#elytrous

[xpoolboy]

watching a video on like "hannah rose controversies" because i was curious. tell me why theres a whole community of men who hate on her for making maybe 3 minutes of joking commentary on some smaller creator's video after they roasted her in it.... girl im just saying so many other minecraft streamers have done the SAME SHIT and the only time its such a big deal is when it's hannah.... yeah i smell some sexism!!

[cnestus]

i recently solved a fun little bug mystery at work and i thought it might be interesting to write up a step-by-step narrative of how i did so, as a sort of example of the kinds of things i get to do for my job. this is a stupidly long post because i have no editorial self-control so i'm putting the rest under a cut.

the above insect is a bark beetle, one of a series of 6 specimens i found in a drawer at work. they did not have species labels on them, and the collection labels indicated that they were collected in 1997 from "Chinese Cedrus used for artifical christmas trees." the infested wood had been intercepted and the beetles collected and pinned, but whoever was working in the lab at the time wasn't able to suss out the species, which is extremely reasonable because even IDing american bark beetles to species can be a massive pain in the ass, let alone ones from asia.

the beetles were clearly in the genus Phloeosinus based on the shape of the antennae and the large spines on the elytral declivity (the ass area), and whoever pinned them at least got them that far themselves, but determining the actual species was going to be a lot harder. even american beetles in this genus can be devilishly hard to confidently ID to species since they often look alike and also are quite morphologically variable in ways the bleed into each other. they are pretty cool though and those ass spines are usually critical in species-level identification

btw since i'm going to be writing out this word a lot in this post, it's pronounced roughly as "flea-o-sign-us" if you're curious.

determining bark beetle species is often made much easier by knowing what tree the beetle came out of since most bark beetles (but not ambrosia beetles, which are also scolytid/scolytine beetles but a whole other can of worms grubs) are highly host-specific, usually being adapted to only a certain tree species or genus or small group of related genera.

so Cedrus is the genus for eurasian cedar trees, and there is one species of Cedrus native to china, Cedrus deodara, but that seems like an odd choice of plant to harvest and send to america for artificial christmas tree trunks. most actual Cedrus species are from the mediterranean area. however there are also some chinese trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae (+Taxodiaceae) that are called cedars, and in fact most species of Phloeosinus are exclusively found in trees in this family. one likely species is Cunninghamia lanceolata, traditionally called "chinese fir" despite not being a fir but also more recently marketed as "chinese cedar" because that's how common names for species go.

oh and there is also the tree Toona sinensis in the family Meliaceae that's ALSO sometimes called "chinese cedar" for some reason but more importantly also called "beef and onion plant" lmao, but that was an even worse candidate for an artificial christmas tree trunk and also not a known host for the beetles. easily discounted but i had a laugh.

so my first angle of attack was to assume that the collection labels were correct and the beetles were in fact from a Cedrus tree. i was able to find a list of about a half dozen Phloeosinus species known to attack Cedrus cedars, but none of them were native to china. this would most likely mean that one of the mediterranean species had been transplanted to china for cultivation, which is entirely plausible. after digging though a bunch of literature i wasn't able to find a good key for Phloeosinus species in the entire area i wanted, but found a couple regional keys covering geographic ranges that when combined covered about what i wanted. for non-biologists, this is what a species key looks like:

sort of a choose your own adventure kind of thing but for determining a creature's true identity. anyway none of the results i got from these keys led to species who's descriptions matched the one that i had. i should also mention that my specimens had a rather distinctive feature unlike any other Phloeosinus species i'd ever seen before, which was an elytral vestiture consisting of these really funky little black explanate scales:

most Phloeosinus species have some kind of vestiture on their elytra but all the ones i'm familiar with have the hairs and scales light-colored and never shaped anything like this, so i figured that the description of the correct species would surely mention these scales.

so anyway dissatisfied with this avenue, i decided that the next most likely option is that whoever made the labels for the specimens was told that they had come from "chinese cedar" by the importer and had just assumed that meant Cedrus but it was actually one of the cypress family cedars. again most of the described species do in fact use Cupressaceae as hosts.

so next i found this UN report with a (hopefully) comprehensive list of all non-EU bark and ambrosia beetle species that attacked conifer trees. i culled from that a list of Phloeosinus species listed as coming from "asia." since that was too broad of an area, i then looked up all of these species in the species catalogues listed in the report, mostly Alonso-Zarazag et al (2007), though some were also listed in Wood and Bright (1992) or Bright and Skidmore (2002), which i happen to have physical copes of. from these i could narrow the list down to just species found in china.

now things became difficult because there are no keys to chinese Phloeosinus, or at least none in english. also even just written descriptions of many of these species were impossible to find because they were all written like 60-100 years ago and usually in chinese or german or french and had never been translated or uploaded anywhere online. likewise almost none of them had research-grade (or any) photos anywhere online.

so after hours of fruitless digging, the best i could come up with was a guide to scolytine beetles of korea (PDF link), which contained a key with a handful of the species on my list and did include english descriptions of these. now one of the species in the guide, P. perlatus, IS DESCRIBED as having dark scales, and my specimens did seem to land on that species when i ran them through the key. that's promising! and the hosts were on my list of possible non-Cedrus chinese cedars! also promising! buuuut something just didn't sit right with me. parts of the species description in that paper just didn't seem to quite match my specimens, like for example the size was a little off, described as being 2.4-3.4mm long, while all of mine were in the 3.3-3.6 range. plus the photos of the species, while distressingly low-resolution, just didn't look like mine.

okay so that was dissatisfying. i'd managed to whittle down my list of suspects a good deal from what little scraps of information i could find about them through my sleuthing, either the wrong hosts or the ones that did have english descriptions available online like in that korean guide didn't fit, but i was still left with several possible candidates and no way to narrow it down further, of course this all assuming that the beetles i had on my hands even were a species that had been scientifically described and named. bark beetles are a huge group of critters and many are quite understudied, especially in asia, and a bunch of new species are described every year!

i was about ready to just give up, but then by coincidence i had a reason to email a couple of high-level bark beetle researchers about a different beetle mystery i was also working on, which was in a group that they were the authorities on. on a whim, i mentioned my Phloeosinus conundrum to them to see if they had any ideas and they recommended i contact Dr. Roger Beaver. yeah, i know right? fucking kickass name i'm so jealous. sidenote: it's so funny how many bark beetle researchers have extremely appropriate names, like two of the biggest names in the field are Steve Wood and Dave Wood. no relation.

so anyway i contacted Dr Beaver, who had done some research on east asian Phloeosinus in the past and he was kind enough to send me an unpublished provisional key to chinese species that he had written up a few years ago. using that key, i ended up at "P. pertuberculatus (?=sinensis)" which means that there was some suspicion that P. pertuberculatus and P. sinensis were the same species, just described and named independently by two different entomologists (Hans Eggers and Karl Eduard Schedl respectively), as often happened, especially in the glory days of insane 18th-20th century european entomologists describing literally thousands of new species during their careers.

now these two species WERE both on my final list of suspects of chinese Phloeosinus species that hadn't otherwise been eliminated for one reason or another, and both had Cunninghamia "cedar" trees as known hosts. Dr Beaver was then kind enough to scan and send me the original descriptions of these two species:

which i was able to use google translate on:

not the nicest translation but still an admirable attempt on google's part to deal with all the entomological jargon, and most importantly the description of the elytral scales on P. sinensis definitely seems to match my specimens more than the pertuberculatus. plus i found a paper on taiwanese bark beetles (PDF) coauthored by Dr Beaver that had a (also distressingly low-resolution) photo of pertuberculatus that didn't seem to match my specimens:

aaand finally: i'd been trying for days to access the webpage of a chinese museum that popped up as the only notable result on a google image search for P. sinensis but every time the website would time out and the cached version of the image was too small to make out any details on, but it finally occurred to me this evening that the reason was probably because my work computer or work wifi was just automatically blocking chinese websites because of america's insane paranoia about chinese spying, and sure enough i opened it up on my home computer and it fucking worked!

that's a pretty fucking bang-on match for my specimens! the scales look right, the color is right, the size is right, the ass bumps are right, the host is right, the geography is right, and the translated description otherwise seems to match! here's mine again so you don't have to scroll all the way up:

so i'm calling this 26-year mystery solved! not all of the bug puzzles i've worked on have had as meandering of a path to their conclusion as this, but i thought that this one did display a good number of the different methods i use. the biggest thing that was missing was me wandering into my lab's massive library of old dusty entomology journals stretching back over a century and digging out some old article that never got scanned and put online, as often happens, but in this case since the bugs were asian and out library mostly covers north american entomology that wasn't going to be very fruitful.

hopefully this was interesting to... somebody besides myself. if you've read this far and weren't bored to tears then congratulations you probably have the same kind of brain damage as me!

[marckurtzberg97]

Hi again, so it was Elytred for Ladybug Nathaniel and Basset for Dog Marc

Also assuming no one has said Cat Marc yet I'd love to add Kitonyx for Cat Marc

Hellooooo there! I'm finally back! Sorry it took sooooo long.

[elderscrollsconceptart]

Elytr head

Concept art for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Shivering Isles DLC

Art by Adam Adamowicz

[the-ninth-moon]

( Banque de personnages) Laëris

L'Ordre du diamant vert ( 13 / 13 )

Cet ordre est celui de l'empereur et de ses proches, sa cour rapprochée, si l'on peut dire. Attention, spécificité pour les postes d'empereur et d'impératrice, il pourra y avoir une exigence plus élevée concernant l'activité (et certaines actions pourraient vous êtes imposées par le MJ - jamais sans vous en avoir informé, bien sûr).

 1/1 libre ;; l'empereur ( pv )  1/1 libre ;; l'impératrice ( pv )  

 4/4 libres  ;; les archontes - dirigeant.es politiques, magistrat.es des villes (archonte de Dynacairn en poste vacant, les archontes de Aermagh, Airedal et Orveil sont libres).  4/4 libres ;; les conseiller.es  - paroles honorables pour l'empereur, sorte de " ministres " (conseiller.e des armées en poste vacant)

 2/2 libres ;; les maîtresses impériales  - (la favorite en poste vacant)

 1/1 libre ;; lea chambellan  - officier.e de cours chargé.e du service rapproché de l'empereur (poste vacant).

Les ailes carmines ( 11 / 12 )

Guilde d'assassins impériaux, qui ne communiquent qu'à visage couvert avec l'empereur en personne ; nul ne connaît ne serait-ce que leur existence. iels sont les bras armés de l'Ordre, œuvrant en toute discrétion pour que le pouvoir en couronne d'or ne glisse pas de la tête de l'empereur.

  1/1 libre ;; Chimère - lea chef.fe de la guilde (poste vacant)  1/1 ;; Elytre  - lea guérisseur.se de la guilde (poste vacant)  0/1 ;; Cerbère - le conseiller (pris)

6/6 ;; Les Pourpres  - les assassin.es chevronné.es (dont 1 en poste vacant avec le personnage de Virago)  3/3 ;; Les Velours  - les assassin.es en formation, nouvelleaux arrivant.es dans la guilde, qui doivent encore faire leurs preuves. (dont 1 en poste vacant avec le personnage de l'Hydre)

Les voiles noires ( 13 / 13 )

Les voiles noires qui surgissent au loin, ornées de l'emblème impérial. Cet équipage a vocation à faire respecter la loi de l'empereur sur les mers des Abysses de Vassion, de gré ou de force.

1/1 libre ;; Pillard - lea capitaine du vaisseau  1/1 libre ;; Silex  - lea second  1/1 libre ;; BlackDog - lea cannonnier.e  1/1 libre ;; Vagabond - lea quartier-maitre

 9/9 libres ;; Les Corsaires  - les membres de l'équipage

[layzeal]

considering the amount of times we've all tagged his posts as "wwx" i think tumblr user elytr*ans would actually rly like modao, but on the other hand, i wouldn't purposely reccomend my fav media to a popular tumblr blogger even if u kill me

[covenawhite66]

Metallic’ creature — with ‘panther-like’ wing pattern — is new species from Morocco

https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article283876808.html

The species was originally thought to be another similar species of blister beetle, researchers said. It was determined as a new species through DNA testing and its physical appearance, its wings and its pronotum, which is the plate-like structure covering its upper body.The beetles have uniquely structured elytral, which are its front wings, shiny green spots, and a trapezoid shaped head

[reesedragon]

Spec evo concept: highly social bess beetles with a honeypot-esque food storage, but in a weird spot like an elytral fungal parasite turned symbiotic nutrient storage.

[rai-mimas]

Jak znaleźć bagno w minecraft z tymi drzewkami czerwonymi

Centralnie przeszukałam dość sporo mapy i nie ma

Chyba trzeba się wybrać do endu po elytre i tak zapinkalac

[les-degustations-ugo]

🇫🇷❓❓Hello les amoureux du tire-bouchon. Et vous, aimez vous les vins sans sulfites ajoutés ❓❓🇫🇷

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🍇🍷Aop Côtes du Rhône rouge 2020 cuvée Elytres🍇🍷:

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🍇 :

Syrah

Grenache

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🏺:

Âge moyenne des vignes : 30 à 50 ans

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💰:

13,00€ / bouteille

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🌿:

Bio. Sans Sulfites ajoutés.

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👁️ :

Une Robe de couleur grenat soutenu

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👃 :

Un nez sur des notes de fruits rouges.

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💋 :

En bouche on a un vin élégant, qui allie le fruit et la puissance des tanins. Un vin bien équilibré et structuré. Sur des arômes de cerise, fraise bien mûre, framboise, des épices (la réglisse, le poivre en grains). Une bonne rondeur en bouche avec une finale sur le cassis.

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📜En résumé📜 :

Un beau Côtes du Rhône Bio, sans ajout de sulfites. Un vin qui allie fruité et puissance. Une cuvée avec un beau rapport qualité prix plaisir.

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🧆Dégusté sur un petit barbecue de saison 🧆.

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🍷Quelques accords mets et vin possible avec cette cuvée🍷 : Agréable avec des viandes rouges, la cuisine provençale, gibiers et plat en sauce.

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📌N'oubliez pas, boire un canon c'est sauver

un vigneron. Allez voir le site internet du domaine  pour voir toutes les cuvées et promotions du moment📌. 

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🔞« L'abus d'alcool est dangereux pour la santé, à consommer avec modération »🔞

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#lesdegustationsugo #wine #winelover #vino #winetasting #winetime #winelovers #food #instawine #redwine #winestagram #winery #beer #wineoclock #vin #sommelier #love #vinho #foodporn #winelife #instagood #whitewine #cocktails #drinks

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🇫🇷🗣️Description du Domaine 🇫🇷🗣️

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C’est à Domazan, au sud de la vallée du Rhône méridionale et à proximité des plus beaux sites historiques, entre le pont d’Avignon et le Pont du Gard, que se situe le Château des Coccinelles.

Le domaine couvre 80 hectares qui s’étendent autour du plateau de Signargues, terroir d’excellence, qui se distingue par son histoire géologique exceptionnelle.

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Exposé sud/sud-est et balayé par le mistral 200 jours par an, cet ancien lit du Rhône dispose des mêmes galets roulés que son prestigieux voisin Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Mais toute sa singularité repose sur la composition de son sol, plus argileux en profondeur qu’en surface, qui assure un effet tampon et permet une alimentation hydrique des vignes. Un atout majeur qui a toute son importance dans l’équilibre et la la finesse des vins.

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⏬🇫🇷Français dans les commentaires🇫🇷🇮🇹Italiano nei commenti 🇮🇹⏬

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🇬🇧❓❓Hello corkscrew lovers.  And you, do you like wines without added sulphites ❓❓🇬🇧

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🍇🍷Aop Côtes du Rhône red 2020 cuvée Elytres🍇🍷:

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🍇:

Shiraz

Grenache

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🏺:

Average age of the vines: 30 to 50 years

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💰:

€13.00 / bottle

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🌿:

Organic.  No Added Sulfites.

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👁️:

A deep garnet color

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👃:

A nose with notes of red fruits.

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💋:

In the mouth we have an elegant wine, which combines the fruit and the power of the tannins.  A well balanced and structured wine.  On aromas of cherry, very ripe strawberry, raspberry, spices (liquorice, peppercorns).  A good roundness in the mouth with a blackcurrant finish.

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📜In summary📜:

A beautiful organic Côtes du Rhône, without added sulphites.  A wine that combines fruitiness and power.  A cuvée with a good value for money pleasure.

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🧆 Tasted on a little seasonal barbecue 🧆.

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🍷 Some food and wine pairings possible with this cuvée 🍷: Pleasant with red meats, Provencal cuisine, game and dish in sauce.

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📌 Don't forget, drinking a cannon is saving a winemaker.  Go see the domain's website to see all the vintages and promotions of the moment 📌.

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🔞 "Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health, consume in moderation"🔞

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#lesdegustationsugo #wine #winelover #vino #winetasting #winetime #winelovers #food #instawine #redwine #winestagram #winery #beer #wineoclock #vin #sommelier #love #vinho #foodporn #winelife #instagood #whitewine #cocktails #drinks

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🇬🇧🗣️Domain Description 🇬🇧🗣️

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It is in Domazan, in the south of the southern Rhône valley and close to the most beautiful historical sites, between the Pont d'Avignon and the Pont du Gard, that the Château des Coccinelles is located.

The estate covers 80 hectares which extend around the Signargues plateau, a terroir of excellence, which is distinguished by its exceptional geological history.

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Facing south/south-east and swept by the mistral 200 days a year, this former bed of the Rhône has the same rolled pebbles as its prestigious neighbor Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  But all its uniqueness is based on the composition of its soil, which is more clayey in depth than on the surface, which provides a buffer effect and allows the vines to be supplied with water.  A major asset which has all its importance in the balance and finesse of the wines.

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🇮🇹❓❓Ciao amanti dei cavatappi.  E tu, ti piacciono i vini senza solfiti aggiunti❓❓🇮🇹

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🍇🍷Aop Côtes du Rhône rosso 2020 cuvée Elytres🍇🍷:

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🍇:

Shiraz

Grenache

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🏺:

Età media delle viti: da 30 a 50 anni

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💰:

€ 13,00 / bottiglia

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🌿:

Biologico.  Senza solfiti aggiunti.

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👁️:

Colore granato intenso

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👃:

Un naso con note di frutti rossi.

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💋:

In bocca abbiamo un vino elegante, che unisce il frutto e la potenza dei tannini.  Un vino ben equilibrato e strutturato.  Su aromi di ciliegia, fragola molto matura, lampone, spezie (liquirizia, pepe in grani).  In bocca una buona rotondità con un finale di ribes nero.

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📜In sintesi📜:

Una bella Côtes du Rhône biologica, senza solfiti aggiunti.  Un vino che unisce fruttato e potenza.  Una cuvée dal buon rapporto qualità prezzo.

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🧆 Degustato su una piccola grigliata di stagione 🧆.

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🍷 Alcuni abbinamenti enogastronomici possibili con questa cuvée 🍷: Piacevole con carni rosse, cucina provenzale, selvaggina e piatti in salsa.

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📌 Non dimenticare, bere un cannone è salvare un enologo.  Vai a vedere il sito del dominio per vedere tutte le annate e le promozioni del momento 📌.

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🔞 "L'abuso di alcol è pericoloso per la salute, consumalo con moderazione"🔞

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🗣️🇮🇹Descrizione i Dominio 🗣️🇮🇹

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È a Domazan, nel sud della valle del Rodano meridionale e vicino ai siti storici più belli, tra il Pont d'Avignon e il Pont du Gard, che si trova il Château des Coccinelles.

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La tenuta si estende per 80 ettari che si estendono intorno all'altopiano di Signargues, un terroir d'eccellenza, che si distingue per la sua eccezionale storia geologica.

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Esposto a sud/sud-est e battuto dal maestrale 200 giorni all'anno, questo antico letto del Rodano ha gli stessi ciottoli rotolati del suo prestigioso vicino Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  Ma tutta la sua unicità si basa sulla composizione del suo terreno, più argilloso in profondità che in superficie, che fornisce un effetto tampone e permette l'approvvigionamento idrico delle viti.  Un patrimonio importante che trova tutta la sua importanza nell'equilibrio e nella finezza dei vini.

[ecuadorlife]

Fungus Beetle, Ellipticus spinifer, Erotylidae by Andreas Kay Via Flickr: from Ecuador: www.youtube.com/AndreasKay

[marckurtzberg97]

Hello Again: Here Is the list of miraculous for Nathaniel and Marc which are already taken✅ for Marcaniel Miraculous Requests.:

Marc:

🐞 - ScarletBug✅

🐈‍⬛ - Hexlico ✅

🦊- Crevan Kit✅

🐢

🐝 - Pollen Puff✅

🦚 - Peafella ✅

🦋

🐀 - Micromouse✅

🐃

🐅

🐇- Blitz Bunny✅

🐉 - Goldragon✅

🐍

🐎

🐐- (Name TBA)✅

🐒

🐕 - Basset ✅

🐖 - Cute Pork ✅

Nath:

🐞 - Elytred ✅

🐈‍⬛ - Artistocat ✅

🦊 - Renard Rouge✅

🐢- Chelonian✅

🐝 - Aster✅

🦚

🦋 - Manposa✅

🐀 - Cuneo✅

🐃

🐅 - Tiger Artist ✅

🐇

🐉

🐍 - Cobra Hiss ✅

🐎

🐒

🐓 - (Name TBA)✅

🐕 - German Shepherd ✅

🐖

[aroaceacacia]

oh btw i made a funny little blog @containmentbreaches where im going to collect mcyt containment breaches

by containment breaches i mean "posts that are about or are inspired by mcyt/mcyt fandom that have gained traction outside of mcytblr in an out of context sense". examples include the screenshots of joe in chat from the hermitcraft civil war ("not rage quitting gotta pick my kid up from school / or my wife will rage quit me") and so so so many posts by elytr(i)ans

idk how often itll have new posts or anything but. it sure is there

[humblegrub]

CEROCRANUS EXTREMUS is like the weevil version of a unicorn... if unicorns had horns that were actually waxy thoracic and elytral secretions that never stopped growing.

image // info

[elytrans]

I watched Grian's episode of Double Life first and all I could think from Grian's soulmate realisation onwards was was "tumblr user James Elytr(i)ans is going to LOSE HIS SHIT"

[onenicebugperday]

Can you explain the "hairs" on the brush jewel beetle? What is that exactly? Does it have a defensive purpose or just camouflage? I've never seen hair on elytra before.

Sure, hairs on insects are called setae. They're little bristles that form from the exoskeleton. They don't keep growing over time like hair or fur on mammals, and they're not replaceable, so once lost, they're gone forever. The scales on the wings of butterflies and moths are actually modified setae, and the fuzziness you see on moths is a different kind of setae. They're used for all kinds of different things on different bugs from thermoregulation to camouflage and defense. Elytral setae are actually very common! If you look close up on most beetles, you'll see it. It just happens to be in weird, brightly-colored tufts on the brush jewel beetle. As far as I know, it's used as camouflage in that species, because they're often found on plants with small bright yellow or orange flowers, but don't quote me on that, since I've never studied the species myself!