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Lasia klettii: Photos by April Nobile, CAS For the most part flies are not an insect I get overly excited about. However, the enigmatic family Acroceridae are the exception. I’ll start sharing some interesting genera from time to time – the morphology of the family is amazingly diverse. Most of my days . . . → Read More: Flies can be (really) cool Share this! 9 comments - (Comments are closed)  Entomology  Acroceridae, Diptera, Entomology, Flies, Museums, New Species, Spiders Usually I come across horrible entomology articles regularly enough that I save a backlog for future series. This hasn’t been the case over the last few weeks, I haven’t come across the normal array of terrible media crud. Maybe I just get jaded and stop looking as carefully – but this week I even came . . . → Read More: Genius of the Press XVII Share this![cetsEmbedGmap src=http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.393039,-118.416824&spn=0.359452,0.715485&t=h&z=11 width=600 height=330 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=auto] Tomorrow morning I’m off for a 10 day collecting trip down to Catalina Island. I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to join Dr. Jerry Powell of UC Berkeley on a moth survey, and this will be my first time to any of the islands. . . . → Read More: The Moth is off to Catalina Share this! Comments are closed Entomology, Miscellaneous Catalina, Channel Islands, Collecting, Entomology, Photography
Apparently something in the Mazda 6 fuel line is warm and inviting for the yellow sac spider, enough so that they are building webs over the vent systems of the 4 cylinder vehicles (and not the 6!). The problem has been deemed a “spider infestation” by the car company, and . . . → Read More: Nature bites back Share this!
The family Nepticulidae hold some of the smallest moths known, ranging from 3-8mm wing-tip to wing-tip. For a comparison I have imaged two moths above: the largest known – Coscinocera hercules that tips the scales at nearly 9 inches, and one of the smallest (yes that tiny little speck . . . → Read More: The tiniest of moths Share this! 7 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Entomology, Lepidoptera, Microlepidoptera, Moths, Nepticulidae, New Species, Paleontology, Pests Shockingly, stunningly, amazingly; the monarchs are back (but not co-staring Julianne Moore). OK, it’s not that amazing; I pretty much predicted this would be the case last March when everyone was running around terrified because the butterflies hit an all time low (since counting started in 1993). Actually I believe I said “I will . . . → Read More: The Monarchs Are All Right Share this! One comment - (Comments are closed) Entomology, Skepticism Butterflies, Conservation, Lepidoptera, Media, Migration, Monarchs A softball for this GOP challenge. This image comes care of the Victoria Advocate (TX paper) – with a poorly written article about butterflies. This image flop is pretty easy, but for extra points who can tell me what else is incorrect in the text?
. . . → Read More: Genius of the Press XVI Share this!(Credit: David Cappaert, Insectimages.org)
If you happen to be living out in Yolo, Solano or Sacramento counties you should head out with a net. Dr. Art Shaprio has offered for the 40th year his cabbage white butterfly competition. If you are the very first person to catch a cabbage white (Pieris rapae . . . → Read More: Butterflies for Beer Share this! 4 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Beer, Butterflies, Contest, Entomology, Lepidoptera, Pieris rapae, UC Davis I have always known that in many places of the world, especially off the beaten track, caterpillars of moths and butterflies are on the menu. From Africa to Australia there are dozens of species that might taste good enough to be reasonably edible or even delicious. But here in the US insects rarely if . . . → Read More: Entomophagy: moths for dinner Share this! 5 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Butterflies, Conservation, Entomophagy, Food, Insects as food, Lepidoptera, Mexico, Moths, Nutrition For this issue of the genius of the press, who can tell me what’s wrong with this article? It’s pretty subtle, but a clear mistake, especially for LiveScience. Share this! |
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