A Bug's Life - Homeschool Blogger

Monarch Migration

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 12:44:00 -0500

Where I live, in Northern Vermont, every Fall the monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, fly through our yard, feeding on the flowers, and resting their tired wings. Where are these beautiful creations going in such great numbers? Well, that depends on where you are. Since I'm East of the Rocky Mountains, the butterflies I see are going to the mountains of Mexico, and if you are West of the Rocky Mountains, they are going to California. Below is a map to show where they travel:

These butterflies travel farther then any other butterflies, over 3000 miles! They are the only butterflies to make such a long migration every year. Amazingly, they fly in masses to the same winter roosts, often to the exact same trees, though neither they not their parents have ever seen them or been to this site. It is postulated that they know when to travel by the day length and temperatures around them; however, their ability to navigate this trek still remains unexplained. Some other butterflies and moths also travel long distances, but they travel following the food sources.

The Monarchs which leave from my area are the largest and strongest type. This is because they have to make the long trip. Their descendents follow the Milkweed plant north as the weather warms, laying eggs which hatch, feed on the milkweed, pupate and emerge, feed and fly more northward to the next Milkweed emergence,and the cycle starts again, until the last largest veriety is hatched out up in the north- to fly back to Mexico, and begin all over again!

It is wonderful that God would create such smart, enduring, and beautiful creatures for all to enjoy.

Credits:

Monarchwatch.org

Saul Costa

Pinning Insects

Fri, 8 Sep 2006 17:59:00 -0500

In this post I wanted to give a brief introduction on how to pin insects. I'm not sure what species this is in the first photos, and the one in the last pic is a "stink bug." It is a hymoptera, the true bugs order. You can tell it is because of the shield-like back. Now, on to the pining.

Life-Like Pinning:

Life-Like pinning is when one tries to "set" the insect in the most life-like pose possible. There is another type of pinning, in which one constricts the insect to save space, and that is shown at the bottom of this post.

This first photo shows the insect before I began pinning it.

The first pin goes through the abdomen a little below the thorax and a little to the right of the center. The photo below is not correct placement because the insect had an abdomen unsuitable for pinning.

These 2 pins are to hold the insect in place while it is drying, which takes about a week.

Here I have put the insect's antenna in the most life-like pose I can, and I did the same with the front right leg.

Now I am furthering the life-like pose pinning process with the five remaining legs.

This is the insect, finished with pinning. Note: The left-back leg "foot" is missing.

Compact-Type Pinning

In this way, as I said above, the object is to compact the insect as much as possible. This technique is often used on small insects, like the one shown below.

The insects take about a week to dry. Once finished, move the insects to a secure place like a special insect case. Several mothballs can be added to the case to help prevent insect damage. After the insect has dried and I have removed the pins, I will post a photo of it.

Insect Pics

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:29:00 -0500

Just wanted to show you guys some insects pics I snapped recently. I'm not sure what they are, except the bottem one is a horse fly.

Discount Homeschool Supplies is giving away a FREE microscope

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 20:54:00 -0500

Discount Homeschool Supplies is giving away a FREE microscope to one winner! Find out more on Tami's Blog!

Tami is going to give away one of her new MSK-01 microscopes. The retail value is $199.99, and she needs help in spreading the word about her June and July website specials so please go help her out.

Click HERE for more!

Pseudoscorpion

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 20:25:00 -0500

Yesterday my Mom spotted an interesting Arachnid. No, it wasn't a spider, but it had 8 legs. Thinking it was a tick (which are almost non-existent where I live, northern VT) we put it in a small plastic bag for my Dad to see.

Upon arriving home and examining the creature, it turned out to be a Pseudoscorpion.

Pseudo- fake, pretend, simulated, bogus, counterfeit

Scorpion- arachnid (eight-legged organism) with poisonous stinger

This is what Spiders and Their Kin had to say about Pseudoscorpions:

"Pseudoscorpions are common everywhere but are rarely seen because of their secretive habits. They do not have a long tail and stinger as do scorpions, but most have poison glands in their pincers, used solely to capture their prey, small insects.

House pseudoscorpions probably feed mostly on small insects and mites. In search of moisture they often become stranded in sinks or tubs."

Yup, we had found it on the bathroom floor, as you can see, probably in search of moisture. We identified it as a House pseudoscorpion, Chelifer cancroides. This is a picture my Dad took with my digital camera by holding the camera lens up to the "eyes" of the microscope and snapping the pic:

Now, this thing is as big as a regular dog tick, so we were very surprised that the picture came out so well because the camera is not the best one in the world, although it does its job.

Well, have to run (but then again, it's my nose that's doing most of that today :-p )

The Entomologist

Photo credit:

Scott Costa, UVM

Nematodes

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 18:17:00 -0500

This summer I am working with nematodes for a lab technition. I am taking pictures with a microscope of them, and then I have to measure them. That's the hard part, it involves a lot of clicking! The insects were mainly eggs when I left on Friday, and when I get back on Monday they will probally all be adults!

This is somthing I found on the web about them:

Nematodes are the most numerous multicellular animals on earth. A handful of soil will contain thousands of the microscopic worms, many of them parasites of insects, plants or animals. Free-living species are abundant, including nematodes that feed on bacteria, fungi, and other nematodes, yet the vast majority of species encountered are poorly understood biologically. There are nearly 20,000 described species classified in the phylum Nemata .

Nematodes are structurally simple organisms. Adult nematodes are comprised of approximately 1,000 somatic cells, and potentially hundreds of cells associated with the reproductive system . Nematodes have been characterized as a tube within a tube ; referring to the alimentary canal which extends from the mouth on the anterior end, to the anus located near the tail. Nematodes possess digestive, nervous, excretory, and reproductive systems, but lack a discrete circulatory or respiratory system. In size they range from 0.3 mm to over 8 meters.

Provided by the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Nematology webpage.

This is what the eggs look like:

The adult:

Photo credits:

Eggs: Laurence I. Miller

Adult: Christopher Hogger

Eastern Tent Moth Caterpillars

Fri, 26 May 2006 22:59:00 -0500

Every year, I raise Eastern Tent Moth Caterpillars, malacosoma americanum. Right now I have four "tents" (see picture 1). I keep them in a retired lizard tank.

Picture 1 "The Tent"

If it's your first time raising them, I do NOT recommend you keep four tents. In fact, I'd keep no more then twenty-five caterpillars. Feed them cherry leafs, whatever seems like the right amount.

After a while, some (not all) of the caterpillars will turn into moths (see picture 2).

Picture 2 "Adult Moth"

Picture 3 "Larva"

Photo Credits:

Picture 1- Terry Price

Picture 2- Lacy L. Hyche

Picture 3- John A. Weidhass

InsectImages.com

The Entomologist

Rain

Mon, 22 May 2006 15:42:00 -0500

I'm sorry I have not been posting much. It's raining at our house and there is not much insect stuff you can do in the rain.

Will post soon,

The Entomologist

Bug Banquet

Mon, 15 May 2006 20:32:00 -0500

I can�t believe I forgot to post about my supper that I had on Thursday, May 3! My Dad, who is a professor, had Bug Banquet for his last class. I got to attend

Now, it was no ordinary dinner. In fact, the first thing I ate there was mealworm-pesto pasta. No, it wasn�t pesto pasta that was just called that for fun, there was literally mealworms in it. I must say, it was actually pretty good! The mealworms, and others that tasted them agree with me, tasted like greasy potato chips.

This is the pasta:

Then came the croquets. They had spinach and crickets in a mashed potato �bun.� I think, and so do many others, that they were the best tasting bug food there. (There were also vegetables, Jell-O, and some punch.)

Here are the croquets:

The chocolate-chirp cookies tasted ok. They were cookies with chocolate-chips and crickets. I had some of those. There was also chocolate-kisses, which, have about 7-11 insect parts each.

The cookies:

The chocolate-kisses: (purple and silver)

There was also some Jell-O with mealworms and crickets, but it tasted horrible.

The Jell-O:

The insect foods that I didn�t try were: corn chips with mealworm dip, and ants on a log (actually, there was a problem with the ants so we had to use crickets). The reason I didn�t try them is because it�s quite an experience eating insects, one that can not be done too much unless you are used to it.

The dip:

The ants on a log (sorry it�s fuzzy)

Well, that�s about all. If you want to read about the insects that we ate then go here.

The Bugs We Ate

Mon, 15 May 2006 17:19:00 -0500

These are one of the insects we ate at the Bug Banquet.

Yellow mealworm larvae

Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus

Photo by: Clemson University - USDA Cooperative Extension Slide Series, www.insectimages.org

House cricket

Acheta domesticus

Photo by: Joseph Berger, www.insectimages.org