Tag Archives: insects

Reunion in the Badlands… and beyond

Two years ago I targeted Nebraska and South Dakota for that year’s Fall Tiger Beetle Trip. I had gotten my first experience with what Nebraska had to offer with a long weekend trip to the Nebraska Sand Hills during the … Continue reading

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

The last survivor

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 real Eleodes suturalis

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

New blogs of note

Every now and then, I like to feature some of the more interesting blogs that I’ve encountered recently. This update features six blogs – five dealing with entomology and one dealing with herpetology. Aphonopelma: Tarantulas of the United States is … Continue reading

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Rearing the Prairie Tiger Beetle (Cicindela obsoleta vulturina)

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

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

Flaming the debate

As my interest in prairie insects has increased over the past few years, so has my interest in their conservation. Many insects are restricted to prairies through dependence upon prairie plants or their unique physical and trophic characteristics. Thus, preservation … Continue reading

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Trichodes bibalteatus in Oklahoma

Among checkered beetles (family Cleridae), the genus Trichodes contains among the largest and most strikingly-colored species.  The 11 North American species of this predominantly Holarctic genus are primarily western in distribution, although two species (T. nuttalli and T. apivorus) do occur in the … Continue reading

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