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Author: suzukake

Are software smart enough to identify stag beetle species? ?>

Are software smart enough to identify stag beetle species?

I found an iOS/Android App “昆虫判定機” (insect judgment machine), which recognizes images such as photos and identifies the species name of the insects. Speaking of image recognition, I often see news that the technology is developing along with fundamental computer technologies such as machine learning and AI (Artificial intelligence). I did not know how much these fundamental technologies are involved in insect identification software, but I was curious how well the software works. In this post I prepared pictures of…

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Ingredients of sap from oak trees ?>

Ingredients of sap from oak trees

In Japan even kids know rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles feed on sap from oak trees. Although the importance of the sap for the insects is well-known, it is not famous what does the sap consist of. Some people were aware that the sap contained not only sugar but protein (please see another post). However, I could not find a literature that listed ingredients of the sap. The ingredients were reported in a book Recently I found what I was looking for. The book…

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A guidebook “Recent studies on stag beetles and rhinoceros beetles” ?>

A guidebook “Recent studies on stag beetles and rhinoceros beetles”

I introduced a guidebook that gathered recent studies on stag beetles and rhinoceros beetles in the Japanese page of this post.  The publication of the book was accompanied by the exhibition that shows over 500 species of the insect specimens.  The reason why I introduced this book was that it explains latest studies in easy-to-understand way for non-academic people. These images are uploaded by permission of the publisher. I wish I could introduce the book to you in English as well, but…

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The stag beetle in European folklore ?>

The stag beetle in European folklore

Please watch the video provided by BBC. The image of the stag beetle in the European folklore seems somewhat different from ours (at least Japanese’s). “A stag beetle’s history of Britain” (BBC) … If you find problem playing the video below, you may try to visit the original website here. *I uploaded the content under “Terms of Use” provided by BBC. “Back in the middle ages, the stag beetle was seen as a thing of the devil, emanating from the…

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Why a specimen looks distorted in a hemispherical resin?-Second half ?>

Why a specimen looks distorted in a hemispherical resin?-Second half

In the first half, we saw the distortion trend “1) the center part was less affected, 2) the middle outer part expanded, and 3) the outer part was compressed. ” [Figure 1: A stag beetle specimen in hemispherical resin] Regarding this weird pattern, I aim to capture what is happening using the following tools. “Snell’s law” which explains refraction of light Free drawing software KSEG Excel Let’s first review the fundamentals of refraction of light. Refraction of light occurs when light in the air enters other substances (water, resin, etc.). [Figure 2: Basic of refraction of light-1] When refracted light enters the…

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