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Category: insects (Page 58 of 88)

International Rock Flipping Day September 9, 2012

September 10, 2012 / / 5 Comments

Did you flip a rock yesterday?

Yesterday was International Rock Flipping Day, a wonderful time to get your children outside to explore the natural world.

We chose to flip the same river rocks as we used in past years. It is actually fascinating to see how things change from year to year. Here in Arizona we had quite a bit of rain recently, and it was actually damp under the rocks. There was a definite increase in the numbers of critters we saw over the results for 2009.

As to be expected, the sowbugs and pillbugs (isopods) were abundant.

Sowbugs

Sowbugs and pillbugs tend to hide from the light, so are often found under rocks.

We found these cute, shiny beetles in two different spots. They may be the same ones we saw last year.

We also saw this little guy.

This year we saw a weevil. Some kinds of weevils hide under rocks during the summer, going into a resting phase known as aestivation.

We could tell it was a weevil because of the long snout, almost like an elephant’s trunk.

We saw some cixiid planthopper nymphs (remember the adult from Bug of the Week last week?). This one was really moving, so it is blurry. I included it because it has the waxy filaments forming a tail on the back of the abdomen.

I pulled one out for a somewhat better photograph.

We were happy to see some of the tiny snails we had seen before.

Just love those little eye stalks!

That is what I was able to catch on camera. We also saw the same ant species as we saw last year. I’ll talk about that at Wild About Ants.

Did you participate? We’d love to hear what you found.

Be sure to visit Wanderin’ Weeta for links to more participants.

Bug of the Week: Planthopper

September 5, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Today’s insect is a planthopper. Planthoppers are related to leafhoppers and spittle bugs.

You can tell this is a planthopper because of the position of the antennae, which are below the eyes. The antennae also are thick at the base and have hair-like structures pointing out, called aristae (singular, arista).

This little planthopper belongs to the family Cixiidae. Cixiid planthoppers have see-through wings with patches and veins in shades of brown.

The females lay eggs in the stems of plants and cover them with a waxy coating.

The immature forms of these insects drop to the ground and feed on the roots of plants, like their much larger and noisier relatives, the cicadas. Once in awhile I will see the nymphs, as they are called, in the roots of a plant I am re-potting. The nymphs often are decorated with patches of white wax like the eggs (Flickr photograph).

Surprisingly, there are quite a few different kinds of these, around 300 different species in the genus Cixius alone. Because they are small and secretive, they rarely receive much attention.

Have you seen a planthopper?

Bug of the Week: Damselfly and Photography

August 29, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Have you ever wondered how nature photographers capture such wonderful shots of flighty insects?

Take damselflies like this one. Damselflies, and their relatives the dragonflies, are fast, strong fliers. How do you ever catch one sitting still enough for a photograph?

It helps to know the damselfly’s behavior. For example, this damselfly was not exactly sitting still, although it looks like it from the photograph. What it is doing is perching, waiting for a fly or some other potential food item to fly by. See those big eyes? When it spots something, it launches into the air and grabs the prey. The beauty is that these insects often return to the same exact perch to hunt again and again. With patience, you can set up your tripod and grab a good shot of an active insect in a moment of stillness.

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