Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Digger Wasps (Sphex)

Wasp species that tingle and paralyze their prey, then transport it back to their nest as food for their young, are frequently referred to as parasitic wasps.

Members of the Sphex genus, whose species are usually called digger wasps, fit into that category.

Digger wasps obtain their name based on their nest building method, which involves digging holes in the ground. Digger wasps come in a diversity of colors in addition to the approximately consistent steel blue to black color of the cricket hunter.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Black and Yellow Mud Dauber

One appear at the mud dauber in the picture easily explains the name.

They encompass a very skinny and long waist with black and yellow markings on the thorax and abdomen.

Mud daubers are an extremely small group of Sphecidae wasps. As the name implies, they construct mud nests. They are lonely wasps, so their nests do not consist of a colony of workers.

They nourish on spiders and usually are not considered aggressive towards humans. However, at times they can be considered a nusiance because of their liking to build nests residential areas beneath a porch or doorway.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Ammophila

Ammophila wasps are a type of thread-waisted wasps, often referred to as sand wasps because of their nest building habits around sandy soil land.

They are also known as hunting wasps, classically hunting caterpillars by grabbing them with their influential jaws and paralyzing them with stings. Like cricket hunters, they dray their prey back to the nest as food for the young.

Ammophila do not exist in their nests. Rather, they can frequently be found resting with the jaws firmly gripping a twig. Most species contain variations of red and black color markings on the thorax and abdomen.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Baldfaced hornet

The Baldfaced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) is sometimes called the white-faced hornet, other than is actually a yellow jacket. It's simple to spot since it's our only black and white yellowjacket. Its nest is a gray "paper" cover with several layers of combs inside. A mature nest is bigger than a basketball, but pear-shaped, with the better end at the top and an entry hole near the bottom.

A solitary, over wintering queen begins building the nest in the spring. She lays eggs and tends the first batch of larvae that expand into workers. These workers be inclined new larvae and expand the nest throughout the summer. A mature colony can contain several hundred workers by the end of the summer. In fall, workers expire and next year's queens find over wintering sites.

Baldfaced hornets are helpful, capturing insects (often including other yellowjackets) to feed to their larvae. Though larger than other yellowjackets, Baldfaced hornets are normally more docile. But they can become violent and will sting when their nest is troubled or threatened.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Speckled Wood

The Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) is a butterfly establish in and on the borders of woodland throughout a great deal of Europe. The speckled wood too occurs in North Africa and on the Atlantic island of Madeira. Molecular studies (Weingarter, Wahlberg & Nylin, 2006) propose that the African and Madeiran populations are closely connected and distinct from European populations of together subspecies, suggesting that Madeira was occupied from Africa and that the African population has an extended history of isolation from European populations.

Females contain brighter and more separate markings than males. The wingspan of both males and females is 4 - 4.5 cm, though males tend to be slightly smaller than females. Males are highly territorial and will protect their territory against intruding males. Some males will energetically defend a perch and the immediate surroundings, to come for females to pass by. Others will patrol a larger country.

Males have also 3 or 4 upper hind wing eyespots. The fourth spot shows only in flight. It appears that the 4-spotted morph tends towards patrolling behavior to finds mates. This agrees with the likely function of the eyespots to entice predators like birds to aspire for the wing margin (which may be damaged without much affecting the butterfly) father than the body. On the other hand, habitat is it seems that a major factor influencing mate-finding strategy: perching behavior is more ordinary in males of conifer woodland, whereas males of meadows tend towards patrolling actions.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Box elder bug

This bug is concerning 1/2 inch long and 1/3 as wide. It is black with three red lines on the thorax, a red line along each side, and a red line on each division. The wings lie flat on the back when at relax. The young nymphs are red and gray. The population of bugs may number into the thousands.These coreid bugs feed more often than not on box-elder trees. They pass the winter in groups in a number of dry spot, such as under a porch or inside a house. They can be prohibited by spraying.

Box elder bugs usually feed on the leaves, flowers, and seed pods of the box elder tree or silver maple. Large numbers of box elder bugs are typically on the female, or pod-bearing, tree. These insects feed on male box elder trees and other trees and plants, other than they usually do not build up to such large numbers. The adults look for a place to over winter which brings them into houses anywhere they conceal in small cracks and crevices in walls, door and window casings, attics, and around the foundation. Throughout warm days in winter and early spring they come out and disperse through the house. They are mainly a nuisance as they crawl or fly about in the rooms.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Walking Stick

The walking stick is a common but often ignored insect in the world of entomology because it is not a problem as a pest also to farmers or to ordinary people. These peaceful insects are firmly vegetarians feeding on berry, cherry and a variety of other leaves. There are in excess of 3000 varieties of walking sticks recognized world wide! Walking sticks are found primarily in the reasonable and tropical regions. These creatures use their day’s motionless execution from leaves and branches waiting awaiting dark to feed. This exacting insect gets its name from its appearance, looking a great deal like a twig or in some cases the leaves winning which it feeds.

The walking stick has the strange ability of partial regeneration. If a leg is lost or injured it will grow back after several successive molts. By molting, or shedding its skin, the walking stick is able to grow to an amazing size in just a few months. Once the skin is shed the walking sticks eats it’s possess molt. Walking sticks put down eggs which are dropped to the ground and stay there until they hatch. In the event there are no males in the area a walking stick can lay healthy eggs which emerge and result in females only. Walking sticks fit in to the scientific order

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Termite


A queen termite can put down thirty thousand eggs a day.

Termites have been called the white ant.

Like ants, termites live in colonies.

The most common termite is the black heap termite.

Every termite has there own job.

The termites construct their homes in the ground.

There are twenty-one hundred types of termites.

A few workers have no eyes.

General termite mounds can be up to 2 feet high!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Cicada

The cicada is connected to the harvest fly.

Some cicada's live subversive for seventeen years.

The cicada grows awake to three inches.

Cicadas suck juice from tree roots at what time they are larva.

Once the female cicada comes on top of ground, she mates. Then she lays her eggs and dies.

The cicada can put down four hundred to six hundred eggs.

The adult cicada lives in trees.

Adult cicadas are alive for thirty to forty days.

A cicada can peep so loud you can listen to it from half a mile away.

Male cicada abdomens have two drum like sound chambers.