Growing With Science Blog

Category: insects (Page 74 of 89)

Bug of the Week: Cabbage Looper Eggs and Thrips

March 23, 2011 / / 7 Comments

Our penstemons have been flowering.

Nectar from these flowers are a favorite food of hummingbirds and all sorts of bees.

A few days ago I also noticed some eggs on the flower petals.

They are the eggs of the cabbage looper moth. We’ve seen them in the yard before.

What is that sliver-like thing that is walking over the eggs?

It is a thrips!

Different species of thrips feed on a wide variety of items, including flower pollen and insect eggs. I’m not sure whether this one was feeding or not.

In any case, the eggs had all disappeared the next day. They may have hatched or they may have been eaten.

Who knew so much drama could occur within a single flower?

Do penstemons grow where you live? Are they blooming yet?

Bug of the Week: Aphids

February 16, 2011 / / 3 Comments

Aphids are actually cool insects.

Look at the way the light passes through their antennae and the “tailpipes” on their back ends, which are technically called cornicles.

But most aphids are cool insects in another way, too. They like cool weather. As soon as it gets relatively warm here in Arizona, they are gone.

In fact that one with wings, called an alate, is probably getting ready to go. Can you see the “tube” it uses to suck juices from the flower bud? That’s called a proboscis.

When aphids arrive where you live, see what you can discover from looking at them closely. Let us know what you find out.

A drawing of an aphid to look at and color

Bug of the Week: Fruit Flies

February 9, 2011 / / 2 Comments

It is cold and windy this morning. The only insects that are still active are the fruit flies in the compost heap.

Why are they still active?  Probably because the rotting compost gives off heat. It is the warmest place in the yard.

Fruit flies of the genus Drosophila are easy to identify because of their bright red eyes.

You might also recognize that the white crawly things are the fruit fly larvae. (Photo by RickP at Wikimedia)

What are not so easy to identify are these funny little brown objects.

Those are the fruit fly pupae. The larvae change into pupae, usually after crawling out of the food to a drier location. Adults emerge from the pupae.

It is appropriate to honor the fruit fly here at Growing With Science. The humble fruit fly have been been the backbone of scientific work on genetics and developmental biology for over a century. Way to go, fruit flies!

Have you ever used fruit flies for a science project?

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