A Bit of British Humo(u)r
A short clip from the brilliant show, Quite Interesting. The start of the discussion is in regards to cochineal bugs – although they refer to them as beetles! (see buggirl)
Entomology
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A Sierran Spider
A weekend without moths can lead a lepidopterist to do crazy things. Crazy enough to photograph a spider. Over the weekend I was accompanied to the eastern Sierra by fellow insect blogger, coworker and arachnologist, Tamas Szuts. I was on the quest for more specimens of a new Hepialidae of which you may be familiar with…
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Mid-week Mystery
While I work on a more substantial post, you can name this butterfly – and the plant should be pretty easy too. Extra bonus if you can guess the county (state won’t be too impressive) in which I took this photo. This was pre-DSLR, but my old beat up canon point-and-shoot did manage to get…
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Genius of the Press XI
This genius of the press is extra special, not for its difficulty, but for its redundancy. I found the same story carried on two separate sources, with different images – and both equally incorrect! I can imagine that it won’t take long for someone to point out exactly what’s wrong with these stories (hint, there…
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I’ve been a little behind…
And while I catch up you can watch some creepy Isabella Rossellini re-enact the mating strategies of a bedbug. You should also read, if you haven’t caught it already, the excellent bedbug article written by the distinguished (and my former professor) May Berenbaum. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MakIB_IJnu0&feature=search]
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A Disturbing New Trend?
Pictured is a black-veined white (Aporia crataegi ssp), and it is currently being returned to the Korean Institute of Biological Resources. Loans get returned, as they should be, every day – and can even number in the thousands of specimens. I myself have a few hundred moths out on loan from a handful of museums…
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Muppet Monsters
I stumbled upon (not on stumbleupon) these colored SEM images on the Telegraph webpage today. I especially love this image of a Calliphoridae larva (Protophormia sp.) that seems more out of a C-rated science fiction movie than nature. It reminds me of both a freakish Star Wars character and a Muppet at the same time….
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Butterfly Porn
Here is a hill-topping male Papilio zeliacon, or Anise swallowtail. This butterfly is widespread in the western Pacific states and is probably much more common than it once was. After the introduction of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), and subsequent escape from horticulture, the anise swallowtail took hold as a common California butterfly. Perhaps before this plant overtook…
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Yes, Republicans Must Hate Me Too.
Over on Myrmecos Alex Wild just brought to my attention a rather personal attack from a pair of republican senators (Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and John McCain, R-Ariz). Once again I started to comment, but given how close to home this hits, I felt a longer winded diatribe approaching… Apparently, my job is a giant waste…
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Pointless news, this time from Nature
Fresh off the desk of the Nature News is a feature pondering a world without mosquitos (or -toes). How is this news? Perhaps there is some new vector control we all need to hear about! Well, check out the article from the latest edition of Nature titled “A World Without Mosquitoes“. I originally came across this…
