I have the distinct honor of hosting this second edition of An Inordinate Fondness, the blog carnival devoted to beetles. Everyone from scientists and academics, to budding naturalists and bloggers has something to say about beetles. To many people around the world, the word, “beetle,” conjures up images of the music band, “The Beatles.” The Beatles chose their name as a tribute to Buddy Holly and his band, “The Crickets.” The band members went through several iterations before settling on The Beatles, very much liking the musical tie-in achieved by simply changing one “e” to an “a.”

As I see it, AIF could easily adapt the term for  the band’s well-known fan hysteria, “Beatlemania,” to its own purpose. What better way to describe our admiration for this often beautiful, always fascinating Order of insects? Did you catch that? I said Order! An entire Order in our taxonomic classification system, as in Order THEN Family THEN Genus THEN Species. That’s a lot of beetles! And a lot of beetlemaniacs (I mean that in the dearest of ways, and count myself among them).

In my enthusiasm to support Ted and his new beetle carnival, I inadvertently volunteered to host both AIF and IATB on the same day. Oops. I called in reinforcements to help out with this musical-themed AIF from my partner in crime, AJ. You will notice a distinct difference in style with marked irreverence – enjoy if you dare! I might add that I do not know anyone who loves music as much as AJ, so you are in for a double-treat!

Now it is time for the real stars of the show to take the stage! AJ, take it away… Read the rest of this entry »