Category Archives: Coleoptera

Beetles. The largest order of animals with more than 300,000 species in about 2000 genera.

When is a locust borer not a locust borer?

Posted on June 7, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

…when it is a hickory borer! The hickory borer, Megacyllene caryae, is perhaps the most frequently misidentified beetle in eastern North America due to its almost perfect resemblance to the closely related locust borer, M. robiniae.  Unlike the latter species, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cerambycidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Are we loving our prairies/glades/woodlands to death?

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

I had such high hopes for last weekend’s collecting trip – late May is boom time for insects across Missouri, we have had good moisture this spring, and I would be visiting some high-quality natural communities that I had not … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Cicindelidae, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Saturniidae | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

“Trying” to photograph whirligig beetles

Posted on June 1, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Nobody figured out exactly what I was doing in the photograph shown in the previous post (does anybody now see the whirligig beetles in the lower left corner of the photo?), but I sure enjoyed the guesses.  Several people alluded to dropping … Continue reading →

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

Long Weekend Bug Collecting Trip!

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

On Saturday, I’ll be joining a number of other Missouri biologists as a Group Leader for a BioBlitz at Penn-Sylvania Prairie (“C” on the map above).  Penn-Sylvania Prairie is a 160-acre tract of native tallgrass prairie in southwestern Missouri owned by … Continue reading →

Posted in Acrididae, Buprestidae, Coleoptera, Orthoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Cylindera celeripes Larva Revealed

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

In a recent post, I provided the first ever glimpse of the previously unknown larva of Cylindera celeripes, or swift tiger beetle.  This little-known flightless species is among the tiniest in North America (adults measure only 8 or 9 mm … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Introducing Chrysobothris caddo

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

This set of photographs comes from my June 2009 trip to northwestern Oklahoma, which I found at Boiling Springs State Park in Woodward County. They represent only the second buprestid species that I attempted to photograph with my (then) new … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Marvelously Cryptic Dicerca lurida

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

This is Dicerca lurida (family Buprestidae), another of several woodboring beetle species that I found on the trunk of a large, wind-thrown mockernut hikcory (Carya alba) tree during my early April hike of the lower Wappapello Section of the Ozark Trail.  Actually, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

A Horridus Birthday

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

For many years now, I’ve celebrated my birthday each year with the “season-opener-birthday-bug-collecting-trip.”  This happens regardless of what day of the week it falls (although two years ago I did get roped into a business trip – I made up … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Coleoptera, Reptilia, Vertebrata | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 36 Comments