Monthly Archives: September 2010

Sweet Sixteen!

Posted on September 30, 2010 by

The 7th Annual Fall Tiger Beetle Trip™ is officially over – Chris and I rolled back into town a little after midnight last night. It was an amazing trip – perfect weather, unparalleled scenery, and a record-breaking 16 species of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Promiscuous Plants

Posted on September 28, 2010 by

Naturalists have long been aware of the greater tendency for plants than for animals to create viable interspecies hybrids. This is attributable not only (as some might expect) to a higher likelihood of passive plants whose mating is mediated by pollen-hungry … Continue reading →

Posted in Apidae, Gentianaceae, Hymenoptera | 22 Comments

2 days, 6 localities, 10 species…

Posted on September 27, 2010 by

Here’s an updated itinerary for the 7th Annual Fall Tiger Beetle Trip that fellow cicindelophile Chris Brown and I are in the midst of. We’ve spent the past two days visiting six localities in Nebraska and South Dakota. So far, … Continue reading →

Posted in Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

First tiger of the trip…

Posted on September 25, 2010 by

Tiger salamander, that is! Chris and I spent Thursday evening and all of Friday driving across Missouri, up along the Loess Hills into Iowa, across the Missouri River into Nebraska, and all the way through mile after surreal mile of … Continue reading →

Posted in Amphibia, Vertebrata | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

Reunion in the Badlands… and beyond

Posted on September 23, 2010 by

Two years ago I targeted Nebraska and South Dakota for that year’s Fall Tiger Beetle Trip. I had gotten my first experience with what Nebraska had to offer with a long weekend trip to the Nebraska Sand Hills during the … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

The last survivor

Posted on September 21, 2010 by

This past June I made two trips to the Loess Hills of extreme northwestern Missouri as part of a follow-up survey for Cylindera celeripes (swift tiger beetle).¹ I was hoping to identify additional populations, however small, of this tiny, flightless, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

An Inordinate Fondness #8 – Meet the Beetles

Posted on September 20, 2010 by

An Inordinate Fondness #8 is now up at Arthropoda, and I must say it is one of the most impressive issues to date. Mike Bok has given us yet another delightful version drawing on the obvious parallels between the “beetles” … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , | 2 Comments