Trich(optera) or Treat! Ent-O-Lantern 2014

 Fun Stuff, Insects, Life as a Grad Student  2 Responses »
Oct 312014
 

It’s that time of year again, when spiders make their triumphant return to become decorations rather than despised, and when everything normally considered scary is fun, at least for one night: it’s Hallowe’en!

As in past years, the University of Guelph Insect Systematics Lab took to the pumpkin patch and came back with some new insects to be added to our glowing growing collection.

Ento-Lantern 2014

This jumping spider in full display mode is ready to take back the night. Design by Jonathan Wojcik, carved by Meredith Miller, Tiffany Yau, Steve Paiero, and myself.

Trich(optera) or Treat! These larval caddisflies went all out with their costumes this year. Designed & carved by Meredith Miller, Steve Paiero, Tiffany & Jocelyn Yau, and myself.

Trich(optera) or Treat! These larval caddisflies went all out with their costumes this year. Designed & carved by Meredith Miller, Steve Paiero, Tiffany & Jocelyn Yau, and myself.

Sticks & stones won't break this caddisfly's bones... mostly because caddisflies don't have bones.

Sticks & stones won’t break this caddisfly’s bones… mostly because caddisflies don’t have bones.

Caddisflies get hyped for Hallowe'en at an early instar, as this one created by Meredith Miller clearly demonstrates!

Caddisflies get hyped for Hallowe’en at an early instar, as this butternut squash creation by Meredith Miller clearly demonstrates!

If you & your friends or family created your own Ent-O-Lanterns this year, drop a link in the comments so we can all enjoy!

Happy Hallowe’en!

 

UPDATE:

Sally-Ann Spence (@minibeastmayhem) shared this fantastic scary-b beetle on Twitter

The Monthly Flypaper – February 2014

 Blogosphere, The Flypaper  No Responses »
Mar 032014
 

This may be the shortest month, but it was certainly packed full of great new writing and other content!

Although I get almost all of  my science news online from blogs and social media, that’s still well outside the norm. Matt Shipman reviews a new report discussing what media Americans get their science news & views from.

Sometimes grad students can become so focused on their research subject they fail to see the forest for the trees (or the genus for the species if you’re a taxonomist). This excellent article by Amy Wray provides some excellent reasons why young scientists should be reading non-scientific literature.

What’s this? Forbes Magazine published a story about neonicotenoid pesticides and bees that has nuance and actual examination of the scientific evidence? WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA?!

Absolutely tremendous essay by Laura Burns on being a role model for young girls in science. If you only have time to read one article this month, I would suggest it be this one.

Sticky, a new documentary about the Lord Howe Island stick insect looks amazing! Gwen Pearson (aka Bug Girl) has an excellent preview over on Wired at Charismatic Minifauna, and be sure to watch the trailer below (which is amazing even on its own).

Wonderful piece by David Maddison on the legacy of taxonomists. Probably the best interpretation of what being a taxonomist is like that I’ve ever read.

Chris Buddle examines whether charismatic megafauna new species descriptions are more often cited in the scientific literature than charismatic microfauna. Spoiler alert: they are.

Brigette Zacharczenko makes a triumphant return to her blog with the story behind her first paper describing a new species of moth.

If you had to guess, how many U.S. Presidents have been inflicted with Malaria? Entomology Today has the answer, and it’s higher than you might imagine.

Piotr Naskrecki finds one of the most incredible & rare katydids on the planet, but at perhaps the worst possible time. Fantastic story and photos as always.

This video on the ecological role and services provided by insects by Dorothy Maguire and Sam Quigley is a lot of fun and a great primer for why insects matter.

I’ve often wondered how each U.S. state selected their official state insects (most of which are kind of lame), and really loved this article by Debbie Hadley explaining the history of each state’s.

Fantastic series of illustrations documenting how a few extinct species lost their final member by Jeannette Langmead & Frank Swain.

Caption of the month:

Wayne Maddison has an amazing series of photo essays documenting the complicated world of mimicry in tropical jumping spiders.

I was cited by Cracked magazine. 12-year old me would be extremely proud.

To celebrate Darwin Day this year, Stylianos Chatzimanolis described a beautiful new genus of rove beetle (Staphylinidae) in his honour, and then wrote two great articles about how he came to work with such an important specimen.

Pro Tip: This is not the proper pinning technique for flies. Poster by Ding Hao (1958) for Mao’s pest eradication program.

The poster above was featured in a very interesting article by Rebecca Kreston about the pest eradication program put in place by Mao during the mid 20th century.

I love me a good nomenclatural etymology dissection, and this one by Heather Proctor at her new blog The Inquisitive Anystid about the story behind Odocoileus (the genus that includes white-tailed and mule deer) is a great one.

Finally, Chris Buddle’s 10 Facts guest series continues to be a wonderful snapshot into the incredible biology & natural history of under-appreciated arthropods. This month’s highlights include the Giant Skippers by Andy Warren, and Ichneumonid Wasps by Laura Timms.

The Bug Chicks need your help!

 Cool Science, Entomology, For a Good Cause, Science Communication  No Responses »
Aug 142013
 

The Bug Chicks (aka Jessica Honaker & Kristie Reddick) are two of the most enthusiastic, creative and hilarious entomologists I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet. They’ve dedicated their careers to educating people (especially kids) about insects and related arthropods through interactive workshops and field camps, as well as with a whole series of videos showing the weird, wacky and wonderful ways in which insects go about their lives, and why they’re important in ours (their earwig video is probably my favourite, I highly recommend checking it out).

The Bug Chicks have done an amazing job on their own so far, but they want to reach an even larger audience and are gearing up for an epic cross-country road trip/web-series to show off some of the incredible insects that can be found in our own backyards. Check out the promo trailer:

Honda is lending them a brand new van and Project Noah (a web & mobile natural history app supported by National Geographic) is making sure all the cool stuff they find is accessible to viewers around the world, but Jess & Kristie still need some help from you to make their dream a reality. They’ve set up an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign to help raise the money they need to haul that crazy couch from the forests of Oregon to the deserts of Arizona, and from the mountains of Yellowstone National Park to the beaches of Assateague State Park in Maryland. They’ve got some great perks for those that donate, ranging from “Bug Dork” bumper stickers and insect artwork to classroom lectures for your favourite student!

At a time when science programming on network and cable TV has been replaced with fauxumentaries and fear-mongering reality shows, we NEED people like The Bug Chicks to help inspire and educate future generations of scientists, biologists, and entomologists. Jess & Kristie are two of the finest role models you could ever want, and I fully believe that they have the potential to change the landscape of educational video programming with their work!

So if you can, check for change under your couch cushions, donate a few dollars (or as much as you can afford) and help spread the word by telling your friends and neighbours! There’s only 9 days left in their campaign, and while they have a long ways to go to reach their goal, every dollar will help them bring quality educational entertainment to you and the rest of the world.

Donate to their Indiegogo Campaign HERE.

Finally, we talked to The Bug Chicks about their campaign recently on Breaking Bio, where they announced their partnership with Honda, and explain what they hope to do on their trip, give some hints about some of the cool stuff they’re hoping to find, and share why it’s important for there to be strong, women role models online and in the real world.

Insect Songs for the Ages

 Blogosphere, Fun Stuff, Insects, Pop Culture, Tuesday Tunes  7 Responses »
May 092012
 
Ryan Fleacrest

Ryan Fleacrest Approves of these Insect Songs

I’ve mentioned before how useful Twitter can be, and how the #hashtag can be a real life saver for researchers and entomologists. Today however, the #hashtag reached an all new level of awesome, and provided the Twitterverse with an afternoon’s worth of free comedy.

#InsectSongs is where cheesy Saturday afternoon music anthology commercials meet entomology, with countless creative song titles scrolling down the screen. I’ve Storified some of my favourites here (grouped by taxonomic order of course), but be sure to check out the full list of Bugboard 100 hit titles!

Insect nerds are a creative lot and they put their hivemind to work coming up with some amazingly Punny #InsectSongs!

http://storify.com/BioInFocus/insect-songs-for-the-ages

 

Ironically there were a large number of Beatles songs included in this list…

Of course if you want to hear some actual music about insects, check out my Tuesday Tunes playlist.