What’s That Bug? turns fifteen today!!!
Dear faithful readers,
What’s That Bug? has several dates that we acknowledge. We started as a column in the zine American Homebody in May 1998, and when the now defunct website American Homebody went live in 2001, we had our first presence on the internet. See the history of American Homebody on Lisa Anne Auerbach’s site. We existed in that format for a year, and then on August 25, 2002, we registered the www.whatsthatbug.com domain, and this was our first posting as a unique website. There was no image with that submission, and we found an image from the internet to use. That launch date for our site predates the popularity of cellular telephones with the ability to take images. Early submissions to our site required actual digital cameras to provide images. Through the years, our mission has always been to educate people to appreciate and tolerate the lower beasts. Interestingly, Longhorn Beetles, the category of that first posting, is still the most populated category on our site with 1012 postings as of right now. Here is a gorgeous image of a Banded Alder Borer from our archives.
Banded Alder Borer (from our archives)
Fanmail
Congratulations dear Daniel! Your site is so fascinating and you have maintained it faithfully and you have followers all over the world. Thank you for keeping us intrigued.
Best,
Monique
Daniel,
WTB is a great resource for me, particularly as it’s imbued with Daniel’s humor, as well as his knowledge.
Particularly fun is the Bug Love section 😀
Daniel’s beautiful book, “The Curious World of Bugs”,
( Ours is signed to Jessica with the admonition: “Do good work on the dark continent; and Don’t let the Creechies bite”)
should be on everyone’s shelf, as far as I’m concerned!
Clare
Thanks for your continuing efforts. What’s That Bug is a reliable bright moment in every day for me and, I expect, many others.
Thanks for your kind words Jim. Thankfully for our tiny editorial staff, it has always been fun answering “What’s That Bug?”
Yes! Congratulations buddies!
Thanks Cesar.
I love your site. I have used it many times to help ID bugs. You mentioned in one of your comments (on beehunters) that there is a new field guide mentioned on the home page I did not find it and would like to see if it is one I should buy. More information, please. Thank you.
The only Guide we have ever recommended is the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America since Eric Eaton is co-author.