Totally Buggin News


A Study in Beauty and Butterflies
November 9, 2007, 12:47 am
Filed under: Events

Jerry V. Haines recently took a trip to Mexico City, and while there visited the Morelia Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. His story sounds quite amazing!

“I now know what it feels like to be inside a snow globe.

But instead of fake, swirling white snowflakes, substitute butterflies — hundreds, thousands, millions of orange-and-black monarchs — flying around like autumn leaves in a gale. Then, you can envision the scene at the Santuario de la Mariposa Monarca (Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary) near Morelia.”

Full Article



Fossil mystery solved?
November 8, 2007, 1:03 am
Filed under: Bugs in the News | Tags: , , ,

water beetle trapped by resin

Science News October 13, 2007 Vol. 172 page 230
Sid Perkins

Paleontologists have long wondered how aquatic creatures such as water beetles end up fossilized in amber, a material derived from hardened tree sap. One exotic suggestion was that the creatures had lived in water-filled clefts in trees, says Alexander R. Schmidt, a biologist at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin. However, field tests in a swamp by Schmidt and paleobotanist David L. Dilcher of the University of Florida in Gainesville provide a simpler explanation. Within hours of resin dropping into water from a damaged pine tree, a variety of organisms—including the water beetle shown here—became stuck. The resin solidified when the swamp dried out, the researchers report in an upcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.




Rare Butterfly Spotted in Starr County
November 6, 2007, 3:06 pm
Filed under: Bugs in the News

Jennifer L. Berghom
October 11, 2007 – 7:08PM

FALCON HEIGHTS — Berry Nall knew he saw something special while butterfly watching recently at Falcon State Park.

Taking pictures of the colorful winged insects at the park’s new butterfly garden, he noticed a tiny green one on a flower — a type he had never seen before.

“When I found it I had no idea what it was, so I took a picture of it,” the Falcon Heights resident said. “I tried to get as many pictures as I could, but it took off.”

Full Story



Bee Careful!
November 6, 2007, 3:05 pm
Filed under: Bugs in the News

When walking a roof, it’s always a good idea to peek down the plumbing vent stack. You never know what might be clogging that air flow.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20057325_20089679,00.html