Blue tiger (Tirumala limniace)

Blue tiger (Tirumala limniace) is an animal species within the Nymphalidae, the brush-footed butterfly, exhibiting gregarious migratory behavior in that can absorb heat directly from the sun through its wings to facilitate autonomous flight.

T. limniace has a black body with white spots, a pair of black eyes, a pair of black antennae and black legs. The wing surface is dark brown with white and blue plots.

Larvae are yellowish white, the 3rd and 12th segments have a pair of fleshy filaments, black and greenish white. The head, legs and pincers are mottled with black. Larvae are about 1.21 cm long and initial weight of 5 mg, but grow up to four times within 48 hours.

The cocoons have a green color with golden spots scattered and beaded down the back. Blue tigers have at least nine subspecies. The migration population consists almost entirely of males.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Papilionoidea
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Danainae
Tribe: Danaini
Subtribe: Danaina
Genus: Tirumala
Species: Tirumala limniace
Subspecies: T. l. bentenga, T. l. conjuncta, T. l. exotica, T. l. ino, T. l. leopardus, T. l. limniace, T. l. makassara, T. l. orestilla, T. l. vaneeckeni

Jian Huang parasitoid wasp (Proaphelinoides huangi) from China strongly supported as sister group to Aphytis

NEWS - Jian Huang parasitoid wasp ( Proaphelinoides huangi Chen & Jiang, sp. nov.), reported from China based on standard DNA barcode COI, partial nuclear ribosomal 28S-D2 and 28S-D2 rDNA. The new species is similar to P. bendovi , P. elongatiformis , P. australis , P. assamensis and the genus Proaphelinoides is strongly supported as the sister group to Aphytis. Proaphelinoides Girault is a small genus in the Aphelinidae with 7 species worldwide. P. elongatiformis (Girault 1917) from Sri Lanka is the type species. P. australis from Australia (Girault 1922), P. bendovi Tachikawa (1984) from China, and 4 other species, P. anomalus Hayat (1984), P. chidambaramensis Manickavasagam & Menakadevi (2012), P. assamensis Hayat (2012) and P. ematus Hayat & Veenakumari (2016) from India. P. huangi can be distinguished from other species by yellow antennae, forewings with 10–14 feathers below the marginal vein, linea calva bordered proximally by a single row of setae, F3 1.0–1

Elephant bell gourd (Trichosanthes tricuspidata)

Elephant bell gourd ( Trichosanthes tricuspidata ) is a plant species in the Cucurbitaceae, stems grow elongated to propagate or climb, many branches, cylindrical in shape and green in color. T. cochinchinensis has stem tips or branches that twist to attach themselves to a support or other plant. It grows to climb to cover a support, usually on another plant, up to several meters and creeps along the ground to reach another support. Arrow-shaped leaves, split base, sharp apex and two wings at an acute angle, have many veins ending at a sharp edge, green and have a long petiole. Single flower is white. The fruit is round to oval, ends with a tail, young green and turns red with maturity, thin skin, thick flesh and reddish yellow, has a short stalk and hangs. The seeds are in the middle of the fruit. Seeds are white, oval and flat. Black coated seeds. Elephant bell gourd grows wild in primary and secondary forests, agricultural land, roadsides, watersheds, especially on slopes, damp a

Rhamphomyia kitadai, Rhamphomyia brunnipennis, Rhamphomyia decens and Rhamphomyia pennipes from Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation

NEWS - Leland Kitada dance fly ( Rhamphomyia kitadai sp. nov.), brown wings dance fly ( Rhamphomyia brunnipennis sp. nov.), beautiful dance fly ( Rhamphomyia decens sp. nov.) and wing-footed dance fly ( Rhamphomyia pennipes sp. nov.) from the Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation are described as species new to science. Females of Empidinae often display sexual ornamentation, an adaptation in the animal kingdom in general, often associated with males, especially in vertebrates. Ornamentation of female Empidinae includes legs with rows of relatively large pennate scales, enlarged and/or darkly pigmented wings and an expanded abdominal pouch. The ornamentation makes the female appear larger, more fertile and therefore more attractive to potential mates. Given the rarity of female sexual ornamentation, especially Empidini, it has become a model system for studying this phenomenon. The known fossil record includes several genera from the mid-Jurassic era dominated by two genera, Empis and

Dlium