Lordi Marker Prairie Bioblitz

Heidi and I participated for the fifth consecutive year in the annual bioblitz conducted by the Missouri Prairie Foundation, on June 6-7, 2026. This year it was at the Lordi Marker Prairie, which is adjacent to some other protected prairie acreage, at least one of which is under the ownership of Missouri Department of Conservation. The area is south-southwest of Sedalia, Missouri, in Pettis County.

Per our usual duties, we led a bug walk each day, and deployed a blacklight at night on Saturday.

The turnout for these events is always excellent, and diverse, with people of all ages and ethnicities gathering in a welcoming space.

Once again, the weather turned out to be better than expected, though those people who tent camped on the property did experience thunderstorms and showers in the middle of the night, early Sunday morning.

An iPhone 14 photo of a Margined Leatherwing beetle on yarrow.

Upon arriving, we were a bit startled by how many flowers were blooming. Especially abundant was New Jersey Tea, but the flowers seemed to attract relatively few insects except for beetles. The Margined Leatherwing, Chauliognathus marginatus, was one of the most abundant of insects, as is usually the case in early June in this part of the country. The Dark Flower Scarab, Euphoria sepulchralis, was also common.

Dark Flower Scarab, Euphoria sepulchralis, on New Jersey Tea.

One of the highlights of our visit was seeing a couple of Regal Fritillary butterflies, Argynnis idalia, formerly Speyeria idalia, flitting from flower to flower in the distance. This is a vulnerable, if not threatened, prairie-dependent insect, which feeds on the leaves of violets in the caterpillar stage. Its presence here indicates a high-quality habitat, even if “reclaimed” from its history as a hayfield. I can apparently show you this species, despite its conservation status.

Regal Fritillary leaving a flower.

There were different group leaders for butterflies, and for bees, and it proved something of a challenge to document many of those pollinator species. They were there, but widely scattered and difficult to intercept. We had somewhat better luck, if only because we had few taxonomic constraints. Anything insect or arachnid was fair game.

An immature White-banded Crab Spider, Misumenoides formosipes, waits in ambush on a flower.

One of the bee experts joined us on Sunday morning, and furnished participants with vials, and nets, they could use to capture specimens and bring them back to show everyone. This worked very well, and we will adopt this strategy for future outings.

Late instar nymph of a Broad-winged Sedge Grasshopper.

Our sharp-eyed and curious party members secured some truly exciting finds. Chief among them were nymphs, and a couple of adults, of the Broad-winged Sedge Grasshopper, Stethophyma celatum. I had never heard of it, either! In fact, I wrongly identified it as a species in the genus Chloealtis, when it doesn’t even belong in the same subfamily. Someone on iNaturalist corrected my repeatedly, which caused me to consult some grasshopper experts I know personally, and they confirmed it. I then apologized to the iNat person for doubting them.

Adult Broad-winged Sedge Grasshopper.

This grasshopper is another prairie obligate denizen, and a significant record.

Another unique species was a large fulgorid planthopper, Cyrpoptus belfragei, pictured above. It looks like a cross between a spittlebug (we saw plenty of evidence of those, too), and a cicada.

As a precaution for potential severe weather, we simply hung the blacklight on the bigtop tent.

Blacklighting produced some cool bugs, too. My favorite was probably a Bruner’s Earth-boring Scarab Beetle, Bolbercerosoma bruneri, that disappeared as quickly as we had uncovered it in a fold at the bottom of the tent flap.

Bruner's Earth-boring Scarab Beetle.

We also documented a vulnerable moth species, which I cannot, in good conscience, disclose its identity. There are enough unscrupulous collectors and dealers that it would put this population at risk of anihilation. Suffice that this prairie exceeds expectations for flora and fauna.

Another interesting moth, the Bog Glyph, Deltote bellicula.

While I am a member of, and volunteer for, the Missouri Prairie Foundation, I am not being compensated for singing its praises. This is one of those rare organizations that pays attention to details, and recognizes the importance of contributions from all demographics, including Indigenous peoples. It works with landowners over the long term to secure protection for habitat in perpetuity.

A longhorned beetle, Batyle suturalis, on a flower.

Those human relationships, between all the volunteers at the bioblitz, and between the nonprofit and private property owners, are what we need to promote across our entire country. It is becoming clear that when left to political institutions, little is truly sacred, and even less is enduring.

Spangled Pelochrista moth, Pelochrista scintillana, was common.

All observations from the bioblitz can be found here on iNaturalist. Please explore iNaturalist projects to find bioblitzes near you, and participate in them. I guarantee you will make new friends, have a great time, and probably make some important discoveries, be they personal or scientific.

Losing the Pine Rocklands

It has not been my intent to deprive you of new content on this blog, but personal realities have dictated that I put my energies elsewhere, or have actively blocked my creative mindset. My internal motivations have been dealt devastating blows by external events that leave me wondering if I am making a difference. Meanwhile, I still deal with financial struggles and my aging father's circumstances.

The last (or at least latest) straw is what happened this week with U.S. Fish & Wildlife approving construction of a Walmart and strip mall on one of the last large parcels of imperiled pine rocklands habitat near Miami, Florida. Bulldozers began their devastation on Thursday, but thanks to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, and a court order issued by heroic U.S. District Judge Ursula Mancusi Ungaro, the engines of destruction have been shut off, at least for the time being.

The Atala butterfly, © Jaret C. Daniels

This dire situation, to be fair, is the end result of poor management by a number of property players. According to Save The Pine Rocklands, the Richmond pine rockland tract was formerly owned by the University of Miami, which acquired the area for free as military surplus land, in 1981 and 1997. The university then sold eighty-eight acres, for $22 million, to Ram Realty Services in 2014. It is Ram that is behind the "Coral Reef Commons" project that would include a Walmart, LA Fitness, Chick-fil-A, and Chili's; plus a 900-unit apartment complex. A mere 40 acres would be spared as a "preserve."

Since this habitat depends on regular fire events for its existence, one has to wonder how apartment residents and business patrons would tolerate prescribed burns for ecosystem maintenance. That is not to mention whether the forty acres falls below some minimal territorial threshold for which a species could no longer survive. It also bears consideration whether pressure for continued economic development would not eventually compromise the rest of the property. You did it once, so you have set a precedent.

Miami Tiger Beetle, © Chris Wirth at Cicindela@wordpress.com

The pine rocklands are home to a diverse and unique assemblage of organisms, including critically endangered species. Among those are the Miami Tiger Beetle, Cicindelidia floridana, found nowhere else on Earth. The Atala (Eumaeus atala) and Bartram's Scrub-hairstreak (Strymon acis), both butterflies, also exist in no other ecosystem. Florida Bonneted Bat is also at risk. Thirty-one plant species occur there exclusively; and a total of nine federally endangered species call the pine rocklands home.

This is just the latest crime against our natural heritage as the President and his appointees go about dismantling all environmental, consumer, and labor protections for the benefit of an extreme minority of extremely wealthy individuals and corporations. This not politics, it is policy. Very, very bad policy that will negatively impact you, personally, at some point.

Bartram's Scub-hairstreak butterfly, courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Biodiversity.org

The recent actions by the U.S. Department of the Interior, where the National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife agencies reside, have been decried as "dereliction of duty," but that is being too polite. This is outright theft of public lands and should be prosecuted as such. It is not failure to fulfill institutional mandates, it is criminal behavior.

I pride myself on presenting you with an unbiased, apolitical blog here, but I have my limits of tolerance. Those limits have been vastly exceeded over the last few months, and I do not foresee improvement any time soon. I hope you will respect my personal desire to protect your right to your "pursuit of happiness" as it involves observing and enjoying the natural world in intact ecosystems. I also urge you to stay silent no longer. Thank you.