EntomoNews

On 7 November 2013, the Natural History Museum in London is unveiling a statue of the man who co-discovered the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Alfred Russel Wallace was a pioneering naturalist who discovered thousands of new species, published numerous books and conceived the most important theory in biology independently of Charles Darwin. But whilst Darwin has gone on to become a household name, Alfred Russel Wallace has largely remained in his shadow to this day.

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C’est  nouveau, ça vient de sortir : des pinces à chenille en polydiméthylsiloxane, minuscules, et délicates, capables de pincer, même à l’air et la tête en bas.

Ce qui est très nouveau, c’est que cet outil est actionné par la contraction d’un muscle d’insecte (le vaisseau dorsal d’une chenille) irrigué par du liquide nutritif. Il a été difficile d’empêcher l’évaporation de celui-ci mais on a pu couler un film de paraffine pour étanchéifier le dispositif.

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D’après « Insect-powered microtweezers », par Michael Parkin. Lu le 2 octobre 2013 à www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/ http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/10/insect-powered-microtweezers

Physical forces rather than bees’ ingenuity might create the hexagonal cells.

[lois de la physique, forme hexagonale, géométrie, alvéole, Apis mellifera]

I’ll admit pandas and otters are adorable. They’re a great example of what’s known as “charismatic megafauna”: cute (usually fluffy) animals used to interest humans in ecosystem conservation.  But there are many charming insects, spiders, and arthropods that are just as worthy of love and attention as a baby sloth.

This blog will be a celebration of the diversity of all things tiny and crawly that run our planet, written by a professional bug dork.

Who the heck am I, and what’s an entomologist?

I trained as an agricultural entomologist, or insect scientist, at North Carolina State University (MS and PhD), and then spent some time as a faculty member. I jumped off the tenure track to work at a dot.com, in higher education and research administration, and I’m now a web consultant and writer full time.  I blogged under the pseudonym “Bug Girl” for many years.

ZOOLOGIE | Une étude britannique démontre que les hyménoptères s'économisent lorsqu'elles s'attellent à la construction des ruches.

I am pleased to bring you the third edition of Expiscor – a weekly digest of discoveries and curiosities, from Arachnids, to natural history and beyond.  You can view previous postings here and here.

• I’ve been editing work from two of my Master’s students who will soon be graduating – both on Arctic spiders – here are a couple of great quotes from their work, about spiders: “There are a recognized 43,244 species and sub-species of spider worldwide,  46% of which are described based on only one sex” and “18% of total linyphiid species in the world found north of 60°”  WOW – clearly much work is needed in Arachnology, and we ought to work in the North for some families.

• More on spiders:

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