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10 April 2012
Macro GigaPans of Florissant insect fossils
Today, for your viewing pleasure, please check out five macro GigaPans of insect fossils from the Florissant fossil beds in Colorado (34.07 +/-0.10Ma). These amazing specimens were collected by Joe Cancellare, a student working on research supervised by Josh Villalobos of El Paso Community College in El Paso, Texas. Our M.A.G.I.C. project is helping Joe and Josh out by producing macro GigaPans for them. link link link link link All …
28 January 2012
Two new bugs
Got access to the wife’s photos from South Africa. Here are two other charismatic insects:
9 January 2012
‘Bugs’ I saw in South Africa
Here is a collection of creepy-crawlies I saw in South Africa: Big grasshopper/katydid orthopteran: Another big orthopteran (“locust”?), obviously beefier than the previous one: Beach roach (Blattodea): Mating true bugs (hemipterans): Here’s a big snail, too: And best of all? This solpugid! Solpugids are arachnids, but they are not spiders. Along with vinegaroons, scorpions, pseudoscorpions, tailless whip-scorpions, ticks and harvestmen (“daddy-longlegs”), solpugids roam the world as effective predators but I’ve …
6 September 2011
Two more macrobugs
It’s that kind of day. Grasshopper? Cricket? Katydid? Some kind of orthopteran, anyhow. Not a full adult, to judge by the lack of well-formed wings. And, here’s a yellow crab spider:
Macrobug: Unidentified caterpillar – UPDATED
Some kind of caterpillar I spotted on the Billy Goat Trail yesterday – can’t find a perfect match for it to identify the species. Anyone know? Chime in. UPDATE – My colleague Victor Zabielski pinned it as Schizura concinna, the redhumped caterpillar. Thanks, Victor!
15 June 2011
Small creatures
Two macrobugs from yesterday’s field trip to the Rockfish River area south of Charlottesville… … a really fast orange-and-maroon grub: …and an elegant fly: We also saw some rocks, but I’ll have to blog about them later because right now I have to pack up for summer travels.
9 June 2011
Portrait of a cricket
Spied this lovely cricket while hiking the White Oak Canyon Trail in Shenandoah National Park yesterday: I realize there’s been a pretty high bugs : rocks ratio on Mountain Beltway of late; I’m just in summer mode, I reckon. And Virginia’s arthropod profligacy keeps bringing me into contact with these extraordinary segmented denizens of the forests, soil, and air. I can’t help but photograph them… Sorry if the bugs aren’t …
6 June 2011
Patent leather beetle
It’s a morning for big bugs, evidently. Chris Town found a giant water bug on the other side of the planet, and as I arrived on campus, I found a female patent leather beetle crossing the parking lot. I imaged her a couple of different ways – a macro photo pair with my Canon Elph, and then an attempt at scanning her (though she didn’t stay still, with interesting color …
31 May 2011
Another weekend, another batch of macro bugs
This weekend, we went backpacking with our friends Seth and Anne, at Dolly Sods in West Virginia. As usual, I took pictures. Not so much of rocks this time, but there were lots of springtime buggies crawling about, and you know how I like to shoot macro photos of small critters… So here you go: Mating dragonflies: Grasshopper nymph (juvenile): Moth (on my fingertip): A very large ant hill: Weevil …
25 May 2011
Weekend macro bugs
“Did somebody say bugs?” …Yes, Mr. Lizard, it’s time for a photo gallery of the macro bugs I saw this past weekend. We got some caterpillars for you, some millipedes, and also a very cool moth. Feast your eyes! Unidentified caterpillar 1: Underwing caterpillar (?): Unidentified caterpillar 2: Millipedes: (See also here, if you haven’t already) Sigmoria trimaculata millipede: (At least that’s what I think it is.) Luna moth: …
Callan Bentley is an assistant professor of geology at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia. He is particularly interested in structural geology and the evolution of the Appalachian mountain belt. Callan draws cartoons and writes for EARTH magazine. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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