082621

shouting to be heard over lovesick cicadas late summer

030221c

 

trap-jaw ants

good thing Earth's fastest killers

are so small

 

 

https://scitechdaily.com/record-breaking-evolutionary-innovation-powerful-deadly-ultrafast-bite-of-a-trap-jaw-ant/?utm_source=webpush 

110120c

 

I blame pesticides in the groundwater. My neighbor's two pit bulls were no match for the 10-foot mutant shrews. We were saved in the nick by the mantis. But after what happened to Charlie, we dare not go outside. the food is running low. Jane wants to make a dash for the SUV. We can't wait for cold weather, she says. She didn't see how fast it moved when the Wilsons tried the same trick.
 

090220c

 

each stem's

collar of foam

predators sleep

081020d

 

solving the human problem

the collective consciousness of bees 

sorted it just in time

071420

bugs

no matter how you slice 'em

nutritious meal

070920c

Fat white cylinders hanging from south-facing gutters. The morning sun rose and they began to wriggle. When humans emerged from their refugia, the pupae fluttered, tattered remnants. The host they'd disgorged were fiercely hungry. The last thing Timmy saw was the head of the cat.

061420

17 long years

sucking the blood of plants

cicada chorus

060420b

behind the dresser

termites carve their tunnels

metropolis

012520c

Billy loves him some bugs! Look how those little prayer bugs follow him around, and the red ants. That loser can't get his dog to behave. Yesterday, my brother took Billy's lunch; we laughed. Ain't seen my brother yet today.

080819d

The Encyclopedia of Alabama includes about two dozen short articles about the geology of the state. Including this one, about the Steven C Minkin Paleozoic Footprint site, in Walker County. This site is one of the best in the world for its abundance and diversity of trace fossils:

http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1371

The encyclopedia is written for the general public.

Here are photographs of some of the fantastically preserved trace fossils found at the site:

 Insect jumping traces.

Horseshoe crab trackway.

Two crossing millipede trackways.

 Amphibian trackway.

Reptile trackway.

Giant amphibian footprint next to a small trackway of a different amphibian.

 Fish fin trails.

Insect wing impressions.

Trigonotarbid, an ancient spider relative.

A new book about these exciting Pennsylvanian trace fossils describes their discovery, their makers, and the environment in which they lived:

https://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Stone-Fossil-Coal-Age-Tetrapods/dp/0817358447/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=

071419c

this tiny bug
I can barely see it
dying on my desk
I swear
I did nothing to it
we don't spray
too small for a cat
to bother with
looking like chaff
but I saw it try to fly
it tried

120618c

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

1. You have not yet eaten any part of me.
2. Your sleek green ferocity is amazing.
3. You still haven't eaten me.
4.  All enemies fall or flee before you.
5. You can stand motionless for hours; pounce in a fraction of an instant.
6. I am still here.
7. Let me rephrase that.
8. I am looking up at my torso as it vanishes into your maw.
9. Our progeny will be really something.

071918d

First Date


our males
carry the eggs
until they hatch
provide the first meal
but sure
we can go out
I've never dated an Earthman

060417d

pale green mantis
perched upon my arm
what victim fits your tiny jaws?

"Footprints in Stone" — 30% discount with coupon code

"Footprints in Stone," the book I wrote with Ron Buta about trace fossils in Alabama, is on sale from the publisher. Either print out the coupon below and mail it in, or call your order in and give them the discount code.

Trace fossils are any marks made by ancient animals that are not actually parts of their bodies. Footprints, burrows, borings, tail drag marks, and so on. It just so happens that a coal mine in Alabama turned into the most important trace-fossil site of its age in the world. This book is about the discovery and preservation of the site and about all the marvelous fossils that have been found there.

We wrote the book for the general public. It would be a great gift for any kid who likes fossils.

If you live in or near Alabama, it is not difficult to get permission to visit the Steven C Minkin Paleozoic Footprint site. The book should be interesting and useful to anybody interested in trace fossils, even if they don't live anywhere near Alabama.

Footprints in Stone update

Reviews of Footprints in Stone.


There are two 5-star reviews of Footprints in Stone on Amazon. I would be overjoyed if anybody else who reads the book also reviews it.

https://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Stone-Fossil-Coal-Age-Tetrapods/dp/0817358447/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469797628&sr=1-1&keywords=%22footprints+in+stone%22


Not exactly a review, this article about the site showcases the book.

http://alabamanewscenter.com/2016/07/22/footprints-in-stone-fossils-of-coal-age-animals-attract-global-visitors/


Announcement about upcoming signing at the Alabama Museum of Natural History:

http://almnh.ua.edu/


The video about the site and about the book is once again online:

http://www.lightscameraalabama.com/secure/videopages/stone.html

060716

Sunday Morning At the Mantis's

What a party! Husks of spermatophores stuck all over the living room floor. The carpet still sticky. Whose gamete packets did she take in last night? And whose headless body was lying out by the mailbox?

060416

trying hard
to sway only in the breeze
stick insect
knobbier than these twigs
caught by my shutter

060216b

Bees sense of electric fields with their heirs. They use these to detect the electric fields emitted by flowers, but how long will it be before we turn this capability to our own ends?

The walls have a short inside
bumbling along.
hairs rising on the back of its
here, here the field is wrong
the GPS chip chirps

But what is wrong to a bee
may not be what you seek
and as for the short
"Jes fine" says bee