Tag Archives: insects
bold honeybees
Social insects like ants and bees may be best known for their division of labor. The queen lays eggs; other bees do other jobs, with varying degrees of specialization. In honeybees, nurse bees take care of the young, foragers fetch … Continue reading
bug on my window
In the ongoing series “Bug on my Window,” I present: a bug on my window. Some kind of fly, maybe? I don’t know my bugs well enough. There were three of them wandering around at sunset. Ok, this isn’t a … Continue reading
woolly bear
This sweet little woolly bear caterpillar was walking along the curb one evening last October: Unfortunately, my point-and-shoot camera was more interested in the car than the caterpillar, but you get the idea: fuzzy and cute. It’s the larva of … Continue reading
gratuitous pretty bug pictures
As we look forward to a possible real live snowfall this afternoon in D.C., I think it’s a fine time to look at some pictures I took a few months back. It was a lovely warm day in September; my … Continue reading
nature in my kitchen
Well, actually, this is nature immediately outside my kitchen. It’s finally raining around here these days, and I saw this through my kitchen window the other day: Hey – I assumed this was a moth, because I think of them … Continue reading
plants call herbivores’ predators
Plants are amazing. I said this to a friend yesterday and he corrected me: “Everything is amazing.” Which is true. Kidneys? Amazing. Meteorites? Amazing. DNA? Amazing. But, for now, let’s talk about plants. They’re amazing. They can communicate by releasing … Continue reading
counting insects
Last week, I wrote for ScienceNOW about a way of estimating how many species of arthropods there are in the tropics. Arthropods are bugs, basically – insects, spiders, and other crunchy things. Entomologists throw around numbers for this – sometimes … Continue reading
museum tourist: amnh (butterfly edition)
The American Museum of Natural History in New York: Way too much museum to fit in one blog post. Here’s my first post about the visit. Next topic: Butterflies. This is a trend at natural history museums these days, apparently, … Continue reading
caterpillars talk with their butts
Skip over to ScienceNOW to see an amusing piece I wrote about caterpillars talking with their butts. The species I wrote about has a modified hair-like structure, called an anal oar, that it drags across a leaf to make sounds … Continue reading
three more quizzes
I just remembered to go looking for my last batch of quizzes, and they were there! Wahoo! Here are three to entertain you for now, and I’ll post the last three later. Tell your friends. A mosquito researcher once told … Continue reading