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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Update: We’re Writing a Book!!!

In January, we first posted the announcement that we are writing a book.  We have completed negotiations with our agent and editor at Penguin and finalized the deal, and we have purchased a new computer.  Now we need to actually write our book.  This will not be an identification guide and it will not be a scientific text.  To quote from our proposal “Rather than using the Q&A format, the book will be a compendium of accumulated information, and instead of concentrating of species identification in the way a field guide does, the What’s That Bug? book will be more of a general overview of groups of bugs.”  Hopefully, our book of curious facts, myths and insect lore will be completed by October, but that won’t happen if we spend hours each day responding to questions.  Though we have threatened in the past to limit the number of postings, the truth of the matter is that we love receiving letters and posting responses, and we have recently spent hours each day on the website.  Please be patient as we try to shift some of our attention to meeting our commitment to our agent and editor and making good on our promise.  Chances are quite good that if you have a question, using our in site search engine should lead you to an answer.  If your direct question does not receive an answer, please do not take it personally.  It is because of our own time constraints.

Posted Site News § ‡ Comments (0) °

Guests versus Members

September 1, 2009
Is there some distinction between a member or a guest?
On your Intro page it counted 65 guests…0 members. But I find no information re establishing a “membership”. I’ve never had to register or login etc. to the site. I’m confused…And it’s the most awesome website!
Susan Warner

Hi Susan,
It may sound silly, but we don’t know the answer, so we are forwarding your query to our web master for clarification.
The Bugman

Posted 01 September 2009 § ‡ Comments (1) °

Unnecessary Slaughter

Insects are prone to unnecessary slaughter, be it from an overzealous homemaker who doesn’t want to see bugs, or from a strapping he-man who is a closet arachnophobe, or from a youngster who likes to torture. At any rate, we get a goodly amount of photos of poor arthropods whose lives ended prematurely. In an effort to educate, we present Unnecessary Carnage. This page is not intended for the squeamish.

Posted 14 August 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Technical Difficulties

Ed. Note:
August 1, 2009
Each month, on the first of the month, we have problems with our images posting live.  Please be patient and our newest images should be visible in a few hours.  Also, for the past 24 hours, BugGuide has not been accessible.  Since so many our own postings are linked to BugGuide, our readers will not be able to follow those links.  That situation is a mystery and out of our control, but we hope the folks at BugGuide remedy the problem soon.

Both situations are thankfully resolved

Posted 01 August 2009 § ‡ Comments (1) °

We’ve got a new computer

Sunday, July 12, 2009
We were without a computer for two days while Apple transferred data from the slow old laptop to the new IMac.  Our new computer is so fast, we anticipate being able to answer more, though still not all, of your queries, comments, and submissions.

Posted 12 July 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Request from the USDA

USDA – New Pest Advisory Group
Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 5:19 AM
Greetings,
I am a member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s New Pest Advisory Group which assess exotic plant pests that are new or imminent threats to U.S. agriculture or the environment. (For more information, please visit our website:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/cphst/npag/index.shtml .
A coworker and I recently found your website and we have been very intrigued. We noticed the posting about the Ctenuchid fly and that it may be a new species record in the United States.
We would like to ask for your help. When you receive a potential new pest in the United States, could you send us an email to npag@aphis.usda.gov and let us know? I know it’s a lot to ask and that you are very busy, but we would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Stephanie Dubon
The New Pest Advisory Group
Raleigh, NC
npag@aphis.usda.gov
USDA_Symbol_Color

Hi Stephanie,
We will happily contact you the next time there is a potential new introduction that our readership informs us about.

Posted 29 June 2009 § ‡ Comments (1) °

We’re Going Camping

We will be going to Mendocino to a wedding for the weekend and we will not be posting any new letters nor answering any emails between Friday morning and Monday morning. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Posted 25 June 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

We’re on Holiday

What’s That Bug? will not be answering any questions between June 4 and June 12 while we are out of the office, visiting relatives in Ohio.

Posted 04 June 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

We’re Writing a Book!!!!!

A few moths back, we started a dialog with an editor and an agent, and though we are a nervous wreck, we are embarking upon a book project. Since we have a limited amount of time to spend on this new pursuit, we will have to reduce the time we spend posting your wonderful questions, letters and photographs. We are setting a strict time limit of only 30 minutes per day allotted to answering your numerous requests. A few will be posted, and we can email short answers to a few more. Getting our attention is the luck of the draw. Chances are quite good that the insect you want identified might already be in our archives. Please try our search engine or click the links on the left side of the homepage. Don’t forget to scroll down to see our most recent postings and you can see the alphabetized archive of links on the lower left. Please contact us with any comments, problems, suggestions or praise.

Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 10:03 PM
Hi guys, great news about your book deal but is that  a Freudian slip on the
front page that a \”few MOTHS back\” you were talking to them :-)
Trevor

hi Trevor,
You are not the only one who caught our typographical error, but seeing as the conversation was a few moths back as well as a few months back, we have decided to let the error stand.

Posted 22 January 2009 § ‡ Comments (4) °

Check out Eric Eaton’s new Book!!!

Our Readership is constantly inquiring about a great field guide for insect identification. Eric Eaton’s
new book, Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America is now in its second printing. Look for it at your local bookstore or buy directly from Amazon.

Posted 13 September 2008 § ‡ Comments (0) °

We’re New and Improved

… and we hope you like our new user friendly format. We have spent many long hours in this transition, and we are confident the changes will make our site easier for you to use and navigate. Please contact us with any comments, problems, suggestions, praise… Autumn is here and we are swamped. Our summer vacation has ended. We are returning to the classroom and numerous time consuming responsibilities. This means we will not be able to answer or post as many letters. We are setting a strict time limit of only 30 minutes per day allotted to answering your numerous requests, so most will be ignored. We are getting about 100 letters per day and can only post a few. We can email short answers to a few more. Getting our attention is the luck of the draw. Chances are quite good that the insect you want identified might already be in our archives. Please try our search engine or click the links on the left side of the homepage. Don’t forget to scroll down to see our most recent postings and you can see the alphabetized archive of links on the lower left.

Posted 02 September 2008 § ‡ Comments (1) °

Bug Love Poster

Recently, Dave, who worked on the radio transmitter project to track the migration of Anax junius, the Green Darner Dragonfly, proposed selling his awesome Retro posters of Bug Love on our site. A percentage
of the proceeds goes to insect conservation. What’s That Bug? fully endorses this ad and these beautiful posters and we are not making any profit off of the sales.

So, contact Dave via his email… and tell him What’s That Bug? sent you.

Posted 13 September 2007 § ‡ Comments (0) °