Tag Archives: Great Plains

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

North America’s most beautiful lizard

Whew! My fingers and keyboard are still smoking after that long series on Cylindera celeripes (parts 1, 2, and 3). Exciting as my celeripes finds were, there were other “tiger beetle moments” from the Oklahoma trip as well that I … Continue reading

Posted in Reptilia | Tagged , , , , , , , | 43 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

Revisiting the Swift Tiger Beetle – Part 1

When my hymenopterist friend, Mike Arduser, came back from his first trip to Oklahoma’s Four Canyon Preserve last September, my first thought upon seeing his photos of the area was, “Ooh, that looks like a good place for tiger beetles!” … Continue reading

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera, Dryinidae, Hymenoptera, Mammalia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Friday flower

While photographing small Acmaeodera beetles on flowers of Tradescantia ohioensis at Packsaddle Wildlife Management Area, I thought I should take a photo of the flower itself.  Flowers of Tradescantia species, or spiderworts, are notable for their bright yellow anthers and … Continue reading

Posted in Commelinaceae | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Four Canyon Preserve, Oklahoma

On my recent week-long collecting trip, the first three days were spent at Four Canyon Preserve in far northwestern Oklahoma.  This nearly 4,000-acre preserve features a stunning landscape of rugged, wooded canyons dissecting ridges of mixed-grass prairie which provide critical habitat for … Continue reading

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

The “obscure” Dicerca

During my recent trip to northwestern Oklahoma, we visited Packsaddle Wildlife Management Area, a 17,000-acre chunk of land containing mixed-grass prairie, shinnery oak (Quercus havardii) shrublands, and mesic woodlands along the South Canadian River.  In one of these woodlands, I encountered a … Continue reading

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

On the road again!

  By the time you read this, I’ll be on the road again for yet another extended bug collecting trip.  I don’t think I am ever happier than when I am on one of these trips – whether it be a once-in-a-lifetime visit … Continue reading

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments