{"id":4812,"date":"2011-02-26T18:12:58","date_gmt":"2011-02-26T22:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=4812"},"modified":"2011-02-26T18:12:58","modified_gmt":"2011-02-26T22:12:58","slug":"iridescent-beetles-jet-propelled-nautiluses-and-walking-cactus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2011\/02\/26\/iridescent-beetles-jet-propelled-nautiluses-and-walking-cactus\/","title":{"rendered":"Iridescent beetles, jet-propelled nautiluses and \u201cwalking cactus\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The secret to the Japanese jewel beetle\u2019s shine is layers of chitin, threats to the ancient nautilus, a \u201cwalking cactus\u201d provides a link between worm and insect, researchers propose drying out Australia\u2019s cane toads, macaques display awareness of their own uncertainty and Florida\u2019s alligator mating season is close at hand. Here is research in ecology and beyond from the last week in February.<\/span><\/p>\n

Iridescent beetle:<\/strong> A study<\/a> recently published in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Biological Sciences <\/em>explored the stacked chitin layers on the body and wings of the Japanese jewel beetle (Chrysochroa fulgidissima<\/em>). Danielle Venton described the beetle in a Wired Science<\/em> article: \u201c[S]urface ridges cause visible iridescence, but their primary job is to deflect water or mud. Many are active at night, when their colors can\u2019t be seen. But the Japanese jewel beetle\u2019s surface is smooth, and the study\u2019s authors suspect that iridescence helps these insects recognize each other and find mates.\u201d Read more<\/a> and see photos at \u201cGorgeous Jeweled Beetle Reveals Its Tricks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jet-propelled nautilus:<\/strong> In the online Scientific American<\/em> column \u201cZoologger,\u201d Michael Marshall described the Nautilus pompilius<\/em>, a shelled cephalopod found in the Indo-Pacific: \u201cNautiluses mostly scavenge for dead crustaceans, worms and starfish, often digging for them in mud and biting into them with their sharp beaks. They hunt mostly by smell, tracking odours from up to 10\u00a0metres away.\u201d This species could be at risk of a severe population decline, said Marshall, due to their slow reproduction rate. Read more<\/a> at \u201cJet-propelled living fossil with a problem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Walking cactus:<\/strong> Jianna Liu from Northwest University in China and colleagues have found<\/a> the fossil of Diania cactiformis<\/em>, an organism dubbed the \u201cwalking cactus\u201d that may have been related to the velvet worm. \u201cThe creature, which dates from around 500 million years ago, is about 6 centimetres long,\u201d wrote Zo\u00eb Corbyn in a Nature News<\/em> article. \u201cIt resembles a thin, soft-bodied worm, similar to the lobopodians. But it is also arthropod-like in that it has jointed legs\u2014ten pairs in total. The researchers believe the legs had hardened surfaces, not unlike the tough surfaces of the articulated limbs of crustaceans or insects.\u2019\u201d Read more<\/a> at \u201c\u2018Walking cactus\u2019 is anthropods\u2019 lost relative.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Aussie invasions:<\/strong> Researchers are exploring ways of reducing Australia\u2019s cane toad population by drying out the rapidly breeding nonnative pests. As Ed Yong explained in Not Exactly Rocket Science<\/em>, \u201cWhile some frogs burrow underground or create protective cocoons, cane toads simply lose water until they die of dehydration. In the heat of Australia\u2019s dry season, they need bodies of water to survive. Fortunately for them, humans have provided them with moisture galore, in the form of cattle troughs, boreholes and dams.\u201d Daniel Florance from the University of Sydney and colleagues propose<\/a> fencing off these water sources. Read more<\/a> at \u201cDrying out the cane toad invasion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Macaque self-awareness:<\/strong> At last week\u2019s American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, D.C., John David Smith from The State University of New York in Buffalo and Michael Beran from Georgia State University presented findings that suggest macaques may be aware of their own uncertainty\u2014capuchins, on the other hand, are apparently not as perceptive. As Patrick Morgan began in a post on Discover<\/em>\u2019s blog Discoblog<\/em>, \u201cThese findings may have important evolutionary implications because macaques and capuchins have different lineages: macaques are old world monkeys, and capuchins are new world monkeys.\u201d Read more<\/a> at \u201cSelf-Doubting Monkeys Know What They Don\u2019t Know.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, environmental films<\/a>, comic strip<\/a> on renewable energy, climate change continues to threaten coral reefs<\/a>, marine animal numbers<\/a> seem to be on the rise in the Antarctic, fire ants<\/a> in North America, tobacco plants<\/a> chemically tag caterpillars using \u201cevil lollipops\u201d and alligator mating<\/a> season approaches in Florida.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Ken Tokyo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The secret to the Japanese jewel beetle\u2019s shine is layers of chitin, threats to the ancient nautilus, a \u201cwalking cactus\u201d provides a link between worm and insect, researchers propose drying out Australia\u2019s cane toads, macaques display awareness of their own uncertainty and Florida\u2019s alligator mating season is close at hand. Here is research in ecology and beyond from the last…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[781,365,314,527,977,54,683,218,893,464,452],"class_list":["post-4812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","tag-anthropod","tag-arctic","tag-australia","tag-cane-toad","tag-comic-strip","tag-florida","tag-fossil","tag-japan","tag-monkeys","tag-population-decline","tag-tobacco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}