anything more throughout the day I'll happily post it.

If all goes well there maybe more then one post for today. ^^ I dare say such a thing is greatly needed IMO.  Me thinks a Google search is in order. 

Merry Christmas! 

ɛïɜ

The Heliconiid Identification Project (H.I.P)

......."Both of those are melpomene I think - again hybrids with weird combination of genes but mainly from the east Ecuador hybrid zone around Puyo between H. melpomene plesseni and H. melpomene malleti."

- Chris Jiggins 

First off long time no see!! Haven't posted for forever I know.....life's complicated. XD  Secondly I eat, sleep, and shit, butterflies. ^^ More so then ever before.......♥♥♥

And now on to the fun stuff. 

So a while back (sometime last year) I had wrote about my frustrations that there weren't any guides/books on the Heliconiidae. I mean these butterflies are so versatile and there's practically nothing (book wise except for ONE) on them. -_-. So I have taken matters in to my own hands........

.....until someone wises up I have consulted every PDF I could get my hands on these fascinating butterflies and have contacted 2 extremely wonderful experts one of which has ID'd a bunch for me and is quoted here for future reference (hope you don't mind ^^):

Is believed to be a H. melpomene x H. cydno hybrid. Possible ID made by the wonderful Chris Jiggins



Believed to be a melpomene........neither one of us has seen anything like this before. 0_0



" Heliconius erato cyrbia x H. himera is my guess" - Chris Jiggins

Photo of said H. erato cyrbia x H. himera hybrid. Very proud of this one. ^^*

I've also taken it upon myself to do this:

"Heliconius and Related Genera Plates (Holzinger & Holzinger)" which apparently is from the only actual book on them. 12 more pages to go and I'm done!

2 sets of ink cartridges this thing cost me. XD But it's worth every bit of it. It's been something I've been thinking about doing for the longest time. The NHM actually inspired me to do this after seeing their guide to all the butterflies in the exhibit that they could wind up having. 

Did I mention how much I love that place? ^^♥ There shall be more to come.......this isn't over until they're "all" identified. :P  Fun fun fun!

ɛïɜ