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My, what busy palps you have!
In mid- to late summer, the swamps of southeast Missouri and adjacent areas along the Mississippi River become awash in color as stands of hairy rose mallow (Hibiscus lasiocarpus) put forth their...
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One-shot Wednesday: swamp milkweed leaf beetle
Labidomera clivicollis on Asclepias incarnata | Hickman Co., Kentucky Technically this photograph of Labidomera clivicollis (swamp milkweed leaf beetle) doesn’t qualify as a “one-shot”, as I did take a...
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A truly disturbed garden spider
Argiope trifasciata shaking its web in response to being approached. This past weekend I made a trip to the White River Hills region in extreme southwestern Missouri. My goal was to find additional...
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Amorpha borer on goldenrod
Megacyllene decora (amorpha borer) | Stoddard Co., Missouri One of my favorite longhorned beetle species is the amorpha borer, Megacyllene decora. Like its close relative, the locust borer—M. robiniae,...
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Orange and black on gold
Trigonopeltastes delta on goldenrod (Solidago sp.) flowers | Stoddard Co., Missouri The spectacular amorpha borer, Megacyllene decora, was not the only black-and-gold colored beetle that I saw on the...
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Missouri’s largest planthopper
Although I have long dedicated myself to beetles, I must confess that my first love was the so-called “Homoptera”—that now defunct order containing some really cool bugs (cicadas and hoppers—i.e.,...
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Flower ants? Check again!
Last spring while hiking the North Fork Section of the Ozark Trail in southern Missouri (Howell Co.), I made sure to check the abundant flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) blossoms that were in gorgeous...
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Redux: Now you see me…
Chalcophora virginiensis (Drury, 1770) | vic. Calico Rock, Arkansas …now you don’t! Chalcophora virginiensis (Drury, 1770) | vic. Calico Rock, Arkansas Chalcophora virginiensis (Drury, 1770) is the...
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Crypsis? Mimicry? Crypsimicry?
Continuing with the previous post’s theme on crypsis, here is an interesting insect that I photographed in north-central Oklahoma in late June 2014. I was checking standing and fallen trunks of large,...
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The best species name ever!
Entomoderes satanicus | Ruta Nacional 20 @ km 367, San Luis Province, Argentina This past February while traveling to see research plots in Argentina, I had the pleasure of accompanying colleague and...
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