Page 18 - 2003 DT 12 Issues

A Battle of Wits ○ center. Amidst the confusion, the fly zips ○ Project. The Red Rock Interpretive Assn.
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in and lays a predatory grub on the eggs. ○ has donated a similar amount. Some signs
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he primal contest for survival ○ ○
○ The fly larva, however, needs about a ○ will be bilingual for Spanish-speaking
between predator and prey is ○ ○ quarter-hour to chew into the spider’s egg ○ ○ visitors.
T nowhere more cunning than in ○ ○
○ sac before it can dine in peace. If the ○ • The next board meeting will be
the insect realm. Specialized behaviors ○ spider should discover it in time, she will ○ held at the Visitor Center Saturday,
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for attack and defense in nature suggest ○ ○ flick it away and foil the attempt. After a ○ March 8, at 3:00 p.m. in the Friends
that in some species, predator-prey rela- ○ few back and forth runs the crafty spider ○ ○ Room.
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tionships may incorporate elements of ○ engages a counter-ploy, severing the con- ○ ○
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ploy and counterploy behavior. Take the ○ nection between the egg sac and the web ○ ○ Sloan Canyon Dedicated
case of the parasitoid fly, Arachnidomyia ○ ○ to cut herself off from further ○
lindae, which zooms suicidally into the ○ ○ misinformation by the intruder. Once ○ ○
heart of a mass of spiders, and then into ○ the distraction seems to have passed, ○ ○ loan Canyon, Nevada’s second
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the center of the web. ○ she repairs the connection. ○ National Conservation Area
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The Mexican colonial orb-weaving Uetz’s team held tethered, buzzing ○S (NCA), was dedicated on Febru-
spider, Metepeira flies near to the spiders to ○ ○ ary 17, in a moving ceremony
incrassata, builds its test their early warning sys- ○ overlooking the North McCullough
webs in colonies of up to tem and even played the ○ ○ Mountains. Created as a result of the
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100,000 members and sound of the common ○ Clark County Conservation of Public
over 4 ft. long. To most non-predatory housefly ○ Lands and Natural Resources Act of
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other insects, a venture wing-beats through tiny ○ ○ 2002, Sloan is considered to be the
into its midst would speakers, which had no ○ “crown jewel” of the wilderness areas
surely mean a starring effect. The spider can dis- ○ ○ designated under the Act.
role in “Guess Who’s tinguish a threat versus a ○ ○ After a welcome by Mark Morse,
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Coming to Dinner.” But meal on sound alone. The ○ Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Las
the brazen fly knows how researchers got so good at ○ ○ Vegas Field Office Manager, the dedica-
to circumvent disaster. It spider-scaring that they ○ tion opened with a Posting of the Colors
descends to the center of could spread panic by ○ by the Nellis Air Force Base Honor Guard
the web—where the silk blowing across the top of a ○ ○ and the Southern Paiute Veterans’
is not sticky—and boldly © 1999 Troy Bartlett soft drink bottle once the ○ ○ Association.
twangs it, pretending to ○ right amount had been drunk from it.— ○ Representing the several tribes whose
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be a tasty meal caught in the web to lure ○ ○ ancestors hunted bighorn sheep here for
○ Nature News; C.S. Hieber; G. W. Uetz, et al.
the mother spider away from the egg ○ ○ perhaps 1,000 years or more, Clifford
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clutch she guards at the web’s edge. ○ ○ February Board Notes: ○ ○ Jake and Wally Antone each performed a
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Extensive field and laboratory re- ○ ○ Native American benediction to mark the
search by biologists C.S. Hieber, St. ○ ○ • A motion was passed to submit a ○ ○ beginning of a new chapter in the
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Anselm’s College, and G. W. Uetz, Uni- ○ nomination, with a donation of $250, to ○ Canyon’s history.
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versity of Cincinnati, has recorded the ○ the Nevada Wildlife Federation to select ○ Four of the five members of
specialized behavior between these two ○ an outstanding conservation volunteer. ○ ○ Nevada’s Congressional delegation—
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adversaries. The spiders have evolved an ○ ○ • The dog-potty receptacle in- ○ ○ Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign,
early warning system to deal with this ○ stalled at the Fee Station lot has been well ○ and Representatives Jim Gibbons and
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predatory fly. Recognizing the ○ received. Station personnel are supply- ○ Jon Porter—spoke with obvious emo-
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approaching fly by its wing-beat signa- ○ ing the bags to cars carrying pets as part ○ tion about the beauty and significance
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ture alone, the mother spider tries to keep ○ of the test. ○ of the Canyon, with it’s rich collection
her body in front of the eggs. But the ○ ○ • An additional dog-potty test re- ○ of over 1,700 petroglyphs and picto-
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spider must decide between guard duty ○ ceptacle, with bags, will be installed at ○ graphs. (Representative Shelley
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and investigating the potential meal at the ○ the Campground. ○ ○ Berkeley was committed elsewhere and
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center of the web. The spider runs back ○ • Friends has donated $15,000 to ○ could not attend.) They thanked all the
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and forth between the eggs and the web’s begin Phase One of the Interpretive Sign local organizations and political support
Page 2 FORRC/March, 2003