Invertebrates

In 1854, an interestinglooking spider was found preserved in 50 million-year-old amber. With an elongated neck-like structure and long mouthparts that protruded from the “head” like an angled beak, the arachnid bore a striking resemblance to a tiny pelican. A few decades later when living pelican spiders (Eriauchenius sp.) were discovered in Madagascar, arachnologists learned […]

SALAMANDER, n. Originally a reptile inhabiting fire; later, an anthropomorphous immortal, but still a pyrophile. Salamanders are now believed to be extinct, the last one of which we have an account having been seen in Carcassonne by the Abbe Belloc, who exorcised it with a bucket of holy water.  The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce. 1911.

It’s better to be a young June bug than an old bird of paradise.  Mark Twain This is a large genus of New World scarab beetles – so taxonomically they are not bugs – which are within the Insect Order Hemiptera, or true bugs.   The Phyllophaga are commonly known as May beetles, June bugs, or June beetles.  They

When a blind beetle crawls over the surface of a globe he doesn’t notice that the track he has covered is curved. I was lucky enough to have spotted it.  – Albert Einstein. These are black beetles about 0.2 – 0.8 inches in size.  The Family Tenebrionidae includes a number of genera and species that

We were generally told that centipede bites were not fatal, but two informants said that they each heard of a person dying following a centipede bite; a young boy and a priest, but were unable to provide specific details. Field Observations on three scolopendrid centipedes from Mauritius and Rodrigues (Indian Ocean).  Lewis et al. 2010.