Plum Curculio

The plum curculio overwinters in the adult stage under ground litter, in woodpiles and other protective sites adjacent to orchards. When apple trees are in the pink stage, the adults begin to fly into the orchards to feed on the buds, flowers, leaves and young fruit for up to 4 weeks. During this time females chew small cavities in the developing fruit in which they lay eggs (one egg/cavity). At each site they make a crescent-shaped cut next to the cavity. The eggs hatch in about 7 days and larvae develop in the fruit for 10 to 16 days, then drop to the ground to pupate in the soil. After about 2-3 weeks the new adults emerge and fly into the trees to feed on the fruit. No eggs are laid at this time. The adults feed until the cooler and shorter days of fall signal time to leave the orchards in search of suitable overwintering sites.

An adult curculio is about 4-6 mm long, dark grey to brown with grey and white patches on the back. It has 4 bumps on the back and their snout is about ¼ of their body length. Mature larvae are 7-9 mm long, white, legless, grub-like with a brown head.

Pea Weevil

Pea weevil (Bruchus pisorum) is a major pest of field peas. It is now established in all major field pea growing areas of south eastern Australia. Infested seed reduces the weight and quality of the grain and may cause rejection by millers and exporters. Importantly, control can only be achieved by preventing egg laying.

Infestation begins in the paddock when beetles lay eggs on the developing pea pods during or immediately after flowering. It is only when the next generation of beetles emerge from the harvested seed that the damage is seen. The problem of control of pea weevil must be tackled in the paddock. It is quite a different problem to that caused by other storage pests.

Earwigs

Earwigs have an elongated and flattened or cylindrical body. They can be winged or wingless, and they have chewing mouthparts. The abdomen is long, flexible and telescopic (segments of the abdomen may be drawn into one another like a telescope). The two forcep-like cerci on the end of the abdomen are heavily sclerotised (hardened) and vary in shape and size between species. The forewings, called 'tegmina', are short and lack veins. The large, membranous and semicircular hindwings fold up fan-like under the tegmina and can be unfurled or folded very quickly.

Earwigs vary from 5 mm - 5 cm in length. They come in a range in colours, including: yellow, yellow brown, orange brown, reddish brown, dark brown and black, and sometimes are a combination of these.

Females can be readily distinguished from males as they are usually smaller, have simple forceps and eight visible abdominal (hind-body) segments as opposed to males, which have ten.

The eight-legged marine animals, which are known as pycnogonids, are only distantly related to land spiders. The stunning specimens were discovered in 160 million-year-old fossil beds at La Voulte-sur-Rhone, near Lyon in south-eastern France. Sea spiders are still with us today; scientists have described about 1,300 species of pycnogonids. They are characterized by eight extremely long legs and a prominent mouthpart. While they may resemble land spiders, the pycnogonids form a distinct biological group. The team identified 70 sea spiders from three distinct species in rock slabs from the Jurassic La Voulte Lagerstatte. A Lagerstatte is a sedimentary rock bed rich in fossils or containing well-preserved specimens.

Housefly

House flies have one pair of membranous wings and their hind wings are modified as halteres ( club shaped balancing organs). They have sucking mouthparts which can be either piercing or non-piercing, large compound eyes and tarsi (segmented sections like feet on the ends of their legs).

The common housefly adults are 6-8mm long with a wingspan of 13-15mm, a grey thorax (the part of the body between the head and abdomen) with four longitudinal dark stripes.

The lesser housefly adult is 6mm long with a 12mm wingspan, a grey thorax and three longitudinal stripes which are less pronounced than those of the common housefly.

Mole Cricket

Mole crickets are common turfgrass pests. Three species of mole crickets are considered pests in the Southeast United States.: tawny, southern, and short-winged infiltrator crickets.

This insect’s "hands" are inimitably adapted for digging, allowing it to subway through the dirt. Sod farms, home lawns, golf courses, and pastures can all play host to mole crickets. Any species of turfgrass can be spoiled by mole crickets, but they predominantly like bahiagrass and bermudagrass.

Mole crickets make tunnels in the ground, severing grass roots and causing the earth to swelling upwards. They also eat the roots and shoots of grass. Mole cricket harm looks like ugly brown patches. Predators such as raccoons and armadillos may further dig up the sod to snack on the crickets.

Honeybees

Honeybees have a bright color pattern to warn potential predators (or honey thieves!) that they have a weapon to defend themselves. Their weapon is a modified ovipositor (egg-laying tube). This is combined with a venom gland to create a stinger (formally known as an aculeus) located at the end of the abdomen. Because the stinger is modified from a structure found only in females, male bees cannot sting. When the hive is threatened, honeybees will swarm out and attack with their stingers to drive the enemy away.

Honeybees, like most insects, look at the world through compound eyes. These are made of hundreds of small simple eyes called ommatidia. The images received by all the ommatidia are put together in the insect's brain to give it a very different way of seeing the world. To see the world the way a bee does, check out Andrew Giger's B-Eye web site in the links section.

Spiders are called arachnids.

They differ from insects because they have two body parts and eight legs. Insects have three body parts and six legs. There are different ways to categorize spiders. If you start with spider eating habits, they are carnivores, and then a simple two category typology follows. Spiders are either webbies or hunters. Some species use webs to catch their prey. Other species actively hunt their prey on air, land or water without the assistance of a web.

Spiders range in size with jumping spiders among the smallest spiders that people commonly see in their daily lives. The goliath bird eater tarantula of South American, on the other hand, ranks as the largest spider in the world. Because spiders are carnivores (meat-eaters), people fear them. Not only do spiders bite humans, but the bites of a few spider species cause a great deal of pain, and in rarer instances, death. By far, the vast majority of spider species are not dangerous to humans. Rather, most common spiders are considered beneficial. They eat insects that humans consider pests.

Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are small insects that feed on human blood. They are usually active at night when people are sleeping. Adult bed bugs have flat, rusty-red-colored oval bodies. About the size of an apple seed, they are big enough to be easily seen, but often hide in cracks in furniture, floors, or walls. When bed bugs feed, their bodies swell and become brighter red. They can live for several months without food or water.

Most bed bug bites are initially painless, but later turn into large, itchy skin welts. These welts do not have a red spot in the center like flea bites. Although bed bugs are a nuisance, they are not known to spread disease. In most cases, people carry bed bugs into their homes unknowingly, in infested luggage, furniture, bedding, or clothing. Bed bugs may also travel between apartments through small crevices and cracks in walls and floors.

Mantis

A mantis has three distinct body segments; head, thorax and abdomen. The thorax has an enlarged portion that forms an impressive neck to which legs and wings are attached. The abdomen comprises the hind part of its body. Its head can move 180 degrees from side to side. On the head are two sets of eyes. One set contains two large, compound eyes with hundreds of facets and two lenses. The second set contains three simple eyes. The compound eyes are on opposite sides of the head, and the three simple eyes are in a triangular pattern between the antennae. Reportedly, mantis eyes are sensitive to slight movements up to 60 feet away.

The most conspicuous body parts of a mantis are its front legs. The front legs of the mantis have rows of strong spikes for grabbing and holding prey. The front of the legs folds back against the middle, making an effective spiked trap for holding prey.

When hunting, the mantis holds these upright in a manner which some say resembles a person in prayer, hence the name "praying" mantis. A female mantis usually has a heavier abdomen and is larger than the male. In North America, a mantis can have a body length of 2-6 inches. The female's abdomen has six segments. A male has eight. When fully developed, both sexes have two sets of wings. The front pair is thick and narrow. The back pair is thin, and folded like a fan. Mantises do not fly long distances. If undisturbed, males fly more than females, and often at night.

There are three common species of praying mantis in North America. The European, Mantis religiosa, and the Chinese, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis, were introduced in the Northeast around 1900 to control garden insects. The Chinese mantis is tan, except for the outer edges of its forewings, which are pea green. The species considered native to the United States is the Carolina mantis, Stagmomantis carolina. The closest relatives to the mantis are the grasshopper, cricket, and cockroach.

Fleas

Fleas are a type of wingless parasite found worldwide. They feed off the blood of humans and animals such as dogs and cats. Since fleas use a wide range of hosts, diseases can be transferred from one host to another. Fleas are known to transmit tapeworm larvae and, uncommonly, the disease murine typhus. They are most notorious for transmitting bubonic plague from wild rodents to humans within certain parts of the world (not Australia).

Adult fleas can survive for some months without feeding. The flea uses its saw-like mandibles (jaws) o cut through skin, usually on accessible parts of the body such as the legs or feet. Flea saliva contains anticoagulants to encourage the blood to keep flowing. Female fleas are prompted to lay their eggs after feeding. The eggs are light coloured and oval-shaped. The larvae cocoon themselves within weeks of hatching. Vibration, such as footsteps, prompts adult fleas to emerge from their cocoons. This is why you may be bitten after entering a house that has been unoccupied for some time.

Cicadas

Periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) are different from the more familiar ‘annual’ cicadas that emerge later in the summer. The development of Periodical cicadas is synchronized, while that of ‘annual’ cicadas’ is not. Almost all periodical cicadas grow and mature into adults at the same time, which is why we witness such huge groups of them every 17 or 13 years.

Specific groups of periodical cicadas are called “Broods.” Entomologists have devised a chart that documents the emergence of these groups. There are twelve “Broods” that appear in the northeastern part of the United States in different years. This year, the lucky area is Brood X. Brood X refers to certain parts of fifteen states (DE, GA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WVA) and Washington DC. These states will witness the emergence of the 17-year periodical cicadas sometime around May or June of 2004.

Bumblebees

Bumblebees are community insects that are characterized by black and yellow body hairs, habitually in bands. However, some species have orange or red on their bodies, or may be completely black. Another noticeable characteristic is the soft nature of that hair, called pile, that covers their entire body, making them appear and feel furry. They are best illustrious from similarly large, fuzzy bees by the form of the female hind leg, which is modified to form a corbicula; a shiny dipped surface that is bare, but surrounded by a fringe of hairs used to transport pollen.

Bumblebees are normally found in higher latitudes and/or high altitudes, though exceptions exist. A few species range into very cold climates where other bees strength not be found; B. polaris can be found in northern Ellesmere Island - the northernmost occurrence of any eusocial insect - along with its parasite, B. hyperboreus. One reason for this is that bumblebees can regulate their body warmth, via solar emission, internal mechanisms of "shivering" and radiative cooling from the abdomen. Other bees have similar physiology, but it has been best studied in bumblebees.

Mosquito

Mosquitoes are insects which make up the family Culicidae. They have a pair of scaled wings, a pair of halteres, a slim body, and long legs. The females of most mosquito type suck blood (hematophagy) from other animals, which has made them the most lethal disease vectors known to man, killing millions of people over thousands of years and enduring to kill millions per year by the spread of diseases.

Length varies but is occasionally greater than 16 mm (0.6 inch), and weight up to 2.5 mg (0.04 grain). A mosquito can fly for 1 to 4 hours incessantly at up to 1–2 km/h travelling up to 10 km in a night. Most species are night-time or crepuscular feeders. During the heat of the day most mosquitoes rest in a cool place and wait for the evenings. They may still bite if troubled.

Coccinellidae

Coccinellidae is a family of beetles, known variously as ladybirds, ladybugs or lady beetles. The family name comes from its type type, Coccinella. Coccinellids are establish worldwide, with over 5,000 species described, more than 450 native to North America alone. Coccinellids are small insects, ranging from 1 mm to 10 mm (0.04 to 0.4 inches), and are normally yellow, orange, or burgundy with small black spots on their wing covers, with black legs, head and antennae. A very large number of species are mostly or entirely black, gray, or brown and may be difficult for non-entomologists to distinguish as coccinellids.

Ladybirds are normally considered useful insects as many species feed on aphids or scale insects, which are pests in gardens, undeveloped fields, orchards, and similar places. Some people consider seeing them or having them land on one's body to be a sign of good luck to come, and that killing them presages bad luck. A few species are pests in North America and Europe.

Old-house Borer

The old-house borer is a type of wood-boring beetle in the family Cerambycidae (longhorn beetles). Converse to its name, it is more often found in new houses; this is in part because new home creation may use wood infected with the beetle's eggs. Originating in Europe, the old-house borer now has a world-wide allocation, including the Mediterranean, South Africa, Asia, USA and Canada. Recently it has been found in Perth, Australia.

Old-house borers prefer experienced softwoods, and particularly sulk. Only the larvae feed on the wood. Larvae take two or three or more years to mature, depending on the damp content of the wood. Larvae usually mature in the spring, and the mature adults then cut holes 6–10 mm (¼ to 3/8 in) in distance to exit the wood. Adults are most active in the summer.

Ants

Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, besides with the related families of wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. They are a various group of more than 12,000 species, with a higher range in the tropics. They are known for their highly organized colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals. Individuals are divided into sub-fertile, and more commonly sterilized, females ("workers", "soldiers", and other castes), fertile males ("drones"), and fertile females ("queens"). Colonies can engage and use a wide area of land to support themselves. Ant colonies are sometimes described as superorganisms because the dependency appears to operate as a unified creature.

Ants have colonized roughly every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ant species are Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, parts of Polynesia, the Hawaiian Islands, and other remote or inhospitable islands. When all their entity contributions are added up, they may comprise up to 15 to 25% of the total earthly animal biomass.

Termites, sometimes called white ants, are not closely linked to ants, although they have related social structures. Velvet ants, although resembling large ants, are wingless feminine wasps.