From the quiz show QI:
Posts under ‘insects’
Answer to the Monday Mystery
Yesterday’s challenge required a fair amount of knowledge about the peculiarities of wasp development and morphology. Thus, I’m pleased the answers surfaced so quickly! Here is a color photograph of the same species, a braconid wasp from Costa Rica: Counting abdominal segments was tricky for two reasons. For one, most Hymenoptera have the first true [...]
We really don’t know why monarch butterflies are disappearing
Monarch butterflies- the most iconic of American insects- have declined to perilously low numbers this winter: This is horrific. We’ve lost over 80% of the butterflies. The waning of our monarchs has lead to the inevitable speculations as to the cause. Which is fair enough. But I’d like to point out the ideas are just speculation. No one really [...]
Is “Bedbugs” one word or two?
According to Google’s ngram viewer, a measure of word frequency in scanned books, “bedbugs” as a single word is used far more frequently: Yet Google trends, which measures search terms, reports the converse: So authors are writing about bedbugs, but the general populace is searching for bed bugs. Which is correct? The convention among American entomologists is to [...]
Sunday Night Movie: Giant Anteater & Termite Nutrition
A short clip from the BBC:
Bark Lice Are Ruining Christmas
Poor Laura Beck. The stockings are hung, the egg nog is mixed, the gifts are wrapped, and all is set for a warm and happy holiday EXCEPT OMG TEH BUGS ARE RUINING EVERYTHING: …it turns out the beloved Christmas Pine doubles as a half-way house for mites, moths, spiders, and something disgustingly named ‘bark lice’. Puke/Shudder. [...]
This dragonfly has an opinion, and you’re not going to like it.
Is it just me or does this Brazilian dragonfly look grumpy? photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens at 1x on a Canon EOS 7D ISO 200, f/13, 1/200 sec diffuse overhead twin flash photographed in Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Answer to the Monday Mystery
In the several-year history of the Monday Mystery, few people have so thoroughly nailed the correct answer as Joel Kits: Bombyliidae: Xenox tigrinus Longitudinal veins from the top right are R1 in extreme corner, R2+3, R4+5 (Rs before R2+3 splits off at left and splitting into R4 and R5 at right), M1, M2, and CuA1. [...]
The daily life of an entomologist
I know some of you young folks are thinking of becoming professional entomologists. That’s a fine career choice. Intellectually stimulating. Full of adventure and intrigue. Before you decide to embark on such an unusual professional journey, though, you’d do well to know how full-time entomologists spend their days: Ha! Just kidding. For a glimpse at [...]
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
