Craig B

A composite image of two small insects against a neutral gray background. A velvet-ant (Mutillidae) is above a true ant (Formicidae). Both are dark metallic, with shades ranging from purplish on the head and mesosoma, to shades of dark green on the metasoma. The velvet-ant also has dense apical fringes of appressed setae on the abdominal tergites.

I got nuthin' new to offer anyone today so I'm reposting this composite image of a velvet-ant and a true ant (or, as I like to call them, false velvet-ants... 😀 ).

I like the convergent metallic color pattern.

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#FocusStacking
#Mutillidae
#Formicidae
#Australia

Sweet!!!

Picture of a full size dark blue SUV...maybe a Suburban (?) going down the highway. This is a screen grab from Ggl maps and the SUV has six wheels and six doors. Whoops.

When three rows of seating still isn't enough...

[Grab of Ggl street view while researching a road trip]

#GoogleFail

Right?!

"Do you need some tape or glue to attach the pin & minutens to the card?"

"Nope, I have a better idea..."

Close up of a standard insect pin, stuck in a piece of white foam. There is a hand-written collection label a small distance above the foam—fairly normal—but above that is a rectangle of lined index card. The insect pin has been inserted (somehow) in between the top and bottom layers of the card, so the card is sticking out like a flag from the side of the insect pin. Opposite the end with the insect pin, there are three minutens, also inserted into the edge of the card rectangle. Two of the minutens hold small red clerid beetles. The third has just a small piece of one elytron, presumably from a third beetle, now lost.

Nightmare fuel for insect collection curators.

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#ItTakesAllKinds
#HappyWeekend

Gynecaptera bimaculata (Bradynobaenidae)

It’s SOOO cute. I want it as a plushie. 🙂

Three-quarters profile view of a springtail (Order Collembola) against a white background. The springtail is quite globular and I haven't yet tried to figure out what family it belongs to. The background color of the body is a a kind of pale orange-y red and it has many, mostly small dark spots over its body. It's moderately long antennae are strongly elbowed (geniculate).

Every so often during the past couple of years, I would come across this springtail in my Malaise trap samples and think "I should really try to image this".

Well, my friends, today was the day.

#Collembola
#FocusStacking
#NaturalHistoryCollections
#NotAI
#SpottyMcSpotface

A tiny moth on a green leaf. It is in the family Adelidae, commonly known as Fairy Moths. The wings are dark. The thorax and a transverse band across the folded wings are golden. It has very long antennae; they are roughly 2.5 times longer than the body. This specimen was seen in the Italian alps.

Little. Long-horned. Lepidoptera.

#Adelidae
#NorthernItaly
#NaturalHistoryCollections

Thanks! This is just my prototype and I'm still figuring out if/when/how I'll share the 3D files online. 🙂 (My curatorial responsibilities are taking all my time at the moment.)

My goal is to figure this out by this fall. 🤞🏽

Post a bug that looks like AI but is actually real.

#Strepsiptera
#NaturalHistoryCollections
#BugSky
#Inverts

I made a thing.

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#3DPrintingFTW
#Education&Outreach

@entcollnet.bsky.social
@entsocamerica.bsky.social

Solitary solifugid.

#TexasHillCountry
#ArachnidsOfHersheyRanch

Coreid circlet.

#HersheyRanchInsects
#TexasHillCountry

Ahh! Many thanks Torsten. That explains why I was having difficulty in IDing it! 😅

#MimicMonday
#IShouldStickToVelvetAnts

Large, mostly black mydid fly (Mydidae) pinned on a large piece of yellow foam. The abdomen is black basally and apically, but dark orange on the middle segments. The wings are smoky/black. There are several #2 pins holding the wings and legs in position while the specimen dries out.

Pinging @tdikow.bsky.social for this mydid from central Texas...can it be IDed from this (less than stellar) image?

It is the first mydid fly I've ever collected in a Malaise trap! I think it's in Mydas...but that's about as far as I can get. 🤓

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#Taxonomy
#MydidMonday

Calling all those interested in bees, wasps, sawflies, and ants!!! The International Society of Hymenopterists (@hymenopterists.bsky.social) is putting out a survey to both non-members and members to find out what you would like to see from the society: forms.office.com/e/ekULRH4Tdt

Please share! 🫶

Batnado

🦇🌪️👀❤️

#TakeABreath

If you see this, post the most recent photo of yourself from your camera roll.

Texas Hill Country after an event that included a presentation by wild bird rehabilitators.

[O]Puntia Party!

I very much appreciate the opportunity to be in the field, collecting insects, particularly during these…interesting times.

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#HersheyRanchInsects

A large yellow and black wasp, leaning against a 12-ounce beer empty beer can on a wooden deck railing, against a leafy green background. The exoskeleton is somewhat plastic-y in appearance.

Dramatic range extension from original introduction in the PNW, or a 2nd introduction into the U.S.?!

This image was taken in the upper Midwest, and I am certain this is an Asian Giant Hornet, Vespa mandarinia.

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#StayHydrated
#WaspLove
#fieldwork
#BugSky

You as well!

Many thanks! Of course, the buprestid did most of the heavy lifting (like the subjects in most of my images). 😀

Screen grab of a Google Earth window on a laptop, showing a satellite view of a relatively small area in northern Wisconsin. A one-square-mile section is highlighted in orange. It is the result of a search using the Township, Range, and Section coordinate system.

Not just WI...several states use(d) TRS. We have 10s (maybe 100s) of thousands of specimens with TRS coords on their labels in our collection. 😬

Fortunately there's a plugin for Google Earth that outlines the 1 sq. mi. section—it's great for georeferencing!

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#Digitization

Side view of a single insect pin, holding several tiny parasitic wasps, against a white background. Each dark wasp is attached to its own cream-colored card point; the card points are arranged radially on the pin. A white silken cocoon is underneath the stacked points and two insect labels are also visible.

Well, this certainly was a choice.

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#Macrophotography
#FocusStacking
#CurationFail
#Eulophidae
#BugSky

If you see this, skeet or quote reskeet a tree 🌴

Sweet! That 2nd specimen certainly supports the initial thought of Timulla.

I would be happy to look at all your unidentified mutillids—I can get most (or all) diurnals to species and any nocturnals to genus, at least.

You can find my contact info. here: wirc.wisc.edu/contact/

Yowza! It's lovely...and has me stumped!

Head/eye & metasoma says genus Timulla. Mesosoma also, but it's so truncate! Could be undescribed female of sp. known only from males (or new sp.). Doesn't match females of any described/known spp.

Happy to borrow to confirm genus/ID, if you'd like.

. . . . .

Taming tiny tigers: take two.

Donated (Cal Acad. style) drawer of specimens, as received.

The specimens were transferred to (USNM) trays; labels were rotated & trimmed as needed.

One donated drawer down, 331 to go... 😬

#Curation
. . . . .

An upper frontal close-up view of a tiger beetle specimen, against a neutral grey background. The head and most of the two front legs are visible. The body is metallic: the legs are purple, the head is purple with green, blue, and bronze highlights. The wicked-looking mandibles are dark with a big ivory longitudinal stripe on the upper surface. There are several large pointy projections on the inner margins. The eyes are quite large on this predator.

.

Today's task:

Taming tiny tigers.

.

#NaturalHistoryCollections
#Macrophotography
#FocusStacking
#Carabidae or #Cicindellidae ?
#Curation
#BugSky