Happy 2025?

I am not sure that I have ever had less enthusiasm for an incoming new year than I have for this one. It seems rather silly, though, that I don’t have more excitement and positive anticipation. I already have virtual and in-person presentations on the horizon (book me now!), plus a Coldplay concert to look forward to. I even have a new passport, so can leave the country if I want.

What is the future of Bug Eric blog? I am seriously entertaining the idea of moving it to either Substack or Patreon. I will need to take my writing more seriously, if so, posting with definite regularity to meet the expectations of paying subscribers. Would I even have subscribers?

While I would prefer not to charge my readership, I must increase my income. This is especially true now that Social Security and Medicare are under attack from the incoming presidential administration. I may not have the “entitled” income and health benefits that I was expecting at my advancing age. I also need to value my work in the economic sense.

As for other projects, I have ideas for at least three more major works. One of those is a fictional piece that seems to want to be a play or screenplay. I keep “seeing” it as being performed, anyway. I would like to collaborate with others, as the current storyboard looks like an exploding star. It is not even linear. Ha! If done right, it could win all the things, including hearts and minds, I think.

None of my future book ideas have anything to do with insects except, perhaps, tangentially. This represents a huge risk since I am the “bug guy” by reputation. I cannot, however, ignore the greater problems surrounding how human beings impact the natural world, and each other. That isn’t a calling as much as a demand for my perspectives and experiences to be shared.

From the aspect of my mental and social health, I am becoming progressively more isolated. There is hardly anyone in my small town that I have even remote interest in spending time with. There are too many people older than I am, politically conservative, religious, unhappy, unhealthy, or all of the above. When I do venture out of the house, it is for an exercise walk, to run an errand or two, or hike by myself in a nearby wooded park. That is it. I thrive on the company of younger people, and that seems impossible here.

Even social media has lost most of its appeal. I left Twitter/X in the end-of-the-year mass exodus, and opted for Bluesky, the popular new alternative. I have enjoyed it so far. Facebook is in decline, with its near total emphasis on commercialization, and a newly-announced commitment to more AI (Artificial Intelligence) content, including artificial users. Actual, human Meta users are aging, and there is simply not the energy there used to be. I may have to learn Tik Tok if I want to stay relevant, and if that China-based platform is not outlawed.

There is no way I can continue suffering a lack of in-person contact, though. I am not suicidal, but as one Bluesky account put it, some days “I can’t life anymore.” The bigger cities of Kansas City and Overland Park are so close, yet so far away, and not really affordable.

Please let me know if you would pay to read more regular posts on Patreon or Substack, and under what circumstances/incentives. If you have suffered social isolation, how have you overcome it?

Thank you, as always, for your loyalty in following me, donating to this Blogger blog, and otherwise lending your support….Now, if I can just turn myself into a cat, I could lounge all day long, and have thousands more followers on Bluesky. Goals!

About the Calendar Photo: This calendar was purchased from melbry//arts. Melissa Bryant does brilliant and important work. Please support her efforts. Thank you.

The Entomologist on the Internet

Interviewing with Alie Ward on her wildly popular Ologies podcast got me thinking about the internet from the perspective of entomologists, both professional and aspiring amateur. You simply cannot take anything too seriously. You must laugh at yourself when you do. Here are some broad categories of fun and frustration for your entertainment.

Memes

One enduring complaint of professional entomologists is memes. They are nearly always an oversimplification, if not outright misinformation, intended to be the last word on the subject. Memes are sometimes insulting, insinuating that anyone holding a different view is illiterate or worthy only of ridicule. Mostly, memes reveal more about their creator or re-tweeter than they do about the audience, let alone the subject. Those memes that are obviously humorous are the ones I like best. I have even created a few of my own.

(Object) for Scale

One of my favorite scenarios is when someone who wants a particularly large insect or arachnid identified places some object next to it “for scale.” The object is frequently monetary currency, a coin for smaller creatures, and some paper denomination for larger organisms. I cannot resist retorts like “This just in, spiders begging for money, film at eleven,” or “Please do not give them money, they will only use it to buy pheromones.”

Other objects include pocket knives, car keys or fobs, disposable cigarette lighters….Terrific. The insect isn’t scary enough, we have to give it a weapon, too? “That one looks like it is going to kill you with fire!” “What you have there is a nymph, it’s not old enough to drive!” I try to provide legitimate identifications for people making those requests, but I enjoy having a little fun, too.

Fishfly, © WhatsThatBug.com

At least this giant water bug got some lip balm out of the deal (© WhatsThatBug.com)

Wasted Appreciation?

A truly agonizing situation is when some random individual posts images of an insect or arachnid I have been dying to see myself and never found. Why? Why?! (grimaces skyward, shakes fists in air). In fairness, the person posting had to have some degree of curiosity to bother photographing the thing, but too often I still convince myself that true appreciation of the animal has been wasted on this dude at his barbecue.Someday I’ll see a living Rainbow Scarab beetle, or a California Horntail wasp. Right?

My only glimpse so far of a Cottonwood Borer, Plectrodera scalator, in Salina, Kansas

Avoiding Despair in the Age of the “Insect Apocalypse”

My social media feed (well, Facebook is admittedly the only one I devote any time to) is full of dire warnings of disappearing bees, fireflies blinking to extinction, and how light pollution and pesticides are dooming everything, and all manner of other negativity. The most empathetic of humans are the ones most devastated by this media bias, and if there is one thing we cannot afford it is the extinction of hope. Here are some things to consider.

Fiery Skipper on mint in a Kansas garden

1. Do not underestimate the ability of natural systems to rebound from even catastrophic events. Nothing is permanent, our present civilization likely included, but as long as there are reservoirs of habitat, recolonization of even the most compromised of locations is possible, provided the refuges are of good size themselves, and reasonably close in proximity to the damaged areas.

This same principle of recovery exists at every level in nature. I like to remind homeowners and gardeners that trees can survive nearly complete defoliation by insects in a given year, provided the plant is healthy in most other respects. Native plants tend to be vastly better at taking a licking and bouncing back than some exotic cultivar.

2. Assert your rights. You have a right to a planet with its full complement of species. Claiming you speak for other species, or suggesting rights of nature, or espousing the need to preserve nature for future generations, are all weak arguments. You are not Dr. Doolittle, and other species don’t care whether we appreciate them or not. Rights of nature is a noble goal, but is a rarely successful strategy, and only when it is initiated and driven by indigenous peoples. Arguing for conservation and preservation for future generations is a loving sentiment, but it undermines the urgency of action we must have. It also ignores the work of previous generations. Things could already be worse were it not for the likes of John Muir, Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, Theodore Roosevelt….

It is much more difficult to argue against the idea that other human beings have a right to bird, fish, hunt, and otherwise recreate in a manner that stems from an appreciation of, if not reverence for, wildlife. Use that to your advantage when making your case at the next public hearing, or HOA meeting.

3. Don’t play favorites. We do not get to choose which species to share our property with. Milkweed beetles, bugs, aphids, and moth caterpillars have as much of a right to “your” milkweed plants as Monarch butterflies do. Indeed, you are doing something wrong if your insect diversity is low. Revel in the variety of species. Study them. Share what you learn with others.

4. Lead by example. Don’t wait for someone else to make the first move. Turn your lawn into a meadow or prairie, or at least let the clover, dandelions, and plantain grow. Practice “weed tolerance” for all but the state-listed noxious species. Install “bee condos” as supplemental housing for native, solitary bees and wasps. Leave a heaping brush pile as cover for birds and small mammals. Let things be a little messy. Tell the neighbors you are not a lazy homeowner, but that you are promoting biodiversity. Offer to explain what that means and why you derive joy from it.

Write that letter to the editor. Participate in a public process to draft new codes for property owners (residential, commercial, government) that reflect a commitment to enhance or restore native plant communities and their attendant animal residents. Initiate the process if necessary, through petitioning or pestering your government representatives at whatever level is appropriate.

5. Forge new alliances. Join astronomers in promoting dark sky initiatives to reduce the impact of light pollution on nocturnal animal species. Seek out Native American groups to begin rights of nature campaigns, or address other common environmental issues. Use your white privilege not to lead people of color, but to empower them to take leadership roles for themselves. Heck, start by recognizing you have white privilege and accepting that it may be necessary to solve environmental racism first, before going on to the next issue.

6. Remember the “history” part of “natural history.” Remind yourself and others that we need to pay the same respect to our natural heritage that we pay to our human history. We have “living history” at parks and monuments, yet we do not have a mandate to preserve a historical spectrum of ecosystems within local, state, provincial, regional, and national parks. Why not? Let us relax our notion of “wilderness” to extend beyond roadless areas to urban parks, restored brownfields, manmade wetlands, and other non-traditional definitions. Somewhere between bringing back mastodons and declaring a parking lot an ecosystem, there is room for an expanded definition of wilderness.

No one is going to do all of the above, let alone very well. Pick a place to start. Forgive yourself the failures, most of which will only be what you personally perceive as failures. Add to this list in your comments. Share your own experiences and hopes and how you plan to achieve them. Respond to every demoralizing story with the determination of a rose bush under an aphid attack.

Firefly, Pyractomena sp., Wisconsin

Stop This Meme

Here at Bug Eric, I have better things to do with my time than constantly fight wave after wave of misinformation, superstition, and outright hoaxes. The latest is this one purporting that a "new" and "deadly" spider has invaded North America. Utter nonsense!

The spider depicted in the images is the very much harmless Woodlouse Hunter, Dysdera crocata. This spider is originally from the Mediterranean region of Europe, but made its way to North America ages ago, not recently. Yes, it has wicked-looking jaws and fangs, which are used solely to turn over its roly-poly and sowbug prey so that it can inflict a lethal bite on its food, not on human beings. The venom of this spider has not been scientifically proven to be the least bit dangerous to the average, healthy person.

"But, but...." you say, citing the watermark on one of the images in the meme as being from the University of Nebraska. Surely we can trust our institutes of higher learning, right? Yes, but not if their image has been stolen by some malicious individual out for hits on his or her own website. The university should consider filing suit against whoever is using this image. There are laws against copyright infringement, which is what is happening here. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) exists to protect our "works" from unscrupulous individuals who seek to profit from our efforts at education and enlightenment.

By sharing this meme, and others like it, without doing due diligence of fact-checking (a quick check on Snopes would have yielded the truth about this one), serves only to perpetuate ignorance at best, and participate in crimes of "fake news" and, in this case, copyright violation. Stop it.

© Jenn Rose #jennrosefx

Beehives and Detergent Pods

What do the vandalism of beehives and eating laundry detergent pods have in common, besides being dangerous to the perpetrator? They both have gotten undo attention thanks to traditional and social media. Destructive and dangerous behaviors like these tend to make the news precisely because they are unique. The problem is that they become more commonplace the more they are publicized.

Honey bee hives

I was under the impression that beehive vandalism is running rampant lately when in fact there have been only two (2) reported crimes, one in Sioux City, Iowa and the other in Prunedale, California. The number of individual honey bees killed is staggering, no question, but so far these appear to be isolated episodes. That is what the media will do. It will inflate or undermine the reality of what is going on. I wonder now exactly how many teenagers have been eating those laundry detergent pods. Maybe that has been overstated, too.

One other danger of social media and standard media hype is that it can add fuel to the fire. What was a single display of stupidity or vandalism can then result in copycat behavior by others, escalating the damage. I posited the question of what is behind the beehive vandalism to an entomology group on Facebook. One of the prevailing theories was that the Prunedale massacre could easily have been a copycat crime due to the widespread publicity of the Sioux City news story. Insurance fraud was mentioned as a potential motive, along with competing beekeeping businesses, but we may never know. While at least one video out there claims that beekeeping practices are "cruel" and honey bees are basically slaves to humans now, I doubt People for the Ethical Treatment of animals (PETA) or any other animal rights group would harm the bees themselves.

Another interesting point brought up by the entomology group was that we seldom hear about crime in rural areas, which makes a story like the destruction of the beehives all the more attractive to the media. Social media makes almost all geographical locations accessible to traditional channels of news and information, so the two tend to feed each other. Rural crimes, I am told, can be a matter of disgruntled neighbors, vindictive ex-spouses, bored teenagers, or any number of other stimuli.

While I by no means condone beehive vandalism, I lament that the media fails consistently in giving the entire story of apiculture. Honey bees are not native to the New World (North, Central, and South America), but have been introduced here. In the U.S., the first colonies of honey bees were brought by settlers to Jamestown in 1622. They needed the bees to pollinate the crops they imported, not knowing whether native North American bees could, or would, do the job. Furthermore, beeswax was an essential product back then. Honey was perhaps the least of it.

Since then, apiculture has become an industry, one that markets itself vigorously and creatively. It has become a giant enterprise because agriculture has scaled to the point where there is no other way to effect pollination. Indigenous plants and landscapes have been marginalized at best, removing native bees from the picture. The scale of agribusiness is what has taken us to the point where, and I exaggerate to make a point, one non-native species is all that stands between us and starvation.

That was my thought when I learned of the attacks on the hives. Should someone or some organization want to crash a lot of crops, decimating honey bees would be a good start. Fortunately, even with a great deal of ambition and manpower, that scenario is next to impossible to achieve.

More of these for NATIVE bees!

So, a twelve- and thirteen-year old have been arrested in connection with the destroyed hives in Sioux City. Besides fines, a criminal record, and potential incarceration, I wonder if they might be sentenced to community service in....apiculture. Indeed, maybe those kids we label as idiots for ingesting laundry detergent pods could start a youth beekeeping trend instead. Better yet, get them to work making "bee condos" for native, solitary bees that can be hung up around community gardens and local, small-scale farms. Get that activity on Youtube channels. Time for constructive, not destructive, initiatives my young friends.

Another Viral Moth Video....

In service to my colleagues who have waning patience as they are bombarded with the latest social media sensation, I offer this explanation to the moth with the "tentacles" coming out of its posterior. Here is the circulating image, but there is also a video that is associated with most Facebook posts.

© "Gandik" via Facebook

Ok, first things first. This moth is Creatonotos gangis, an arctiine (tiger) moth from southeast Asia and Australia. The specimen shown is a male. He is everting his androconial glands or coremata (Greek for "feather duster"). The glands are normally concealed within his body, and are inflated at will by air pressure or blood pressure. Less dramatic versions of these organs are known as "hair pencils." Usually concealed within his abdomen, the coremata are deployed when he is seeking acceptance by a mate.

Male pyralid moth deploying his "hair pencils" © Nicky Bay

Wait, you thought female insects were the ones using pheromones (scents used mostly to attract the opposite gender, but with other functions, too, especially in social insects)? Well, me, too, so I did a little digging. Turns out that the male's sexual chemicals are not meant for long-distance attraction of females, but to communicate his "fitness" as a mate. So, the products of androconial glands have been likened to aphrodisiacs, tranquilizers, or narcotics, aimed at seducing the female. Ok, but how? It is a long story....

© David Rentz via Joanie Mars on Facebook

As caterpillars, many tiger moths (subfamily Arctiinae of the owlet moth family Erebidae) feed on toxic plants. Milkweed is a good example. The plant is packed full of cardiac glycosides, potent poisons intended to discourage herbivores, including caterpillars, from consuming it. Not only are some caterpillars able to overcome the toxicity, they incorporate it into their own bodies to make themselves toxic to their predators. This is called sequestering, and the commandeered poison stays with the insect throughout metamorphosis and into adulthood. One of the byproducts in male moths is the pheromone emanating from those androconial glands. He thus demonstrates to the female that he is genetically superior based on a greater quantity of accumulated toxins that she can then pass on to her offspring.

Our common U.S. Acrea Moth everting his glands © Rosella Flores

This is a relatively dry explanation of these remarkable structures in male tiger moths. You owe it to yourself to be better entertained and further enlightened by an article in Wired magazine by my good friend and colleague Gwen Pearson. Even the graphics are better, and a GIF has never been funnier, at least in the context of entomology.

Close-up of male Acrea Moth glands © openi.nlm.nih.gov

So, far from "terrifying" as a similar viral graphic was labeled in a headline from Huffpost, these glands are an amazing example of evolution, just like elk antlers and other male adornments. Please share the fascination, without the sensationalism. Thank you.

Are We Saving Species by Rescuing One Individual Bug?

NOTE: I had to change the original title of this post because, believe it or not, it is a trademarked phrase! The owner of said patent/copyright informed me of this on September 17, 2019 and asked that I remove the title.

Increasingly, thanks to social media, I am struck by how many people attempt to save individual insects they find injured or lethargic. On one hand this empathy for other life forms is encouraging, but on the other hand the energy investment is grossly misplaced.

© Youtube.com

The problem is that the media has painted honey bees and Monarch butterflies in particular as highly vulnerable if not on the brink of extinction. The implied message is that every individual of these species needs protection in every way possible! Consequently, people spend more time "rescuing" individual specimens than in protecting or creating habitat, working to curb pesticide use in their community, or engaging in other strategies that would have a far greater impact on improving the health of the entire species.

Another problem is that most people are not knowledgeable enough to recognize when a given insect really is in trouble. The wrong assessment happens over and over with bees in particular. Bees often become inactive when it gets too cold for them. They rest on whatever object is available and often this is a more conspicuous spot than normal. A good Samaritan human believes the insect is in peril and needs the equivalent of a sugar-water IV, stat! No, it does not.

Further, in late summer and fall, chances are you are saving a male bee, which is even less useful. Male bees live a short life in which their only purpose is to mate with a female. They do not possess pollen baskets, so are less effective pollinators than female bees.

Another aspect of life that we forget is that insects, like any organism, are prone to developmental problems that cannot be overcome. Improper emergence from a chrysalis will leave a butterfly crippled beyond repair. It happens. Insects reproduce in large numbers to overcome those deficits. Insects are incredibly durable once they mature, and losing half a wing barely slows down a butterfly or a bee. We should be in awe as much, if not more, than in sympathy, let alone pity.

Ok, so last month my wife and I were on vacation in Cape May, New Jersey, and we happened upon a Monarch trapped in a spider web. We intervened. It was a quick fix, simply disentangling the insect and sending it on its way. The whole investment was maybe forty seconds. We understood the insect could collide with a vehicle later that same day. Our expectations for the survival of individual insects are low, given our knowledge of their biology.

Contrast that example with an online video that shows how to mend a broken wing on a Monarch. More than a few such organizations have exploited the "sky is falling" scenarios centered on the Monarch, and one has to question the motives of some of them. Yes, older, established conservation organizations use overly alarming narratives, too, but the best ones measure their tone and can point to historic successes in legislation and habitat protection.

You want to curb insect mortality? Then give up driving. For every insect you nurse back to health, you kill dozens, if not hundreds in the course of operating your motor vehicle. Even bicyclists take their toll. I have seen countless insects mortally wounded, or crushed, on bike paths.

Basically, insects are better served by actions aimed at enhancing habitat health, and planting native vegetation in the landscape of your own property where you are able. Tear out the lawn, or most of it, and do your best to mimic the natural ecosystem where you live. Want to go a step farther? Start a dialogue with city and county officials to restructure weed ordinances and other codes that currently restrict the ability of homeowners to plant for wildlife. Educate your homeowners association to make those communities more wildlife-friendly without compromising safety and property values.

Also, stop insisting that one species is somehow more worthy of our attention than any other. Stop categorizing insects as "friend" or "foe." Such distinctions do not apply to the overwhelming majority of life on this planet.

Be proud of yourself for having empathy for other living things; but, channel that into something that will make a difference beyond the individual insect or arachnid. Do intervene for birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, all of which have far longer lifespans than invertebrates, but make sure you do it legally and correctly. Carry on.

"Arach" is Back!

One of the things I look forward to each autumn is the annual Flickr event known as "Arachtober". It is a Flickr group which slumbers between November and the following September, but remains a tradition among arachnophiles and macro photographers. There are always mesmerizing images posted from all corners of the globe.

Marbled Orbweaver, Kansas

Arachtober manages to recruit several new participants each year through word of mouth, blogs, and sheer curiosity. Not only spiders, but scorpions, ticks, mites, harvestmen, and all other arachnids are eligible for inclusion. Don't forget the artistry of spider webs, too, whether dew-adorned or dry.

Apache Jumping Spider male, Colorado

The only hard and fast rule of Arachtober is that the images you post to the group must not have appeared on your own Flickr photostream previously. Allowed quantity of images per day varies at the discretion of the group administrator.

Banded Garden Spider female, Colorado

Overall, interest in spiders seems to be increasing among the general public, and arachnids are achieving a much higher profile than ever before. This is great news, for there is still a great deal of work to be done to combat myth, superstition, misinformation, and fear.

Wolf spider, Alopecosa sp., Colorado

Please consider contributing to "Arachtober" on Flickr, or find another way to dedicate some time to sharing your spider observations, questions, or images. There are many groups on Facebook devoted to spiders and their identification, for example; and presumably, the same applies to Instagram. There is much you can contribute to our collective knowledge by doing so. Thank you.

A Different Direction

Friends, I want to thank you for your continued patronage of this blog over the years. It has been, and continues to be, a privilege to serve you. At present, and for the foreseeable future, I find my life trending in different directions, and you will probably find fewer pieces of new content from now on. Please allow me to explain.

Most of the work I do to inform, educate, and fascinate is now done through social media, namely Facebook. I doubt I will ever indulge much in Twitter, or any of the other platforms, since I do not interact well with mobile devices (I am almost literally "all thumbs" on a tablet or smartphone). These platforms do, however, reflect something important that I must be cognizant of, and responsive to.

We are at a point where "instant gratification" is now possible through texting, internet messaging, and social media. The era of the blog may even be slowly coming to a close. No one wants to wait for a blog post when they are having a panic attack now over the spider crossing the kitchen floor. They can take a picture of it with their phone and send it over the airwaves to me or another expert immediately. This is the new 9-1-1, and 4-1-1, all wrapped up into one thing.

I honestly can't fault people for demanding information faster; and I would rather have it be me giving them a correct answer and advice than someone who does not know a brown recluse from a harmless wolf spider. Heck, I myself am "guilty" of using social media to get specimen identifications from authorities I trust. This is today's reality, and one must adapt or lose their impact and relevance.

Second, recent major expenses dictate that I must seek paying writing assignments and related work. I may even need to secure a traditional job outside the home, though I do not relish that prospect. Those who know me understand that I am not "greedy" or materialistic. Far from it. Still, even basic expenditures must be paid, and my income has increasingly stagnated. Doctor visits become more frequent as I age, with corresponding increases for medical bills. You get the idea.

Lastly, I have found increasing satisfaction from writing about topics completely unrelated to insects and spiders. So far, the outlet for this has been my other blog, Sense of Misplaced, but I am on the verge of seeking paying markets for personal essays and social commentary. I have loyal readers of that blog to thank for giving me the confidence and courage to believe that I can reach a far larger audience, and perhaps even influence cultural change and regulatory policies.

Our country, indeed the world, is in such a state of crisis that we need every voice to be heard. Every innovation, every idea, needs to gain an audience from those in places where those suggestions can be evaluated and implemented. I aim to be one of those voices for positive change, empathy, and leadership. I hope my audience here can transfer to my other blog, and on into mainstream media.

Meanwhile, I have enough posts in the Bug Eric archives that I feel it is still a sustainable resource. I continue to get positive, non-spam comments from new "recruits" delighted to find here the answer to that "mystery bug." I will still blog here periodically, at the very least to promote the work of others. Thank you again for your support.

Bee vs. Wasp Memes Perpetuate Ignorance

Social media is both a blessing and a curse to entomologists. It can inform and illuminate, but also circulate misinformation and irrationality at light speed. Perhaps nothing better illustrates this dilemma than the proliferation of bee versus wasp memes.

My friend Devon Henderson posted the above meme on Facebook today to solicit reactions from her colleagues in entomology. Note that I have heavily edited the captions to make the meme "family-friendly." The overwhelming consensus was that such simplistic and inciting graphics are more devastating to public education than they even are "amusing" to people who know better. As one respondent replied,

" The fact people keep posting them in naturalist forums (without your critical comment) annoys me, as if everyone will find it hilarious and haven't seen them a thousand times before. People seem very bad at judging audiences. Also, bad language doesn't bother me personally, but it is bad manners to post it on general forums."

Memes are at best a shortcut to express an opinion. Usually, they are insulting to the subject or hurtful to better-informed members of the intended audience. One respondent to the top meme responded:

" I reali[z]e this is the entomological equivalent of racism: stereotypes, false assumptions on these different species mostly coming out of ignorance and fear. 'Ha ha, wasps are assholes! Ha ha!'"

Indeed, one overriding theme in the comment thread of the Facebook post was that people are uneducated enough already, without adding to their false assumptions with such nonsensical memes. Devon comments:

" It bothers me that people actually think that wasps are vindictive and seek people out. They can't rationalize and reason like a human. They act solely on instinct. But people still choose to ignore this fact and continue to accuse wasps of being the 'bad guys.' It's extremely ignorant to assume that a wasp is conscious of its actions and stings people for the sake of unprovoked 'revenge.'"

That's a female bumble bee, but....

As far as I am concerned, memes like this are the equivalent of war propaganda that dehumanizes the "enemy," and spam that pollutes one's e-mail and social media accounts. Perhaps it is fitting that I am posting this during the U.S. Presidential campaign season, when vitriol is spewing from the mouths of most all of the candidates and their ill-informed supporters. There is little difference between wasps and Republicans if you subscribe to the meme agenda.

I suppose pest control companies and insecticide manufacturers are in no hurry to discourage anti-wasp memes, but thankfully there are those of us with a good "following" of proactive students of entomology and ecology who are spreading the facts. I have the good folks at Ask an Entomologist for initially posting on this very subject, back in 2014 no less. Even beekeepers like Dave Green recognize wasps have their positive attributes:

"The public is finally beginning to realize how important bees are, as our primary pollinators; the next step is to become aware of how vital the wasps are as our primary pest controls. I judge the health of a garden by the number of paper wasps that are working though the plants hunting (pest) prey."

Maybe we even need to start flooding the internet with our own counterattack of memes, as Joe Ballenger has done. He deftly incorporates wasp biology into his memes making female wasps oddly empathetic to the plight of our struggling American middle class.

I thank each of you in advance for calling out the idiocy of memes that paint wasps in a villainous light; and who consistently share their own experiences, knowledge, and imagery that demonstrates the positive aspects and fascinating behaviors of wasps. If all else fails, though, I am certain that Devon would gladly permit you to post her own artistic meme in response to the bad ones.

Another Viral Internet "Monster"

Anyone on Facebook or other social media outlet has probably seen the latest in creepy-crawly videos, a creature purported to be a giant spider. The truth is, as usual, more fascinating and less disturbing. The horror part comes from the fact it is yet another example of a stolen video taking on a life of its own.

The creature in the video is not a spider at all, but a different kind of arachnid called an amblypygid or "tailless whip scorpion." One of my friends from Facebook, Laura Lee Paxson, tracked down the species as Euphrynichus amanica. It ranges in Kenya and Tanzania in east Africa. This animal, and its more widespread sister species E. bacillifer, are available in the "hobby" trade and as a result much of the information and "fright factor" is emanating from that community. It is important to note that responsible pet trade personnel are shedding a good deal of light on the biology of such poorly-known species.

The gentleman who generated the viral video is Adrian Kozakiewicz, an 18-year old in Germany (originally from Poland) who has earned an esteemed reputation in the international arthropod-breeder community. Unfortunately, unscrupulous hacks have taken his innocent intentions and re-published the video with false information and needless scare tactics.

Tailless whipscorpions belong to the arachnid order Amblypygi. They are not venomous, or dangerous in any way. They are overwhelmingly tropical in their geographic distribution. Most are found inside caves, under bark on trees, and in cracks and crevices on cliff faces from which they emerge at night to hunt other invertebrates. The front pair of legs are modified into exceptionally long, antenna-like sensory appendages used to detect both prey and potential predators. Fine hairs (setae) on the whip-like legs sense the slightest changes in air currents, directing the animal toward prey, or the nearest hiding place.

The spine-tipped "arms" are actually the arachnid's palps, akin to a scorpion's pincers, modified for grabbing or pinning prey. The video shows the amblypygid lashing out at Adrian, but the intended effect is to merely rebuff the perceived threat. Animal rights activists may see this as "taunting" a poor animal, but it is a brief and instructional demonstration of the animal's behavior, too.

Like wolf spiders, scorpions, and vinegaroons, amblypygids exhibit some degree of parental care after the young are born and before their first molt.

Should some version of this video other than the original show up in your social media, please do not share it, and do what you can to acknowledge Adrian in any comments. You might also wish to report the post to discourage future bad behavior and interrupt the viral nature of stolen material. Thank you.

Sources: Anonymous. 2016. "This Young Entrepreneur Owns a Place Among the Largest Invertebrates Breeders in Europe," Viral Subjects
Polden, Jake. 2016. "Why would you want to poke THAT? Insect breeder taunts freaky-looking whip spider....and gets bit multiple times," Daily Mail.
Schramm, F. 2011. "Euphrynichus bacillifer (Gerstaeker, 1873)," Panarthropoda.de.

That Viral Video of the Giant Moth

There is currently a video of a giant moth that has gone viral, with a complement of completely incorrect identifications. This blog post will help sort fact from fiction and address the problems that stem from "oversharing" of such posts.

Here is the video, which elicits the full spectrum of human reactions from horror to beauty to fascination.

Giant moth

A truly horrible – and GIANT – moth.

Posted by The Daily Star on Tuesday, September 15, 2015

At first glance, the creature strongly resembles a sphinx moth. Indeed, given the location of Australia, many have identified it as the Privet Hawk Moth, Psilogramma menephron. The moth in the video is even larger, though, and the head and legs look a bit different.

It took a little bit of "Googling" myself to find the real answer. Turns out this is a "Giant Wood Moth," Endoxyla cinereus. Most people are not familiar with the carpenter moths of the family Cossidae, to which this herculean lepidopteran belongs, so it is no surprise that the moth in the video has been repeatedly misidentified.

This moth was formerly known as Xyleutes cinereus, which might add to the confusion. The caterpillars are grubs that bore in solid wood of eucalyptus trees. The adult female moth can have a wingspan of up to 23 centimeters; and it is the world's heaviest moth, weighing in at up to 30 grams.

Videos tend to command our attention, and we often forget to read the introductory material to learn where the subject was recorded, and other relevant information. Sometimes, the person posting the video fails to include those important details, too. Consequently, viewers may post comments that are not applicable. Before you know it, not only is the video going viral, but so is all the misinformation.

The speed with which erroneous "facts" are broadcast, often unwittingly, is at an all-time high thanks to the internet, so it is up to us as scientists and journalists to do the best we can to correct them, as quickly as we can. I urge you to use your own blogs, Facebook posts, Twitter, and other social media to do just that.

How to Respond to an Identification Request Online

Last week I posted a "how to" article on making identification requests online. I think it is only fair to suggest how to appropriately respond to identification requests. There is much needless redundancy on threads aimed at helping someone identify a given organism. Here are some ways to avoid that, as well as saving yourself time, embarrassment and/or criticism. Actually, the best default option is often to not respond at all. So, let's start there:

Do not respond to an identification request unless....

• You know what you are talking about. There are plenty of knowledgeable amateur naturalists, Master Naturalists, and citizen scientists, as well as professional scientists, online who can help make identifications. If you do not consider yourself in one of those categories, it may be best to refrain from commenting. That way, there is no need for someone else to correct you down the line. That said, you can be a professional and still be incorrect, but at least you'll be in the ballpark.
• You have read all of the previous comments! Most redundancy in threads comes from people eager to comment who do not realize the correct answer has already been given. Facebook does not make that easy, because a long thread leads to hidden comments and generates a header that reads something like "view previous [insert random number here] comments."
• You have something truly worthwhile to add to the conversation. Anecdotal observations can be genuinely helpful, and also create a sense of community in an online group. Post away. Comments like "Burn it with fire!" or "Eew, gross!" only reveal ignorance and intolerance. Use good judgment, and understand when to deploy a filter for your "hostile voice."

Ok, what else can we do, or not do, to make an identification request more efficient and productive? Here are some ideas....

• Do *not* post another image *within* an existing thread. The addition of more images within a thread, unless the images are of the same specimen, by the same person who started the thread, creates great confusion. The internet as a whole is not always the best source of anything, let alone correctly-labeled images, even if the Google search results say so. If you want to post your own images, start a new thread.
• Include links to resources that back up your answer. There is no such thing as too much information, and most people asking for the identification of an organism know nothing about it. So, providing a link that sheds light on the life cycle, biology, and ecology of the creature is usually received warmly.
• Learn who the other players are. If you doubt the credentials of someone else making comments, look them up and see whether your (low) opinion has any basis in fact. You might find that the person is a college professor, curator at a museum, author of a book, or otherwise has vast knowledge of the subject at hand.
• Do NOT argue with others. This is why I just suggested you get to know the other players, and find out who you can trust. Word your different opinion gently ("I think it is this rather than that, because of this characteristic, behavior, etc"). That way you are being respectful, and giving more insight, too.

I may or may not have covered everything here, so please comment with your own suggestions, including what I should have omitted. I may well revise this post accordingly.

How to Request an Identification Online

I am arguably a member of way too many groups on Facebook, but it appears that social media groups are now the place to go if you want an identification of that "thing" crawling across the kitchen floor, eating your tomatoes, biting your child, or otherwise causing consternation or curiosity. Here, then, is how to make a post and get an accurate answer. This primer also applies to any other online outlet for getting identifications.

• Include an image.

You don't have to be a professional photographer. These days you can snap a quick pic with your smartphone and upload it instantly. It doesn't even have to be perfectly focused. Crop it if you can, so that there is as much detail as possible, before posting it.

• Choose an appropriate group to post to.

So you are pretty sure it is a spider. Find a group that specializes on those arachnids. There are also lots of "bugs" groups that encompass just about anything without a backbone. There are garden groups where people often post images of suspected pests, but often it is the blind leading the blind and you may not get anywhere near the truth despite other members' good intentions.

• ALWAYS INCLUDE GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION.

I have seen many times someone from another country post an image and everyone responding assumes it is a species from the U.S. It works the other direction, too. Save responding parties time, energy, and embarrassment by posting the location where your image was taken or the creature was seen. Be as specific as you are comfortable with, but at minimum include nation, state or province, and county or district.

• Include a size estimate.

Use coins or currency, keys, or cigarette lighters in an image to demonstrate scale, it often helps; or estimate, preferably in millimeters. Disregard sarcastic remarks about spiders making off with your cash, stealing your car keys, or setting fires with those lighters. A detailed description in general can also suffice in the absence of an image.

• Be polite, not demanding.

Common courtesy goes a long way to endearing you to experts. Say "please" and "thank you." Be understanding that the people responding may be volunteering their time to assist you. Many professional entomologists in fact face reprimands from superiors for "wasting their time" on "trivial matters," despite the fact that job descriptions often cite "public outreach" as a priority.

• Do not assume the *first* answer is the *right* answer.

Many members of various online groups are amateurs themselves, and the learning curve is steep in making identifications. Most real experts are also specialists, so they may not be able to identify every post in a given group. Their expertise may be limited to bees, for example. Wait for several replies, and do a little homework on each answer to see whether it fits or not. Remember that everyone could still be wrong!

Do share your "mystery bugs" with us through social media, photo-sharing websites, and other online outlets like Project Noah or i-Naturalist. We enjoy seeing your discoveries, and often enough they are valuable sightings. Take care and good luck!

Facebook: An Expanding Portal to Entomology

The internet has made the scientific community vastly more accessible to the general public, but social media has taken that to yet another level. Whereas it once took hours, if not days, of research to get an answer to a question, or the identification of an organism in an image, success can now be had in minutes. Facebook in particular has exploded with specialized "groups."

No matter how offbeat your entomological interest there is no doubt a Facebook group devoted to it. Are you a moth fanatic? Ha, so are over 3,300 other people who have already joined the "Mothing and Moth-watching" group.

You might worry that the membership represents a "blind leading the blind" assortment of amateurs or newbies, but most of the time there are plenty of professional entomologists and experienced citizen scientists offering help, sharing announcements of new research, or simply posting stunning images. Take the "Hymenopterists Forum," for example. I have queried this group a number of times with images of wasps, bees, or ants that I was having trouble identifying. I am always met with courtesy and respect, though I am careful not to post too much, too often.

Are your interests regional in nature? New groups continue to sprout which are regionally-centered geographically. I know because I have started four of them myself. Maybe you want to know more about dragonflies and damselflies of the southeast U.S. Voila! "Southeastern Odes" is at your service.

One of the most wonderful aspects of Facebook groups is that they usually have a global membership, and you can always stand to learn from others in far-flung locations around the world. The "Friends of Coleoptera at the Natural History Museum" group reflects beetle experts at the museum in London, England, for example, but they are incredibly friendly to everyone, and highly knowledgeable of beetles from all over the planet.

Still can't find a group that suits you? The answer is easy: create your own. Facebook makes the process of founding a group very easy and relatively intuitive. Do pay attention to the settings ("public," "closed," "secret"), and be mindful that as an administrator you will need to be vigilant to welcome new members, delete spam and its originators, and post regularly to keep your group on the Facebook radar.

I had to be metaphorically dragged into social media back in 2009, but I could not be more grateful to those who nudged (pushed?) me into it. Through Facebook I have made many new friends in the truest sense, learned more than I could have imagined, and helped others. I highly recommend taking full advantage of social media avenues in your own pursuits.

"Bug Eric" on Social Media

Are you active on Facebook? Twitter? If so, you might find it easier to connect with me there during the spring, summer, and fall when I am more apt to be out in the field instead of blogging. Here are links to some of my social media pages.

While I do have a private Facebook page where you can "friend" me, I post links, images, and other things entomological to my professional page here. Look for this banner image ("cover photo"), though it changes every so often.

I also started a group page on Facebook called "Arthropods Colorado". That is usually where I will first post recent images that I have taken in the field. This is also a growing community with many other wonderful people posting their images and observations of Colorado insects and arachnids. The Green Fool Grasshopper is our unofficial mascot, adorning the cover photo for the group page. Just ask to be added to the group and I will do so.

I also have a Twitter account, but rarely "tweet," so while you can follow me here, you are unlikely to get too much more than notifications of new blog posts. The banner image for my Twitter page is a pair of beewolves.

Increasingly, my LinkedIn profile is getting more looks, and it is where I update my professional activities. You can view my work history and ask to connect with me here. You will see this mug shot if you are in the right place.

Another place I frequent is perhaps not what you would call a social media website, but a page where people from all over the world post their images of fauna and flora. My account at Project Noah includes "spottings" from Colorado as well as other places where Heidi and I travel to. Yes, the majority of posts are insects or other arthropods, but I also throw in a few birds, mammals, herps (reptiles and amphibians), and wildflowers, too. Please consider joining Project Noah, as many of its "missions" as you care to, and post your own images. Once there, you can "follow" me and I can follow you.

Lastly, while I am not fond of the changes in their format, I still have a Flickr.com account here. I try and post fairly regularly, especially after a trip out of state.

I look forward to seeing you on one or more of the media platforms above; and I thank you for your patience between blog posts. Once summer ends, posts should be more frequent, and the diversity of topics will broaden as well.

Celebrity Spiders

I was watching The Tonight Show on Wednesday, December 18, and one of the guests was actress Christina Applegate. I don’t normally pay much mind to celebrities, but when she started talking about a spider that is living outside a window of her home, my ears perked up. She and her daughter have more or less adopted the arachnid and named her “Seymour.”

Ok, obviously, they named the spider before it was determined to be a female. Ms. Applegate has kept a running account of their spider via tweets on Twitter, including the above picture. There has been much chatter on her Twitter page, most of it supportive and helpful. Christina informed The Tonight Show audience that “Seymour” had been identified as a Tropical Orbweaver, Eriophora ravilla, which at first glance it resembles. I remembered that this species does not occur in southern California, though, and took a closer look at the image. Ah, Araneus gemma instead. I tweeted the correction, but never got a response. Gee, Christina can’t be *that* swamped, right?

While she admitted that if a spider that size were found inside her house, “it would be on the bottom of my shoe,” she and her daughter have embraced Seymour as an “outdoor” spider. They even sing to it at bedtime.

We cannot have enough positive stories like this of both parenting and arachnid appreciation. It is encouraging the number of celebrities who share their passion for the eight-legged world.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dominic Monaghan, “Charlie” of Lost fame, when he came through the 25th annual “Bug Fair” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History back in May, 2011. He, too, had been on The Tonight Show, where he had talked about joining an expedition to search for an enormous tarantula species recently re-discovered in a museum collection. I asked if he had gone and he said they hadn’t been able to make it happen. Since, then, Dominic has gone on several expeditions for his BBC America series Wild Things. His “average Joe” approach is refreshing, and he is usually cautious in handling venomous species. He makes a good ambassador for popular entomology, arachnology, and herpetology.

Back on Twitter, Heidi Klum, the supermodel, made headlines by tweeting a photo of herself posing with “Brutus,” a large tarantula, her “new friend for the day.” That one photo op can cause such a sensation should not be dismissed. The American Arachnological Society might do well to find a celebrity spokesperson for arachnids, or even enlist someone from its own ranks, like Dr. Greta Binford.

The point is, we can make a big impact on changing public attitudes towards organisms that are traditionally feared, but we might have to cozy up to the media. Scientists are loathe to speak to journalists since there have been so many misquotes, and information taken out of context, in previous history. We have to keep trying, though, and become the media ourselves through blogs, social media, and other creative outlets. Heck, don’t just read my blog, “re-tweet” it, and more importantly, write your own, too.

Spider Sunday: Top Spider Hoaxes, Urban Legends, and Myths

I swear, sometimes I feel the “Spider Sunday” feature on my blog is a completely useless exercise. There are so many recurring hoaxes and urban legends about spiders that raise their ugly heads again and again and again,…now spread even faster through social media! Thank you so much, Facebook. Please feel free to share this post the next time you see an idiotic spider hoax surface. Here is my list of the worst of them, in no particular order.

Lethal spider species lurks under toilet seats. What anyone would have against the lovely and completely harmless Two-striped Jumping Spider Telamonia dimidiata is beyond me, but it is the chosen villain in a sinister campaign to scare everyone off of toilet seats in airports around the world. The original version blamed the non-existent Arachnius gluteus spider. The name alone should have tipped people off as to the authenticity of the reports (and made wise people smile and chuckle).

Daddy Long-legs (Harvestman)

Daddy long-legs are the most venomous spiders, but they can’t bite people. First of all, “daddy long-legs” are not even spiders. They are arachnids, but in the order Opiliones and more properly called “harvestmen.” They are not venomous at all, and are mostly scavengers and opportunistic predators on weakened insects.

The average human swallows “x” number of spiders per year in their sleep. This is complete bunk (but I did once wake up with a dead German Cockroach in my mouth).

Somebody’s houseplant cactus explodes, liberating baby tarantulas. Really? Tarantula mothers don’t stick their eggs in cacti. They carefully wrap them up in a silken sac and guard them tenaciously at the bottom of their burrows. Once the eggs hatch, the female continues to guard them until their next molt, at which time they disperse.

Baby Tarantula

The “Hobo Spider” is dangerously venomous. This is false, but also an enduring mystery. Tegenaria agrestis is native to Europe where it is most certainly harmless. Individual spiders from populations introduced in the U.S. have been implicated in necrotic wounds. One plausible theory is that victims of spider bites (or other puncture wounds wrongly attributed to spiders) have developed secondary bacterial infections. Stay tuned for further developments.

The above are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, of course. A more complete listing can be found on Rod Crawford’s Spider Myths Page. When in doubt yourself, you can also consult Snopes.com, or one of the other websites cited in this article from TechRepublic.com.

Thank you for your attention, we now end this rant and return you to your regularly-scheduled programming of truth, fascination, and beauty.