Tag Archives: nature

Giving me the weevil eye!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

The order Coleoptera (beetles) is, of course, the largest single group of animals on earth, and by most accounts the Curculionidae (weevils) and their close relatives are the largest family-level group within the order. At 60,000 species and counting, weevils account … Continue reading →

Posted in Coleoptera, Curculionidae | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Group mimicry in Cerambycidae… and more

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

During last year’s extended visit to Argentina, I had the chance to spend the early part of April in the northern province of Chaco. Though much of this hot, arid plain has been converted to agriculture, remnants of thorn forest remain along … Continue reading →

Posted in Cerambycidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Battle of the Bug Blogs

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

Something tells me that one of our bug blogging professors has charged this semester’s crop of students to go out and figure out what makes a good bug blog. My, how classwork assignments have changed since I was in grad … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

And the results are in…

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

I recently entered my first photo contest, a local competition sponsored by the Webster Groves Nature Study Society (of which I have been a member for ~30 years), and although the competition was limited to its few hundred members there were some serious … Continue reading →

Posted in Arachnida, Araneae, Cicindelidae, Coleoptera, Hamamelidaceae, Plantae | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 30 Comments

Ceti Eel offspring?

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

If this creature was a tad bit slimier, you might think it had just been plucked from underneath the armor of an adult Ceti Eel and was looking to slip inside the ear of Chekov or some other human to wrap … Continue reading →

Posted in Coleoptera, Silphidae | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

My favorite of Missouri’s milkweeds

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

Milkweeds of the genus Asclepias are among my favorite plants, although I’m not fully sure why that is the case. Sure, their blooms are conspicuous and colorful, but so are those of many other plants. Perhaps one reason is their status … Continue reading →

Posted in Asclepiadaceae, Plantae | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The true Ombú

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

Recall ID Challenge #21, which featured a photograph of the massively buttressed trunk of a rubber tree (Ficus elastica) planted more than 200 years ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina and give the name Gran Gomero (meaning “big rubber”). There are many … Continue reading →

Posted in Phytolaccaceae, Plantae | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

The 213-year old “Gran Gomero”

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

Here are two more views of the tree featured in ID Challenge #21. This is El “Gran Gomero,” a planted rubber tree (Ficus elastica) located in the upscale Recoleta district of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Whenever locals give a name to an individual … Continue reading →

Posted in Moraceae | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments