In 2023, I'll be working more on Hemiptera of Texas (mostly True Bugs and True Hoppers) and less on TX beetles.

My primary "Hemip" (particularly True Bug) references are:

True Bug and Allie pages on Texas Entomology | BugGuide | and importantly GBIF to check distributions |

Henry & Froeschner (1988) Catalog of the Heteroptera
Blatchley (1926) Heteroptera of Eastern North America

BugGuide is the foundational identification and information website for most North American arthropod taxa on iNaturalist. Check out the BugGuide link under iNat's About tab to learn about that species.

Bio

M.Sc. in Entomology, B.Sc. in Wildlife from Texas A&M.

First Invertebrate Biologist for Texas Parks & Wildlife.

Curatorial Assistant, University of Texas Insect Collection, Austin.

Much of what I know about beetles, I learned under the close tutelage of Edward G. Riley since 1993, but I only started studying beetles in earnest since 2009.

Emphasis

I have mostly worked on the Beetles of Texas, but also check in on the beetles of Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico.

I have posted the most species of beetles on both BugGuide and iNat.

My main Texas Beetle family webpages:

Buprestids | Clerids | Coccinellids | Meloids | Cerambycids | Chrysomelids | Weevils |

To ID a mystery beetle not on the above pages, try scrolling through my Travis County Beetle Survey page w thumbnail photos of >1,000 spp.

Am an active editor of BugGuide where most of my invert pix were originally posted. I have contributed to the editing of nearly every Texas beetle Info page on BugGuide.

When not working on insects, I love walking down trials recording many of the plant spp. I encounter!

Beetle Finding and Photographing Tips:

To go beyond just the insects that come to flowers or UV lights, one really needs to beat and sweep the vegetation

I primarily live collect insects and shoot them via Canon's seminal MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens w/ a ring flash against a white background. I feel that ring flashes are underappreciated in their speed and effectiveness in rapidly acquiring great insect shots. More details on my field and photo techniques here.

Museum Work

I mostly photograph specimens from UTIC (Austin) and TAMUIC (College Station), but have also briefly worked w collections in AZ, AR, DC, FL, IL, LA, OH, OK, NM, NY, and VA. I encourage folks to collect insects that come to their lights and donate the spmns to a prominent local insect collection. Please contact me for more information.

Contact

entomike@gmail.com
Austin, TX

Profile photo ca. 2014

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