Well, no one took any guesses on the photo game (see below). But I am sure it was what everyone was thinking but no one actually said:

The first snipit was of the wing of a monarch butterfly:

The secod snipit was of the elytra (the modified, hardened forewing) of a metalic wood boring beetle (Buprestidae). These beetles are also called jewel beetles, and it is easy to see why:

This particular beetle was caught in one of our sticky panel traps, so it is a little goo-y and missing some antennae, but still pretty nonetheless.

Sometimes kids do the darndest things, like sleep in the bathroom sink. This pic is from a couple months ago, he was either hinting towards something…

…or just some kind of freak.

Nature, one of the most prestigious journals for scientists to publish their work in, is starting something a bit bizarre.

Normally, when you want to publish the results of your research, you submit a paper to an appropriate journal. The editor solicits a couple people in your field to review your paper, and based on their recommendations the editor decides whether to accept or reject your paper for publication in their journal.

Nature has started a new feature for authors/reviewers, an online “Peer Review Trial“. When you submit your manuscript to Nature, they will post it online as a sort of blog. Anyone can access the manuscript and read it. If you are a reader who happens to be affiliated with the field/topic that the paper is written under, than you may also do a sort of mini-review in the form of a comment. Supposedly only people who work in that given field of the manuscript topic can comment on the paper. None of these papers are in press or have been accepted for publication. Then, after a given amount of time, the editors will close the commenting board, review the comments, and use those comments in further consideration for publication of that manuscript.

I haven’t quite made up my mind yet on how I feel about this. On the one hand, there is the potential to get a wide range of reviews from several/many people world-wide (typically, you only get 2, maybe 3 reviewers to look at your manuscript when you submit papers the normal way). On the other hand, there is no anonymity, people can be very biased in science based on reputation and that can and does affect the outcome of reviews.

I don’t know, what do you think?

Guessing games are fun, so lets play one. I will post a snip-it of a picture of an insect, you guess what it is, and then I will post the full picture and answer. You won’t win anything, because lets face it I have not hit it rich yet (still waiting on those friends from Ft. Dodge to respond). But you can know that you are the ‘awesomest bug identifier’ for the week. It’s not a real title, so don’t add it to your CV any time soon.

Since I am not sure about what kind of difficulty level to choose, we will have 2 pictures for this first round.

The first picture is for all of you beginners out there:

And if that one was just too much of a walk in the park for you, here is a second:

Good Luck!

So I’m watching the news this morning before heading out to work, and which little dinky midwest town makes the east coast news?? Fort Dodge, IA.

I have a couple friends who reside in that little town. There is no way I would have ever guessed a town like that would make it on the news out here in Boston. Apparently someone is walking around their corn fields with a $200 million dollar lottery ticket. What are the chances the person who won it is one of my 3 friends who unfortunately (in my ‘east coast’ opinion) have to live there?

According to the 2000 census there are about 25,000 poor souls stuck in Ft. Dodge. I have 3 friends there. That gives me about a 0.012% chance of having a newly rich friend.

If you are one of the three friends I have in Ft. Dodge, I am reinstating the ‘friends tax’ on the 0.012% chance that you are now rich.

Think of the school loans.

I know what this looks like….but no, Gunther doesn’t have a drinking problem. He does, however, have an unexplainable addiction to boxes. And bags.

Not only does he love climbing into boxes and bags…but he goes especially crazy for the bags full of ‘kitty weed’ (a.k.a. cat nip). He knows we keep it in the fridge, which is one of the reasons he tries to climb inside of the fridge everytime I open it. Once he gets his claws on the baggie, he shreds it open and rubs his whole body in it like he is some kind of bird taking a dirt bath.

I never had cats growing up, so Gunther is a whole new experience for me. I honestly thought cats were hair balls with no personality that made you work for any ounce of affection. Gunther has proven that that is so not the case. I swear he thinks he is a human. In fact, this morning, as I was calling him for his breakfast, he ran in from one of the bedrooms and without hesitation climbed into and took a seat on one of the dinning room chairs. Normally he comes to his dish in the kitchen, but I guess today he was feeling a bit extra-human.

Being that this is the first official post about bugs, what better way to begin than with the history of insects. Now, I don’t tend to be very long winded when it comes to writing (unless it is my own research) and plus I think there is a greater potential to lose readers when posts go on for days. So I intend to keep posts brief and hopefully provide sources and links to other places so that you can seek out further detail if you are interested.

Most general entomology text books don’t actually touch on paleoentomology, and probably for a good reason–because the presence of insects in the fossil record is not all that great. And we are only recently developing DNA/Genetic code banks for insects and using cladistics to understand the evolutionary relationships that insects have with one another.

There is fossil evidence that suggests that insects first appeared during the Devonian period (some 400 million years ago) and that the first insects resembled our modern day springtails (see here ). I don’t know about you, but for me, it is a really hard thing to fathom the idea of 400 million years ago. Scientists think that plant communities increased during the Late Devonian, which helped prompt different insect trophic (feeding) levels. Since there were so many plants, the first insects were probably plant and detritus feeders. It is not until the end of the Early Carboniferous period that winged insects are found in the fossil record, and the issue of insect flight is still a matter of debate (whether flight is an ancestral or derived trait and what brought about the development of wings for flight). The Triassic period (where all the continents reunited to form Pangea) is thought to be the time where the greatest amount of insect evolution took place. There are several scientists who have made careers out of trying to map out the evolution of insects. One of the most common referenced fossil insects is probably a giant dragonfly (wingspans around 30 inches) that is estimated to be 155 million years old. Why are insects not that big anymore (some of you are probably saying ‘thank God they are not’)? Entomologists think that is has to do with the changes in the atmosphere (mainly oxygen), but that has also been contested. I honestly haven’t done a whole lot of reading into this area, so if you know more info, do chime in. For another little blurb on insects and dinosaurs, see this piece that NOVA has online here.

Insects are broken down into three main groups: bristletails, silverfish, and winged insects. I’ll probably only ever really talk about the winged insects in this blog. The winged insects are broken down further into 3 more groups: (a) the mayflies, (b) the dragonflies and damselflies, and finally (c) everything else, which would be your beetles, flies, butterflies/moths, wasps, bees, etc. What’s funny is that even though this group is the ‘winged insects’, not all of the insects actually fly (i.e., some species of cockroaches, termites, ants, etc) and this is part of the reason why there is still a debate about the evolution of insect flight.

Now some of you may be at the point of wondering what the heck insects are even good for. Trust me, they are good for more than just squashing :). Actually, insects have been intertwined with human culture for a very long time. Here are a couple examples of insects across culture:

1. The Egyptians believed the scarab beetle (dung beetle) was sacred, and we often see them carved into tombs and other ancient artifacts.
2. In ancient Mexico, butterflies, crickets, and fleas were studied by the Aztecs and Mayans. They looked to insects for explanations of life and death.
3. Insects play a role in many different religions, in fact, many insects are mentioned in the Bible and most often symbolize destruction (i.e., maggots, flies, lice, locusts). For more on what role beetles have played in religion, see here.

The relationship of insects and humans is not only symbolic. Many different cultures, even in the present, use insects for a food source. There is actually a whole field dedicated to the study of insects as human food (entomophagy). It’s true what they say, insects are high in protein (as well as calcium, magnesium, iron, and riboflavin). Most of us westerners are repulsed by the thought of eating a bug, but our reasons are not based on any scientific/rational basis. We are raised in a culture that has taught us to fear insects and equate them with a dirty/filthy environment. This is not to say that I opportunistically pop insects in my mouth all day long. I will be the first to admit that while I am enthusiastic about insects, I will stick to the graham cracker cut-outs until I am desperate for a little protein and/or sign up to be on Survivor.

Ok Gang,
I have uploaded several albums of photos I have taken (see tab above labeled “Pictures“). Most of these photos were previously located at my other photo hosting site, which some of you were aware of. I will be moving all of those photos over here and shutting down that site. One of the perks of moving the photos here is that I am able to describe the pictures instead of having just a short title on everything. Lucky for you now, you will be able to get your learn on as I explain some of the cool things about the different bugs I take pics of.

Also, some of you may have heard of a thing around the World Wide Web and blog-o-sphere called, “Friday Cat Blogging”. If you haven’t, you obviously have a life that is not addicted to the intranet. Those were the days. Anyway, I actually had never heard about it until my friend, Jay, over at Ocellated started doing it. Nerdy bloggers post a short diddy about their kitty (hehe) every friday…and I will try to join in on the game. So keep your eye out for Gunther.

Speaking of my friend Jay, I owe him a big thank you because he has been helping me set up this site (from complete opposite ends of the US) over the last couple of weeks and kindly teaching me the ropes of blogging and web hosting (if thats what you call it?). I have always been amazed at the kind of people you meet in life and by the ways in which people enter and exit our lives. I met Jay more than a couple years ago during some summer field classes we both took in Puget Sound. He was my first encounter with a Texan…and I haven’t met another one like him since ;). In all honesty though, Jay has an unquenchable passion for birds and for the integrity of science. I admire him very much for that. I would have never guessed that I would be making a life long friend the day I first heard the strange sounds of a texan accent coming from a guy who was wearing a t-shirt with birds on it.

Who’da thunk?

PS- A word of advice about the pics for those who are new to this, once you click on the album you will see thumbnails of the pictures. If you click on individual pictures you will see the larger photo and (in some instances) a description of the photo. This will also give you the opportunity to click on a button in order to view the album as a slideshow.