Category Archives: Revising Bembidiina

It was fifty years ago today…

Posted on 18 October 2013 by David Maddison

Fifty years ago today, Carl Hildebrand Lindroth’s revision of the Bembidion of Canada and Alaska was published; this was part 3 of his opus on the ground beetles of Canada and Alaska. This work is the basis of all that … Continue reading →

Posted in Revising Bembidiina, Scientific Illustrations, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Shutting down Lionepha lummi

Posted on 11 October 2013 by David Maddison

I am quite sure that this is the habitat of Lionepha lummi.  The picture below shows American Camp, on San Juan Island, not far from Friday Harbor, in Washington state.  And I think tomorrow would be a perfect day to … Continue reading →

Posted in Fieldwork, Revising Bembidiina | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Rainy-season beetles

Posted on 30 September 2013 by David Maddison

The rains have returned to the Pacific Northwest.  During the last few days a rain-drop symphony has been playing in my house in the woods, and the douglas fir and oaks are weeping in thanks for fall’s arrival after a … Continue reading →

Posted in Fieldwork, Revising Bembidiina | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Another surprise in Lionepha

Posted on 20 September 2013 by David Maddison

Two days ago I had a post about an unexpected species of Lionepha in the Sierras, of which I became aware when I looked at a specimen that my graduate student John Sproul caught on the South Fork of Bishop … Continue reading →

Posted in Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

A surprise in Lionepha

Posted on 18 September 2013 by David Maddison

In the late spring I was in the final stages of a manuscript about the genus Lionepha.  This paper will describe the new species I have mentioned earlier, describe the male of Lionepha chintimini for the first time, document DNA … Continue reading →

Posted in Fieldwork, Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

And then there were five…

Posted on 13 September 2013 by David Maddison

Earlier this week I spent three lovely days in the Bay Area with Dave Kavanaugh, and on Monday we went to collecting on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais.  There, along Cataract Creek, we found a series of small “Bembidion curtulatum” … Continue reading →

Posted in Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Bountiful Bembidion

Posted on 6 September 2013 by David Maddison

Bembidion can be quite abundant on the shores of bodies of water, such as along the Willamette River near Corvallis, Oregon: Below are two videos showing me turning over some rocks on shore shown above.  There are four species that … Continue reading →

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Hiding in Plain Sight

Posted on 31 August 2013 by David Maddison

In most groups of organisms there are taxa that are very isolated phylogenetically, and are structurally so distinctive that they are easy to recognize (the Australian platypus and Welwitschia mirabilis come to mind).  Some of these isolated taxa are considered to … Continue reading →

Posted in Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Mirror, mirror, …

Posted on 28 August 2013 by David Maddison

… but not on the wall. This image hurts my brain.  A lot. I suspect that other folks who study Bembidion have sore brains as they look at this, too. Why?

Posted in Morphological Techniques, Revising Bembidiina | Tagged , | 8 Comments

The excitement of discovering patterns in nature

Posted on 25 August 2013 by David Maddison

When a pattern in nature emerges, suddenly revealed through new data, I get a high unlike any other.  It is this aspect of systematic and taxonomic work that I like the best, which keeps me enthralled, and which I crave … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Musings, Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , | 1 Comment