Tag Archives: taxonomy

Cicindela denverensis – green claybank tiger beetle

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Here are a few more photographs of the insect featured in ID Challenge #1, which is, in fact, Cicindela denverensis (green claybank tiger beetle).  Nearly every commentor got the first 6 points easy enough (2 pts each for order, family, and genus), but … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

A First Class Box of Beetles

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Warning: post contains lots of hardcore, beetle-collector geekery! A few weeks ago I got an email from fellow buprestophile Henry Hespenheide (Professor Emeritus, UCLA) asking if I needed any specimens of Agrilus coxalis auroguttatus – recently dubbed the “goldspotted oak borer” after it was discovered damaging … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Missouri’s disjunct population of Cicindela obsoleta vulturina

Posted on October 10, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Although I’ve been collecting insects since I was a kid (and seriously for nearly three decades), it has only been in more recent years that fall has become an important part of the collecting season for me. With the notable … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Jeepers Creepers, where’d ya get those multilayered retinae?

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to get a chance to blast down to the White River Hills in extreme southwestern Missouri.  Cicindela obsoleta vulturina (prairie tiger beetle) was my quarry – I had made arrangements to meet up … Continue reading →

Posted in Arachnida, Araneae | Tagged , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

“Colorfull Cockroach” discovered in Panama

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

I won’t call this a taxonomy fail, since Patrick is clearly not a taxonomist, or even the first person to confuse a beetle with a cockroach.  Nevertheless, I was amused at Patrick’s amazement with the “colorfull cockroach” that he found … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Clown beetle surprise

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

As I slowly scanned my flashlight through the darkness across the mixed-grass prairie in the Glass Mountains of northwestern Oklahoma last July, there was one thing that I hoped not to see (prairie rattlesnake, unless from afar) and one thing … Continue reading →

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

Cicindela – A quarterly journal devoted to Cicindelidae

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Being a cicindelophile (i.e., a tiger beetle enthusiast), I have on occasion highlighted articles published in the journal Cicindela (“A quarterly journal devoted to Cicindelidae”) (see previous post – also here, here and here).  This delightful little journal is the now … Continue reading →

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

The marvelously monstrous Microstylum morosum

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

A few weeks ago, while waiting to begin my nocturnal hunt for the Great Plains giant tiger beetle (Amblycheila cylindriformis) in northwestern Oklahoma, I spent the daytime atop one of the red flat-topped mesas that meander through the area in nearby Gloss Mountain State … Continue reading →

Posted in Asilidae, Diptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments