Tick Article

Recently, Dr. Tom Barnes, UK's Extension Specialist for Wildlife, invited us to write a guest article for his blog (Kentucky Native Plant and Wildlife Blog) about Kentucky ticks and the diseases that they carry. Read the entry here.

Bugs are tough.

Great story from NPR about an insect long thought extinct.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years

Giant Lobster

I can always count on CNN for reports of giant crustaceans. The latest one concerns a 27 pound lobster that was caught by a shrimp trawler. You can see the video here, where the giant is compared with a more typical lobster:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#/video/us/2012/02/23/von-wtmw-large-lobster.wmtw

The shrimpers turned it over to some biologists, and they plan to release it back to the wild. The seafood lover in you might think that this is a shame. But there are several good reasons not to eat it:

1. By releasing it back into the wild, it can reproduce--if it's this big, that means that it has has lived a long time. We want it and its genes back in the ocean, so that it can pass on its hardy, delicious traits to new generations of steamers.

2. Bigger lobsters are more difficult to cook properly than smaller lobsters, and they usually don't taste as good because of this (this is also true for shrimp!).

3. Instead of a lobster fork, you'd have to use a rake. I said a rake, people.

Giant Amphipods

Scientists in New Zealand have discovered some very large species of marine amphipods. You can see pictures in this article, which describes the nearly foot-long creatures as "shrimplike":
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/03/supergiant-shrimplike-creatures-found-off-new-zealand/?hpt=hp_c2/

I think that this is interesting, because we have freshwater amphiopods in Kentucky, and they look very similar to the ones discovered in New Zealand except that they are much smaller. Our freshwater versions are often called "scuds" or "sideswimmers," and they do indeed look a lot like tiny shrimp, and are even sometimes called "freshwater shrimp" even though they are not really very closely related to the "freshwater prawns" (a.k.a. shrimp) that you might eat at dinner. (Shrimp and amphipods are actually in totally different scientific orders. These means that they are considered to be about as closely related to one another as a dog is to a horse.)

You can read about the non-giant, freshwater versions of amphipods here (and look for them in your local creek or stream--they are probably there!):
http://www.flyfishersrepublic.com/entomology/crustaceans/freshwater-shrimp/

Wildcats vs. Fear

Blake Newton, Extension Entomologist

I just learned on today's John Calipari show (yes, for those of you who don't live in Kentucky, our college basketball coach has his own television show!) that sophomore guard (and fan-favorite) Jarrod Polson is afraid of spiders. As an entomologist, I sometimes forget that lots of people are really terrified of insects and spiders. But I really shouldn't forget. After all, I was terribly afraid of insects and spiders when I was a kid (I wrote about it on this blog last year). When I became an entomologist, though, I quickly lost my fear of these creatures, and I think it was because I learned all about them. Fear is based on uncertainly, and learning SLAYS uncertainty. Not to mention, fear can fuel learning: the fear of insects made the creatures more interesting to me when I was studying them.

So here is my challenge to Jarrod Polson and all of the other Wildcats and non-wildcats who might be reading this. Identify something that you are afraid of and learn more about it. You may just find a new hobby, or even a career! And at the very least, you might diffuse some of your fears.

So I guess I should participate, too. I'm not sure which fear to pick, though. I used to be afraid of having kids (how do you take care of them? what if they get hurt? what if they become a criminal?), but now that "one's on the way" for me (a little girl!), I find that I'm not afraid anymore, just excited. I'm afraid of skydiving, but overcoming that fear isn't very practical. There aren't any animals or foods that I'm afraid of. So what is a fear that I can work on? I guess I need to think about this and report back!

Amazing Photos of Beetle Larvae

I just found a wonderful photo archive on Flickr: amazing, hi-res diagnostic images of a wide variety of beetle larvae! These could be very useful for identification. The notations indicate that these are mostly Russian species, but most of them probably have similar cousins in North America. The gallery is maintained by "A. Zaitsev."

Take a look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25258027@N02/sets/72157604361795999/

Spider Silk

Here at UK Entomology, we get lots of questions about spider silk. Frankly, I don't know very much about the subject. Luckily, Dr. Cheryl Hayashi from UC Riverside does! In this CNN article, she explains some spider-silk basics:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/01/opinion/hayashi-spider-silk/index.html?hpt=hp_c4