DG Site Updates: Garden Critters Database, 0 by Lophophora

Lophophora wrote:
British biochemist J.B.S. Haldane was once asked by a theologian what inferences could be drawn about the nature of God from the study of His Creation. Haldane answered, "He has an inordinate fondness for beetles". By the most conservative estimate, approximately 350,000 species of beetles have been described since 1758 - or an average of slightly more than four per day.

And Beetles are only one of several Orders in Insecta. Try this on for size: (The Apterygota) Protura, Collembola, Thysanura, Diplura; (The Exopterygota) Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, Grylloblatodea, Orthoptera, Phasmida, Dermaptera, Embioptera, Dictyoptera, Isoptera, Zoraptera, Psocoptera, Mallophaga, Siphunculata, Hemiptera, Thysanoptera; (The Endopterygota) Neuropter, Coleoptera, Strepsiptera, Mecoptera, Siphonaptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Trichoptera, & Hymenoptera. (There are also Microsoft Bugs, but they're in a whole different class...)

There are well over 1 million different known species of insects in the world, and some experts estimate that there might be as many as 10 million. And a good percentage of those look completely different during the various stages of their lives...

Oops! And I forgot to mention Phlylum Arthropoda...

So how about a reality check: if somebody here can give me a Latin name for the beetle in the picture below then I'll admit we might have the expertise to attempt an Entomology Database - assuming that person agrees to administer it. Otherwise, I fear to tread - and I'm no angel...

Oh! You were talking about a "Common-Garden-Pests-of-North-America-That-You-Can-Find-in-a-Peterson-Field-Guide Database". That's a different story. Go for it!


;)

This message was edited Aug 27, 2004 6:23 AM