The American cockroach was introduced to the United States from Africa as early as 1625. They belong to the Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Arthropoda, Class: Insecta (Insecta: Blattodea: Blattidae), Order: Dictyoptera, and Family: Blattidae. Its common name is American cockroach and scientific name is Periplaneta Americana (Linnaeus). American cockroaches are normally between one and one and a half inches in length. They are oval shaped and reddish-brow with yellow fringes on the area of the body behind the head as adults. They hide in dark crevices during the day, which could include: sewer and drainage systems, cracks and crevices of a house, steam tunnels, large institutional buildings and basements. They emerge at night to hunt for food. They’ll eat pretty much anything. Although it prefers sweets, they have been observed eating paper, boots, hair, bread, fruit, book bindings, fish, peanuts, old rice, putrid sake, the soft part on the inside of animal hides, cloth and dead insects. American cockroaches rarely come indoors unless there is heavy rain or they’re searching for food and ...
The resurgence of bedbugs in major U.S cities is a testament of the increase in international travel and increase sale of second-hand furniture which highlights the progress we have made in moving from one place to another and expanding our horizons for commercial benefits. Perhaps with or without realization we have become the vehicles in which bedbugs travel and the vessel of their
In the article “When Mosquitoes Were Killers in America” by Lauren Tarshis, She makes the statement “Yet mosquitoes are far more than a nuisance.” What she means is that mosquitoes aren't a little bug that just sucks a little blood and can be annoying, but instead it uses all that and more. Mosquitoes have killed millions upon millions of people by spreading disease like malaria. An example of how she supports this claim is in the article, she says “ In this way, bite by itchy bite, 212 million people are infected with malaria every year” (Tarshis 13). And that is only a year with bug spray, shots, and all the other things that help stop mosquitoes. So when the U.S. government tried to save people from these murders little insects. So they
Ramona the pest by Beverly Cleary is a silly, exciting and fun book to read. Ramona is excited about the first day of kindergarten. But when she gets there it isn’t what she thought it would be like. Ramona is distracted about another classmate’s hair and can’t wait any longer to touch her hair. Ramona gets in trouble a few times but then gets over it. Her sister Beezus (Beatrice) thinks that she is a pest and everybody in her neighborhood thinks she’s a pest. At first when she starts kindergarten she loves her teacher but when Ramona gets in trouble a few times she’s beginning to thinks her teacher doesn’t like her anymore.
The Wasp Women tells the story of Janice Starlin, owner and CEO of a cosmetics company. To bolster her declining sales she enlists the help of recently fired beekeeper Dr. Zinthrop. Zinthrop was fired for experimenting with wasps, specifically enzyme extracts from the royal jelly of a queen wasp. Starlin funds his research it the hopes of creating a formula to slow the aging process, with the condition of Starlin being the human trial. The serums are not working fast enough, so Starlin gives herself extra doses, causing her to shed 20 years rapidly but also to periodically transform into a killer wasp.
On an endless road of meadows and half collapsed barns exists a quaint town living its motto “The City of Progress”. Enterprise, Alabama is stuck between miles of bleak pastures and feeding cows, but the peanut factory overwhelms your every breath. The monotonous drive does have a reward, and it can only be found hiding in a valley of small stores and baptist churches on downtown’s main street. It is a statue that reminisces this town’s story of triumph over its struggling economy during the decline of cotton. Sculpted from stone, a woman is presenting a boll weevil in honor for its efforts in destroying the crop, cotton, Enterprise, Alabama’s main economic source.
Colonial living in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the New World was both diverse and, in many cases, proved deadly through such avenues as disease, Native American attacks, a lack of proper medical treatment, and disastrous weather conditions. Even through all of these hardships, the first colonists persevered, doing their best to see the blessings in their lives and create a better life for their children through all of the uncertainties. Nothing, it seems, in the original colonies was set in stone except for the fact that they never knew what the next day would hold in store. Everything, even small mishaps, had dramatic impacts on the social, economic, and political aspects of their lives. These circumstances, however, were more strongly influenced by geography than class position, unlike what many were used to in England. How population, economics, disease, and climate played into the social conditions of early colonists is truly a story for the ages. Whether people were seeking land, religious freedom, or money and profits, everyone worked to a certain extent just to survive, let alone thrive, in the wilderness that was North America at that time.
Background Information: Pillbugs are terrestrial Isopods which belong to the Class Crustacea. Appearance: flattened or rounded back, seven pairs of legs, sharp – angled antennae. Pillbugs have a set of overlapping gills on their underside. There are 12 different species of pillbugs found in the northern and central United States. However, there are nearly 4000 described species of pillbugs. They are fund in humid areas, compost piles, and leaf litter. They feed on dead vegetation such as wood and leaf litter. They cannot survive below -6.0 C, so they burrow 60 cm below the ground surface to reach safe temperatures. They reproduce during the months of May through September. If the pillbugs are irritated they will frequently exude a thick glue which serves to entangle predators, such as ground beetles, centipedes, and spiders.
...l, Ted E., and Bruce W. Wood. "Movement of adult pecan weevils Curculio caryae within pecan orchards." Agricultural & Forest Entomology 10, no. 4 (November 2008): 363-373. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed April 18, 2012).
The use of planes for the spraying of insecticides has increased. The gypsy moth came in to the United States unplanned and the first thing that was done was that they tried to spray insecticides. The result was that more moths came back after the spraying. The alternate used to kill off the moths was to bring in parasites and it worked. Another incident in Long Island occurred with the same type of moths and they sprayed the insecticides that killed livestock and affected bodies of water. People became outraged since companies kept using these chemicals to try and get rid of the moths. Many animals were harmed throughout the entire process.
...., & Gaston, L. K. (1985). Bait-preference tests for the Argentine ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Economic Entomology, 78(5), 1083-1088.
The appearance of a roach is fearful in itself. One of the frightening things about a roach is its shape. It is scary to think how aerodynamic its body is. The roach can flatten its body like a pancake, making it appear to move through walls. The "V" shaped antennae appear to be picking up human emotions, especially fear. The size of a roach can send my heart into my throat. I have seen roaches on my countertop two and one half inches long. Johnny Carson had an African variety on his show that was three inches long. It's frightening to think roaches are so big that Raid had to create a motel for them. Seeing a roach crawling in filthy places reminds us of the germs it carries. My skin shudders when I see a roach in the toilet. Roaches love to crawl in the grime under the kitchen sink. I once saw a roach bouncing in the dirt of one of my potted plants as if it were a puppy who had just received a bath.
Outline the physical similarities between the (Blaptica dubia) cockroach and the cricket. Explain previous studies on physical stress in the cricket and in different species of cockroaches. Briefly discuss how the metabolic rate between the two species has been found to be very similar.
Forensic entomology can be broken down into three areas: medico-legal, urban, and stored product pests. Urban entomology involves insects that affect houses, buildings, and other human based environments. Stored pest entomology involves insects infesting stored goods such as food and clothing. In this paper, medico-legal entomology will be the focus as it is the type of entomology that entomologists use to utilize insects to solve criminal cases, (Houck and Siegel. Entomology).
Many aphid species are partners in mutualistic relationships with several ant taxa (Flatt and Weisser 2000). The degree of this mutualism can be either obligate or facultative depending on several ecological and physiological factors (Stadler and Dixon 2005). Aphids produce nourishing, sugar-rich honeydew which ants can procure by stroking the aphids’ anus or nectar organ with their antennae (Yao and Akimoto 2001). In return, ants offer the aphids protection from predators and parasitoids (Yao and Akimoto 2001). Ants also can perform hygienic services for the aphid colony by removing exuviae and excrement which decreases the risk of fungal growth (Detrain et al. 2010). Honeydew-collecting ants involved in these interactions include the subfamilies Formicinae and Dolichoderinae, as well as several species in the Myrmica and Tetramorium genera of the Myrmicinae subfamily (Stadler and Dixon 2005).
Forensic entomology is the study of insects and arthropods and their relation to a criminal investigation. Forensic entomology can determine the postmortem interval (PMI) or how long since the descendants’ death, whether the body has been moved since expiring, and what injuries may have been sustained (Ryan, 2011). When decomposition begins, insects establish a colony to lay eggs on the remains; these eggs will hatch into larvae that will eat the human organs and tissues. Forensic entomologists can determine the specific insects present in the body and estimate how long a body has been left exposed by examining the stage of development of the fly larvae; however, these findings are not always plausible. The fly larvae look and act different at each stage of development. The time required for stage development is not only affected by environmental influences such as geographical location, climate, and weather conditions, but also by type of insect. The forensic entomologist must consider these conditions when estimating the postmortem interval. Knowledge of insects, their life cycles, and their habits make entomological evidence a priceless tool for an investigation. Forensic entomology has proved its significance in a number of cases; though circumstances such as weather, temperature, and time of year clearly affect the development of insect infestation, and the expert must keep these in the forefront of his/her mind (Innes, 2000).