Marbled white moth (Nyctemera coleta)

Marbled white moth (Nyctemera coleta) is an animal species in the Erebidae, a flying insect, a medium-sized, white and gray moth with a yellow head, broad wings and a triangular shape, living solitary in leaves on shrubs or low trees.

N. coleta has triangular, gray-colored wings with white stripes on the front with white oblong plots on the back and a short line running across the rear margin. The legs have joints, are gray and white.

The head is round with a blunt tip, yellow with circular plots and black. A pair of large, black eyes. A pair of long, black antennas. The back has a hump higher than the wings and head.

The larvae are purplish and hairy. The anterior somites are yellowish in color. Each somite is black and marked with a short white dorsal and lateral stripe. The cocoons are yellowish in color and speckled with black.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Erebidae
Subfamily: Arctiinae
Tribe: Arctiini
Subtribe: Pericopina
Genus: Nyctemera
Species: Nyctemera coleta
Subspecies: Nyctemera coleta coleta, Nyctemera coleta melaneura, Nyctemera coleta melas, Nyctemera coleta nigrovenosa

Purhepecha oak (Quercus purhepecha), new species of shrub oak endemic to the state of Michoacán, Mexico

NEWS - In Mexico, several Quercus shrubby species are taxonomically very problematic including 8 taxa with similar characteristics. Now researchers report the purhepecha oak ( Quercus purhepecha De Luna-Bonilla, S. Valencia & Coombes sp. nov.) as a new tomentose shrubby white oak species with a distribution only in the Cuitzeo basin in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). Quercus Linnaeus (1753) subdivided into 2 subgenera and 8 sections of which section Quercus (white oaks) has the widest distribution in the Americas, Asia and Europe. This section is very diverse in Mexico and Central America with phylogenomic evidence indicating recent and accelerated speciation in these regions. The number of shrubby oak species in Mexico is still uncertain. De Luna-Bonilla of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and colleagues found at least 3 taxa in the TMVB, specifically Quercus frutex Trelease (1924), Quercus microphylla Née (1801) and Quercus repanda Bonpland (1809). In 2016,...

Javan mocca or Javan slender caesar (Amanita javanica)

OPINION - Javan mocca or Javan slender caesar ( Amanita javanica ) is a mysterious fungus species and has been enigmatic since it was first reported by Boedijn in 1951 and after that no explanation or reporting of specimens is believed to be the same as expected. Boedijn (1951) described A. javanica which grew on Java island as having the characteristics covered in the Amanita genus. Corner and Bas in 1962 tried to describe Javan mocca and all species in Amanita based on specimens in Singapore. Over time some reports say that they have found A. javanica specimens in other Southeast Asia including also China, Japan, India and Nepal. But there is no definitive knowledge and many doubt whether the specimen is the same as described by Boedijn (1951). I was fortunate to have seen this species one afternoon and soon I took out a camera for some shots. In fact, I've only met this mushroom species once. Javan mocca is an endangered species and I have never seen in my experience in...

Lesser banded hornet (Vespa affinis)

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