The “pencil lead bees” responded right away.

We call these tiny bees “pencil lead bees” because they are only the size of a pencil lead.

They are actually sweat or digger bees.

Do you think they are collecting nectar or pollen?

(Hint:  remember what the yellow structures are in the flower.)

It is a tiny little spider, it’s body is less than 1/3 of an inch long. I have seen these spiders many times before with their long front legs stretched out in front, but they are so small, I never really looked at them carefully.

In a closer view you can see the front legs have a soft, feathery appearance, which led to the common name of feather-legged orb weaver. They are also called cribellate orb weavers.

It’s amazing when you look at a macro photograph how the color and details pop out.

I learned from Nature at Close Range that the cribellate orb weavers have no venom, but catch their prey in the hairy front legs.

Now that I have been formally introduced to my fuzzy little neighbor, I’ll be sure to pay more attention to it in the future.

If you or your children are interested in learning more about your spider neighbors, try:

I have more information about these books at baby spiders and some books.

Although it has antennae, it definitely has too many legs to be an insect larva.

In fact, you can see that it has two pairs of legs per body segment. That means it is a millipede.

Millipedes are often found in damp soil or rotting logs. Most feed on decomposing plant matter, so they are nature’s recyclers.

Millipedes do not bite or sting, and are relatively harmless. They do have the ability to emit various chemicals to defend themselves (depending on the kind), so it is best not to pick them up. Their main defense, however, is to roll up into a ball.

If you are interested in finding out more, Enchanted Learning has an information sheet with a nice drawing showing all the parts of a millipede.

Looking closer…

Oh, a praying mantis nymph. How cute!

Do you see praying mantids in the summer?

Wonder why they are called pollinators?

but what about the immature stages, the larvae and pupae?

Don’t they look bizarre? The larva in the third photograph (with the pupa) has attached itself to the leaf in preparation of becoming a pupa too.

These are the larvae and pupa of the multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis . I took these photos on a recent trip to upstate New York. These lady beetles were intentionally introduced to the United States in the early 1980’s.

]]> http://blog.growingwithscience.com/2010/06/bug-of-the-week-lady-beetle-life-stages/feed/ 0 http://blog.growingwithscience.com/2010/06/bug-of-the-week-dragonfly-laying-eggs/ http://blog.growingwithscience.com/2010/06/bug-of-the-week-dragonfly-laying-eggs/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:35:13 +0000 Roberta http://blog.growingwithscience.com/?p=1817 Sometimes the unexpected events make the best stories.

I was taking photographs of some geese, when my mom pointed out this dragonfly.

Can you see the waves it is making in the water, like a helicopter?

It’s a female laying her eggs in the water.

Have you ever seen dragonflies lay their eggs?

]]> http://blog.growingwithscience.com/2010/06/bug-of-the-week-dragonfly-laying-eggs/feed/ 0 http://blog.growingwithscience.com/2010/06/bug-of-the-week-from-the-archives/ http://blog.growingwithscience.com/2010/06/bug-of-the-week-from-the-archives/#comments Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:22:35 +0000 Roberta http://blog.growingwithscience.com/?p=1804

Just showing pretty photos from the archives today.

Enjoy!

Do you know what they are?

These are termites.

Most of us probably only think of termites as pests that eat our homes, but in reality termites are part of nature’s clean up crew. They are some of the few organisms that, in partnership with mutualistic gut fauna, are able to digest the cellulose component of wood.

These were apparently on the move, because they were gone when I checked the next day.

Have you ever seen termites?

You may have heard on the news that honey bees are disappearing. The Hive Detectives follows the research of four scientists trying to figure out what is going on, as well as discussing a lot of general information about honey bees.

In the 1990’s I co-authored a set of lesson plans about honey bees, called “Africanized Honey Bees on the Move” for the University of Arizona. At the time the Africanized honey bees had just moved into Arizona, and many people were concerned about them. The lesson plans have a number of hands-on activities to do with many aspects of honey bee biology. If you go to a grade level, it will list appropriate lessons. Each lesson has links to activity and information sheets. Many of the lessons can be adapted to mixed-age groups.

Here are some honey bee-related activities and links:

1. Gardening for bees

Honey bees require pollen and nectar from flowers in order to survive. One simple activity is to investigate what kinds of bee-friendly plants grow in your area and have your children design and plant a bee garden.

You may wonder if encouraging honey bees to visit flowers in an area with children might be dangerous. It turns out that bees collecting food, called foraging bees, are not likely to sting unless they are stepped on, caught or otherwise threatened. This might not be an appropriate activity, however, for children who are allergic to bees.

(The first two websites were recommended in the book).

Pollinator.org has planting guides to help you find appropriate plants.

The Haagen-Dazs help the honey bees website has simple instructions for a bee garden, as well as funny videos.

What can the layperson do to help the honey bee has a lot of practical information about gardening for honey bees and other things you can do to help honey bees.

And don’t forget the Great Sunflower Project mentioned in a previous post.

These flowering plants help all kinds of pollinators, not just honey bees.

2. Honey bees and water

Any idea what these bees are doing?

Honey bees need a lot of water, especially in the summer. They use the water to cool inside the hive, to prevent the wax honeycomb from melting. You can see the tongue, called a proboscis, sucking up the water at the edge of this lily pad.

Getting water can be dangerous business for a honey bee. Honey bees often end up falling in, like the ones you see in swimming pools. Can you design a safe place for honey bees to gather water to add to your garden?

3. Honey bee communication and dances.

One of my favorite lessons was always doing the honey bee waggle dances as a way of learning how honey bees communicate.

Dancing under a polarized sky also has a lot of information about honey bee dances.

4. Honey bee senses

Honey bees perceive the world in a way that is very different from humans.

Honey bee senses lesson

What a bee sees

5. Honey bee and other bee nests

Investigate where honey bees live, where beekeepers keep bees and what it is like inside a hive.

The Insect Architects post has a some information about honey bee homes.

You can supply nest sites for other kinds of bees.

I don’t know whether you can read it, but the sign says “Digger Bee Nest Site.” We have left a patch of soil for the tiny digger bees to nest in.

The solitary and social bees lesson has a explanation of the different kinds of bees and how to construct an orchard mason bee nest.

There are a lot of ways to use honey bees as examples for science and nature lessons. Please let me know if you would like more information about any of these activities or if you have found a great website that helps children learn about honey bees.

Books to help you find out more:

In addition to The Hive Detectives,

you might be interested in these other books about bees from a precious post:
For young children you might want to try The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive

Are you a Bee? is an intriguing book that compares humans and honey bees in an informative and gently humorous way.

The Bumblebee Queen by April Pulley Sayre (Author), Patricia J. Wynne (Illustrator) is a positively gorgeous book, chock full of good information. Any child who is interested in bees will love this book.

A Country Year by Sue Hubbell has some interesting tidbits on keeping honey bees, although it is about many other aspects of the natural world as well. A few of the chapters can some information that could be considered adult, such as she briefly discusses her divorce. You might want to read it first to determine if it is suitable for your older children. I have to say my son and I love it and I read it to him almost every summer (a summer tradition).

Book of Bees by Sue Hubbell contains a lot more technical information about beekeeping. There are many other books about beekeeping available, but this one warms my heart because it also shows more of the human side of the experience.

Note: the book that inspired this post was found at our local library.