…an inordinate fondness for beetles!
It seems therefore that a taste for collecting beetles is some indication of future success in life!--Charles Darwin
I feel like an old war-horse at the sound of a trumpet when I read about the capture of rare beetles.--Charles Darwin
The Creator, if He exists, must have an inordinate fondness for beetles.--J. B. S. Haldane
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Ted C. MacRae is an agricultural research entomologist with "an inordinate fondness for beetles." Primary expertise includes taxonomy and host associations of wood-boring beetles, with more recent interest also in tiger beetle survey and conservation. I am currently serving as Managing Editor of the The Pan-Pacific Entomologist, Layout Editor for the journal Cicindela and Newsletter Editor for the Webster Groves Nature Study Society. Visit me also at these other sites:
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Copyright Statement
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Scripturae Novae
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- ‘Beetles in the Bush’ has it’s own domain!
- Orchid Valley Natural Area
- “62nd” Annual “Season-Opener-Birthday-Bug-Collecting-Trip”
- When hardcore botany meets hardcore nature photography—nature geekery at its finest!
- 2019 WGNSS Nature Photo Contest
- T.G.I.Flyday—Black horse fly (Tabanus atratus)
- Revisiting the Highlands tiger beetle (Cicindelidia highlandensis)
- Another look at North America’s most beautiful longhorned beetle
- 2018 Arizona Insect Collecting Trip “iReport”
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Monthly Archives: August 2010
Trichodes bibalteatus in Oklahoma
Among checkered beetles (family Cleridae), the genus Trichodes contains among the largest and most strikingly-colored species. The 11 North American species of this predominantly Holarctic genus are primarily western in distribution, although two species (T. nuttalli and T. apivorus) do occur in the … Continue reading
Rejoicing the end of summer
Last week I awoke to refreshingly cool temperatures for the first time in a long time – a brutal heat wave that had gripped the Midwest for some time had finally (if only briefly) passed. Missouri typically experiences substantial heat … Continue reading
Clown beetle surprise
As I slowly scanned my flashlight through the darkness across the mixed-grass prairie in the Glass Mountains of northwestern Oklahoma last July, there was one thing that I hoped not to see (prairie rattlesnake, unless from afar) and one thing … Continue reading
“A good photographer is invisible…”
Yesterday I shot down to the southeastern lowlands of Missouri to spend some quality time in the field with friend and fellow cicindelophile Kent Fothergill. We were primarily looking for migrants of the Ascendent Tiger Beetle (Cicindela trifasciata ascendens), a … Continue reading
Cicindela – A quarterly journal devoted to Cicindelidae
Being a cicindelophile (i.e., a tiger beetle enthusiast), I have on occasion highlighted articles published in the journal Cicindela (“A quarterly journal devoted to Cicindelidae”) (see previous post – also here, here and here). This delightful little journal is the now … Continue reading
Bruneau Sand Dune tiger beetles caught in the act!
The newest issue of CICINDELA (“A quarterly journal devoted to Cicindelidae”) contains an interesting article by my good friend and fellow tiger beetle enthusiast Kent Fothergill, who presents a fascinating sequence of photos documenting a field encounter with a mating pair … Continue reading
What’s so special about this beetle?
Regular readers of this blog might recognize this as the swift tiger beetle, Cylindera celeripes. This tiny, flightless beetle was once common in the central Great Plains; however, the species has experienced dramatic declines over the past century due to near … Continue reading
What’s more difficult to see…
…than a Trimerotropis latifasciata (broad-banded grasshopper) adult on lichen-encrusted clay exposures? Answer: A T. latifasciata nymph on lichen-encrusted clay exposures. My thanks to David J. Ferguson for confirming my initial ID as a species of Trimerotropis and provisionally placing these individuals as T. … Continue reading