Sleep is nearly universal within animals. Though it may present differently between species, everyone needs a rest now and then. Insects are no exception. Sleep signatures in insects resemble those […]
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Articles by: Brenna Shea
Notes from the Lab: Entomophagy
What did you have for breakfast this morning? Cereal? Eggo waffles? Pan-fried scorpion? If consuming insects has never crossed your mind, then you’d be considered the minority. Western culture has […]
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Notes from the Lab: Bloodsuckers
Happy Halloween to you all! We’re wrapping up this month’s gruesome topics with a primer on the vampires of the insect world. Mosquitos have certainly earned their place as the number one […]
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Notes from the Lab: Weird Science
Welcome back to the Lab! For the last several weeks, our Barcoding US Ants participants have been actively involved in the wet lab portion of our project. During the summer, […]
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Golden Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria), male
Luckily for our identification efforts, this is a male Golden Dung Fly. They are a bit easier to identify than the grayer females since they are bright yellow or golden in color. […]
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Four-spotted Tree Cricket (Oecanthus quadripunctatus), male
If you find a green tree cricket in North America, you can be certain it is in the genus Oecanthus. Most can be identified to species by examining the markings on the […]
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Cat-faced Spider (Araneus gemmoides)
Female Cat-faced Spiders are hard to miss this time of year. Not only for their size, but also for their stunning wheel-shaped webs. We can just see a peek of her identifying […]
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Western Polished Lady Beetle (Cycloneda polita)
This blood red beetle certainly looks like it has been polished to a shine. As the name suggests, this species ranges across the west—in the Pacific Northwest, south to southern […]
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Velvet Ant (likely Dasymutilla bioculata)
This Velvet Ant, along with others, were observed clambering around on the stems and leaves of Common Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) during a bug survey on the Rock Creek Confluence property. According to “Bug Eric” (Eric Eaton), […]
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Notes from the Lab: Skimming the Globe
Welcome back to the Lab! Happy first day of fall! As temperatures cool off and day length wanes, many animals are preparing themselves for the onset of winter. For insects, […]
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