Pre-Nocturnal Insect BioBlitz Insect

[urbpan]

Last Friday, we hosted a Nocturnal Insect BioBlitz! What that entails is setting up a mercury vapor light (they throw out a lot of UV, so insects are especially attracted to it) and hanging up a sheet next to it, and identifying and counting the insects that come. This was part of the Dedham Bioblitz, an event where a group of scientists and naturalists tried in a few short hours to find 375 different living things. 375 because this is Dedham's 375th birthday.

As the anticipation built up to having a bunch of strangers (except for contact on twitter) come to my house to see bugs, I started to see bugs everywhere! The grasshopper up above is a youngster, and may certainly be in the genus Melanoplus, along with the red-legged grasshopper (which was 365 urban species #257).

I was going to show another picture of a different insect, but Alexis just identified it (probably) to species-complex! That'll be my next 100 species entry.