Luna Moth
A luna moth is only found in North America. It is about the size of an iPhone. Its bright green wings can stretch about four and a half inches making it easy to recognize. It also has spots on its wings that resemble two eyes. This helps to protect it against predators since the two “eyes” makes it appear to be something much larger and the predator decides to leave it alone.
The female moth will lay its eggs underneath leaves of trees such as the sweet gum, hickory, and walnut. The female may lay up to 600 eggs. The eggs have to incubate for up to two weeks. While it is a caterpillar, it is constantly eating tree leaves. The caterpillar eats for about a month before it finally builds a cocoon. The moth emerges from the cocoon
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about three weeks later. They usually emerge in April. A second generation emerges in late July. Sometimes a third generation will emerge if the moths live in a southern state. Male and female luna moths look almost identical. The main difference is that the male moth has feathery looking antennas. When ready to mate the moths will release pheromones to attract the opposite sex. They prefer to mate around midnight. There are several odd facts about the luna moth. It does not have a mouth or digestive system. It never eats. The only things it has to worry about are mating and laying eggs and it only has a week to do it. The moth dies seven day after emerging from the cocoon. Talk about pressure!! Bats love to each luna moths. The moths have developed a technique to protect themselves from bats. Their wingtips have tails which they can spin in circles. This spinning of the wingtips can disorient the bat and the luna moth may live to see another one of its seven days of life. Flies There are over 100,000 species of flies left. Flies have been found on all seven of the continents. Fruit flies and house flies are two of the most common types of flies. During her lifetime, a female housefly can lay up to 600 eggs. Flies lay their eggs on most everything and when those things hatch there are bunches of little maggots flying around. There is a special species of flies that are used in the medical field. The maggots of these special flies will eat damaged flesh. The maggots are particularly beneficial to people who have serious burns. The wounds heal faster when the dead flesh has been removed or eaten. Like butterflies, flies have a proboscis. Some flies drink nectar or blood. They also like to eat poop. Some of this poop sticks to their feet or mouth parts. When it lands on someone’s food it gets that nasty poop on the food. Also, when a fly lands on food it vomits all over the food so it can suck up the food. The lesson here is, never let a fly land on food or shoo it away as quickly as possible. Some people will immediately throw out any food that a fly has landed on - regardless of what the food is. Flies also carry disease. They took out 5,000 soldiers in the Spanish-American war by spreading typhoid. The thing is that only 4,000 soldiers died in the actual war. House flies taste with their feet. Their feet are VERY sensitive to sugar. In comparison to the human tongue, the house flies feet are ten million times more sensitive to sugar! There is a great natural fly repellent that really works and it is cheap. Fill a Ziplock bag about halfway with water and add four or five pennies. Close the bag and tie some string around it. Hang it up somewhere in the area that has a fly problem. No one seems to know for sure why this works. One theory is that the water molecules look like a zillion disco balls to flies since they have compound eyes. There is too much light and color and they do not like it. Bees - mathematical geniuses Bees have been on this earth pollinating crops and making honey for around 30 million years. A bee’s honeycomb is geometrical. It has been called one of the most practical structures. The walls meet at exactly 120 degrees forming perfect hexagons. Bees also have the ability to know the shortest distance to fly between flowers. Researchers think bees are the only animals that know how to do this. There are three types of bees that live in a beehive - the queen, the workers, and the drones. The queen lays all the eggs in the hive. She lays around 1,500 eggs a day. The worker bees are all female and they - wait for it - do all of the work in the hive. The worker bees cannot reproduce even though they are females. The males are the drones and their job is to find a queen to mate with. There are also scout bees who search for food sources and soldier bees who are the security guards. Males do not have stingers but the ladies do. Bee stings can actual have some medical benefits. A bee sting can increase the body’s level of an anti-inflammatory hormone which can ease the pain from rheumatoid arthritis. Bees have a proboscis so that they can suck up nectar. They also have mandibles which are used to clean the hive, attack intruders and make the honeycombs. Their bodies are covered with fuzzy hair which is what is used to collect the pollen. Bee behavior has actually helped police with catching serial killers.
Bees and serial killers have similar behaviors. They collect pollen or commit their crimes close to home but still far enough away that predators do not find the hives or the neighbors do not suspect anything. Scientists developed some algorithms(computer programs for solving a problem) that were based on bees’ behavior. Police use these computer programs to help catch serial killers.
Mosquitoes or “Little Flies”
Who would guess that the world’s deadliest animal family is the mosquito? They have been biting people and animals for about 210 million years. They can transmit the West Nile virus, yellow fever, Zika virus, canine heartworms, and malaria. One million people die every year from just malaria.
People do not need to worry about the male mosquitoes because they do not bite. The females are the biters. They need the protein in blood so their eggs will develop properly.
If someone simply cannot stand mosquitoes maybe he need to live in West Virginia. There are only 26 species living there. The most species of mosquitoes live in Texas.
A disappointing fact is that bug zappers kill very few mosquitoes. If someone is planning on being outside, the best way to protect himself is to use a bug spray that contains DEET and wear light colored clothing. DEET helps repel mosquitoes because they think it
stinks. A mosquito has two main predators - a fish called gambusia and dragonflies. Maybe the City of Gulf Shores could save money on controlling the mosquito population by releasing a bunch of dragonflies. Mosquitoes live less than two months. The females live longer than the males. Females may lay up to three sets of eggs and set may contain up to 300 eggs. These insects like for the temperature to be over 80 degrees because they are cold-blooded. How can someone identify a mosquito without waiting to see if it bites? Its body consists of a head, thorax, and abdomen. Its wings are usually longer than its body. Its head has a proboscis used for feeding, two antennae, two compound eyes and two simple eyes. They have set of wings and six legs. Cicadas - A Gluten Free Delicacy Cicadas are one type of insect that can be eaten without needing to call poison control. They’re also fat free and gluten free and are high in protein. They can be fried, grilled or cooked other other ways. Maybe someone needs to develop a cicada diet. Most people would probably pass on trying that diet. Most species of cicadas only appear every thirteen to seventeen years and are called periodical. There is a species of cicadas that have an annual life cycle and emerge every year. Cicadas have two large eyes and three little eyes. They have a beak known as a rostrum. The rostrum is used to suck fluids. Males have an organ called a tymbal in their abdomen. When the tymbals are flexed, it creates a sound that male cicadas use to attract the females. Some cicadas can create a sound over a hundred decibels. This means it is loud as a jackhammer or a farm tractor. After cicadas mate, the female leaves her eggs in grooves on a tree limb. When the egg hatches, it eats for a while and then crawls from the groove and falls to the ground. It then digs into the ground looking for roots to feed on. The length of time the young cicada remains underground depends on the species. Once it emerges from underground it usually attaches itself to a tree and changes into an adult. Adult cicadas on live four to six weeks. After mating, they die. Entomologists or scientists who study insects have groped periodical cicadas into broods using Roman numerals for the brood names. A group of periodical cicadas that have the same life cycle and emerge the same year are put in the same brood. Brood V emerged this year in five states that included West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio. If anyone wants to experience cicadas in person, they can go to Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina in May of 2017 when Brood VI will emerge.
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
The seventh major case of Endangered Specie. Specific species of mosquito play host to one phase of various disease organisms they are the cause of major diseases that lead to human compilation. Most people don’t find it wrong to wipe the entire mosquito species in other to prevent human diseases such as sleeping sick, malaria, and human
ImageText BoxImageOne of the biggest threats to the environment of Ontario is the Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar dispar). The species itself is native to Europe and Asia. How this affects us is by weakening trees across Ontario and North America. The first time the gypsy moth was found in Ontario was 1969. The gypsy moth can be found in southern Canada (Ontario), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and British Columbia. It is known to weaken trees and the caterpillar form live in trees and during most outbreaks its caterpillar feces would fall from the trees to the ground or even on top of humans. The average Gypsy Caterpillar can grow 5-6 centimeters long. With five pairs of blue spots and six pairs of bright red dots on their back. The female moth are white and can fly on the other hand, the male moth are brown and can also fly. The female have a 5cm wing span but male have a 2.5cm wing span. The gypsy moth usually lives in open forests and other forests and take up at least 20% of the space. The Gypsy moth are about 4cm long, tan coloured and can be located on tree trunks, furniture, and buildings. (OFAH Invading Species Awareness Program, 2012)
Throughout The Secret Life of Bees , there is no shortage of symbolism, coming directly from its namesake, bees. Each connection draws upon the deep and rich meaning behind this wonderful composed text. The bees, however, never are a scapegoat. Similar to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird character Atticus, they never allow for shortcuts or disillusion with reality. They force you to see the world as it is, and to accept it, and send love to it, for it is all you can, when you are as insignificant as a
The MothMan has been tied in as a large and scary monster and that he is a long winged monster. (Sighting the MothMan) A winged standing approximately 7 feet tall with a 10-foot wingspan. The MothMan is known to have big red scary eyes and that he always is around disaster. He is also known to be really fast (Cryptid) following us down Route 62 we reached speeds of over 100 miles per hour and that The MothMan had no problem doing so. The MothMan was clearly athletic and very tall with red eyes and a
...auers, Sandy. "Mystery Killer Silencing Honeybees." Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA). Feb. 7 2007: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
The life cycle starts as larva or caterpillar. First, the monarch lays the eggs on the milkweed plants. Next, the egg hatch into a caterpillar. The caterpillar then eats the milkweed plants until they are large enough to pupate (Emmel, 1999). Then, the caterpillar attaches a pad of silk to a stem of a milkweed plant so it can hang while it transform into a butterfly. Next, the caterpillar sheds it larval skin to reveal the chrysalis inside (Emmel, 1999). After it shed its skin, the pupa hardens and the chrysalis earns it name by glowing in the sun. As the pupa stage comes to an end, the butterfly can be seen through its pupa shell. The monarch emerges by splitting the pupa along the length of it proboscis (Emmel, 1999). First the legs emerge. Then the fluid fill body pumps its fluid into the veins of the wings while the body shrinks to normal size. Finally, the butterfly hangs from the pupa about two hours while the wings dry (Emmel, 1999).
You wouldn’t think the carrier of this disease would come from a little mosquito bite but it does.
...e a much better chance of even avoiding the itch of a mosquito bite. Make sure that you drain standing water around your yard and repair the screens on your windows and doors to keep the bugs from coming in.
Malaria kills more people than any communicable disease except for tuberculosis. It is caused by four species of parasitic protozoa that infect human red blood cells. Four different types of these protozoa are known: protozoa falciparum, protozoa vivax, protozoa ovale, and protozoa malariae. Protozoa falciparum is the most lethal of the four and accounts for the majority of infections. Malaria parasites are not able to survive unless they have both a mosquito and human host, however the disease cannot be hosted by any kind of mosquito, only those of the genus "anopheles".
When a deadly disease come to mind, one may think of Ebola or MERS, but for centuries—before either of those diseases were born—Yellow Fever wreaked havoc as one of the most deadly and rapidly spreading diseases. Unlike many illnesses associated with age or weakness, Yellow Fever affects seemingly healthy people; mostly men who work outdoors especially in tropical environments (i.e. loggers, farmers, construction workers) (“Yellow Fever” Gale Encyclopedia). This is because yellow fever—a virus—is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito. Although it has been mostly eradicated from North America and Europe, millions of people are at risk to yellow fever every day, mostly in Sub-Saharan Equatorial Africa or South America (“Yellow Fever” World
Several types of mosquitos have been identified as the vector and intermediate host of dirofilaria immitis, including Culex pipiens, Aedes albopictus, Anopheles maculipenis, and Coquilletidia richiardii, allowing the parasite to mature to an infective stage within the mosquito to then infect new hosts via their bite (6). Climate change and urbanization have allowed mosquitos to expand their territory, while global transport of animals has enabled the parasite to infect mosquitos in previously heartworm free areas (5). Under normal circumstances the development of the heartworm larvae within the mosquito is arrested below 57°F limiting the time of infections to the summer month (5). However, in addition to providing irrigation systems as habitat for mosquitos urbanized areas act as heat island extending the time frame of possible dirofilaria immitis transmission significantly (5). As can be seen if figure 1, showing the geographical distribution of heartworm incidents in the U.S. in 2007 , areas with hot and humid climate have the highest number of heartworm infections as they provide favorable co...
Emerson, E.. Honeybee death suspects spotted. Science News. Volume 177, Number 13, 19 June 2010, Page 15.
Malaria in humans is caused by four species of protozoa, sophisticated one-celled organisms, that can infect red blood cells. These four species are called Plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium vivax, plasmodium malariae, and plasmodium ovale. The worst cases are caused by the Plasmodium falciparum species, which is also the species with the most resistance to drugs. To contract malaria, a mosquito, but not just any mosquito must bite a human. The only type of mosquito that can infect humans with the malaria virus is the Anopheles mosquito. While there are...
Bees are small flying insects, buzzing around with its painful stings which always make people afraid and annoyed. What generally relate with bees are their roles in pollination and producing honey and beeswax. So it seems that bees might be nothing to human as it’s easy to find substitutes for honey as flavoring. However, this perception is mistaken. Without bees, aftermath.