Biodiversity in Focus Blog

Tuesday Tunes – Butterfly Caught – Massive Attack

Fun Stuff, Insects, Pop Culture, Tuesday Tunes 9 Responses »

Feb 222011

There are a lot of insect songs out there, but as you may have noticed, the videos that go along with those songs don’t always feature their namesakes. The music video for today’s song however, goes above and beyond, and makes the insect the star of the show!

In fact, because this insect is so heavily featured, get ready to compete for some BioPoints! The first person to correctly identify the family (5 pts) and provide an educated guess on the genus (5 pts) of the insect in question will score some points towards a framed photo from the Biodiversity in Focus library! Also, if you know what species of insect is illustrated on the lead singer at the end of the video, another 5 pts is yours!

I find tattoos fascinating works of art, and there are some pretty spectacular biology tattoos out there! Entomological tattoos however seem to be much scarcer (other than the much loved butterflies which everyone likes). So, if you can provide proof of an entomologically-related tattoo (throw a link in the comments section), I’ll give you 25 Biopts for your dedication!

Let the challenge begin!

This song is available on iTunes – Butterfly Caught – Collected

UPDATE: To get BioPoints for the tattoos, the tattoo needs to be on your body. Googling “bug tattoos” won’t work (2 pts to Don J. for trying it though and making me modify the rules).

Tabanidae of Canada east of the Rocky Mountains – CJAI Vol. 13

Entomology, Insects, Publication, Taxonomy 3 Responses »

Feb 172011

It’s a been a busy period for the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification, and today I bring you lucky #13, the final volume chronicling the horse & deer flies of Canada east of the Rockies. Although Canadian tabanids were relatively recently treated by H.G. Teskey (1990), Anthony Thomas has now updated the distributions for these flies, and has greatly increased the number of illustrations, simplifying the identification of these beautiful brachycerans.

Atylotus bicolor (Wiedemann)

Tuesday Tunes – Lovebug – Jonas Brothers

Fun Stuff, Insects, Pop Culture, Tuesday Tunes 3 Responses »

Feb 152011

Welcome to a special Valentine’s-Day-Hangover Tuesday Tunes! You know the Valentine’s Hangover: the sugar crash from too many cinnamon hearts and boxed chocolates, itchy eyes and throat from all that unseasonal flower pollen, and don’t forget the sore back from sleeping on the couch because you innocently thought your significant other was lusting for another insect net! Everyone knows the best cure for a regular hangover is to keep on drinking*, so today I bring you the Valentine’s day equivalent: sickly-sweet pop music!

Some may consider the Jonas Brothers a plague upon their ears, but today’s musical selection is equally annoying for those living in the southern USA. That’s right, the springtime scourge of motorists, the Lovebug! Not truly a “bug” in the entomological sense, Lovebugs (Plecia nearctica) are in fact flies in the family Bibionidae. These flies emerge on mass in the spring and late summer, immediately begin swarming looking for a mate, and can remain in copula for hours when they find that special someone (hence, the common name). These swarms can reach overwhelming proportions, obscuring windshields, clogging air intakes, and their acidic bodies can ruin vintage car body work if their dead bodies are left to dry. There’s even an urban legend that University of Florida researchers created these “pests” and unleashed them on the public (note this isn’t much different from the origins of the Jonas Brothers…)

That song certainly contains more cheese than last night’s fondue, but I think we’re all over our Valentine’s Day hangover!

I can’t say I planned on featuring both of Disney’s poster children in the first few weeks of this series, so I think the next few weeks will be devoted to some music that will rock the sickly sweet detox program! Fleacrest, out!

If you still need more hangover relief, this song is available on iTunes – Lovebug – A Little Bit Longer (Deluxe Version)

* – Biodiversity in Focus and Ryan Fleacrest urge you to drink responsibly. More alcohol is not actually a cure for a hangover.

The Staphylinidae of Eastern Canada – CJAI Vol. 12

Entomology, Publication, Taxonomy 3 Responses »

Feb 102011

The latest volume of the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification was published recently and is the first in a series on the Staphylinidae of Eastern Canada. Coordinated and authored by Adam Brunke, this first volume provides a key to all of the rove beetle subfamilies and tribes of the Staphylininae found in eastern Canada (and adjoining US states, termed ECAS by Adam). In addition to these keys, Adam has treated the species of the Staphylinina, and has plans to further coordinate and complete the treatment of the eastern Canadian Staphylinidae in due time (it might take awhile considering the rove beetles are the largest family of animals in the world). With plenty of stunning images and an unconventional key structure designed to increase usability for even the most novice of entomologists, Adam is well on his way to bringing these tiny yet important beetles into the public!

Xantholinus elegans by Dave Cheung Staphylinidae Insect Beetle

Photo by Dave K.B. Cheung

Reference

Brunke, A., Newton, A., Klimaszewski, J., Majka, C. and Marshall, S. 2011. Staphylinidae of Eastern Canada and Adjacent United States. Key to Subfamilies; Staphylininae: Tribes and Subtribes, and Species of Staphylinina. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification No. 12, 20 January 2011, available online at http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/bnkmm_12/index.html, doi: 10.3752/cjai.2011.12. (Open Access)

Tuesday Tunes – Madame Butterfly – Puccini

Fun Stuff, Insects, Pop Culture, Tuesday Tunes Comments Off

Feb 082011

There’s one more major insect order left to cover on this first round of Tuesday Tunes, and there’s no lack of songs to choose from! The butterflies are certainly the most easily recognized insects, and probably the most loved overall by the public, leading to a lot of artists aiming to capitalize on their popularity. Watch for quite a number of lepidopteran features in the future!

Tonight we start with the most recognized piece from Puccini’s 1904 opera Madame Butterfly, Un Bel Dì Vedremo. Although this piece is not explicitly entomological, it’s sung by the title character of the opera, and that’s close enough!

Fun fact: the opening notes of this aria send our cat into hiding. Apparently she’s not one for Puccini! Fleacrest, out!

This song is available on iTunes – Madama Butterfly: “Un bel dì vedremo” – The World of Puccini

Tuesday Tunes – Bugs – Pearl Jam

Fun Stuff, Insects, Pop Culture, Tuesday Tunes 2 Responses »

Feb 012011

It’s not often an artist manages to fill their song with as many insect references as today’s song does! In fact, let’s just take a look at the first verse as an example:

I got bugs
I got bugs in my room
Bugs in my bed
Bugs in my ears
Their eggs in my head
Bugs in my pockets
Bugs in my shoes
Bugs in the way I feel about you

OK, so maybe that last one isn’t a true bug! Either way, Pearl Jam was channeling the Hemiptera vibe when they put this piece together!

Good luck getting this bug out of your head! Fleacrest out!

This song is available on iTunes – Bugs – Vitalogy

Uninvited (but very cool) houseguests – Guest Post

Biology, Entomology, Guest Blog, Publication 6 Responses »

Jan 282011

Today’s special guest blogger is Jess Vickruck, a PhD candidate at Brock University. Jess studies twig nesting bee diversity and the impacts of nest choice on their biology.

When I first started my master’s project, my intention was to look at how nest choice affected fitness in twig nesting carpenter bees (genus Ceratina, family Apidae). Little did I know that along with twigs full of bee larvae I would also get up close and personal with numerous uninvited house guests who all had one thing in mind – Ceratina are delicious! Although my supervisor continually reminded me that my thesis was about the bees and not the species that eat bees, I wrote up the data, and lucky for me it appears in the 2010 edition of the Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario.

Fly Cankles and Literary Evolution

Cool Science, Entomology, Publication 7 Responses »

Jan 272011

Flies are cool. You might even say they’re phat (I know, I’m pretty fly for a white guy). But a newly described dance fly species (Empididae) from Japan takes the term “phat” to an all new level. Meet Empis jaschhoforum:

Empis jaschhoforum male morphs from Daugeron et al. 2011

Figures 1a-c from Daugeron et al., 2011

Tuesday Tunes – Cockroach – Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Fun Stuff, Insects, Tuesday Tunes 2 Responses »

Jan 252011

Entomology is a science, and like all sciences, experimentation is the heart and soul that keeps the hemolymph cycling! Whether its a taxonomist testing their species concepts with a new specimen recovered on their latest excursion, or an IPM specialist running field trials against the latest threat to our farms, anyone who takes the time to observe an insect soon finds themselves asking questions and searching for answers.

But all in life is not science, and for as long as the curious have pursued answers, there have been those that have experimented with style, art, and of course, music. There are artists out there blurring the lines between science and art, and likewise, there are those which experiment with music, taking listeners to places they may not normally tread. Today I hope you’ll take the chance to broaden your horizons a little, and enjoy the music of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

Besides the eccentric band name, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum started off right with the arthropod crowd by performing their first set for a banana slug! That trend is continued with Cockroach, an ode to an insect reviled by most.

It may not be for everyone, but I hope this song will spring to mind the next time you see that cockroach dash for the shadows, and maybe cause a pause before the stomp! Fleacrest, out!

This song is available for download from iTunes – Cockroach – Of Natural History

Cruel Science – First species described solely from DNA Barcodes

Cool Science, Publication, Review, Taxonomy 8 Responses »

Jan 202011

Lately I’ve showcased a number of scientific papers that I’ve dubbed “Cool Science”; today is no exception, except this paper is cool for what should be all the wrong reasons. But let me start at the beginning.

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