Green Wing Research Articles

Simile

Simile David Baker (bio) 1 Orange-and-midnight the moth on the fringe tree— first it nags a bloom; sips and chews; then shakes the big flower. Then its wings slow. Grows satiate, as in sex. Then still, as the good sleep after. Each bloom a white torch more than a tree’s flower. Each is one of ten or twelve, conic, one of many made of many green-white or white petals held out, as by a hand, from the reach of the limb. A field this morning was full of white moths. More in the side yard, in the bluebottle, lifting—fog off the dew, white wings like paper over flames and floating awry or pieces of petal torn off. Weeks now my words on paper have burned. Burned and flown, like a soul on fire, with nothing to show but ash, and the ash flies too. 2 Today, in the news—so many martyrs— an “unnamed suicide bomber” took herself into the arms of flame, and five others, “by her own hand.” Whitman means the beauty of the mind is terror. Do you think I could walk pleasantly andwell-suited toward annihilation? But there is no likeness beyond her body in flames, for its moment, no matter its moment. Yet the fringe bloom burns. Yet the moth shakes and chews, as in sex. When the young maple grows covered with seeds, they are a thousand [End Page 24] green wings, like chain upon chain of keys, each with its tiny spark trying the black lock. A tumbler turns and clicks. The world once more fills with fire, and the body, like ash, is ash. [End Page 25] David Baker David Baker’s latest book of poems is Never-Ending Birds (W. W. Norton, 2009), which was a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Award. Talk Poetry, his collection of interviews with contemporary poets, will appear in 2012 from the University of Arkansas Press. Other new poems are forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Northwest Review, Southern Review, and elsewhere. Copyright © 2011 Middlebury College Publications

Butterfly wing colors: glass scales of Graphium sarpedon cause polarized iridescence and enhance blue/green pigment coloration of the wing membrane

The wings of the swordtail butterfly Graphium sarpedon nipponum contain the bile pigment sarpedobilin, which causes blue/green colored wing patches. Locally the bile pigment is combined with the strongly blue-absorbing carotenoid lutein, resulting in green wing patches and thus improving camouflage. In the dorsal forewings, the colored patches lack the usual wing scales, but instead have bristles. We have found that on the ventral side most of these patches have very transparent scales that enhance, by reflection, the wing coloration when illuminated from the dorsal side. These glass scales furthermore create a strongly polarized iridescence when illuminated by obliquely incident light from the ventral side, presumably for intraspecific signaling. A few ventral forewing patches have diffusely scattering, white scales that also enhance the blue/green wing coloration when observed from the dorsal side.

Photonic band gap materials in butterfly scales: A possible source of “blueprints”

The color generating nanoarchitectures in the cover scales of the blue (dorsal)–green (ventral) wing surfaces of the butterfly Albulina metallica were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. A layered, quasiordered structure was revealed in both the dorsal and ventral scales, with different order parameters, associated with their different colors. A successful attempt was made to reproduce the biological structure in the form of a quasiordered composite (SiO/(In & SiO)) multilayer structure using standard thin film deposition techniques. The position of the reflectance maxima of this artificial structure could be tailored by controlling the size of the In inclusions through oxidation. Our results show that photonic band gap materials of biologic origin may constitute valuable blueprints for artificial structures.

Using RRT-PCR analysis and virus isolation to determine the prevalence of avian influenza virus infections in ducks at Minto Flats State Game Refuge, Alaska, during August 2005

This study describes surveillance for avian influenza viruses (AIV) in the Minto Flats State Game Refuge, high-density waterfowl breeding grounds in Alaska. Five hundred paired cloacal samples from dabbling ducks (Northern Pintail, Mallard, Green Wing Teal, and Widgeon) were placed into ethanol and viral transport medium (VTM). Additional ethanol-preserved samples were taken. Of the ethanol-preserved samples, 25.6% were AIV RNA-positive by real-time RT-PCR. The hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) subtypes were determined for 38 of the first-passage isolates, and four first-passage isolates could not be definitively subtyped. Five influenza A virus HA-NA combinations were identified: H3N6, H3N8, H4N6, H8N4, and H12N5. Differences in the prevalence of AIV infections by sex and by age classes of Northern Pintail and Mallard ducks were detected, but the significance of these differences is undefined. In the 500 paired samples, molecular screening detected positive birds at a higher rate than viral isolation (chi(2) = 8.35, p = 0.0035, df = 1); however, 20 AIV isolates were recovered from PCR-negative ducks. Further research is warranted to compare the two screening protocols' potential for estimating true prevalence in wild birds. Our success during 2005 indicates Minto Flats will be a valuable study site for a longitudinal research project designed to gain further insight into the natural history, evolution, and ecology of AIV in wild birds.

Proventricular dilatation disease: an emerging exotic disease of parrots in Australia

Proventricular dilatation disease is a viral disease seen as a segmental neuropathy in parrots. It has always been believed to be a disease exotic to Australia, with the only reported case being a legally imported Green Wing Macaw (Ara chloroptera) in 1993. This paper reports a cluster of cases seen in south‐east Queensland in 2005 to 2006. Clinical signs, autopsy findings and histopathological findings are described. No pattern or common source for these cases could be identified. The implications for Australian aviculture and avifauna are discussed.

Living on James Wright

üying on.lariies^LVrighl Derek Sheffield As they aim their laser pens over charts, ornithologists calmly explain the slow, sloping descent of neotropical migrants. They open factual arms in dim rooms to show the size of Ohio, puckering widows and one dirty river become the yardstick for South America's clear-cuts. He would catch the yellow warbler that clutched my hand today, its song of hurried sweets. As he broke his lines for the warm tap of its heart, a hobo would appear, wearing apologetic smiles, and a boy with rusty hair, a real deadeye, sighting down a gleaming barrel for another slurred silhouette. Even the blips of northbound vireos each spring along the branch between Americas would cast in his lyric a green wing. I heard him once, lone Ohioan opening his throat three thousand miles from the gathering outlines of his state. And when that yellow warbler lay in my palm, thinned from its journey, Ecotone: reimagining place a breath of fierce light searching me with one dark eye, I stood as if I did not breathe and only wind could move me. ...

Fascist Ecology: The ‘Green Wing’ of the Nazi Party and its Historical Antecedents

The experience of the 'green wing' of German fascism is a sobering reminder of the political volatility of ecology.

Passiflora trialata (Passifloraceae), a New Species of Granadilla (Passiflora subg. Passiflora) from French Guiana

A new species, Passiflora trialata (Passifloraceae: subg. Passiflora), from French Guiana, South America, is described and illustrated from living cultivated material. Its affinities to the P quadrangularis L. species complex are discussed. Fieldwork in French Guiana by the senior author has resulted in the addition of several new species of passionflowers in several sections and subgenera (Feuillet & Cremers, 1984; Feuillet, 1986, 1994). There are now recorded 30 species of Passifloraceae including 27 species of Passilora in French Guiana, of which 9 are endemic (modified from Feuillet, 1989). We describe here a species of Passiflora subg. Passilora, closely allied to P alata Curtis and the Giant Granadilla, P quadrangularis L., and like them with angled-alate stems. Two young plants were found sterile in 1988 by the senior author at Montagnes Tortue. Photographs were taken and one specimen was preserved. In 1991, on the slopes of the same table mountain, a sterile plant was found and cuttings were taken and brought into cultivation in Maryland, U.S.A. No herbarium specimen was made. Cuttings from this plant were distributed, but all the plants except one died. That plant flowered at the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1994-1996, and the description below is made almost entirely from that plant. The floral measurements are based on 10 fresh flowers. Passiflora trialata Feuillet & J. MacDougal, sp. nov. TYPE: Cultivated in greenhouse at Missouri Botanical Garden 1991-1996, specimens made 7 Sep. 1994, from plant collected in French Guiana, roadside of Piste forestiare de B6lizon, 21 km from Cayenne-Regina road (RN 2), 4?15'N, 52?30'W, 150 m, 30 Oct. 1991, by C. Feuillet, MacDougal 6009 (holotype, US; isotypes, MO, P, AAU). Figures 1, 2. Species haec in Passiflora subg. Passiljora pertinens; caulis 3-angulatocarinatus; stipulae 23-32 mm in longitudinem; folia non lobata, integra; petioli glandes duae, arietinorum cornuum instar, luteolae v. albidae; bractae latae, foliaceae, 6-8.6 x 3.5-6.5 cm, integrae, non glandulosae; floris cupula campanulata v. infundibuliformis; sepala non cornuta; corona erecta, duas extimas series subaequales et octo intimas series minus quam 3 mm longas constatas et tuberculis v. filamentis habens; androgynophorum 21-23 mm longum; fructus incognitus. Climbing vine, adult size unknown but flowering in the greenhouse at 3 m long, glabrous and somewhat glaucous throughout. Stems sharply 3-angular and 3-carinate/alate in both juvenile and flowering material, the growing tip negatively geotropic, or on generally horizontal growth, the tip slightly inclined below horizontal but not cernuous, the stem becoming pink with light yellowish green wings. Phyllotaxy helical 2/, appearing '/2 at shoot tip. Prophylls of the vegetative ramifying bud 2, subequal or unequal in size. Stipules 23-32 x 8-13 mm, narrowly ovate to narrowly oblong-ovate, slightly eccentric, the margins entire, the apex acute; petioles triangular in cross section, alate, the lower wing connected with a stem wing, 2.8-5 cm long, 2-glandular, the glands narrowly ovoid in juvenile growth, at flowering nodes the glands 4-7 mm long, flattened conic (triangular), 4-5 mm wide at base (never narrowed at base) and sometimes distally elongate and curved like the horns of a ram, yellowish green to pale yellow (cream); laminas 15-26.5 x 8.5-16 cm, unlobed, ovate, with 7-10 main veins per side, yellowish green, not variegated, entire, the base obscurely or shallowly cordate, the apex abruptly acute. Peduncles 1 per node, 4.0-6.0(7.5) cm long, 2 mm wide at base, 6-7 mm wide at insertion of bracts, sharply triangular and carinatealate in cross section; bracts 3, adpressed at base but free to base, (6.0-)7.0-8.5(-9.4) cm long along midvein (6.5-10.0 cm total outline length), (3.5-) 4.5-6.5 cm wide, ovate-triangular, shallowly cordate at base, apex acute or abruptly obtuse, foliose, eglandular, pale green to light yellowish green, glaucous, the margins entire; floral stipe 13-18 mm total length, including 5--6 mm hidden in toroid NovoN 6: 351-355. 1996. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.171 on Sat, 23 Jul 2016 06:01:36 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

The chemistry and systematic importance of the green wing pigment in emerald moths (Lepidopera: Geometridae, Geometrinae)

The green colour in the wings of Emerald Moths (Geometridae: Lepidoptera) was found to be caused by a single pigment, here termed geoverdin. Contrary to previous suggestions, it is not a bile pigment; there is some evidence that geoverdin is a derivative of chlorophyll. The pigment molecule is highly labile and eluded identification. However, after resolving problems of extracting this acid- and light-sensitive substance from the wing scales (inert, exocuticular structures), we found that profiling by thin layer pigment in a wide range of Lepidoptera. With the possible exception of two genera, geoverdin occurs s the primary pigment only within the Geometrinae, although it exists in trace quantities in certain other Lepidoptera. Our comparisons suggest that the presence of large quantities of geoverdin in Geometrinae is an apomorphic character for the subfamily, although its occurrence in two anomaloud genera suggests that it may not have evolved uniquely. More generally, we recommend the use of TLC profiling as an invaluable technique for systematic studies involving insect pigments.

Two Open Letters to Feher/Heller

I have just read your essay Eastern Europe Under the Shadow of a New Repallo. It is really too bad that we had no opportunity to discuss these issues earlier. Alongside many interesting observations, I discovered an abundance of wholly untenable conjectures which I would gladly have argued out with you before the essay saw print. For the past ten years, I have been a member of the Fundamental Values Commission of the SPD's Directorate, and from this vantage point I have become relatively well-informed as to the views of leading Social Democrats. I know Erhard Eppler and Richard Loewenthal (Chairman and Deputy of the Commission, respectively) rather well, and I have talked on occasion with Egon Bahr and Willy Brandt. Moreover, I regularly write for Vorwiirts and the Neue Gesellschaft and read the (poorly edited) Party Magazine. I mention all of this so you will believe me that, even if I do stand on the left and Green wing of the SPD, I have a fairly good idea of what is going on in the Party. Of course, you relied on texts by non-Social Democrats (such as Brandt's son Peter and Herbert Ammon, as well as Rudolf Bahro, who has just left the Greens since they wouldn't accept his religious messianism). However, you evidently consider these figures significant enough to draw upon for interpretation of the basic mood in the Federal Republic (FRG). One could question their representativeness, naturally. But I would rather like to focus on your arguments one by one. 1. Bahro's answer, Rapallo why not? is wholly unfit to serve as an accurate indicator of the emerging trends here. Not only is there no German politician, there is also no figure in the Peace Movement worth mentioning who is striving for such an alliance. To convince yourselves of this, you should read publications such as Mediatus, edited by Mechtersheimer, rather than rely on a few lonely eccentric voices.

THE INFLUENCE OF APHID PREY CONSUMPTION ON SEARCHING BEHAVIOR, WEIGHT INCREASE, DEVELOPMENTAL TIME, AND MORTALITY OF CHRYSOPA CARNEA (NEUROPTERA: CHRYSOPIDAE) AND HIPPODAMIA CONVERGENS (COLEOPTERA: COCCINELLIDAE) LARVAE

AbstractThe behavior of larval stages of the green lace wing, Chrysopa carnea Stephens, and of the ladybird beetle Hippodamia convergens G.-M. were studied in the laboratory. With increasing hunger level, only first instar H. convergens larvae spent more time searching in the upper part of alfalfa stems, where both prey aphids, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) and Acyrthosiphon kondoi (Shinji), are found. All larval instars tested except first instar C. carnea visited more stems per unit time with increasing hunger level. The weight gain, the developmental time, and the mortality of all larvae were adversely influenced at low food levels, but differently for each predator size and species. C. carnea larvae had higher rates of fat body utilization and weight gain than coccinellid larvae.

MANITOBA BUTTERFLIES

As the result of last year's work I have an addition to make to the list of Manitoba Diurni, which appeared in this magazine about two years ago. On July 3rd, when driving across an outlying portion of my farm, in a flowery glade amongst some scrub I saw an anusual looking “fritillary” hovering over and settling together with Argynnis Lais upon some lillies in bloom. On netting it I found it to be a “green wing,” which has been determined by my friend, Dr. Fletcher, to be A. Edwardsii, In a short time I secured three or four more examples of this Western species from the same place. On the 7th July I found it again in a similar locality, about a mile south of where I had originally seen it, and secured some more specimens, all of which, except perhaps a couple whose wings were slightly chipped, were in good condition. I went out again on the 10th, but though Lais and Cybele were on the wing, I did not see Edwardsii. A correspondent at Brandon (in this Province), Mr. Boger, writes me that he also took one or two “green wings” this summer; Brandon being 60 or 70 miles to the N. W. of me. He was, when writing, under the impression that his was A. Nevadensis. It would be a very curious fact if both species (?) visited Manitoba at the same time, and it would look very much as though they were only varieties of one species. I have just noticed among my series one specimen that varies slightly from the majority, and is somewhat like the description given of A. Nevadensis…Colias Caesonia, did not again present itseif, though I saw in 1896 at least half a dozen specimens besides the two I caught.