Earth and Space News

Monday, July 6, 2020

Andrea Velis Made Beppe Role Debut at Met Opera in Zeffirelli’s Cav Pag

Summary: Andrea Velis made his Beppe role debut at Met Opera in Zeffirelli’s Cav Pag, the Italian designer, director and producer’s third Met Opera staging.

Franco Zeffirelli designed costumes and sets for his new productions of Cav Pag (Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci), which debuted during Met Opera’s 1969-1970 season: Fondazione Franco Zeffirelli Onlus @fondazionefrancozeffirelli, via Facebook Jan. 8, 2019

Andrea Velis made his Beppe role debut at Met Opera in Zeffirelli’s Cav Pag, the Italian designer, director and producer’s third production at the opera house.

American operatic tenor Andrea Velis (June 7, 1932-Oct. 4, 1994) appeared as Beppe, a troupe actor, in the 1969-1970 Met Opera season’s new production of Pagliacci by Italian opera composer and librettist Ruggero Leoncavallo (April 23, 1857-Aug. 9, 1919). The tragic opera about cuckolded clown Canio was staged as the second opera in a double-header with Cavalleria Rusticana by Italian opera composer Pietro Mascagni (Dec. 7, 1863-Aug. 2, 1945). Italian designer, director and producer Franco Zeffirelli (Feb. 12, 1923-June 15, 2019) directed and designed costumes and sets for the double-header, popularly known as Cav Pag.

Zeffirelli debuted Cav Pag on Jan. 8, 1970. Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci each received 19 performances in the 1969-1970 season.

Andrea Velis sang Beppe in all 19 performances in the debut season. He also appeared as Beppe in the season’s concert-in-the-park performance on July 18.

Andrea Velis returned for three of the Metropolitan Opera’s 16 revivals of Zeffirelli’s Cav Pag productions. Cav Pag’s first revival took place in the next season, 1970-1971. Andrea Velis sang Beppe in the first two of the revival’s eight performances of Pagliacci.

Pagliacci’s second revival immediately succeeded the first revival. In the 1971-1972 season, Velis appeared in five of the second revival’s 14 performances.

No revival was offered in the 1972-1972 season. Velis did not appear in the third or fourth revivals, which were staged successively in seasons 1973-1974 and 1974-1975.

No Cav Pag revivals were offered in the 1975-1976 and 1976-1977 seasons.

Cav Pag’s fifth revival took place in the 1977-1978 season. Velis reprised Beppe for eight of the fifth revival’s 20 performances of Pagliacci.

Velis sang his last Beppe at the Metropolitan Opera on May 2, 1978. His last appearance as Beppe took place in the Civic Center in Atlanta, Georgia, during the opera company’s 1977-1978 tour. His last appearance as Beppe numbered as his 35th performance in the role at the Metropolitan Opera.

Velis’ role debut as Beppe marked his third role debut in a Met Opera production designed and directed by Franco Zeffirelli. His first two role debuts in the opera house’s Zeffirelli productions had been as Bardolfo and Mardian.

Velis sang Bardolfo in Zeffirelli’s new staging of Falstaff by 19th-century Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901). Zeffirelli’s staging of Verdi’s third Shakespearean opera debuted March 6, 1964, during the 1963-1964 Met Opera season, as the Italian designer, director and producer’s first Met Opera production. Velis appeared as Falstaff’s friend in all 15 of the season’s performances.

By the time of his appearance as Beppe in the 1969-1970 season’s debut of Zeffirelli’s third Met Opera production, Andrea Velis had already appeared in all performances of the opera house’s three revivals of Falstaff. The first three revivals were staged in seasons 1964-1965, 1965-1966 and 1967-1968.

During the 1971-1972 season, Velis continued as Bardolfo for all nine performances of Falstaff’s fourth revival while also singing Beppe in five of the 14 performances of Pagliacci’s second revival. In the 1974-1975 season, Velis did not sing Beppe in Pagliacci’s fourth revival but did sing Bardolfo in all 13 performances of Falstaff’s fifth revival. His last appearance as Bardolfo occurred June 27, 1975, the fifth revival’s closing night.

Velis claimed his second role debut in a Zeffirelli production during the 1966-1967 season. He appeared as Mardian, Cleopatra’s chief eunuch, in all eight performances of the world premiere of Antony and Cleopatra by American 20-century composer Samuel Barber (March 9, 1910-Jan. 23, 1981). Zeffirelli’s production of Barber’s Met Opera-commissioned Shakespearean opera opened Sept. 16, 1966, as the inaugural opera at the Metropolitan Opera’s new location in Manhattan’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Velis had made his Met Opera debut Oct. 23, 1961, as Joe in the opera company’s 41st performance of La Fanciulla del West by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). His last performance at the Metropolitan Opera took place Feb. 24, 1994, as Don Curzio in the opera company’s 346th performance of Le Nozze di Figaro by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791). His career at Met Opera had spanned 32 years 4 months.

The takeaway for Andrea Velis’ Beppe role debut at Met Opera in Zeffirelli’s Cav Pag is that the American operatic tenor’s appearance in the Italian designer, director and producer’s third new production at the Metropolitan Opera numbered as his third role debut in a Zeffirelli production at the opera house.

(below) Andrea Velis, as Beppo/Arlecchino, watches as Franco Zeffirelli demonstrates proper stabbing technique on Teresa Stratas, as Nedda/Colombina); (above right) Franco Zeffirelli with Cavalleria Rusticana singers Franco Corelli, Grace Bumbry, Frank Guarrera and conductor Leonard Bernstein: Sherrill Milnes @SherrillMilnes, via Facebook June 24, 2019

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

“Andrea Velis: Last Performance.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 315490 Le Nozze di Figaro {346} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/24/1994.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=315490

“Debuts: Andrea Velis, Henry Butler, Gerald L. Ritholz.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 189000 New production La Fanciulla del West {41} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/23/1961.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=189000

“Debuts: Luigi Alva, Leonard Bernstein, Franco Zeffirelli.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 197440 New Production Falstaff {67} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/6/1964.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=197440

Fondazione Franco Zeffirelli Onlus @fondazionefrancozeffirelli. “All’alba del 1970, l’8 gennaio di 49 anni fa, Franco Zeffirelli va in scena a New York con ‘Pagliacci' di Leoncavallo in occasione dell’inaugurazione del Metropolitan Opera House. Il grande successo dell’Opera segna per il Maestro una svolta decisiva per la sua vita professionale e privata: 'Avevo percepito, con la prima di Cavalleria e Pagliacci al Met, che gli anni Settanta avrebbero portato con loro una completa ripresa della mia buona sorte . . .’ FZ.” Facebook. Jan. 8, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/fondazionefrancozeffirelli/posts/788432971492183

Marriner, Derdriu. "Antony and Cleopatra Was Franco Zeffirelli’s Second Met Opera Production." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 15, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/antony-and-cleopatra-was-franco.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Cav Pag Was Franco Zeffirelli’s Third Met Opera Production.” Earth and Space News. Monday, June 22, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/cav-pag-was-franco-zeffirellis-third.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Cav Pag Is Jan. 13, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Jan. 8, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/cavpag-is-jan-13-2018-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Franco Zeffirelli Made His Met Opera Debut in Staging Verdi’s Falstaff." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 1, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/franco-zeffirelli-made-his-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Grace Bumbry Made Santuzza Role Debut at Met Opera in Zeffirelli’s Cav Pag." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 29, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/grace-bumbry-made-santuzza-role-debut.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Luigi Alva Made Met Opera Debut in Zeffirelli’s Falstaff Production." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 8, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/luigi-alva-made-met-opera-debut-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Only Two of 11 Zeffirelli Productions Are Still Revived at Met Opera." Earth and Space News. Monday, May 25, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/05/only-two-of-11-zeffirelli-productions.html

“New Productions: Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: New Productions Cavalleria Rusticana {441} Pagliacci {481} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/8/1970.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=220100

Sherrill Milnes @SherrillMilnes. "In memory of the great Franco Zeffirelli, I wanted to share a few photos and an article from the Milnes archives. This is from our performance of Pagliacci at the The Metropolitan Opera with Teresa Stratas, Richard Tucker with Franco directing. He will be missed. #SVFPagliacci." Facebook. June 24, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SherrillMilnes/posts/2244764739106315

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Mediterranean Gecko: Big-Headed, Four-Legged, Gray-Pink-Tan-White Body

Summary: North American Mediterranean gecko habitats get gray-pink-tan-white bodies with big heads, lidless vertical pupils, four legs, pale bumps and ringtails.

Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus); Dallas, northeastern Texas; Saturday, May 23, 2009, 19:03:48: Nathan Vaughn (Brilhasti1), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

North American Mediterranean gecko habitats adopt distribution ranges from Virginia through Arizona, from Utah through California and in Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri since Mediterranean geckos are from Mediterranean Africa, Asia and Europe.

Mediterranean geckos bear their common name for native homelands and for Gekkonidae gekko lizard family membership whose name bespeaks the geh-oh bellows of Asian Tokay geckos. The scientific name Hemidactylus turcicus communicates the first, genus name's half-finger-configured foot pads covering all but toe tips and the second, species name's taxonomic specimen origins. Carl Linnaeus's (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) descriptions in 1758, Jiří Moravec's in 1997, 2011 and 2013 and Karl F. Buchholz's in 1954 decide scientific designations.

Mediterranean gecko life cycles expect night-lighted building ceiling and walls for edible prey and palm leaves, rocky outcrop cracks and tree bark crevices as escape routes.

March through July fit Mediterranean geckos with related ashy, banded, big bend, Indo-Pacific, leaf-toed, ocellated, reef, Texas banded and yellow-headed skinks variously mating spring through winter.

Mediterranean geckos go out between twilight and dawn to grab crawling, climbing, low- and slow-flying invertebrates gathered around night-lighted buildings and street lamps from daytime hideaways. They hasten to favorite hangouts and homey hideaways where long, loud, territorial disputes among juvenile competitors and mature rivals respectively herald cricket-like chirps and squeaked vocalizations. Defensive and offensive involvements impale thin skin on sharp-clawed, unwebbed toe tips and sharp-toothed strong jaws, implode regrowable tails and initiate hisses through fast-action, long tongues.

Agro-industrialists, breeders, collectors, polluters and predatory crows, foxes, hedgehogs, mice, opossums, owls, raccoons, raptors, rats, shrews, skunks, snakes and weasels jeopardize North American Mediterranean gecko habitats.

Mediterranean geckos keep to angry confrontations among rival males, brief courtships and internal fertilizations of calcium carbonate-shelled eggs that females keep laying from April to August.

Translucent-skinned abdomens let wildlife observers look at 1- to 3-egg clutches, for laying in rock cliffs and tree hollows one month or two after breeding seasons. The 1.58-inch (4-centimeter) hatchlings from 0.47- by 0.39-inch (12- by 10-millimeter) eggs in two to three seasonal clutches manifest round ringtails with keeled tubercles (ridged bumps). Crawling and low-, slow-flying, day-active, ground- to near-ground-level, opportunistic ants, beetles, centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, flies, gnats, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, moths, slugs, snails, spiders and termites nourish adults.

North American Mediterranean gecko habitats offer season-coldest temperature ranges, north to southward, from minus 25 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 31.66 to minus 6.66 degrees Celsius).

Acacia bushlands and woodlands, coastal, coniferous, deciduous, dry, mixed, moist, mountain, pine-oak forests, dry and flooded grasslands and dry scrublands, shrublands and woodlands protect Mediterranean geckos.

Physical and sexual maturation queues up 4- to 5.5-inch (10.16- to 13.97-centimeter), 1.58- to 1.97-inch (4- to 5-centimeter), 0.12-ounce (3.5-gram) snout-vent lengths, total lengths and weights. Adults reveal four-legged, grainy-, small-scaled, translucent gray, pink, tan or white bodies with banded, round tails, claw-, wide-tipped, padded toes and upper-sides knobby-rowed with keeled tubercles. Their big, depressed heads showcase somber, staring eyes whose lidlessness and vertical pupils respectively signify sight through a transparent scale, called a spectacle, and night-active lifestyles.

North American Mediterranean gecko habitats take in big-headed, four-legged, grainy-, soft-scaled gray-pink-tan-white bodies with claw-, wide-tipped padded toes, lidless vertical pupils, rounded ringtails and white-ridged bumps.

Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus), originally an Old World species, now claims New World homelands, including the southeastern United States: Fort Pulaski National Monument @FortPulaskiNPS, via Facebook Sep. 24, 2014

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus); Dallas, northeastern Texas; Saturday, May 23, 2009, 19:03:48: Nathan Vaughn (Brilhasti1), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/46799485@N00/3578508845

Buchholz, Karl F. 1954. "Eine Neuer Hemidactylus von den Balearen (Rept. Geckonidae): Hemidactylus turcicus spinalis subsp. nov." Bonner Zoologische Beiträge, vol. 5, nos. 1-2 (July 15, 1954): 68. Bonn, Germany: Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig.
Available via Bonn Zoological Bulletin @ http://zoologicalbulletin.de/BzB_Volumes/Volume_05_1_2/068_068_BZB05_1_2_Buchholz_KarlF.PDF
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/bonnerzoolo5619541955zool#page/n79/mode/1up

Fort Pulaski National Monument @FortPulaskiNPS. 24 September 2014. "#WildWednesday The Mediterranean Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, is an introduced species from Southern Europe and Northern Africa." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=835106813190707

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 7, Reptiles, edited by Michael Hutchins, James B. Murphy, and Neil Schlager. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Linnaeus, Carl. 1758. "13. Lacerta turcica." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 202. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727113

"Mediterranean Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus -- Introduced." University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) Herpetology Program > Lizards.
Available @ http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/hemtur.htm

Moravec, Jiři; & Böhme, Wolfgang. 1997. "A New Subspecies of the Mediterranean Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus from the Syrian Lava Desert (Squamata: Sauria: Gekkonidae): Hemidactylus turcicus lavadeserticus ssp. n." Herpetozoa, vol. 10, nos. 3/4 (Dec. 30, 1997): 121-128. Vienna, Austria: Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Herpetologie [Austrian Society of Herpetology].
Available @ http://www.zobodat.at/pdf/HER_10_3_4_0121-0128.pdf

Moravec, Jiří; Lukáš Kratochvíl; Zuair S. Amr; David Jandzik; Jiří Šmíd; and Václav Gvoždík. 2011. "High Genetic Differentiation Within the Hemidactylus turcicus Complex (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) in the Levant, With Comments on the Phylogeny and Systematics of the Genus." Zootaxa, issue 2894: 21-38.
Available via ResearchGate @ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234004817
Available via Magnolia Press @ http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/z02894p038f.pdf

Šmíd, Jiří; Moravec, Jiří; Lukáš Kratochvíl; Václav Gvoždík; Abdul Karim Nasher; Salem M. Busais; Thomas Wilms; Mohammed Y. Shobrak; Salvador Carranza. 2013. "Two Newly Recognized Species of Hemidactylus (Squamata, Gekkonidae) From the Arabian Peninsula and Sinai, Egypt." ZooKeys, issue 355 (Nov. 25, 2013): 79-107. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.355.6190.
Available via ZooKeys @ https://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=3570

Uetz, Peter. "Hemidactylus turcicus (Linnaeus, 1758)." The Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Hemidactylus&species=turcicus&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27Hemidactylus+turcicus%27%29%29

Saturday, July 4, 2020

Taper-Tailed Darner Dragonfly Habitats: Crescents, Stripes, Triangles

Summary: North American taper-tailed dragonfly habitats get green-tan paired triangles on brown abdomens, yellow crescent-marked legs and yellow S-marked abdomens.

taper-tailed darner dragonfly (Gomphaeschna antilope) in Virginia; Thursday, May 30, 2013, 16:19: Robert Webster (xpda), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

North American taper-tailed darner dragonfly habitats appall cultivators, but not naturalists, with shallow waters and soggy soils in coastal plain distribution ranges from Massachusetts through Louisiana and into inland Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Taper-tailed darners bear their common name for tapering, knitting needle-shaped abdomens and the scientific name Gomphaeschna antilope (mushroom-like [claspers on] misshapen [spear-shaped dragonfly with] horn-like [claspers]). Common names consolidate scientific committee consensus in the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, whose seventh Bulletin of American Odonatology compares Illinois and Georgia river cruiser subspecies. Scientific designations delve into descriptions in 1874 by Hermann August Hagen (May 30, 1817-Nov. 9, 1893), nephew-in-law of physicist-astronomer Friedrich Bessel (July 22, 1784-March 17, 1846).

Taper-tailed darner life cycles expect shallow sphagnum bogs and swamps with ground to treetop vegetation, light-filled pinewood clearings and sometimes neighboring coastal plain rivers and streams.

February through July function as earliest to latest flight seasons even though April or May furnishes wildife mapping opportunities in all North American taper-tailed darner niches.

Male taper-tailed darners go back and forth, quickly downstream and slowly back upstream, with minimal wingbeats over a series of 1.5-foot (0.46-meter) foraging and patrolling territories. They hang down from smaller branches than harlequin darners even though, unlike their pygmy darner relatives, they hold vertically onto trunks, hover and hunt as hawkers. They incline toward solitary hunts and patrols even though, like harlequin darners, windy weather inspires their swarmed forages, especially of termites, on leeward sides of trees.

Ants, assassin flies, biting midges, ducks, falcons, fish, flycatchers, frogs, grebes, lizards, spiders, turtles and water beetles and mites jeopardize North American taper-tailed darner dragonfly habitats.

Immature taper-tailed darners keep to dull, faded, gray-brown and small sizes just as diminutive adults know woodland camouflage-friendly blacks, blues, browns, green-browns, green-tans, whites and yellows.

Incomplete metamorphosis leads from rod-shaped eggs laid in wet wood just above water levels to adult-like, multi-molting, nonflying larvae, naiads or nymphs and to molted tenerals. Recently emerged, shiny-winged, tender-bodied, weak-flying tenerals must maintain permanent colors and manage physical and sexual maturity before mating and then manipulating eggs into ovipositing sites. Aphids, beetles, borers, caddisflies, copepods, crane flies, dobsonflies, gnats, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, rotifers, scuds, water fleas and worms nourish pygmy darner members of the Aeshnidae darner family.

North American taper-tailed darner dragonfly habitats offer season-coldest temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 15 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26.11 to minus 1.11 degrees Celsius).

Beech, bellflower, birch, bladderwort, cattail, daisy, grass, greenbrier, heath, laurel, madder, maple, nettle, olive, pepperbush, pine, pondweed, rush, sedge, water-lily and willow families promote taper-tailed darners.

Amber-tinted wings, brown thoraxes with marked sides and striped shoulders and egg-thickened abdomens with brown-orange spots and white-marked sides qualify as brown-eyed, brown-faced, brown-legged female hallmarks. Males reveal green-brown eyes; white-brown faces; yellow crescent-marked hind legs; black-marked, blue-striped brown thoraxes; yellow-edged wings; and cylindrical, yellow-, S-marked brown abdomens with green-tan paired triangles. Adults show off 2.09- to 2.36-inch (53- to 60-millimeter) head-body lengths, 1.49- to 1.81-inch (38- to 46-millimeter) abdomens and 1.18- to 1.46-inch (30- to 37-millimeter) hind-wings.

Abdomens with paired triangles and S-like marks and thoraxes with marks and stripes tell taper-tailed darners from other odonates in North American taper-tailed darner dragonfly habitats.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

taper-tailed darner dragonfly (Gomphaeschna antilope) in Virginia; Thursday, May 30, 2013, 16:19: Robert Webster (xpda), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gomphaeschna_antilope_P1400423a.jpg

Lookalike harlequin darner (Gomphaeschna furcillata) overlaps with taper-tailed darner dragonfly (Gomphaeschna antilope) in Northern Virginia; harlequin darner in Mason Neck State Park, southernmost Fairfax County, Northern Virginia; Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 15:19: Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harlequin_Darner_-_Gomphaeschna_furcillata,_Mason_Neck_State_Park_-_6287764458.jpg; Judy Gallagher (Judy Gallagher), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/52450054@N04/6287764458/

For further information:

Abbott, John C. Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Princeton NJ; Oxford UK: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Beaton, Giff. Dragonflies & Damselflies of Georgia and the Southeast. Athens GA; London UK: University of Georgia Press, 2007.

Berger, Cynthia. Dragonflies. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books: Wild Guide, 2004.

Bright, Ethan. "Gomphaeschna antilope (Hagen, 1874: 354 as Aeschna) -- Taper-tailed Darner." Aquatic Insects of Michigan > Odonata (Dragon- and Damselflies) of Michigan > Anisoptera Selys, 1854 -- Dragonflies > Aeshnidae Rambur, 1842: 181 (Darners) > Gomphaeschna Selys, 1871 (Pygmy Darners).
Available @ http://www.aquaticinsects.org/sp/Odonata/sp_oom.html

"Gomphaeschna antilope." James Cook University-Medusa: The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies > Anisoptera > Gomphaeschna.
Available via James Cook University-Medusa @ https://medusa.jcu.edu.au/Dragonflies/openset/displaySpecies.php?spid=162

Hagen, Dr. H. (Hermann). "The Odonate Fauna of Georgia, From Original Drawings Now in Possession of Dr. J. LeConte, and in the British Museum: 8. Aeschna antilope spec. nov." Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. 16 (1873-1874), Section of Entomology (March 25, 1874): 354-355. Boston MA: Printed for the Society, 1874.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41807634
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31822009248048?urlappend=%3Bseq=370

Paulson, Dennis. Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides, 2011.

"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012

Friday, July 3, 2020

Ellora Hindu Cave 23 Accepts Shiva as Fertility God and as Trimurti

Summary: Ellora Hindu Cave 23 in Maharashtra, India, perhaps advances Shiva as a symbolized ferttility god of destruction over Brahma and Vishnu in Trimurti art.

"Cave 23 in Ellora Fort with an impromptu waterfall"; Saturday, July 9, 2016, 15:45: Ganesh.Subramaniam85, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Ellora Hindu Cave 23 in Maharashtra state, western peninsular India, acquires Shaivite aspects in aligning a Trimurti association of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu with a shrine to the fertility god of destruction.

Brahmanic, Shaivite (from Sanskrit शिव, "auspicious") and Vaishnavite Hinduism broaches Trimurti (from Sanskrit त्रि, "three" and मूर्ति, "forms") deities as one supreme deity with two subordinates. The blue-throated, fair-skiunned, five-faced, four-armed, three-eyed, wild-haired fertility god of world destruction configures a crescent moon around his third eye and three chest-crossing, hair-coiled, shoulder-covering serpents. Shiva's four hands deploy his bow Ajagava (from Sanskrit अजगव), invincible sword, skull-ended club Khatvanga (from Sanskrit खट्वाङ्ग, "bedstead-bodied") and trident Pinaka (from Sanskrit पिनाक, "world-preserving").

Parvati (from Sanskrit पर्वति, "stone"), consort embodying black light from the Trimurti visual energy, employs bull (Bos taurus), lion (Panthera leo) and tiger (Panthera tigris) mounts.

Brahma (from Sanskrit ब्रह्म, "priest") fits flower-filled Satyaloka (from Sanskrit सत्य, "true" and लोक, "world") onto Mount Meru's (from Sanskrit मेरु, "central") 84,000-league- (336,000,000-meter-) high summit.

Four-armed, four-headed, red-bodied, white-robed Brahma gazes upon all goings-on with his eight eyes grouped in pairs on each of his center-back, center-front, left and right heads. Four hands hold four Veda (from Sanskrit वेद, "knowledge") hymns and his bow, scepter, spoon, stringed beads or water jar Kamandalu (from Sanskrit कमण्डलु, "water-giving ornament"). Brahma and consort Sarasvati (from Sanskrit सरस्वती, "many-watered"), white-light goddess of Trimurti intense visual energy, itinerate by goose (Anser indicus), peacock (Pavo cristatus) or swan (Cygnus).

Vishnu (from Sanskrit विष्णु, "all-pervasive") journeys from white-lotus lodgings within the 80,000-mile (128,747.52-kilometer) circumferencve of all-gold, all-jeweled, blue-lotus, red-lotus, white-lotus, five-pool Vaikuntha (from Sanskrit वैकुण्ठ, "unassailable").

Ellora Hindu Cave 23 keeps unpainted in its Trimurti Vishnu, blue-bodied keeper of bow

Two of Vishnu's four hands load his club Kaumodaki (from Sanskrit कौमोदकी, "earth-pleasing") and discus Sudarsana (from Sanskrit सुदर्शन, "beautiful") or Vajranabha (from Sanskrit वज्रनाभ, "hard-naved"). Two hands maintain his conch shell Panchajanya (from Sanskrit पाञ्चजन्य, "five-born") and, alternate mount to bird-man Garuda (from Sanskrit गरुड, "devourer"), lotus Padma (from Sanskrit पद्म). Vishnu named as consort, from the red light of the net Trimurti energy, the auspicious goddess Lakshmi (from Sanskrit लक्ष्मी, "to know and understand the goal").

Shaivite Hinduism offers Shiva as Trimurti overlord whose reproductive organs, observed devotionally and symbolically as linga (from Sanskrit लिङ्ग, "emblem"), operationalize fertile world population and repopulation.

The IndiaThatWas blog presents Ellora Hindu Cave 23 as possessing a near-double verandah, five doors, four small cells and one shrine preserving ancient practices in Hinduism.

Ancient settlers of northwest India at Harappa and at Mohenjodaro (from Sindhi موئن جو دڙو, "dead men's mound") queued around cylinder-shafted father-god and round-based mother-goddess symbols. The round pedestal that rises from the basalt floor reveres Shiva, fertility god of destroyed and recreated worlds and Hindu replacement for 4,500- to 5,300-year-old roles. The male reproductive organ-like, stone-carved symbol shares the small space of the cave temple shrine with the stone-sculpted Trimurti of creator Brahma, destroyer Shiva, preserver Vishnu.

Ellora Hindu Cave 23 takes on Shaivite tones through teaming stone-carved, symbolic male reproductive organs of, and the stone-sculpted Trimurti to, Shiva, fertility god of destruction.

Ellora Hindu Cave 23; Sabyasachi Basu@SabyasachiBasu_, via Twitter April 30, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

"Cave 23 in Ellora Fort with an impromptu waterfall"; Saturday, July 9, 2016, 15:45: Ganesh.Subramaniam85, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rain,_Waterfalls_and_a_cave_-_Ellora.jpg

Ellora Hindu Cave 23; Sabyasachi Basu@SabyasachiBasu_, via Twitter April 30, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/SabyasachiBasu_/status/990871387580624896

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Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Sunday, July 5, Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Series 149

Summary: The Sunday, July 5, penumbral lunar eclipse belongs to Saros cycle 149, a series of 71 similar lunar eclipses.

Penumbral lunar eclipse of Wednesday, June 13, 1984, opened Saros 149’s lineup of 71 lunar eclipses: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The Sunday, July 5, penumbral lunar eclipse belongs to Saros series 111, a family of 71 lunar eclipses with similar geometries.

July’s penumbral lunar eclipse begins Sunday, July 5, at 03:07:23 Universal Time (Saturday, July 4, at 11:07 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time), according to NASA’s Eclipse Web Site. Greatest eclipse, which references the instant of the moon’s closest passage to the axis of Earth’s shadow, happens Sunday at 04:30:00.1 UT (12:30 a.m. EDT). The eclipse ends at 05:52:23 UT (1:52 a.m. EDT).

July’s penumbral lunar eclipse appears as number three in the lineup of 71 lunar eclipses in Saros series 149. Similar geometries unite the 71 lunar eclipses as a family, known as a series.

Saros 149 lunar eclipses have shared occurrences at the moon’s descending node. With each subsequent eclipse, the lunar movement in Saros series 149 is northward with respect to the descending node.

A pair of nodes signal the intersections of Earth’s orbit with the lunar orbit. The two nodes express the approximately 5.1 degree tilt of the lunar orbit with respect to Earth’s orbit. The descending node concerns the moon’s orbital crossing to the south of Earth’s orbit. The ascending node marks the lunar orbital crossing to the north of Earth’s orbit.

The Saros cycle, which equates to approximately 6,585.3 days (18 years 11 days 8 hours), determines the periodicity and recurrence of eclipses. A Saros series comprises 70 or more lunar eclipses, with a Saros cycle elapsing between each eclipse. A Saros series typically lasts for 12 to 15 centuries.

Saros series 149 endures for 1,262.11 years. Saros series 149 unfolds over 14 centuries, beginning in the 20th century and ending in the 33rd century.

The 71 lunar eclipses in Saros series 149 sequence as seven penumbral lunar eclipses, 21 partial lunar eclipses, 15 total lunar eclipses, 21 partial lunar eclipses and seven penumbral lunar eclipses. Partial lunar eclipses appear with the greatest frequency in Saros series 149, with a total of 42 occurrences. Total lunar eclipses claim second place, with 15 occurrences.

The 20th century’s penumbral eclipse of Wednesday, June 13, 1984, opened Saros series 149. This eclipse occurred near the southern edge of the penumbra, the shadow’s lighter, outer region. This event staged its greatest eclipse over central west Queensland in northeastern Australia, in the Southern Hemisphere.

The 33rd century’s penumbral eclipse of Friday, July 20, 3246, ends Saros series 111. This eclipse will occur near the penumbra’s northern edge.

The Friday, July 5, 2020, penumbral lunar eclipse occurs as number three within the lineup of 71 lunar eclipses in Saros series 149. July’s penumbral lunar eclipse numbers as third in the opening sequence of seven penumbral lunar eclipses in Saros series 149. This event will experience its greatest eclipse over northwestern Argentina, in the Southern Hemisphere.

The penumbral lunar eclipse of Monday, June 24, 2002, is the immediate predecessor of July’s penumbral lunar eclipse in Saros series 149. This event’s greatest eclipse took place over the Mozambique Channel, between the Southeast African Republic of Mozambique and the East African Republic of Madagascar, in the Southern Hemisphere. The June 2002 penumbral lunar eclipse appears as number two in the series’ lineup of 71 lunar eclipses and in the opening sequence of seven penumbral lunar eclipses.

The penumbral eclipse of Thursday, July 16, 2038, is the successor of July’s penumbral lunar eclipse in Saros series 149. This event’s greatest eclipse will take place over the open waters of the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the Polynesian Kingdom of Tonga and southwest of the Cook Islands (Kūki 'Āirani), in the Southern Hemisphere. This eclipse occurs as number four, both in the lineup of 71 lunar eclipses and in the opening sequence of seven penumbral lunar eclipses.

The takeaway for the Sunday, July 5, 2020, penumbral lunar eclipse is that the third of the year’s four penumbral lunar eclipses belongs to Saros series 149 and occurs as number three in the lineup of 71 lunar eclipses in the series.

Penumbral lunar eclipse of Thursday, July 16, 2038, succeeds the Sunday, July 5, 2020, penumbral lunar eclipse in Saros series 149: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Espenak, Fred. “Key to Catalog of Lunar Eclipse Saros Series." NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Catalog of Lunar Eclipse Saros Series > Lunar Eclipses of Saros Series 1 to 180.
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Espenak, Fred. “Penumbral 1984 Jun 13.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipse Catalogs: Catalog of Lunar Eclipse Saros Series > Lunar Eclipses of Saros Series 1 to 180 > Saros Series 149 > 01 -35 1984 Jun 13.
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Espenak, Fred. “Penumbral 2002 Jun 24." NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Catalog of Lunar Eclipse Saros Series > Lunar Eclipses of Saros Series 1 to 180 > Saros Series 149.
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Espenak, Fred. “Penumbral 2020 Jul 05." NASA Eclipse Web Site > Catalog of Lunar Eclipse Saros Series > Lunar Eclipses of Saros Series 1 to 180 > Saros Series 149.
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Espenak, Fred. “Penumbral 2038 Jul 16.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipse Catalogs: Catalog of Lunar Eclipse Saros Series > Lunar Eclipses of Saros Series 1 to 180 > Saros Series 149 > 04 -32 2038 Jul 16.
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Espenak, Fred. “Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 2020 Jul 05.” EclipseWise > Lunar Eclipses > Recent and Upcoming Lunar Eclipses > Decade Tables of Lunar Eclipses > 2011-2020.
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Espenak, Fred; Jean Meeus. "Saros Series 149." NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Catalog of Lunar Eclipse Saros Series.
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Marriner, Derdriu. “Friday, Jan. 10, Lunar Eclipse Is First of Four 2020 Penumbral Eclipses.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/friday-jan-10-lunar-eclipse-is-first-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Friday, Jan. 10, Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Series 144.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/friday-jan-10-penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Friday, June 5, Lunar Eclipse Is Second of Four 2020 Penumbral Eclipses.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 27, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/05/friday-june-5-lunar-eclipse-is-second.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Friday, June 5, Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Series 111.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 3, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/friday-june-5-penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Sunday, July 5, Lunar Eclipse Is Third of Four 2020 Penumbral Eclipses.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 24, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/sunday-july-5-lunar-eclipse-is-third-of.html

Smith, Ian Cameron. “Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 13 Jun, 1984 AD.” Moon Blink > Hermit Eclipse > Eclipse Database > Full Lunar Catalog > 1001-2000 AD > 1901 AD > 1981-2000 AD.
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Smith, Ian Cameron. “Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 16 Jul, 2038 AD.” Moon Blink > Hermit Eclipse > Eclipse Database > Full Solar Catalog > 2001-3000 AD > 2001 AD > 2021-2040 AD.
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