Tag Archives: nature

The last survivor

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

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…

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

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

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

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 →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Rearing the Prairie Tiger Beetle (Cicindela obsoleta vulturina)

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

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

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

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

Friday Flower – green fringed orchid

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

I may have been the “Beetle Group” leader for last May’s BioBlitz at Penn-Sylvania Prairie, a 160-acre tract of native tallgrass prairie in southwestern Missouri owned by the Missouri Prairie Foundation.  However, it was a plant – specifically the green fringed orchid  (Platanthera lacera) – that … Continue reading →

Posted in Orchidaceae | Tagged , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Trichodes bibalteatus in Oklahoma

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

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

Rejoicing the end of summer

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Last week I awoke to refreshingly cool temperatures for the first time in a long time – a brutal heat wave that had gripped the Midwest for some time had finally (if only briefly) passed. Missouri typically experiences substantial heat … Continue reading →

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