August 18, 2004

Living Jewels.

Check out this flower beetle, this long-horn beetle, this metallic wood-boring beetle and a dung beetle that, like, totally rocks my socks off.

posted by spackle 20 years ago
  • luminous little critters. I immediatly thought of Haldane's famous quote, and then noticed the title of your thread. [2nd best beetle quotation: "I went out collecting with Albert Way of Trinity, who in after years became a well-known archaeologist; also with H. Thompson, afterwards a leading agriculturalist, chairman of a great railway, and a Member of Parliament. It seems therefore that a taste for collecting beetles is some indication of future success in life." Charles Darwin]
  • Third best beetle quotation: "Whenever I hear of the capture of rare beetles, I feel like an old war-horse at the sound of a trumpet!" -Charles Darwin
  • spackle, this rocks! My dad (retired now) was a research entomologist for the USDA. He worked on Diabrotica aka corn rootworm beetles. Your post reminded me of hanging out at the bug lab and looking at squiggly things under microscopes. Good times. :)
  • My favorite is Ringo!
  • Fantastic stuff. Beetles rule. I only wish I knew the fourth best beetle quotation in the world.
  • Er...
    "The sense of death is most in apprehension And the poor beetle that we tread upon In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great As when a giant dies." - William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (III, i)
    Hmmm. Maybe not.
  • Looking for beetles? pete_best is your man.
  • Errr... The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note. (Macbeth, Wm. Shkspr) Hmmm. Maybe not.
  • these are gorgeous! great post!
  • Ladybug, ladybird, fly away home, The clumsy Junebug's fallen down. Whose larva creeps across the rug To dally with a doodlebug?
  • "Suppose everyone had a box with something in it: we call it a
  • Their beauty still doesn't stop my children from squashing the crap out of them! (good one, Alnedra)
  • Thanks, I added that to my bookmarks. I'm an enthusiastic fan of insects, and this link will be perused quite a bit. Here are a few of my other favourite bug picture sites: one. two. three.
  • ooh, Alnedra is the cleverest one. I like it when Darwin quietly smirks, but Ludwig ups the ante considerably.
  • Thanks coppermac! Wonderful links, especially van der Woning's photos. My favorite bug site is Cultural Entomology Digest, a "shameless promotion of insect appreciation" with photos, articles and links. The section on butterfly wing patterns is especially interesting. Too bad only 4 issues were produced. More gorgeous pix here. They'll even sell you dead bugs for your collection.
  • Fantastic link, shinything!!!