Top Photo: Passionflower flea beetle. Beetles are insects. They belong to an order of insects called Coleoptera which, translated from the Greek, means sheath wings. Beetles have two pairs of wings, the front of which are, in most species, hardened and serve to cover the hind wings, the flight wings, when not in use. When on foot, most beetles fold their flight wings and store them under the hardened forewings, the elytra. Beetles constitute about 40% of all insects on theRead more
Posts tagged: #Virginia Pine Borer
Blooms and Butterflies.
Photos of a handful of flowers and leps which can currently be seen as you stroll the Museum’s grounds. And one beetle that typically doesn’t show up till mid-April. Go out and see what you can find!Read more
Spring at the Museum?
It’s December not April. What’s going on with the wildlife here at the Museum. Ranger Lew saw a Northern Water Snake on Saturday (12/3). Spring Peepers were calling and Yellow-bellied Sliders were out basking in the near 70 degree air of yesterday afternoon (12/6). Neither peepers or basking Turtles are unusual during this time of year though, a few days of warm temps is often enough to bring either of those herps out of hiding, even in the dead ofRead more
The Wheel, a Hopper, a Borer, and a Carpet Beetle
Dragonfly and damselfly species are picking up. Seen this period were (dates next to names indicate day in which that species was first observed this season) Fragile Forktail, Citrine Forktail (4/18), Orange Bluet (4/27), Skimming Bluet (4/28), Common Green Darner, Swamp Darner, Common Baskettail, Eastern Pondhawk (4/25), Blue Corporal (4/25), Blue Dasher (4/27), Common Whitetail, and Black Saddlebags (4/27). The Skimming Bluets in the image at left are configured in what is referred to as the “copulation wheel.” This configurationRead more
Buprestid Beetles appear, Cicada Killer Stakes Claim
I found a metallic woodboring beetle on the paved path in Explore the Wild. It was one of the large metallic woodborers, Chalcophora virginiensis (pictured at right). Its larvae bore into pines. One reference calls this beetle the Large Flat-headed Pine Heartwood Borer (the thoracic section of the larva or grub is flattened). I think it’s much easier to say Virginia Pine Borer, so that’s what I call it. Adult beetles have a bullet-shaped body, as do the other beetlesRead more