tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19288377.post8316807972608227337..comments2024-03-09T18:27:46.282+11:00Comments on The Nature of Robertson: Kim's White Lilium, Butterflies, Notes on La PerouseDenis Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19288377.post-71474573132891037722009-01-29T17:03:00.000+11:002009-01-29T17:03:00.000+11:00Hi TonyThanks for clarifying. I thought perhaps yo...Hi Tony<BR/>Thanks for clarifying. I thought perhaps you felt I was a secret devotee of the Great Designer in the Sky!<BR/>You are certainly right that there have been evolutionary "dead ends", and experiments which have failed, or nearly so (I am thinking of the 3 toed Sloths of South America, which certainly do not look very highly adapted to anything much at all.) But they are still "hanging in there". <BR/>A lousy pun for you!<BR/>Cheers<BR/>DenisDenis Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19288377.post-8263563989935127372009-01-29T16:00:00.000+11:002009-01-29T16:00:00.000+11:00Hi DenisI'd hate to get at cross purposes on these...Hi Denis<BR/><BR/>I'd hate to get at cross purposes on these tricky grounds. No intent, God forbid, to even hint at possible belief in Intelligent Design. I was just surprised at: "in nature, nothing happens by accident". <BR/><BR/>I'm sorry if we're at cross purposes, and would be even sorrier to be thought a Darwinian pedant, or, worse, a sneaky ID provocateur.<BR/><BR/>CheersTyto Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03834120720077625697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19288377.post-330135813281501762009-01-29T13:45:00.000+11:002009-01-29T13:45:00.000+11:00TonyThanks also for the name of the Indian Almond....Tony<BR/>Thanks also for the name of the Indian Almond.<BR/>Denis.Denis Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19288377.post-63213434741485507792009-01-29T12:48:00.000+11:002009-01-29T12:48:00.000+11:00Thanks Mick, Duncan and Tony.Duncan, there were ma...Thanks Mick, Duncan and Tony.<BR/>Duncan, there were many more Cabbage Whites around, but I sometimes get Painted Jezebels (I think) and definitely Caper Whites on the Buddlejas. Not sure quite what it is which attracts them - presumably nectar. Adaptation is all the rage, it seems. There are some (few) plants in the same family - Scrophulariaceae (<BR/>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrophulariaceae) which are natives. The only one which jumped out at me was the Eremophila, which is primarily an inland genus - not a local (here).<BR/>Tony, I am not a believer in "Intelligent Design", but rather someone who is regularly surprised to learn how well adapted many plants and insect relationships have become. Wasp/Orchid relationships is probably my favourite (pseudo-copulation) where plants have adapted to "mimic" (not my word, but that of the scientists) the pheremones of female wasps. When you think that Orchids cannot "smell" the female wasps, yet produce synthetic versions of the pheremones, it is pretty amazing. Incidentally, it is the lack of scent glands in the Orchids which make me wary of the term "mimic". I mean, it is not as if they smell the wasp phereomones and decide to copy it. No, it is adaptation, pure and simple "What works, works".<BR/>Of course, as Stephen Jay Gould loved to point out, the floors of the ocean are littered with Nature's failed experiments.<BR/>Thanks to all.<BR/>DenisDenis Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10031115992910569116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19288377.post-89177610136013649432009-01-29T10:24:00.000+11:002009-01-29T10:24:00.000+11:00Nicely detailed post, Denis. Pity there's no 'scen...Nicely detailed post, Denis. Pity there's no 'scentorama' widget. <BR/><BR/>Can't agree with nothing in nature being there by accident. Change is driven by many factors. Not all change proves successful. Bits here and there are, or become, redundant. Even a handicap and threat to the organism.<BR/><BR/>As I see it, evolution helps explain what's going on, but it's the cold-eyed commentator looking over the battleground of life, describing winners and losers but never taking sides. (IMHO)<BR/><BR/>Located name for Indian Almond: Terminalia catappa<BR/>Cyclone and salt spray resistant, which explains why it's also called (in these parts anyway) coastal almond.<BR/><BR/>Cheers, TonyTyto Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03834120720077625697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19288377.post-71905850216636644422009-01-29T09:06:00.000+11:002009-01-29T09:06:00.000+11:00Interesting how the swallowtail has adapted to fee...Interesting how the swallowtail has adapted to feed on a variety of exotics, Denis. We're used to seeing them in the high country around the alpine pepper.Duncanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12182951711946882353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19288377.post-66624425147326581462009-01-29T06:41:00.000+11:002009-01-29T06:41:00.000+11:00Beautiful flowers! and the detail you show in your...Beautiful flowers! and the detail you show in your photos make them even more interesting.mickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08230845410313320080noreply@blogger.com