Lacewing News
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Lacewing News NEWSLETTER OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NEUROPTEROLOGY No. 20 Spring 2014 Presentation Hi all! Here’s the 20th issue of Lacewing News. Once again, I remember to all of you that this is NOT a formal journal for sharing scientific researches! Prof. Principi and I Only few weeks before next neuropterological symposium in Mexico: I have unsuccessfully tried to get contributions for “Who is who in neuropterology” and “Nouvelles frontiers” sections from the organizers of this important appointment, so this time that sections are not present. Any voluntary and willing contributions for next issue of LN will be greatly appreciated! From Rinaldo Nicoli Aldini So don’t hesitate and go on to send any kind of pleasant and informal news for the next issue! Please send all communications concerning Lacewing News to [email protected] (Agostino Letardi). Questions about the International Association of Neuropterology may be addressed to our current president, Dr. Michael Ohl ([email protected]). Questions about the XII IAN Symposium (http://www.neuropterology.unam.mx/) may be addressed to Atilano Contreras-Ramos ([email protected]). Ciao! I remember my first meeting with Prof. Maria Matilde Principi, on 9 March 1977. Back then I was a medical student at the local University in my hometown, Bologna. When I was not in class, I would spend time at the Institute of Entomology, located in the park surrounding the School of Agriculture. I would consult the 1 volumes of its very rich library and cultivate the be very happy to help me. She asked me to passion for insects I’d had since childhood, follow her to her office, to talk about my interest which, at the time, mostly took the form of in lacewings. She showed to me her personal amateur collecting and studying. My collection, her card catalogues, the lacewing entomological interests were mostly focused on collection of the Institute, the climatic chambers Neuroptera; I wanted to deepen my knowledge for the rearing of green-lacewings. She of their systematics and faunistics. Everything in suggested I write to the European scholars the Institute emanated feelings of austerity: the researching Neuroptera to get in touch with them high ceiling corridor and rooms, the stately and ask them for their publications, and she also wooden armoires, the glass case containing a immediately gave me some names and big nest of hornets in the corridor, the addresses: Aspöck, Hölzel, Ohm, Tjeder, semidarkness or the dim light, the silence only Zelený, Séméria… She showed me useful rarely broken by human voices, the bas-relief publications for lacewing identification, medallion - which I sometimes glanced at in a especially for chrysopids, the family that was her room through the half-open door - with the effigy main subject of research. of Guido Grandi, founder and ‘tutelary deity’ of During subsequent meetings Prof. Principi gave the Institute as well as, near the front door, on me her publications on Neuroptera – all very the wall, the Latin inscription “verum stabile remarkable and fascinating for their scope and cetera fumus”, the lapidary motto which world- scientific rigour, as well as for the highest renowned Prof. Grandi had envisioned for his iconographic quality; she taught me how to creature. make microscopic preparations and checked my identifications of chrysopid specimens which I was collecting mostly during summer months, and encouraged me to write some scientific notes, which she said she would be very happy to publish on the magazine of her Institute. Unfortunately, in spite of the complete helpfulness she had shown since our first meeting, my relationship with Prof. Principi became less frequent as a result of my other several commitments and the increasing difficulty in conciliating university lectures and studying with an interest that was becoming very engaging, but also required time and dedication Prof. Guido Grandi (1886-1970) and risked slowing down the completion of my university studies. I must also admit that I often That morning I had asked the librarian for, in felt hesitant to ‘disturb’ Prof. Principi, whom I addition to the Killington’s monograph of the knew was often very busy. Nevertheless I think I British Neuroptera, a volume of a magazine can say now, some decades later, that the containing a work by Prof. Principi. But the meeting with Prof. Principi was not only decisive library was not carrying that periodical. I was for my entomological training, but also overall busy consulting the Killington, when Prof. important for my life at large. Principi turned up in the doorway of the reading I would like to close these reflections by quoting room, where other students were also studying: some words that Maria Matilde Principi wrote in “Who has the Killington?”, she asked loudly. A memory of Guido Grandi, her Master and little edgy, I put up my hand, nodding to her. I predecessor as Director of the Institute of didn’t know that the librarian, a very kind woman, Entomology in Bologna. “His charm – Prof. had acted as mediator. Prof. Principi moved Principi wrote in 1971 - derived, mostly, from the closer to me, holding the offprint of her work; she fact that the people who approached him felt that asked me why I was interested in that they were understood and valued for who they publication and said she would give it to me for were, at least in some aspects of their work, and free. She told me she had been studying they were able to find again, or rediscover, the Neuroptera for forty years, and that she would meaning of their lives which seemed to be lost in 2 the mists that sometimes darken our existence. Vegetation in the area included Yucca brevifolia Perhaps he was a real Master just for this ability (Joshua tree, Agavaceae), Quercus sp. (scrub to vivify. He would inspire with faith and courage oak, Fagaceae), and Larrea tridentata (creosote, the people who embarked on the strenuous path Zygophyllaceae), scattered among various sorts of research and instil in them enthusiasm, which of other drought-adapted shrubs and cacti. turned into awareness of the purpose and Flowing/standing water was largely non-existent. importance of the work” (my translation). Another lacewing species, P. intermedia Adams, When I read these words for the first time a few was taken in Whitewater Canyon, also in the years later, I felt that they reflected the same Mojave Desert. The data do not indicate exactly feelings that Prof. Principi had inspired in me where the specimens were taken. The canyon during our first meetings. My warmest thanks, runs north to south, with its south-facing mouth Prof. Principi, and my most sincere wishes on at an elevation of about 436 m (1,430 ft). Only the occasion of your one hundred years on this the first 6.4 km (4 miles) north of the canyon’s upcoming 4th of May! mouth are accessible by vehicle. The road ends Rinaldo Nicoli Aldini at the Whitewater Preserve, at an elevation of 701 m (2,300 ft, wildlandsconservancy.org/preserve_whitewater. Field explorations and current researches html). The uppermost reaches of the canyon drain the San Bernardino Mountains, a very tall From Bob Allen mountain range whose summit is Mount San Gorgonio, the tallest peak in southern California In Search of Lost Lacewings: a Short Foray into at 3,506 m (11,503 ft). The canyon receives California’s Mojave Desert runoff and snowmelt from the mountain. The lower reaches of the canyon’s steep slopes are Back in 1957, Phil Adams established the genus covered in plants typical of creosote bush scrub Pimachrysa (Chrysopidae) and placed within it a vegetation, such as Larrea tridentata and single species, Pimachrysa grata Adams. Encelia farinosa (desert brittle bush, Asteraceae). The canyon bottom hosts riparian In a later paper (1967), he described 4 more (riverine) vegetation that includes Populus new species as members of the genus. One of fremontii (Fremont’s cottonwood) and Salix spp. these, P. fusca Adams, was taken at Lower and (willows, both Salicaceae). Encelia farinosa is Upper Covington Flat, Joshua Tree National widespread in the canyon and appears with Park (then designated a National Monument), increasing frequency in the canyon bottom as it Mojave Desert. The area has rolling hills, none travels southward and lowers in elevation, considered tall, and rocky-sandy soils. becoming typical desert vegetation when the Elevations range from approximately 1,555 m canyon mouth joins the open desert. The type (5,100 ft) at Upper Covington Flat to 1,402 m specimen of P. intermedia taken earlier from (4,600 ft) at Lower Covington Flat. Third instar larva of Chrysoperla comanche (Banks), taken on Adult of Chrysoperla comanche (Banks) taken on Encelia farinosa. Encelia farinosa. Whitewater Canyon, California. Photo by Bob Whitewater Canyon, California. Photo by Bob Allen. Allen. 3 Whitewater Canyon had Salix sp. pollen in its within Whitewater Canyon (elevation 513 m, crop, suggesting that it foraged along a riparian 1,683 ft), and is a self-taught naturalist system. (whitewatercanyon.org). He led the group Interestingly, these two localities are not far from through the riparian and adjacent desert one another. Lower Covington Flat is about 33 sections, in search of habitats and specimens of km (21 miles) east-northeast of Whitewater, at a chrysopids. latitude of about 8 km (5 miles) north. Specimens of this genus are generally uncommon and nothing is known about their larvae or life history. Oh, so much work remains to be done on this group. But what lacewing- phile doesn’t relish a challenge? On the morning of Thursday, 26 March 2015, a plucky band of entomologists departed for the desert, in hopes of securing living specimens of Pimachrysa spp.