#batesian

 For many who hike the Appalachian mountains or who live in well forested locations in proximity to there food source you may have seen this alien looking caterpillar before. This is the devils bite pipevine swallowtail caterpillar, or rather the larva of the blue pipevine swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor . I found this vibrantly colored larva climbing on an old firewatch tower information sign in the middle of Tennessee; which is a good indication to me that there may be some Aristolochia populations near by. 

Why is this species referred to as the “devils bite” ?

Similar to the famed monarch, this species is also known for leaving a burning, bitter, or distasteful taste in many predators mouths. It can also lead to discharging the larva or butterfly after an attempt to swallow the species.

The toxin of choice is Aristolochic acid, a heavily carcinogenic, mutagenic, and systematic long term nephrotoxic phytochemical that can cause serious damage to nervous systems as well as cause some very unique cancers. 

When I see these I become very excited as a botanist, this is because I associate them to: Aristolochia tomentosa, Isotrema macrophyllum, and Endodeca serpentaria. <- food sources in my area <3 

I also associate this species with the Appalachian/eastern members of genus Lilium because of these swallowtails being one of the best pollinators for this species. 

A Never-Before-Seen Mimicry Trick Has Just Been Recorded in Buzzing Bats

Scientists have discovered a clever mimicry trick used by some bats: they’ll buzz like hornets when they think they’re under threat from predators, giving the sonic impression they’re more dangerous than they actually are. It’s the first time behavior like this has been recorded in mammals, but it happens elsewhere in the animal kingdom – such as when the wings of moths are patterned to appear…

☹ - A sad or remorseful memory.

He remembers the moment everything started to fall apart.

It was a call from Mantis that alerted him, a tickle in the back of his head and the familiar rasp -- “Eli. Come here. Hurry.” That was all. The solemnity in his voice was enough to push him to move, fast, heading to the psychic’s location. The cells -- Octopus. 

His heart skipped a beat when he realized, and he felt ill, praying to deities he didn’t believe in that he was wrong. Please, no.

But he ran through the open doorway and stopped dead at the door to the cell, Mantis already kneeling next to the body. 

The body.

Octopus’s body.

The psychic had removed the mask, and his real face was visible, eyes closed and face pale. He was so still...undeniably dead. He’d seen enough dead men to know that.

He felt himself drop to his knees, reaching out to put a gloved hand over the disguise artist’s limp one. “How.” 

“FOXDIE,” Mantis replied. “The virus we heard about. It must have targeted the DARPA chief’s DNA or nanomachines Octopus was using.”

There was silence, and Liquid stood slowly, picking up his teammate’s -- his friend’s -- body, and laying it gently on the bed in the cell, arranging it carefully.

Something shifted in him, and his chest hurt, but he pushed it aside. Now, more then ever, they had to finish this. For his sake. For all their sakes.

He felt Mantis’s hand on his shoulder and didn’t push it off; they stayed there a moment, before he turned to look at the psychic. “No more deaths,” he said firmly.

Now, normally he wouldn’t have taken a second glance,  but he has to stop and look at the man carrying a bag of groceries. There’s something about him...he frowns, pulling down his sunglasses and watching a moment. The face is different (it’s always different), but his voice...the man says something in passing to a stranger on the street and he knows that voice.

In 1847, 22 year old self taught entomologist Henry Walter Bates convinced Alfred Russell Wallace to allow him to follow on his trip to the Amazonian rainforest.  Bates had no formal schooling but had already published a short paper on the beetles he had collected in the Charnwood Forest near his home in Leicester when he was only 18.  The two arrived in Brazil in May, 1848 and began collecting and describing everything they saw.  Four years later Wallace would return to England, but a ship fire en route would destroy much of his collection.  Bates remained in Brazil and sent back over 14,000 specimens, of which over 8,000 were unknown to European science.  When Bates finally did return to England in 1861, he gave a short paper to the Linnean Society of London on a phenomenon that he observed of mimicry, which was published a year later as 'Contributions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley'.  This work would contain his theory on the evolutionary adapation of one species to resemble another species to derive the benefit of their adaptions against predation.  Certain butterflies, he noted, contained poisons that made them unpalatable to birds and other predators, and other species adapted to resemble them to benefit from the others' adaptation, without the poison.  We now call this type of mimicry Batesian Mimicry.  The image is from Bates’ published work with the Linnean Society, showing the resemblance between species, one unpalatable to its prey and the other not.

Happy Birthday, Henry Bates, born on this day 8 February 1825!

 "She was always moving inside the house, like a little mouse.