#bugoftheday

Update: Eustala anastera, thx Aaron :-)

Lakewood Colorado. End of May 2024

25 Facts about Bees for World Bee Day. Here is our jpg version...we also have hi-res poster printable pdf and ppt versions along with original individual posts from last year at: ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/25%20Facts%20Bees/ Pass along and do 1 good thing for bees today.

Covering the first fully aquatic arthropod, we have the Mantis Shrimp! These beautiful little friends can also pack a punch! Their defense (and attack) mechanism is similar to its namesake, the Mantis, where they strike using their front appendages. The notable difference with these guys is that they strike with the velocity of a 22 caliber rifle bullet, at such a speed that the water around them boils. On the less violent side, they also have 16 color receptors, as opposed to the average human’s 3. That means they can see at least 16 colors we don’t even know exist, as well as colors derived from those colors, like our oranges and purples, but again, indescribable to humans.

Coming off a little less strong with the first bug of the day, being the silverfish! You either know of these little guys from Minecraft or your bathroom, but probably not much about them. Truth is, they’re not much different from most insects aside from their slithery movement pattern and their scaly bodies. They’re regarded as a pest due to their habit of eating various textiles including paper, cloth, and even synthetic fabric, although they can survive for years without food as long as water is plentiful. But the really cool thing about these boys is that they are relatives of some of the earliest, if not absolute earliest insects, having evolved over 400 million years ago, with some fossilised arthropod trackways from the Paleozoic era possibly being attributed to these guys.

The pill-bug, roly poly, Armadillidiidae, or anything you want to call it, is a type of woodlouse, quite similar to the Giant Isopod (which I may cover at a later date) aside from the fact that it lives on land and can roll up in a ball, much like an armadillo. If you live in North America, you might be pressed to learn these little guys didn’t always live here, and were actually introduced from Europe. Other than that, they have an important role in the ecosystem as decomposers, where they eat decaying matter, mainly plant but sometimes animal depending on the species.

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly is native to eastern North America, and is very familiar to most in the eastern United States areas. It is also perhaps known worldwide as a larva, as it is the inspiration for the Pokemon Caterpie.

Not quite the fuzzy friends we know and love, but not quite not either, the cuckoo bumblebee is a species of bumblebee that used to not be classified as a bumblebee at all, but are now happily in the Bombus genus. “Now what’s so special about this bumblebee? they’re all fuzzy and great!” You may ask. While you are right, this bumblebee is named after the cuckoo due to their habit of owning hives that aren’t necessarily theirs. This species of bee will raid other hives and kill the queen, which they will then use the hive for their own purposes.