Tiny Insects Rule the Night

11 p.m. The sound of a lone coyote howl breaks the stillness as I walk back to the tally tent for an update. Mental note to make sure Canis latrans is on the list.

The tally tent is mostly quiet, save for a million mosquitoes and, ironically, the insect station. The folks from the Illinois Natural History Survey are busy emptying the evening's take into petri dishes and prepping them for ID.

To tell certain kinds of leafhoppers apart, you need a peek at ... well ... their private parts. That's no simple task when the animal is only 2 mm long. The insect must be soaked overnight in a solution of potassium hydroxide, which turns its exoskeleton transparent. Tomorrow, it'll reveal the full monty under a microscope and be added to the database.

Current species count is 201: 20 invertebrates and one vertebrate added. Many teams have yet to report.