Blake Newton, UK Extension Entomology
It's official: today is the first full day of spring! In Kentucky, that means mild, humid weather. And that also means bugs. This is bad news for some people, but for entomologists, it's a time for joy. It's also a good time for educators. Kids and teachers are typically trapped inside most of the school year, but spring is a time when some classrooms have an opportunity to get outside. And one of the easiest ways for a K-12 science class to take advantage of the outdoors is to study and observe insects. Insects are present in every kind of outdoor habitat, and they start appearing on mild days in early spring.
Recently, Scott Darst, (4-H Agent, Madison County Kentucky) called us and said that he was planning to take some kids outside this spring, and he wanted to know what kinds of insects you can expect to see on the earliest spring days. Here are some of them:
Butterflies. Some butterfly species overwinter as fully-grown adults (or spend the winter as pupa) and are ready to take advantage of wildflower-nectar on the first mild spring days. Some of the ones that I see in early spring in Kentucky are Commas, Question Marks, and some of the so-called Sulphurs and Whites. Yesterday, I saw one of the Whites (probably a Cabbage Butterfly).
Bees. Like butterflies, bees are pollinators, so they are ready for spring wildflowers, too. Honey Bees and several other types of bees are commonly seen on early spring days. Yesterday, I saw a large Carpenter Bee visiting daffodils in my yard.
Flies. Several types of flies are common in early spring. House Flies and their kin become active on mild winter days and early spring days to take advantage of carrion and other decaying materials that begin to thaw as winter comes to an end. Crane flies breed in cool wet areas, so spring is a time for them to thrive.
Spiders. While spiders are probably most-commonly noticed in late summer and early fall in Kentucky, there are several types that are active as soon as mild temperatures return in the spring. Furrow Spiders are one of the few types of orb-weavers that overwinter as adults, and they can be seen making webs in spring. I have also already seen a Bold Jumping Spider this spring. These large jumping spiders are also able to live through the winter as adults.
Others. Although the critters mentioned above are among the most noticeable early-spring insects, there are many more that you might encounter, too. Ants are already moving in Kentucky, and so are some of the wasp species. I have also seen a Boxelder Bug. Also, aquatic insects (like mayfly and stonefly naiads and caddisfly larvae) thrive in cool water, so spring is a great time to find them if you are willing to get a little bit wet!
So get out there and hunt for some bugs. If it's a sunny day and the temperature is above 50°F, I guarantee that you will find some, and it's also pretty likely that--even though bugs are involved--you'll have a better time than you would sitting inside!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Go Spiders!
The Richmond Spiders men's basketball team is currently playing in their conference championship game. They did well last year, too. I'll continue to cheer for them until they have to play UK!
The Spiders have a lame mascot:
But a very cool logo:
The Spiders have a lame mascot:
But a very cool logo:
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Zombie Fungi
Here's a link to a cool story, including a video, of fungi that parasitize insects and turn them into "zombies."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/02/zombie-creating-fungi-cordyceps_n_830558.html
Although these fungi don't actually reanimate dead insects, they do have the ability to influence the behavior of their hosts. A fungi-infected ant, for instance, will engage in behaviors that will make it more likely to spread the fungus to other members of its colony. Imagine if--when you were sick with the flu--you had an uncontrollable urge to walk up to people and sneeze on them!
Although the specific fungi mentioned in the article are newly-discovered, this phenomenon has been known in insects for a long time. In addition to fungi, some viral diseases are also able to affect similar zombie-style behavior in their insect hosts. Luckily, none of these diseases are able to infect humans!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/02/zombie-creating-fungi-cordyceps_n_830558.html
Although these fungi don't actually reanimate dead insects, they do have the ability to influence the behavior of their hosts. A fungi-infected ant, for instance, will engage in behaviors that will make it more likely to spread the fungus to other members of its colony. Imagine if--when you were sick with the flu--you had an uncontrollable urge to walk up to people and sneeze on them!
Although the specific fungi mentioned in the article are newly-discovered, this phenomenon has been known in insects for a long time. In addition to fungi, some viral diseases are also able to affect similar zombie-style behavior in their insect hosts. Luckily, none of these diseases are able to infect humans!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Mazda Spyder
Mazda is having problems with spiders. As it turns out, the "evaporative canister vent line" in their Mazda 6 sedan is a perfect habitat for Yellow Sac Spiders. These spiders like to take up residence in tiny, tube-like spaces, so this isn't too surprising.
Here is the story from CNN:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/03/autos/mazda6_spider_recall/index.htm?hpt=T2
Yellow Sac Spiders, by the way, are very common in the U.S. They are often found in homes, and are sometimes mistaken for Brown Recluse Spiders because they have a similar shape. Read more about Yellow Sac Spiders.
UPDATE: A journalist from L.A. just called us to ask some questions about this story. I told him that I'm not really an expert on Yellow Sac Spiders, but I gave him the best info that I could. Can't wait to see if my name shows up in a report!
ANOTHER UPDATE: Quoted in USA Today. Cool!
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/03/experts-say-spiders-infesting-mazda-sedans-are-very-common/1
Here is the story from CNN:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/03/autos/mazda6_spider_recall/index.htm?hpt=T2
Yellow Sac Spiders, by the way, are very common in the U.S. They are often found in homes, and are sometimes mistaken for Brown Recluse Spiders because they have a similar shape. Read more about Yellow Sac Spiders.
UPDATE: A journalist from L.A. just called us to ask some questions about this story. I told him that I'm not really an expert on Yellow Sac Spiders, but I gave him the best info that I could. Can't wait to see if my name shows up in a report!
ANOTHER UPDATE: Quoted in USA Today. Cool!
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/03/experts-say-spiders-infesting-mazda-sedans-are-very-common/1
Monday, February 28, 2011
Invasive Beetle Intercepted at KY Airport
According to WLEX News, U.S. Customs and Border Protection discovered a potentially destructive exotic beetle in unclaimed baggage at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport last week.
The insect was the Khapra beetle. The beetle is believed to have originated in Asia, and it is an important pest of stored grains. The critter has actually been found in the U.S. a few times before, but it's spread has been stopped each time. It looks like they successfully stopped it this time, too.
You can read the report here:
http://www.lex18.com/news/khapra-beetle-found-in-luggage
And here is a more detailed version of the story from The Cypress Times:
http://www.thecypresstimes.com/article/News/National_News/CINCINNATI_CBP_INTERCEPTS_DESTRUCTIVE_STOWAWAY_BEETLE_IN_FOOD/41122
And you can read more about the beetle in this USDA-APHIS Response Guidelines factsheet:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/manuals/emergency/downloads/nprg-khapra.pdf
The insect was the Khapra beetle. The beetle is believed to have originated in Asia, and it is an important pest of stored grains. The critter has actually been found in the U.S. a few times before, but it's spread has been stopped each time. It looks like they successfully stopped it this time, too.
You can read the report here:
http://www.lex18.com/news/khapra-beetle-found-in-luggage
And here is a more detailed version of the story from The Cypress Times:
http://www.thecypresstimes.com/article/News/National_News/CINCINNATI_CBP_INTERCEPTS_DESTRUCTIVE_STOWAWAY_BEETLE_IN_FOOD/41122
And you can read more about the beetle in this USDA-APHIS Response Guidelines factsheet:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/manuals/emergency/downloads/nprg-khapra.pdf
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Bed Bug Video
New video on CNN showcasing bed-bug sniffing dogs:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/02/16/durgahee.uk.bed.bugs.cnn?hpt=C2
These dogs are somewhat controversial. Apparently, they can sometimes give a "false positive." But there is no doubt that they are a useful tool against bed bugs. And there is also no doubt that they are cute!
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/02/16/durgahee.uk.bed.bugs.cnn?hpt=C2
These dogs are somewhat controversial. Apparently, they can sometimes give a "false positive." But there is no doubt that they are a useful tool against bed bugs. And there is also no doubt that they are cute!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Myth Slayer
Blake Newton, UK Extension Entomologist
In the news today: the guitarist for heavy-metal band Slayer (a band that became famous in the 1980s for--among other things--pioneering a style of incredibly fast double-bass drumming) has been diagnosed with a form of flesh-eating disease. In news reports (like this one from the Toronto Sun), it has been speculated that the disease was caused by a spider bite.
While it is possible that the wound was caused by a spider bite, it was probably caused by something else. Over the last twenty-years or so, spiders like the brown recluse have gotten a nasty reputation, and they are often blamed for causing necrotic (that is: flesh-eating) wounds. While some studies have shown that these spiders ARE capable of causing such wounds, other, more recent studies show that these spiders probably do not bite people very often, and that necrotic wounds are usually caused by bacterial infections.
You can read more about the myths and misconceptions about the brown recluse and other spiders at Rick Vetter's website at the University of California-Riverside:
http://spiders.ucr.edu/necrotic.html
I'm going to call Rick the Spider-Myth Slayer. He has been working with brown recluses and other spiders for many years, and he has gathered voluminous evidence (from experiments, surveys, and literature searches) which suggests that brown recluses and other spiders probably don't cause many necrotic wounds. One of the most compelling pieces of evidence: while the brown recluse lives only in the central part of the U.S., brown-recluse bites are diagnosed by physicians all over the U.S.
When I preach about this subject, people often think that I am sticking up for brown recluse spiders. I'm a spider-hugger, right? This is only partially true. Sure--as an entomologist, I like spiders, and I feel bad when they are needlessly killed. But spiders are not the primary causality of the brown-recluse myth. The truth is: within their range, brown recluses can be VERY common. There is no way that people could wipe them out, even if they wanted to. No, I worry about these myths because they can cause people to become very afraid of spiders. They become so scared that they are uncomfortable inside their own homes. I think this is very unfortunate. I'm around these spiders all day, and there are few things that I find less frightening. They are not aggressive, they don't like to be around people, and most scientific evidence indicates that they don't cause many bites, even when they live (sometimes, by the hundreds!) inside homes. I was staying in someone's home in Oklahoma recently. Oklahoma is in the heart of brown-recluse territory. The brown recluses were so common in the home that you could see them on the walls at night (see picture below, taken with my phone camera at about 10pm). It didn't bother me in the slightest. No one in the house has even been bitten by a spider, by the way.
It is important to add that, while I'm not scared of brown recluse spiders, I am cautious around them. When I feed the ones in our lab, I make sure that I never touch them, and that they cannot escape. So if you see them around, keep your distance. And if you have a bunch of them in your home (unlikely in most parts of Kentucky), you may consider contacting a pest-control professional. But what you should not do is become frightened. These spiders are very unlikely to cause a problem.
Back to Jeff Hanneman, the guitarist for Slayer. Whatever caused his illness, I hope that he has a speedy recovery. I also hope that when he recovers, he does not become fearful of brown recluses and other spiders. Fear can kill happiness, but it can't stop wounds, whether they're caused by spider bites, bacterial infections, or head-bangin'!
Read more about Brown Recluse Spiders in our online factsheet.
In the news today: the guitarist for heavy-metal band Slayer (a band that became famous in the 1980s for--among other things--pioneering a style of incredibly fast double-bass drumming) has been diagnosed with a form of flesh-eating disease. In news reports (like this one from the Toronto Sun), it has been speculated that the disease was caused by a spider bite.
While it is possible that the wound was caused by a spider bite, it was probably caused by something else. Over the last twenty-years or so, spiders like the brown recluse have gotten a nasty reputation, and they are often blamed for causing necrotic (that is: flesh-eating) wounds. While some studies have shown that these spiders ARE capable of causing such wounds, other, more recent studies show that these spiders probably do not bite people very often, and that necrotic wounds are usually caused by bacterial infections.
You can read more about the myths and misconceptions about the brown recluse and other spiders at Rick Vetter's website at the University of California-Riverside:
http://spiders.ucr.edu/necrotic.html
I'm going to call Rick the Spider-Myth Slayer. He has been working with brown recluses and other spiders for many years, and he has gathered voluminous evidence (from experiments, surveys, and literature searches) which suggests that brown recluses and other spiders probably don't cause many necrotic wounds. One of the most compelling pieces of evidence: while the brown recluse lives only in the central part of the U.S., brown-recluse bites are diagnosed by physicians all over the U.S.
When I preach about this subject, people often think that I am sticking up for brown recluse spiders. I'm a spider-hugger, right? This is only partially true. Sure--as an entomologist, I like spiders, and I feel bad when they are needlessly killed. But spiders are not the primary causality of the brown-recluse myth. The truth is: within their range, brown recluses can be VERY common. There is no way that people could wipe them out, even if they wanted to. No, I worry about these myths because they can cause people to become very afraid of spiders. They become so scared that they are uncomfortable inside their own homes. I think this is very unfortunate. I'm around these spiders all day, and there are few things that I find less frightening. They are not aggressive, they don't like to be around people, and most scientific evidence indicates that they don't cause many bites, even when they live (sometimes, by the hundreds!) inside homes. I was staying in someone's home in Oklahoma recently. Oklahoma is in the heart of brown-recluse territory. The brown recluses were so common in the home that you could see them on the walls at night (see picture below, taken with my phone camera at about 10pm). It didn't bother me in the slightest. No one in the house has even been bitten by a spider, by the way.
It is important to add that, while I'm not scared of brown recluse spiders, I am cautious around them. When I feed the ones in our lab, I make sure that I never touch them, and that they cannot escape. So if you see them around, keep your distance. And if you have a bunch of them in your home (unlikely in most parts of Kentucky), you may consider contacting a pest-control professional. But what you should not do is become frightened. These spiders are very unlikely to cause a problem.
Back to Jeff Hanneman, the guitarist for Slayer. Whatever caused his illness, I hope that he has a speedy recovery. I also hope that when he recovers, he does not become fearful of brown recluses and other spiders. Fear can kill happiness, but it can't stop wounds, whether they're caused by spider bites, bacterial infections, or head-bangin'!
Read more about Brown Recluse Spiders in our online factsheet.
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