Category Archives: Arthropoda

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

Promiscuous Plants

Posted on September 28, 2010 by jtrager

Naturalists have long been aware of the greater tendency for plants than for animals to create viable interspecies hybrids. This is attributable not only (as some might expect) to a higher likelihood of passive plants whose mating is mediated by pollen-hungry … Continue reading →

Posted in Apidae, Gentianaceae, Hymenoptera | 22 Comments

2 days, 6 localities, 10 species…

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Here’s an updated itinerary for the 7th Annual Fall Tiger Beetle Trip that fellow cicindelophile Chris Brown and I are in the midst of. We’ve spent the past two days visiting six localities in Nebraska and South Dakota. So far, … Continue reading →

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

The last survivor

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

This past June I made two trips to the Loess Hills of extreme northwestern Missouri as part of a follow-up survey for Cylindera celeripes (swift tiger beetle).¹ I was hoping to identify additional populations, however small, of this tiny, flightless, … Continue reading →

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

…the “better” Eleodes suturalis

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

As I mentioned in my previous post, I really wasn’t satisfied with the photographs I took of the clown beetle, Eleodes suturalis, that I brought back from Oklahoma. I had placed the beetle in a terrarium of native soil and taken … Continue reading →

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

The real Eleodes suturalis…

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

I recently posted a photograph of a clown beetle (Eleodes hispilabris) (family Tenebrionidae) that I found last July in the Glass Mountains of northwestern Oklahoma.  I had encountered that individual while stumbling through the mixed-grass prairie in the middle of the night in … Continue reading →

Posted in Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Lens and lighting comparisons

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

I’ve had my macrophotography rig for one year and a summer now, and while I still hesitate to regard myself a bona fide insect macrophotographer, I’ve learned a lot, feel I’m on the right track, and have had immeasurable fun … Continue reading →

Posted in Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Rearing the Prairie Tiger Beetle (Cicindela obsoleta vulturina)

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

I had so looked forward to the long Memorial Day weekend collecting trip – time of season and the weather were perfect, and it had been several years since I’d made a late spring swing through the woodlands, glades, and … Continue reading →

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

North America’s largest centipede

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

As I prowled the remote mixed-grass prairie of northwestern Oklahoma in the middle of the night, an enormous, serpentine figure emerged frenetically from a clump of grass and clambered up the banks of the draw I was exploring.  Although I was … Continue reading →

Posted in Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 69 Comments