Laelaps
Musings on evolution, the fossil record, and our place in nature
Profile
Laelaps is the blog of freelance science writer Brian Switek. This blog frequently features his musings on paleontology, evolution, and the history of science. Switek also blogs for Smithsonian magazine's Dinosaur Tracking, and he is a research associate at the New Jersey State Museum.
Switek's first book, Written in Stone, will be published on November 1, 2010 by Bellevue Literary Press.
Search
Recent Posts
- This Blog Has Moved
- A Pepsi-Induced
HiatusExodus - Funky Worms Cause Ants to Mimic Fruit
- Photo of the Day #953: Collared brown lemur baby
- Pleased to meet you
- Photo of the Day #952: Bryce Canyon
- Photo of the Day #951: Dinosaur toe
- What's eating you? - Bugs, bacteria, and zombies
- Eureka!
- Deceitful Male Topi Raise False Alarms to Keep Females Nearby
Recent Comments
- markoting on Poor, poor Ida, Or: "Overselling an Adapid"
- dan on Have the hunting habits of leopards shaped primate evolution?
- geraldine on John Daniel, the civilized gorilla
- hastaneotomasyonu on Book Review: A History of Paleontology Illustration
- Artikelkatalog on What's eating you? - Bugs, bacteria, and zombies
- konteyner on Tyrannosaurus yeck?: Another look at preserved proteins
- Darryl on Book Review: Richard Owen: Biology Without Darwin
- Mr. Turd on How sucker-winged bats hang on
- Mr. TurD on How sucker-winged bats hang on
- hava perdeleri on What's eating you? - Bugs, bacteria, and zombies
Archives
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
Blogroll
Paleo
- Dinosaur Tracking
- The Coastal Paleontologist
- Aquatic Amniotes
- SV-POW!
- Afarensis
- The World We Don't Live In
- Paleo Errata
- Archosaur Musings
- Chinleana
- Ediacaran
- The Life of Madygen
- Dracovenator
- The Ethical Palaeontologist
- Bond's Blog
- Paleo Dude
- Dinochick
- The Open Source Paleontologist
- The Disillusioned Taxonomist
- Everything Dinosaur
- Hairy Museum of Natural History
- John Hawks
- Mark Witton
- microecos
- The Dragon's Tales
- When Pigs Fly Returns
- Self-Designed Student
- Palaeoblog
Zoology
- The Loom
- Photo Africa Blog
- Mainly Mongoose
- Catalogue of Organisms
- Endless Forms
- Rigor Vitae
- The Lord Geekington
- The Daily Coyote
- Cephalopodcast
- The Other 95%
- Deep Sea News
Ecology
History of Science
- A Simple Prop
- Evolving Thoughts
- Skulls in the Stars
- Archy
- Ether Wave Propaganda
- FCD: The Red Notebook
- Millard Fillmore's Bathtub
- The Dispersal of Darwin
- Thoughts in a Haystack
- The Beagle Project Blog
- Transcribing Tyndall
Geology
Miscellany
- The Sandwalk
- Migrations
- Gurney Journey
- Skepchick
- Dispatches from Carbon Nation
- Cocktail Party Physics
- Peculiar Beauty
- The Digital Cuttlefish
- The Flying Trilobote
- The Panda's Thumb
- RedMolly Picayune Democrat
Fellow Sciblings
« Photo of the Day #757: Rock squirrel | Main | Q: How do you sex a Smilodon? (A: Very carefully) »
Photo of the Day #758: Sand flies and brine shrimp
Category: Inverts • Photography
Posted on: November 9, 2009 5:13 AM, by Brian Switek
Find more posts in: 
Life Science
Life ScienceTrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/124338
Comments
What do you mean by "sand flies"?
Posted by: Gunnar | November 9, 2009 6:25 AM
It looks like they are brine flies (Ephydridae; prob. Ephydra riparia. Sand flies usually refers to Psychodidae: Phlebotominae which a small gnat-like blood feeders. They are vectors of some pretty nasty diseases.
Posted by: Holytape | November 9, 2009 11:49 AM
Holytape; Thanks for the identification. I had no idea what they were called and had even less of a clue as to how to start to narrow down the list. These flies swarmed all over the edge of the Great Salt Lake, moving away in great ripples as I walked along the shore. They did not bite or otherwise show any interest in me other than moving away.
Posted by: Laelaps | November 9, 2009 12:42 PM
I'd read in a history about the Great Salt Lake that large numbers of which insects which I'd always thought were probably mormon crickets that had been driven over the lake and died would accumulate in vast windrows on the shores and were considered a something of a salty snack by the locals. When European settlers first introduced commercial ocean shrimp to the natives they called them "sea crickets" since to them that is what they tasted like. I've always wanted to go back to give 'em a taste myself. I don't suppose you gave them a try. Next time, maybe.
Posted by: doug l | November 9, 2009 9:32 PM