Scorplings at the Explorium

A baby scorpion is called a "scorpling." I just learned this today... because our mamma scorpion just gave birth to about a dozen of them! They will ride on her back for a few weeks until they can live on their own:


The proud mamma is one of ten emperor scorpions that are on display at our new Small World exhibit at the Lexington Explorium (AKA the Lexington Children's Museum). Small World--a partnership between UK Entomology and the Lexington Explorium--is a permanent entomology exhibit featuring several live arthropods, including scorpions, tarantulas, darkling beetles, aquatic insects, and lots of other cool things. It just opened in April, and we are very proud of it. The exhibit is open Tuesday-Sunday (and Mondays in the summer) and admission is included with a ticket to the Explorium. Even more fun: every Saturday is Small World Saturday, when representatives from UK Entomology will be on-hand from 10am-1pm to answer questions about the exhibit, and about entomology in general. And come early, because feedin' time on Saturday is 10am... if you're lucky, you might get to throw a cricket into the scorpion cage!

So come visit us this Saturday, June 11, from 11am-2pm, and don't forget to offer our mamma scorpion "congratulations" (and you'll need to say it twelve times... one for each scorpling). Click here for Explorium directions and ticket information.

Read more about our new Small World exhibit: http://goo.gl/GW0q9

Beetle vs. Frog

It is always amazing to see an insect (or insect relative) successfully prey upon vertebrates or other creatures that are considered to be more-advanced, or higher on the food chain.

We already know that giant water bugs (Kentucky natives!) are able to catch and eat fish and frogs. And many people have probably seen videos of giant tropical centipedes preying upon mice and snakes. There are even reports of praying mantids capturing hummingbirds.

But today I learned that beetles will attack and eat frogs!

Most of the time, beetles do not eat frogs. Instead, they are usually frog-food. American toads, in particular, seem to love eating ground beetles. But scientists have recently discovered that a type of predatory ground beetle will--in captivity, anyway--attack and kill frogs. You can read about the study here. This study was based out of Israel and was conducted with ground beetles in the Epomis genus. I don't think that these beetles are found in the United States, but we do have some species of ground beetles in Kentucky that are similar in shape and size, such as the so-called Searchers in the Calosoma genus. I wonder if our beetles will eat frogs? Sounds like it's time for a death-match! Um, I mean, an experiment.

Cicadas in Western Kentucky

Periodical cicadas are currently emerging in western Kentucky. This happens to be a 13-year brood: the cicadas that we witnessed in central Kentucky a few years ago were a 17-year brood. Read more about the current emergence at Dr. Lee Townsend's Brood XIX Watch. And you can read more about the differencees between annual cicadas and periodical cicadas at our Critter File: Cicadas.

I hope to get a chance to see the ones in western KY this year. I love the sight and sound of periodical cicadas, and I probably won't get to see them again in central Kentucky until 2025!

bugged by semantics

Really good article about the usage of the word "bug" by entomologists

http://myrmecos.net/2011/05/11/whats-a-bug/

Really cool entomologist

Harwood Lab Amblypygid

A few posts ago, I mentioned the amblypygid that I spotted on an episode of Survivor. I forgot that one of our Entomology laboratories, the Harwood Lab, keeps it's very own pet amblypygid!

Kelton Welch, one of the lab members, manged to get a very good image of the creature as it fed on a cricket:



Close up:


Pretty fearsome looking, right? Actually, the creature is only about an inch long, and it is harmless to humans. It is possible to keep amblypygids as pets, but they require very specific conditions: high humidity, lots of crickets, and "vertical" hiding places (such as pieces of bark placed upright and stacked against each other). Here again is the link to the Wikipedia entry for these fascinating creatures.

Bugs-All-Day: April 16, 2011

Join us at the Explorium of Lexington on Saturday, April 16th, 10am-2pm, for Bugs-All-Day. Members of the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology will be there with live bugs, games, and other fun stuff.

April 16th will also be the grand opening of Small World, a permanent exhibit that the Explorium has created in partnership with UK Entomology. Small World will feature a variety of live critters, including a Chaco Golden Knee tarantula, giant millipedes, aquatic insects, and a giant centipede.

Admission to Bugs-All-Day and Small World is included with the regular Explorium admission price. Read more about the Explorium, including directions and parking information, at their website.