Andy Deans of NCSU rightly rakes ASU over the coals for their Ugly Bugs contest:
Denigrating insect species, broadly labeled here as
bugsdoes a disservice to those of us who fight daily to convince a skeptical public...
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Andy Deans over at the NCSU insect blog surveys the madness of state insects.
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Yes, and if you look at the intended educational outreach--the information page linked to each photo--it is fairly inaccurate (or should I say "buggy"?).
The aphid is identified as "Fighting from the order of: Hymenoptera." The carpenter bee isn't identified as an Hymenopteran--that line is left blank.
To me, the ugly thing about those images is the false coloration of the SEMs. Yep, the concept of the contest just seems kind of dumb!
That was exactly my reaction!
Just fyi, your sentiments are shared by those of us at ASU too...