Tag Archives: predator avoidance

North America’s smallest rattlesnake

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

Despite tramping through the brush with great frequency during most of my life, I haven’t really seen that many noteworthy reptiles.  I don’t know whether its because I’ve failed to actually encounter them or whether my singleminded obsession with insects … Continue reading →

Posted in Reptilia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

North America’s longest insect

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

This past June might be the most successful month entomologically that I’ve ever had.  The excitement of discovering a robust population of Cylindera celeripes (swift tiger beetle) (previously considered one of North America’s rarest tiger beetles) in northwestern Oklahoma lasted … Continue reading →

Posted in Diapheromeridae, Phasmida | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Ospriocerus abdominalis

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

My dipteran digression continues with this photograph of the robber fly, Ospriocerus abdominalis (Diptera: Asilidae).  More than just a pretty picture, this represents yet another apparently new state record that I and my colleague Chris Brown discovered a few weeks … Continue reading →

Posted in Asilidae, Diptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

North America’s smallest cicada

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

While searching the hilltop prairies for Cylindera celeripes (swift tiger beetle) at McCormack Loess Mounds Natural Area in northwestern Missouri, I ran across a species of cicada that I’d not yet encountered in the state – Beameria venosa.  Cicadas as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicadidae, Hemiptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Western hognose snake

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

Another herp interlude… Photo details: Canon 100mm macro lens on Canon EOS 50D, ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/14, MT-24EX flash 1/4 power w/ diffuser caps. During my visit to Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern Oklahoma this past June, tiger … Continue reading →

Posted in Reptilia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

North America’s most bizarre lizard

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

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

The “obscure” Dicerca

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

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

Pyromorpha dimidiata

Posted on June 12, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

Despite being a coleopterist, I was somewhat surprised when I realized that I have not yet posted a Lepidoptera photo on this site – especially considering their abundance, diversity (2nd largest order of insects), and overall photogenicity.  Time to change that.  I … Continue reading →

Posted in Zygaenidae | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments