Cape Fear Community College

Thank you Johnny Hardison for the heads up.

One of my students last semester brought in this gem, an exact replica of the front tooth of a T-rex!  The detail, size, and weight of the tooth was so realistic, I felt like I was holding a real fossil!  This tooth belonged to a famous T-rex named “Stan” (named after its discoverer) that was excavated in the Black Hills in 1987.  Imagine a whole mouthful of these large serrated flesh-tearing teeth biting into your leg and now you’ll understand why that guy in Jurassic park screamed so loudly – wait, nevermind, that was movie magic   Anyway, the student who brought it in graciously donated it to me to share with my students.  Show-and-tell is one of my favorite past times, so if you really dig dinos, come to the science department and see it!

I needed to clean up a lot of debris in my yard after hurricane Irene passed in the fall of 2011.  Underneath the large limb of a sweetgum tree, I found this!  I was surprised because I had never seen one before - you know, it is very exciting for a field biologist to see something new in the wild for the first time!  And so I was introduced to this bizarre creature, nicknamed the “hickory horned devil” obviously inspired by the large red horns   Believe it or not, this is a caterpillar, the larval stage of a moth (Citheronia regalis).  This moth, the regal moth, is the largest moth species in the United States.  The caterpillars munch on sweetgums and other trees until they are this size.  Then they crawl down the host tree and burrow underground.  They may remain there for up to two years in this pupal stage until they are ready to emerge as a beautiful moth. Click on the link below to see it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Citheronia_regalisPCCA20040718-3494AB.jpg

Food Links from Daniel Norris

Eating Fruit Bats in Guam I ate it. In Guam. Thanks Sergio.
Huitlacoche – “Mexican Truffle” Never had it. But really want it!
Asafoetida – Devil’s dung Ordered it a few days ago. I am excited to try it out in food! I will report.

Next Meeting
February 21
2pm in S408 (Alvin’s Office)

Welcome to the new Science Department website!