Tag Archives: techniques

What’s so special about this beetle?

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Regular readers of this blog might recognize this as the swift tiger beetle, Cylindera celeripes. This tiny, flightless beetle was once common in the central Great Plains; however, the species has experienced dramatic declines over the past century due to near … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Manduca vs. Amblycheila

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Which one do you think will win? Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2010 Email to a friend

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

Swift Tiger Beetle – good news, bad news

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Sorry about the noisy video – it was shot in one of our walk-in growth chambers with fans going full-bore! Anyway, the video shows a couple of mating pairs of Cylindera celeripes (swift tiger beetle) that I brought back from … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

“Trying” to photograph whirligig beetles

Posted on June 1, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

Nobody figured out exactly what I was doing in the photograph shown in the previous post (does anybody now see the whirligig beetles in the lower left corner of the photo?), but I sure enjoyed the guesses.  Several people alluded to dropping … Continue reading →

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

Cylindera celeripes Larva Revealed

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

In a recent post, I provided the first ever glimpse of the previously unknown larva of Cylindera celeripes, or swift tiger beetle.  This little-known flightless species is among the tiniest in North America (adults measure only 8 or 9 mm … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

A Horridus Birthday

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

For many years now, I’ve celebrated my birthday each year with the “season-opener-birthday-bug-collecting-trip.”  This happens regardless of what day of the week it falls (although two years ago I did get roped into a business trip – I made up … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Coleoptera, Reptilia, Vertebrata | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 36 Comments

Beetle Collecting 101: Dress for Success

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

For most of the nearly 3 decades that I’ve been collecting insects, beetles have been my primary interest – first longhorned beetles, then jewel beetles, and now more recently tiger beetles (each taxon an addition, not a replacement!). During that … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , , , | 59 Comments

Hello World!

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

These are two of the Cylindera celeripes (swift tiger beetle) larvae that I’m rearing.  Note: nobody has ever reared this species before!  Nobody has ever even seen its larvae (before now, that is). These larvae hatched from eggs that were … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments