From the archives:
No, it isn’t an arthropod this week.
Our family is fond of snails. In fact we have raised the common garden snail. It is exciting when they lay the pearly round eggs.
Then each hatches into a tiny perfect snail.
Edit: For a close-up look inside a snail egg, check Beyond the Human Eye.
In spite of their reputation for being a slow, a “motivated” snail can actually move rather quickly.
Have you ever spent time watching a snail?
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.
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?
For more information, see Roberta Gibson Writes.
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