Wild Bees – Children of the Sun 1/2

Most people associate honey producing insects with the name “BEE”.

nautilusfilm GmbH,
Duration: 50 minutes,
Format: HD 1080, 25p, 16:9,
Partner: BR, ARTE, WDR, ORF,
Year: 2017.

Few realize that there are over 560 different species of bees – most of them live their lives “busy as a bee” but some “abuse” other insects and others are even known to be murderers.

The film “Children of the sun – Wild Bees” shows the incredible diversity and the stunning adaptations of our “BEES” to various habitats and diverse living conditions. Fascinating fights, sensational performances, imposing structures and colorful individuals – the world of Wild Bees offers all of this and more.

Nuostabus filmas, yra ir apie gegužvabalius (Meloe) parazituojančius bites.

Continue reading “Wild Bees – Children of the Sun 1/2”

Butterflies – Children of the Sun 2/2

“Children of the sun – Butterflies” takes you up close and personal to these sunloving beauties and explains why it is crucial for us humans to preserve and provide habitats so the survival of these delicate animals can be insured.

nautilusfilm GmbH
Duration: 50 minutes
Format: HD 1080, 25p, 16:9
Partner: BR, ARTE, WDR, ORF
Year: 2017

Nufilmuotas kraujalakinio melsvio (Phengaris teleius) vikšras skruzdėlyne ir kaukolėtasis sfinksas (Acherontia atropos) mintantis medumi avilyje.

Continue reading “Butterflies – Children of the Sun 2/2”

Ar kamanės žaidžia?

Hiruni Samadi Galpayage Dona, Cwyn Solvi, Amelia Kowalewska, Kaarle Mäkelä, HaDi MaBouDi, Lars Chittka, Do bumble bees play?, Animal Behaviour, 2022, ISSN 0003-3472, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.08.013.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347222002366)
Abstract: A variety of animals have been found to interact with and manipulate inanimate objects ‘just for fun’, that is, to play. Most clear examples of object play come from mammals and birds. However, whether insects interact with inanimate objects as a form of play has never been systematically examined. Here, we show that rolling of wooden balls by bumble bees, Bombus terrestris, fulfils behavioural criteria for animal play and is akin to play in other animals. We found that ball rolling (1) did not contribute to immediate survival strategies, (2) was intrinsically rewarding, (3) differed from functional behaviour in form, (4) was repeated but not stereotyped, and (5) was initiated under stress-free conditions. Through the design of the experiment and with the support of behavioural observations, we excluded the possibilities that ball rolling was driven by exploration for food, clutter clearing or mating. Similar to vertebrate play, we also found age and sex differences for ball rolling by bumble bees: younger bees rolled more balls than older bees and male bees rolled individual balls for longer durations than females. We explicitly show that ball rolling is itself a rewarding activity. After being trained to find freely movable balls in one of two differently coloured chambers, bees showed a preference for the colour of the chamber where they had rolled balls. Our results contribute to the question of sentience in insects and lend further support for the existence of positive affective states in these animals.
Keywords: age difference; Bombus terrestris; cognition; conditioned place preference; invertebrate; object manipulation; play behaviour; sex difference

Continue reading “Ar kamanės žaidžia?”

Entomology abbreviations

https://www.kerbtier.de/Pages/Content/enGlossar.html, http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/frank/KISS/kiss5.htm

  • aff.affinis · having affinity with but not identical to
  • auct.auctorum · of authors (written like that by various authors)
  • ca.circa · about (refers to dates)
  • cf.confer · compare with
  • coll.in collectionem · in the collection (usually followed by the name of a collection or museum)
  • det.determinavit · determined by
  • e.g.exempli gratia · for example
  • et al.et alii · and others
  • etc.et cetera · (and the rest), and so on
  • ex.exemplar · example or specimen (the plural is written exx.)
  • ibid.ibidem · from the same place
  • id.idem · the same
  • i.e.id est · that is (to say), or in other words
  • in coll.in collectionem · in the collection (usually followed by the name of a collection or museum)
  • indet.indeterminans · unidentified
  • in litt.in litteris · in correspondence
  • leg.legit · he, she, or it collected
  • loc. cit.loco citato · in the place (work, paper, etc. cited)
  • n.b.nota bene · take good note
  • op. cit.opere citato · in the work cited
  • p.pagina · page (singular; plural is paginae, abbreviated pp.)
  • q.v.quod vide · see (for which, see)
  • s.l.sensu lato · in the broad sense
  • sp.species · species (singular; plural is species, abbreviated as spp.)
  • sp. nov.species nova · new species (singular; plural is species novae, abbreviated as spp. nov.)
  • ssp.subspecies · subspecies (singular; plural is subspecies, abbreviated sspp.)
  • s. str.sensu stricto · in the strict sense. Added after a taxon to mean the taxon is being used in the sense of the original author, or without taxa which may otherwise be associated with it.
  • viz.videlicet · namely

Auksavapsvė

Seniai norėjau ir šiemet pavyko nufotografuoti auksavapsvę. Įdomu, ar sparnus valosi, ar kokį signalą raudonu pilveliu rodo:

Turbūt čia Chrysis angustula. Auksavapsvių kūnas šarvuotas, saugo nuo pavienių vapsvų ir bičių, kurias parazituoja, geluonių. Pačios auksavapsvės geluonies neturi, jis virtęs pailgėjusiu kiaušdėčiu. Kiaušinėlius deda į šeimininkės urvelį, kur auksavapsvės lerva suryja šeimininkės kiaušinius, lervas (parazitoidas), maisto atsargas (kleptoparazitas).
Chrysis angustula parazituoja daugiausia Symmorphus bifasciatus, bet ir kitas Symmorphus, Ancistrocerus trifasciatus pavienes vapsvas (https://www.biodiversity.no/Pages/200984/). Jeigu šeimininkės lizde užtenka maisto, ši auksavapsvė gali būti kleptoparazitu ir nesuėsti šeimininkės palikuonių.

Continue reading “Auksavapsvė”

Lenkinis košenilis: pamiršta istorija

Scleranthus perennis · daugiametė klėstenė

Prieš keletą metų sausoje smėlėtoje pievoje radau nedidelį gvazdikinių šeimos augaliuką:

5-15 cm aukščio daugiametis pilkai žalias puskrūmis. Žiedeliai smulkūs: 3-5 mm, penkianariai, bekočiai, dvistypiuose žiedynuose, žalsvi, nes be žiedlapių, jų vietoje žali taurėlapiai baltais krašteliais. Lapai yliški, priešiniai, stiebas kerojasi nuo pat pat sumedėjusio pagrindo. Paplitęs Mažojoje Azijoje, Europoje, smulkiau aprašytas Vikipedijoje. Skaitydamas sužinojau seną istoriją, kurią verta papasakoti. Daugiametė klėstenė (lenkiškai czerwiec trwały) – pagrindinis lenkinio košenilio Porphyrophora polonica (lenkiškai czerwiec polski) mitybinis augalas. Nuo antikos laikų iš šio skydamario lervų buvo gaminamas raudonas karmino pigmentas.

Continue reading “Lenkinis košenilis: pamiršta istorija”