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Who We Are Created by ...
Summer 2011: Hello! I am Leslie Mertz, a field biologist (and science writer), and in 2011, I offered a summer course at Eastern Michigan University’s biological field station in Lapeer, Michigan. As part of that field course, five of my students — Charlotte Dotson, Mary-Jo Germain, Amanda McCreless, Renee Millard and Sara Mitchell — created an insect key and small database that included photos and information to help anyone identify the insects they found, and hopefully learn a bit more about nature in the process. Winter and spring 2012: After the course, I decided to expand that initial project into an online, step-by-step key, which includes all of the orders in the world. (To start the key, click here.) In addition, I included more photos to give users an idea of Earth’s stunning insect variety. Soon, I began getting a few photos from other people, so I added separate webpages for each of the different insect orders. Today: One thing led to another, and before long, people started sending in lots and lots of photos, and asking all sorts of interesting questions about insects. Before I knew it, the website took on a life of its own. Today, I spend hours each week going through emails from wonderful, curious, beautiful people around the world — nature really does bring out the best in everyone! — and trying to stay on top of posting all the photos of the spectacular, unusual, and sometimes plain bizarre six-legged critters roaming this amazing planet we all share. How you can help ... Because nature education is so important, I very gratefully accept donations to help me keep this website afloat. If you would like to contribute, please use the donate box, which appears toward the left top of each of the webpages (including this one). All donations truly go straight to paying for website maintenance costs. Beyond that, if you have taken a nice, sharp, close-up photo of an insect, simply click on one of the “share your photos” icons posted throughout this website and send it in! Ding! Well, it looks like I just got another email from someone. Where will they be from: Michigan? California? Ontario? Mexico? Malaysia? France? the UK? South Africa? Australia? And what cool insect have they sent? I seriously get THE BEST emails! Happy insect spotting, everyone! Unless noted otherwise, photographs on this website are the property of the photographers and may not be reused without written permission from the photographers. To obtain permission, email the photographers here. High-resolution versions of the photographs are available. Photos at the top of this website are (from left to right): potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) — photo credit: Scott Bauer, U.S. Department of Agriculture; ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata)— photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; sweat bee (Agapostemon splendens) — photo credit: Natalie Allen and Stephanie Kolski, U.S. Geological Survey; preying mantis, monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), hellgrammite (aka toe biter) larva and eyed click beetle (Alaus oculatus) — photo credit: Leslie Mertz, DailyGraceCards.com; Halloween pennant (Celithemis eponina) — photo credit: Kay Meng, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Reproduction of material from any GoExploreMichigan Media webpages without written permission is strictly prohibited.
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