The order of butterflies and moths, Lepidoptera, gets its name from Greek words meaning “scale wings.” Like a mosaic, those scales make up each species’ distinctive markings. Listed in the literature are a number of ways those minute scales contribute to the animal’s well being. As a layer of insulation on their body, they help […]
Anthony Westkamper
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Look What the Rains Brought
As the seasons change, the macro invertebrate fauna (aka bugs) change. It’s November, and it finally rained at my house. At night when my dogs take me out for a walk I’m finally seeing my long awaited friends, the glow worms. Rapacious slug hunters, these little firefly relatives are usually found on the ground amongst […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Cannibals and Weavers
With branches of kung-fu based on its movements, the mantis is the epitome of elegant lethality in the insect world. Over the years I’ve seen more 3- to 4-inch adult European mantises (Mantis religiosa) in the fall. The imported creatures come in pale green and tan, and are easily recognized by the black bull’s-eye on […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Mantis Religiosa
Probably the insect’s world epitome of elegant lethality is the praying mantis. There are even a couple of branches of Kung-fu based on the mantis’ movements. Increasingly over the years I have seen adults of the 3- to 4-inch European mantis (Mantis religiosa) variety in the fall. They come in two different colors, pale green […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Tangled Webs
In the Ancient Greek story of Arachne, the protagonist, a beautiful young lady with amazing skill at weaving, challenges the goddess of the hearth, Athena, to a contest. Athena creates a godly tapestry while Arachne weaves a panorama of the follies of the gods (the ancient Greek gods had their share). In her fury at […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug:Waiting for Rain
No one needs to tell us 2015 has been a dry year so far. Brown lawns, crops under stress, wild fire dangers all reveal our lack of recent rainfall. There is another group of organisms under stress as well. Although probably not high on any homeowner’s endangered species list, termites are facing a problem. Throughout a […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Damsels and Empty Shells
Neglected Damsels Whenever I give a talk on dragonflies, I point out that there are two subgroups to the order Odonata, which I am told differentiates between the sizes and shapes of the front and hind wings: the dragonflies (anisoptera, which means “same wing”) and the damselflies (zygoptera, meaning “different wing”). I guess because they’re bigger and […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: New Spirals
I think the best and most frustrating thing about nature study is that one thing almost always leads to several more, and each one of those leads to still more. I have a particular fondness for glowing things, especially our local glow worms, Pterotus obscuripinnes. Studying them I learned they feed almost exclusively on small […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Don’t Worry, Bee Happy
With great alarm, many articles have informed us that honeybees are dying out in record numbers. The phenomenon is called Colony Collapse Disorder. There are numerous theories from over use of neo-nicitonieoids insecticides, GMO crops, mites, climatological stress and a combination of all of the above. Like a plague, it has wiped out many hives […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Spider Love
Jumping Spiders! Even people who do not like spiders can find much to love in the red backed jumping spider. First of all they are cute (well, cute for a spider). Stocky and fuzzy, with eight eyes positioned across a broad face, they are somehow a little less spidery-creepy than a black widow. If you […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Neglected Damsels
Whenever I give a talk on dragonflies, I point out that there are two subgroups to the order Odonata. The dragonflies (anisoptera, which means “same wing”) and the damselfiles (zygoptera meaning “different wing”), which I am told refers to the sizes and shapes of the front and hind wings. I guess because they’re bigger and […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
HumBug: Good Mothers
In grammar school I learned that only the birds and mammals cared for their young. Later I learned that crocodiles and alligators build and protect nests, but largely the “lower lifeforms” do little after laying their eggs. Aside from the social insects that feed, protect and rear the young into adulthood, parental care is relatively rare […]