Category Archives: Cerambycidae

Longhorned beetles, roundheaded woodboring beetles. About 24,000 species worldwide. Predominantly borers in trunks and branches of dead and dying woody plants. A few species attack living trees and are regarded as economic pests.

Graphisurus triangulifer in Missouri

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

Of the three species of the genus Graphisurus occurring in Missouri, G. triangulifer is both the most attractive and the least commonly encountered.  Back when I surveyed the Cerambycidae of Missouri (MacRae 1994), I examined only 45 specimens of this … Continue reading →

Posted in Cerambycidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Elytrimitatrix at my window

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

This evening as I was sitting in my comfy chair, I noticed Stitch (one of the cats) pawing at the window. We live in the woods, so it is common for insects to land on the outsides of the windows … Continue reading →

Posted in Cerambycidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

More on ‘Conspicuous Crypsis’

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

In my previous post (Oedipodine Rex), I used the term ‘conspicuous crypsis’ to describe the sumptuously beautiful lichen grasshopper, Trimerotropis saxatilis, as an example of an insect that, despite strikingly conspicuous colors/patterns, blends in perfectly with its native surroundings. I don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Cerambycidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Four-humped Longhorned Beetle

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

On a recent collecting trip, I went over to Chalk Bluffs Natural Area in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain of northeastern Arkansas.  My quarry was a population of Cylindera cursitans (ant-like tiger beetle) that has been reported from the site—one of the only … Continue reading →

Posted in Cerambycidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Tracking Tetraopes texanus with Terry

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

Last month I traveled to Starkville, Mississippi to meet with an academic cooperator at Mississippi State University.  While arranging the trip, I contacted Terry Schiefer (no, not the fashion jewelry designer, but curator at the Mississippi Entomological Museum) to let him know … Continue reading →

Posted in Cerambycidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Recent literature – The Coleopterists Bulletin

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

I returned to the office this week after spending two weeks in Brazil to find the December 2010 of The Coleopterists Bulletin in my inbox.  I don’t think there is another journal that I look forward to more eagerly than … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

BitB Top 10 of 2010

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

Welcome to the 3rd Annual BitB Top 10, where I pick my 10 (more or less) favorite photographs of the year.  My goal for 2010 was to continue the progress that I began the previous year in my quest to become a bona … Continue reading →

Posted in Arachnida, Araneae, Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, Chilopoda, Cicindelidae, Cleridae, Coleoptera, Hamamelidaceae, Lepidoptera, Plantae, Reptilia, Scolopendromorpha, Sesiidae, Vertebrata | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments

Desmocerus palliatus – elderberry borer

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Last June I made two trips to the Loess Hills in northwestern Missouri to survey additional sites for Cylindera celeripes (swift tiger beetle), which my colleague Chris Brown and I had discovered in some of the area’s few remaining loess … Continue reading →

Posted in Cerambycidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments