Tag: entomology
-
Dispatches from Somewhere #1: What a Wasp
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 […]
-
Is it a Worm? Is it a Wasp? No! It’s the Elm Sawfly!
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 […]
-
When a Spider isn’t a Spider
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 […]
-
S2E2: Ant Farm
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.
-
Mud-Puddling: The Dirty Truth About Butterflies
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!
-
Carrion my Wayward Beetle
This is circle of life—or at least an ugly, albeit necessary, curve of it. This is the life of the American Carrion Beetle.
-
The Electric-Light-Loving, Scuba-Diving, Toe-Biting, Giant Water Bug
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.