Lord Howe Island Stick Insect hatching from Zoos Victoria on Vimeo.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Bugs in the news: Giant Stick Insects.
This morning, I read a cool story about some giant stick insects that became extinct from a tiny island, only to be re-discovered decades later on a nearby, even tinier island (really nothing more than a rocky remnant of a volcano that juts out of the sea, off the coast of Australia.) The story is here, and it's written by Robert Krulwich, who is one of my favorite PBS/NPR science guys, so if you like him too, you can imagine his voice when you read the story. There's a video at the end, too, of a giant stick insect hatching in captivity at the Melbourne Zoo. I have shared it below, in case you don't want to click over to read the whole story but you really should.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Not-a-bug #2
When is a caterpillar not a caterpillar?
When it's actually a long fuzzy flower that fell out of a tree.
See?
I don't even know what kind of tree it was. It was along one of our local nature trails. But I got a kick out of the faux-pillars.
Here's a bunch of them congregating around the base of the tree.
When it's actually a long fuzzy flower that fell out of a tree.
See?
I don't even know what kind of tree it was. It was along one of our local nature trails. But I got a kick out of the faux-pillars.
Here's a bunch of them congregating around the base of the tree.
Not-a-bug #1
But of course, anyone who likes bugs would probably not turn their nose up at one of these:
This salamander was coiled up under a trash can lid in my back yard. I love that we have salamanders. We only see them during the winter.
This salamander was coiled up under a trash can lid in my back yard. I love that we have salamanders. We only see them during the winter.
A little bug stopped by
My house is a mess from this remodel, although we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I haven't really felt like blogging much, or even looking for bugs, but a few of the bugs have found me anyway.
I was admiring the rows of freshly sealed saltillo tiles in the late afternoon sun, when I saw a tiny aphid that had landed on a tile.
The tile was already dry, and the aphid flew away after his photo shoot.
I was admiring the rows of freshly sealed saltillo tiles in the late afternoon sun, when I saw a tiny aphid that had landed on a tile.
The tile was already dry, and the aphid flew away after his photo shoot.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Spider comes a-courtin'
Yesterday I was in my backyard, and the movements of a spider caught my eye. A brown funnel-web spider was running around the outskirts of a web on the Indian Hawthorne bush. I had never seen this behavior before, so I watched to see what it was doing. It circled the perimeter of the web a couple times and then headed for the funnel center, which in this case was also a rolled-up leaf. But at the entrance, there was another spider that, apparently, did not want any visitors. I could tell by now that the intruder was a male, and I could only guess that the occupant was a female who seemed to be rejecting his advances. He was not ready to give up. He approached the entrance again, slowly this time, and waited. I took a chance and ran inside for my camera. When I came out, he was still there.
"May I come in?"
Another view
From this view you can just make out the legs of the female way back in the leaf.
He made it in!
Side view of the male inside the leaf-funnel. He stayed in there for a long time. At least a couple of hours. This morning, when I remembered to check again, he was gone. The female was alone, way in the back of her funnel home.
"May I come in?"
Another view
From this view you can just make out the legs of the female way back in the leaf.
He made it in!
Side view of the male inside the leaf-funnel. He stayed in there for a long time. At least a couple of hours. This morning, when I remembered to check again, he was gone. The female was alone, way in the back of her funnel home.
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Bugs in the wall
On today's home improvement agenda: removal of the wall paneling, in order to put in some insulation (it faces the west, and gets really warm) and also to run some electrical conduit. Looks like there may be some plumbing upgrade happening in there, too, but I digress. I want to document my findings of bugs in the wall. OK, it's not Al Capone's vault, but it's all I've got for now.
So, here's the wall.
Those dark open areas lead to a little closet outside where our water heater is. It also looks like a really good place for bugs to find their way in. Of course I found ants. Here in SoCal, we are pretty much overrun with Argentine ants, Linepithema humile. I tried to take pictures of them, but they are tiny and they never stop moving. There were at least two columns of them, marching along the studs on either side of the fireplace.
There were also numerous daddy long-leg spiders, Pholcus phalangioides. This was no surprise to me, since I often see them in corners, often with little piles of discarded ant husks beneath their cobby webs. But the evidence suggests that these spiders have been making their home in the walls for a very long time.
Here is the evidence. Lots of exoskeletons. A jumble of skinny legs from who knows when. There were more piles similar to this on many of the horizontal surfaces within the wall.
Also entombed was a carpet beetle larva. (Anthrenus sp.) Was this a spider's prey, or just another exoskeleton in the pile?
Here's an exoskeleton of a different spider. A black widow, perhaps? I also saw what looked like black widow egg cases.
And then I saw this. She was trying to hide from my flashlight. I think she was a black widow. (update: I removed her later. There was no hourglass on her underbelly, so she must have been a "false widow", Steatoda sp.)
My surprise of the day was finding the shell of a mourning cloak chrysalis within the wall!
Was it from the caterpillars we had last spring, or some time earlier? What became of the butterfly? Clearly, this piece of evidence asks more questions than it answers.
So, here's the wall.
Those dark open areas lead to a little closet outside where our water heater is. It also looks like a really good place for bugs to find their way in. Of course I found ants. Here in SoCal, we are pretty much overrun with Argentine ants, Linepithema humile. I tried to take pictures of them, but they are tiny and they never stop moving. There were at least two columns of them, marching along the studs on either side of the fireplace.
There were also numerous daddy long-leg spiders, Pholcus phalangioides. This was no surprise to me, since I often see them in corners, often with little piles of discarded ant husks beneath their cobby webs. But the evidence suggests that these spiders have been making their home in the walls for a very long time.
Here is the evidence. Lots of exoskeletons. A jumble of skinny legs from who knows when. There were more piles similar to this on many of the horizontal surfaces within the wall.
Also entombed was a carpet beetle larva. (Anthrenus sp.) Was this a spider's prey, or just another exoskeleton in the pile?
Here's an exoskeleton of a different spider. A black widow, perhaps? I also saw what looked like black widow egg cases.
And then I saw this. She was trying to hide from my flashlight. I think she was a black widow. (update: I removed her later. There was no hourglass on her underbelly, so she must have been a "false widow", Steatoda sp.)
My surprise of the day was finding the shell of a mourning cloak chrysalis within the wall!Was it from the caterpillars we had last spring, or some time earlier? What became of the butterfly? Clearly, this piece of evidence asks more questions than it answers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
