Category Archives: Arthropoda

Arthropods – insects, arachnids, crustaceans, myriapods, & relatives

One Bad Beetle

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

Almost every tiger beetle trip that I take has a mix of gimmes and stretch goals. That’s alright—it’s impossible to find everything every time out, and if I eschewed the common and was happy only when I found something truly … Continue reading →

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

Another autumn oedipodine

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

In September 2010, Chris Brown and I explored shortgrass/sage brushland habitat atop the Laramie Mountains in southeastern Wyoming’s Medicine Bow National Forest (location “J” on this map). We were entering the final days of our 7th Annual Fall Tiger Beetle … Continue reading →

Posted in Acrididae, Orthoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Mother and daughter (perhaps)

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

Back in May I visited the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Plant Pest Diagnostics Laboratory in Sacramento. While I was there to visit my friend and colleague Chuck Bellamy and see him receive Honorary Membership in The Coleopterists Society, … Continue reading →

Posted in Amblipygi, Arachnida | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Where siblings mingle: Ellipsoptera marginata vs. E. hamata

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

When Erwin & Pearson (2008) formally broke up the great genus Cicindela by elevating most of its former subgenera to full genus rank, it caused a bit of consternation amongst some North American cicindelophiles. The argument went something like, “Now we have all these … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Araneus marmoreus encore

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

Here is the full-sized photo from which the crop shown in Super Crop Challenge #14 was taken. The small finger-like structure in the upper right of the photo—the object of the challenge—is the epigyne (or epigynum) of Araneus marmoreus (marbled orb weaver spider). Spiders … Continue reading →

Posted in Arachnida, Araneae | Tagged , , , , , , | 17 Comments

It’s a Mayfly…It’s a Moth…It’s Thyridopteryx

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

One of the nice things about the study of insects is the endless opportunity for discovery. It could be a new species, or it might just be something already known but not yet seen personally. I’ve been collecting insects most of … Continue reading →

Posted in Lepidoptera, Psychidae | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Persistence Pays

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

For the past three years I’ve crisscrossed the country in search of some of North America’s rarest tiger beetles, each time hoping to get that “perfect” photograph of an unconfined beetle exhibiting natural behavior in its native habitat. I’ve managed … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Black olives with legs

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

While searching the open red-cedar woodland at Oklahoma’s Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge back in September, I rather regularly encountered these darkling beetles (family Tenebrionidae) that I recognized as the species Eleodes tricostata. I really wanted to photograph the first several that … Continue reading →

Posted in Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments