Photos of Magicicada undersides fill me with joy. I am grateful to be part of this community, where I focus primarily on identifying certain beetles, cicadas, and the local plants with which I'm familiar. I love Magicicada, tiger beetles, and clerids, and I'm also infatuated with Calopteron and the interesting web of species that mimic those foul-tasting lycids. I'm part of team Cicada Safari, working with my husband, Gene Kritsky, to map the distribution of the various broods of Magicicada.

I'm a graduate of Mount St. Joseph University in western Cincinnati, Ohio, with a B.S. in Natural Science, a B.A. in General Art, and a B.F.A. in Fine Art (Sculpture). I'm the copyeditor of American Entomologist, the flagship journal of the Entomological Society of America, and I have served as copyeditor and layout designer for several publications of the Ohio Biological Survey, including A Naturalist's Guide to the Fishes of Ohio (Dan Rice and Brian Zimmerman, 2019) and A Naturalist's Guide to the Crayfish of Ohio (Roger F. Thoma, 2022). I've also been a professional metalsmith and jewelry designer since 2003; many of my designs are inspired by insects and other natural wonders. My work is available through Etsy at SilverspotStudio and SilverspotMetalworks.

I am a recently minted BugGuide editor (2025) and look forward to helping sort the Calopterini, Magicicada, cicindelids, and other groups there. If you have the time, consider adding your iNaturalist photos to BugGuide as well - it helps improve the data on both platforms!

My iNat projects:

2026 Magicicada Stragglers
2025 Magicicada: Brood XIV
2024 Magicicada: Broods XIII and XIX
2023 Magicicada Stragglers, tracking off-cycle emergers in 2023
Magicicada Stragglers: 2022, tracking off-cycle periodical cicadas that emerged in 2022
Biodiversity of the Western Wildlife Corridor, a land trust organization protecting wild spaces on Cincinnati's West Side
Brood X Cicadas: 2021
Mimics of Calopterini and its sister project, Mimics of Calopterini (Identified)
What's Eating Cicadas?, a collection of Magicicada's predators

she/her/hers
🏳️‍🌈 proud ally, now more than ever 🏳️‍⚧️
Made in Ohio

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