Tag Archives: entomology

Answer to Super Crop Challenge #2

Posted on December 5, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

I was hoping that Super Crop Challenge #2 would prove a little more difficult than the first one, but first responder Troy Bartlett quickly sniffed out the correct answer – the top part of the abdomen of the marmorated orb weaver, … Continue reading →

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

Tiny little slivers of life

Posted on December 3, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Day 1 of the 2010 Fall Tiger Beetle Trip™ had been an unqualified success.  Not only did we achieve our top goal of the trip – seeing good numbers of the recently discovered South Dakota population of Cicindela pulchra (beautiful tiger beetle), … Continue reading →

Posted in Lepidoptera, Scythrididae | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Kirby’s Tiger Beetle

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

At the northern edge of the Pine Ridge in northwestern Nebraska, the land drops precipitously from verdant High Plains to the eerie Badlands below.  The sterile landscape of eroded slopes and irregularly shaped landforms is at once beautiful and harsh.  … Continue reading →

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

Litaneutria minor – agile ground mantid

Posted on November 28, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Have you ever seen a mantid that lives exclusively on the ground?  Most mantids are ambush predators, hiding amongst the bushes while patiently waiting for unsuspecting prey to happen within striking range.  However, a few small groups of mantids have adopted a different strategy – … Continue reading →

Posted in Dictyoptera, Mantidae, Mantodea | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

3rd Blogoversary, 7 New Blogs, & AIF #10

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Today happens to be BitB’s 3rd blogoversary.  I won’t bore you with an attempt at witty, insightful introspection on what it means to have reached this modest milestone.  BitB is still what it started out as – tales from my life-long, entomocentric, … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Answer to Super Crop Challenge #1

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Seemingly correct answers came quickly to yesterday’s inaugural Super Crop Challenge, which featured a curious structure atop a harvestman (class Arachnida, order Opiliones) that I encountered while hiking the lower North Fork Section of the Ozark Trail in extreme southern Missouri. “Seemingly” … Continue reading →

Posted in Arachnida, Opiliones | Tagged , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Super Crop Challenge #1

Posted on November 20, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

ID quizzes and challenges seem to have become an increasingly popular subject for natural history blogs. I’ve done a few of my own, but my straight up ID challenges are starting to seem a little unimaginative compared to the DNA … Continue reading →

Posted in Arachnida, Opiliones | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 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