Wheel Bugs

  It was a little over a week ago that Lew (Horticulture Specialist) brought a small potted plant into my office. It was a nice enough plant, but in the back of my mind I wondered why he would bring it to me, what was special about this plant. Then he pointed to the main stalk of the plant. There were Wheel Bug eggs on the stalk. A week or so before, someone had spotted a mating pair of WheelRead more

A Question Mark, a Comma, and a Question of Origin

Over the past few weeks I’ve seen several species of butterfly winging through the outdoor exhibits. Two of those species are very similar in appearance and both, if you’re hearing them for the first time, have rather odd names, Question Mark and Eastern Comma. Even their Latin names reflect the strangeness of the common names, Polygonia interrogationis and Polygonia comma respectively. How did these butterflies get the names Question Mark and Comma? The underside of the hindwing tells the story.Read more