I’ve had this picture on my camera roll for almost a year now and I figured I should finally get to posting it. If you’re wondering what this scorpion looking flying insect is, it’s the Pelecinus polyturator, a type of wasp. The adults drink nectar and are pretty harmless, unless you’re a June Bug. That’s … Continue reading Dispatches from Somewhere #1: What a Wasp
This past weekend as I sat below an old oak tree while drinking my morning cup of coffee and looking out on a glassy Lake Darling in Alexandria, Minnesota, something fell from the sky and landed at my feet. Small and curled up like a slightly puff green and yellow sour gummy worm. It's face … Continue reading Is it a Worm? Is it a Wasp? No! It’s the Elm Sawfly!
If you're reading this right now, you might be realizing that we're about to be playing a game of semantics (systematics, rather). For many, if it looks like a Spider, that's all they need to know to shiver in disgust and engage in fight, freeze, or flight. It may be pretentious to dwell on the … Continue reading When a Spider isn’t a Spider
In this episode, we discover that we may not be as unique, or advanced, as we thought as we learn about amazing subterranean fungi farmers, cowboy insects, and a 55 million year old relationship that puts our use (or misuse) of antibiotics to shame.
Ever have a butterfly land on your skin and start licking you and thought "Awe, I've got a new best bro!" Well, you were wrong. Butterflies have a dirty secret!
This is circle of life---or at least an ugly, albeit necessary, curve of it. This is the life of the American Carrion Beetle.
Toe-Biter, Electric-Light Bug, Alligator-Tick; people have come up with many names for the fascinating critter. It's actual name is perhaps the most boring---the Giant Water Bug. They are the largest of the 'true bugs' and belong to the Belostomatidae family of insects.
