Cognitive functions slowed by extremely hot weather, so here is a silly quiz.
Examine the three photos of altered books in my possession, and identify the phylum, class, order, genus, and, indeed, species – if you can – of the vandal destructive pest hooligan book artist.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B, The Once and Future King … Tasty!
Exhibit C, Sometimes a Great Notion … to destroy a book!
Prizes? Maybe. Still owe Richard Wintle an artwork. [/indolent]
Note: Coffee stain visible in Exhibits A and B was accomplished by Homo sapiens texaniensis and Coffea arabica.
Don’t know, but around here we encounter the Silverfish, Lepisma saccharina, fairly frequently. It is always said to feed on paper, but those bite marks look a bit big.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Thysanura
Family: Lepismatidae
Genus: Lepisma
Species: L. saccharina
If I’m permitted a second guess, I’ll take a flyer (see what I did there?) and go with a creature that has devastated a number of magazines chez Wintle over the years, the mighty mighty Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Subfamily: Psittacinae
Tribe: Platycercini
Genus: Melopsittacus (Gould, 1840)
Species: M. undulatus
Or some kind of moth.
P.S. I love the font used on the Ken Kesey cover. Very retro.
Hmmm … we do have some very large and nasty arthropods here in Texas, but the damage was done years ago, when I lived in the Pacific Northwest.
You are close with your second guess, Richard, close, but no budgerigar! (Been waiting all my life to make that joke!)
A friend of mine here claimed to have an old bicycle that had been painted in a psychedelic manner by some of Kesey’s Merry Pranksters. His mother was the book editor for a major Houston newspaper, and when the Merry Pranksters were in town, she had them stop by the house for an interview with Kesey. I did not believe this story initially, until I saw the decorated bicycle.
Hm. Did you by any chance own a pet psittacine while you lived in teh Pacific Northwest?
If not, then I’m guessing Bald Eagle, but since it’s not going to be correct, I can’t be bothered looking up the phylogeny.
’Twas indeed a pet psittacine: same Order as the budgerigar, but different Family. Species Nymphicus hollandicus, to be precise … the Cockatiel. They like a good paperback book during the day, apparently, while the human is working in the lab. In addition to the beak punch-mark damage on the covers, the occasional downy feather will float out from between the pages.
Ah. Possibly a scale bar would have helped me to calibrate the beak size and thus make a more accurate guess. Or possibly not. ;)
I like cockatiels. :)
A scale bar would have been good, especially since the average size of paperback books has changed over the past couple decades. I obtained those in the photos from various used book stores, and I think they’re 1970s vintage.
The cockatiel that chewed the books also destroyed several earrings, and plucked out a few of my eyelashes. Though he did have a number of endearing habits as well, like performing the “step step step step HOP” dance on the plastic turntable cover, and tapping on the mirrors to let out the trapped cockatiels.