Tag Archives: conservation

Highlands Tiger Beetle

When my wife and I made plans to spend a week at her sister’s condominium in Florida this past summer, I began making a list of the tiger beetle species that I wanted to see.  I would be happy to … Continue reading

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

North America’s largest robber fly

A few days ago, I featured Promachus hinei, one of the so-called “giant robber flies” and a common inhabitant of the glades and grasslands that dot Missouri’s largely forested landscape. That individual was seen at Long Bald Glade Natural Area … Continue reading

Posted in Asilidae, Diptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Ant-like Tiger Beetle

One of the more recent of the 24 species of tiger beetles that we’ve collected in Missouri is Cylindera cursitans (Ant-like Tiger Beetle).  Although not yet formally recorded from the state, we’ve known about its occurrence here for some time … Continue reading

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Ospriocerus abdominalis

My dipteran digression continues with this photograph of the robber fly, Ospriocerus abdominalis (Diptera: Asilidae).  More than just a pretty picture, this represents yet another apparently new state record that I and my colleague Chris Brown discovered a few weeks … Continue reading

Posted in Asilidae, Diptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Dromochorus pruinina in Oklahoma

As my colleague Chris Brown and I continue to study the tiger beetle fauna of Missouri, one of the species we have become very interested in is Dromochorus pruinina (frosted dromo tiger beetle).  This is another of North America’s more … Continue reading

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North America’s most bizarre lizard

Hmm, something funny going on here.  This is a bug blog – specifically a beetle blog, yet it’s a post about a lizard that generates a flurry of comments.  I don’t know if lightning will strike twice so quickly, but … Continue reading

Posted in Reptilia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 32 Comments

Revisiting the Swift Tiger Beetle – Part 3

…continued from Revisiting the Swift Tiger Beetle – Part 2. The Oklahoma trip had been an unqualified success. Not only had I managed to find the rare Cylindera celeripes (swift tiger beetle) at Alabaster Caverns, I had also determined the … Continue reading

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Revisiting the Swift Tiger Beetle – Part 2

…continued from Revisiting the Swift Tiger Beetle – Part 1. The rain that cut short my visit to Alabaster Caverns in northwestern Oklahoma followed me as I drove east towards Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northeastern Oklahoma. I had called Mike … Continue reading

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments