 |
The Poweshiek Skipper Project | |
| Lake Hawthorne ©Rayford
Ratcliff
Introduction Information about the butterfly
O.
poweshiek, Legacy butterfly Legacy
of Chief Poweshiek
H.W. Parker's writings Von Blixum's Heroic Experiment
Iowa's
biological diversity
The Poweshiek Skipper Project Goals
of the project
|
Beetles Beetles are the most insect group with the highest number
of species. It has been estimated that one quarter of all species
are beetles. There are individuals who are working with smaller groups, and have lists of some of the subsets. Jim Durbin has photographs of some of Iowa's beetles at the insects of Iowa web site: There is an Insects of Northeastern Iowa web site maintained by Dr. Kirk Larsen of Luther College: http://biology.luther.edu/insects.htm There is also a Tiger Beetles of the United States web site, maintained by the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. The Iowa list is found here: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/insects/tigb/ia/toc.htm Beetles contain species that are important predators of
pest species, and some minor pollinators as well. The group also
contains a number of pest species. Some of the most charismatic
insect species are found it this group as well, in the tiger beetles and
especially in the fireflies. The photograph on the top right is one of several related species of beetle that are found on milkweeds. They are called milkweed longhorn beetles. I believe this one to be Tetraopes tetrophthalmus. The photograph on the bottom left is a tiger beetle, which I believe is Cicindela hirticollis. |
I am not aware of any Iowa beetle species list, but there are probably
somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 species. 