Genius of the Press XXII

Back from hiatus and back to the Genius of the Press insect-news-failure series! Fresh off the presses from last year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the UK was shut down for a massive infestation of clothes moths. The picture shown here from “The Nation” story is a far cry from a . . . → Read More: Genius of the Press XXII

Vote for Shark Conservation!

Fellow network blogger David Shiffman is in the final laps of a $10,000 scholarship challenge. The money will not only support David’s blogging at Southern Fried Science, but shark conservation research (including a contest to name the shark he will tag with the funds). Take a moment and vote for him, once every 24 hours! . . . → Read More: Vote for Shark Conservation!

Genius of the Press XXI

This is a pretty epic fail. I guess the “young adult” publishing guidelines are less strict with “facts”.

 

 

 

Thanks to Richard Lee Brown for first posting this on Facebook.

Genius of the Press XX

This GOP is less of a challenge and more of a simple roundup of miserable stock photography. Alex Wild and others have long ago pointed out the massive failings of many stock photo sites – but here is a brief and painful lep roundup using Google.

Step 1: Image search “moth on flower”.

Step 2: . . . → Read More: Genius of the Press XX

Monday Moth

ANSWER: This wasn’t easy – but this large and beautiful moth was from Australia and is in the family Xyloryctidae (Philarista sp.). We have a handful of representatives of this group here in the US and Ted MacRae over on Beetles in the Bush has a few great photographs of them. Somehow I think we . . . → Read More: Monday Moth

Genius of the Press XIX

It’s been a little while since the last GOP challenge, but this is a softball. I’m hoping they were just too lazy to find a more suitable image…

 

 

Genius of the Press XVIII

 

Who can tell me what’s wrong below? Not only is it the obvious photo problem, but the author of the article takes some logical leaps to support his premise. Who can tell me what his logical fallacies are? I won’t link to the entire article quite yet because a well known Lepidopterist has already . . . → Read More: Genius of the Press XVIII

Mystery Revelaed

OK – a few apologies for not having full images *yet* of the larvae in question (I will in a few days!). Over the weekend I was out with a group of Berkeley students on Mount Hamilton and PhD candidate Meghan Culpepper collected a few species of Scaphinotus and a some larvae! So the specimen . . . → Read More: Mystery Revelaed

Monday mystery

 

Came across this guy while out in the field the other day, what’s going on here? Points awarded for Order/Family/Genus – but even experts in this group can’t figure out the species quite yet.

 

(everyone in the field with me should hold . . . → Read More: Monday mystery

Genius of the Press XVII

Usually I come across horrible entomology articles regularly enough that I save a backlog for future series. This hasn’t been the case over the last few weeks, I haven’t come across the normal array of terrible media crud. Maybe I just get jaded and stop looking as carefully – but this week I even came . . . → Read More: Genius of the Press XVII