Monthly Archives: February 2015

Insects In Rare Locations

Posted on February 28, 2015 by jjneal

The gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus is a long lived tortoise that digs burrows deep underground. The tortoise is considered threatened and is protected under US-FWS rules. The burrows are sizable and invite over 350 species of animal “guests” including many … Continue reading →

Posted in by jjneal, Environment, Taxonomy | 2 Comments

Living With Halteres III

Posted on February 27, 2015 by jjneal

The fly haltere is a remarkable structure that changes the function of the hind wing from motion production into a sensor. Most insects move their wings by vibrating the thorax. Both forewing and hindwing move up and down in phase. … Continue reading →

Posted in behavior, by jjneal, Taxonomy | 3 Comments

Living With Halteres II

Posted on February 26, 2015 by jjneal

The idea of halteres acting like the balancers used by a ropewalker came under criticism over time. The insect physiologist, Gottfried Frankel, summarized the popular theories and critiqued them in his 1939 paper, The Function of the Halteres of Flies.* … Continue reading →

Posted in behavior, by jjneal, Taxonomy | 1 Comment

Living With Halteres

Posted on February 25, 2015 by jjneal

Flies belong to the order Diptera, which means “two wings”. Flies use the forewings for flight and the hindwings are modified to form sensory structures called halteres. The first written reference to halteres and their function may be by English … Continue reading →

Posted in by goyelin, Environment, Literature | 1 Comment

Living With Composite Teeth

Posted on February 24, 2015 by jjneal

Copepods are small crustaceans that can be found in both oceans and freshwater. They feed on tiny animicules and phytoplankton including diatoms. Diatoms are protected from predators by a silica coating that is resistant to mastication. Copepods are able to … Continue reading →

Posted in Biomaterials, by jjneal | Leave a comment

Living With Insect Vision

Posted on February 23, 2015 by jjneal

For much of the 20th century, biologists believed that millipedes were the most closely related arthropod relative of insects. The evidence that insects and crustaceans are the most closely related arthropods has led many biologists to make more comparisons between … Continue reading →

Posted in by jjneal, Environment, Taxonomy | 1 Comment

Living With Dialects

Posted on February 22, 2015 by jjneal

Speakers of a language from different geographical areas sometimes use different words or different pronunciations to refer to the same object. These variations define a dialect. The Harvard Dialect Survey was developed by Bert Vaux and Scott Golder in 2003. … Continue reading →

Posted in by jjneal, Education, Literature, Taxonomy | 2 Comments