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  After Death: Fossil Carrion Beetles

  July 30, 2012 at 3:32 pm / Evolution, Video

  Until very recently the oldest known carrion beetle fossils were 50 million years old. The fossil discoveries coming from Daohugou and Jehol rock deposits in Northeastern China extended our knowledge further back till 160 million years ago. During Jurassic period dinosaur abundance had a cascading influence on animal world. When a dinosaur died its carcass became a protein rich multi-generational feeding island. Insects including carrion beetles most certainly exploited this opportunity. Therefore carrion beetle evolution took a new turn leading […]

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  Two Braconid Wasps Competing to Oviposit

  July 22, 2012 at 1:14 pm / Short Observations, Video

  On 7th of July 2011, I noticed these two female parasitoid wasps (Braconidae) while walking along the Orange Trail of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. They were fighting with each other to lay their eggs inside a crack of a log using their long ovipositors. One had a pretty good grip. The other was very grumpy for not having access to the crack. These wasps are said to parasitize a sphingid moth species the Rosy Maple Moth (Dryocampa rubicunda). […]

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  ¡Throw a Moth Party!

  July 10, 2012 at 9:17 pm / Video

  This is an invitation for a citizen science project organized by Discover Life initiative based at the University of Georgia. Help scientists and together learn more about moths by participating in or organizing a moth party. If you would like to organize a moth party here are the main guidelines for your observations. You can obtain more info or get involved at Discover Life’s website: http://www.discoverlife.org/moth/ Moths are an ideal group to study for scientific, educational and logistic reasons — […]

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