Posted on February 26, 2009 by Cheshire
Acacia trees and ants have an interesting mutualistic relationship which is frequently used as a textbook example of a mutualism. The trees offer the ants hollow thorns in which to live and food to eat, and the ants protect the tree from herbivores, both insects and large mammals as well as vines which would overcrowd [...]
Filed under: Evolutionary Biology, General Entomology, Uncategorized | Tagged: Co-evolution, Ecology, entomology, evolution, Evolutionary Biology, Hymenoptera, Mutualisms | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 25, 2009 by Cheshire
see more pwn and owned pictures
I’m not even going to pretend that I read everything what pops up in popular science. My exposure to pop-sci articles consists largely of stumbling into the Iowa State University bookstore and thumbing through the science magazines, usually after I look at the pretty women in fashion magazines. I’m a [...]
Filed under: Epic Fail, Evolutionary Biology, General Bullshit, Science, Science Journalism, Soapbox | Tagged: Anti-Creationism, Anti-Intelligent Design, Creationism, Culture, Epic Fail, evolution, Evolutionary Biology, History, Hymenoptera, Insect Pathology, Intelligent Design, Parasitoids, Parasitology, Ranting, Religion, Science, Science Journalism | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 15, 2009 by Cheshire
Google books is a wonderful thing. You can find pretty much anything on there, at least in part. Quite a bit of the stuff you’ll find is missing some pages, but it’s definitely enough to learn from…or at least find a title of something you’re looking for or interested in. Today’s example: Insect Hearing
. Seriously…give [...]
Filed under: Evolutionary Biology, General Entomology | Tagged: Anti-Creationism, Anti-Intelligent Design, Biocontrol, Co-evolution, Creationism, Crickets, Diptera, Ecology, evolution, Evolutionary Biology, General Entomology, Intelligent Design, Orthoptera, Parasitoid flies, Parasitoids, Tachinids | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 13, 2009 by Cheshire
Phasmids are really cool insects. You probably know them better as stick insects. They’re insects which have evolved probably the most perfect cryptic coloration in the animal kingdom-they’ve evolved to look like sticks. They’re very, very good at this because not only do they look like the last thing a predator would ever eat, many [...]
Filed under: Evolutionary Biology, General Entomology | Tagged: Conservation, Ecology, Endangered Species, entomology, evolution, Evolutionary Biology, Phasmida, Tree Lobsters | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 5, 2009 by Cheshire
I do quite a bit of writing on spiders. Many entomologists deal with spiders, mites and other arachnids in their everyday working life. They’re important, ubiquitous predators. To this entomology undergrad, they’re essentially honorary insects.
Everyone knows spiders spin webs. They can be organized and beautiful, such as this orb weaver web
They can be complex and [...]
Filed under: Arachnology, Bug Pictures, Evolutionary Biology, Fossils, Science | Tagged: Arachnology, Araneae, evolution, Evolutionary Biology, Grass spiders, Mesothelids, Mygalamorphs, Orb-weavers, Science, Spider Fossils, Spider Pictures, Spiders, Tarantulas, Transitional fossils, Uropygids, Vinegaroons | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 2, 2009 by Cheshire
Take a look at Casey Luskin’s diagram in his most recent post over at Evolution News and Views.
Believe it or not, this diagram hits close to home to me.
You see, the very fact that I’m alive is proof positive that this diagram fails the most basic test of irreducible complexity. I have a part missing [...]
Filed under: Evolutionary Biology, Medical, Personal, Religion, Science, Science Journalism, Soapbox, entomology | Tagged: Anti-Creationism, Anti-Intelligent Design, Clotting Cascade, Creationism, evolution, Evolutionary Biology, Factor V, Intelligen Design, Science | 9 Comments »
Posted on January 2, 2009 by Cheshire
Casey Luskin posts on the Discovery Institute’s blog Evolution News and Views. He’s always got something vacuous to say. Earlier this week, he posted that a bicyle was irreducibly complex.
I like to explain the “irreducible core” using the analogy of a bicycle: A bicycle has an irreducible core that requires a frame, two wheels, a [...]
Filed under: Blag, Epic Fail, Evolutionary Biology, Science, The Interweb | Tagged: Anti-Creationism, Anti-Intelligent Design, Blog, Blogroll, Epic Fail, Intelligent Design, Ken Miller, Science | 2 Comments »
Posted on December 31, 2008 by Cheshire
If you’ve ever found big, black crickets in your backyard you’ve seen something from the genus Gryllus. They’re the guys you probably see in your garage during the summer looking for shelter and chirping in your backyard during those warm, lazy nights. They’re pretty ubiquitous and generally pretty recognizable.
Crickets chirp to attract mates using modified [...]
Filed under: Culture, Evolutionary Biology, General Entomology, entomology | Tagged: Behavioral Ecology, Bugfights, Crickets, Culture, Ecology, entomology, evolution, General Entomology, Gryllidae, Gryllus, Orthoptera, Sexual Dimorphism | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 5, 2008 by Cheshire
First thing, they owe the poor professor an apology. Why can’t this ever happen in real life?
Filed under: Culture, Evolutionary Biology, General Entomology, Parasitology, Science, The Interweb | Tagged: Back in the day, Beetles, Biocontrol, Captain Planet, Coleoptera, Culture, Ecology, entomology, Hymenoptera, Parasitic wasps, Parasitoids, Television, The Internet, Youtube gems | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 4, 2008 by Cheshire
Okay…I probably should have done this to begin with, but let’s discuss some very basic boll weevil biology and pest management.
The boll weevil Anthonomus grandis which is portrayed in this episode is a curculionid. This group of beetles is characterized by that long snout you see in the cartoon. They got this right, however at [...]
Filed under: Culture, Evolutionary Biology, General Entomology, Science, The Interweb | Tagged: Agriculture, Back in the day, Boll Weevil, Captian Planet, evolution, General Entomology, Hormonal Pesticides, Pesticide Resistance, Science, Television | Leave a Comment »
