Roadside Mysteries

Remember back in 2008 when WE SAW DEAD PEOPLE ? We were at the local cemetery and we talked to a man standing in front of the grave of Clarence Preston Gillette, the first entomologist in Fort Collins. CSU has a club named after professor Gillette called simply the Gillette Entomology Club, or G.E.C.

G.E.C. Homecoming Float

It’s basically Dr. Cranshaw’s old pickup truck with a giant caterpillar on top but it was given the first place prize in the CSU novelty division at this year’s homecoming parade. In the 100 year history of the G.E.C., the club float has always won first place in the parade, and this weekend was no different.

And Duncan Madog was there!

Much to the delight of the bug fans who came out to see the entomology club’s float, it was especially pleasing to see a Pembrokeshire Welsh Corgi run around dressed as a bee. I’m the guy in the white beekeeper’s suit and ram’s head hat who is keeping the dog-bee in line.

Duncan in Bee Costume

Yes, Duncan was a big hit with the children but he was more interested in what kind of food the parade watchers were eating. That’s fairly typical of a corgi but it didn’t matter. It was the cuteness factor that made it! Yes, that’s it!

Oh, and a video has been released on the YouTube of the G.E.C. Float:

Along with the giant caterpillar and dog-bee, there was a butterfly net drill team and a guy dressed in safari garb with a giant fly-swatter chasing someone else dressed as a cockroach. You just had to be there.

at the CSU Insectary

Roach motel it ain’t

There are other insectaries near the campus, most located at the Center for Disease Control – Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Desease (CDC-DVBID) out near the B.W. Pickett Equine Center. There is also the Arthropod-borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory (AIDL) nearby but I don’t plan on visiting these places anytime soon.

Diuraphis noxia

or the Russian Wheat Aphid is living at 250 West Pitkin street. I was a bit disappointed to hear that these aphids are the main occupants at this location. I was expecting a nice collection of walking stick insects or something of that nature.

“No wait! We have a Walking Stick!”

and a few mantids and a taranchula or two. The lab is a controlled environment for insect research so most of the exotic bugs might be found at the Gillette museum.

Emergence tubes

Apparently collecting “Bugs that go Up” into the little vials located on the top of these cardboard tubes.

“Bugs that go Down”

at the bottom of these cardboard boxes. Note the heavy use of Duct tape.