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Rain Gods in a Desert Sea: New Book Celebrates Southern Arizona’s Mountains

A book by two UA scientists explains the story behind the scenery of the “sky islands,” the unique mountain ranges dotting southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico.

University of Arizona scientists Wendy Moore and Richard Brusca have published an illustrated book to celebrate and share the rich and unique natural history of southern Arizona’s mountains – the “sky islands” – with a general, non-scientific audience.

Moore, assistant professor in the department of entomology in the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and curator of the UA Insect Collection, said the book came about through field research she began two years ago when she founded the Arizona Sky Island Arthropod Project (ASAP). For her field research, Moore enlisted the help of Brusca, who is her husband as well as executive director emeritus of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and an adjunct research scientist in the UA’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology. (more…)

Glow-in-the-Dark Millipede Says ‘Stay Away’

By Guest PostSeptember 28, 2011Nature, Scienceaequorea victoria, bioluminescent millipedes, charity hall, clay models, dan papaj, enzymatic reaction, genus motyxia, giant sequoia national monument in california, glowing and non glowing individuals, grasshopper mouse, green fluorescent protein, hypothesis, jellyfish, metalsmith, millipedes, motyxia, mountain regions in california, multi legged invertebrates, nocturnal predators, onychomys torridus, paul marek, santa monica mountains, southern sierra nevada mountains, tehachapi mountains, vegetarians, wendy moore

*The world’s only bioluminescent millipedes use their glow as a warning signal to nocturnal predators, a UA-led research team has discovered.*

As night falls in certain mountain regions in California, a strange breed of creepy crawlies emerges from the soil: millipedes that glow in the dark. The reason behind the glowing secret has stumped biologists until now.

Paul Marek, a research associate in the University of Arizona’s department of entomology and Center for Insect Science, and his team now provide the first evidence gained from field experiments of bioluminescence being used as a warning signal. They discovered that the nightly glow of millipedes belonging to the genus Motyxia helps the multi-legged invertebrates avoid attacks by predators. (more…)

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Rain Gods in a Desert Sea: New Book Celebrates Southern Arizona’s Mountains

Glow-in-the-Dark Millipede Says ‘Stay Away’