Natural Science Forum / Biology / Entomology / March 2005

The new Online Library section of the TILS web site is now up and running.
The direct link is
http://tils-ttr.org/Online.html  This is a 23 page list of links to research
articles on the web on Lepidoptera, and is continually being updated.

I saw the most beautiful black Bumblebee or Bombus lookalike on
Saturday at the Botanical Gardens in Rome, Italy. I would very much
appreciate if you could help me identify it.
The body is that of a large bumblebee - very hairy, and all black. No

Can anyone help me identify a Tick?  I have posted two pictures of the Tick on my website.  You can see the pictures at http://ronstorey.com/Tick/ - I thought this was an American Dog Tick at first, but I have since become convinced it is not.  Any help in identifying it will be ...

Jeff should not forget about the collection of pinned specimens that he
donated to a museum a number of years ago. This donation was documented
in the Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society.  He must be careful about
the size of the stones he throws at "collectors." Most of what he ...

I recently spotted this insect on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico
Please help me ID it:
http://inet.uni2.dk/~nktcnktc/overvandet/color_insect.jpg
TIA

        I wonder if you could help me.  I am trying to obtain a recipe
for the
artificial diets of Painted Lady larvae (Vanessa cardui) and also the
Silkworm (Bombyx mori).  Although both these diets are commercially

Ho trovato alcuni libri economici sui ragni a Amazon.de ed a
Amazon.fr. Inoltre ho trovato i luoghi di fotoricettore:
http://www.anisn.it/scuola/100animali/ragni/ e
http://digilander.libero.it/vierka/ragni1.htm, che sono entrambi in

Spring is approaching(too slowly for me) but I have been working on an
insect collection for my environmental education center. I began in the
middle of summer last year, and I know I missed some of the earlier
arrivals. Can someone tell me what are some of the insects that will

This has me stumped. It was shot in early spring in Cass County Michigan
last year - the flower the insect is in is a trillium.
http://www.markcassino.com/temp/IMGP6586.jpg
This is obviously some sort of pollination behavior - but the insect does

Can anyone identify this bizarre spider-like creature that flew into my
suburban Sacramento California home last night? I've never seen
anything like it. I'll describe it the best I can:
Body: very compact, dense. About the size of a half dollar. Plump like

This one's for the zoologists!
Can somebody please point me in the direction of the evolutionary
pathway of the Fulgoridae genus?  These are some pretty strange looking
beasties, and I was wondering what their structures could POSSIBLY come