I asked Trisha if we could examine a centipede some time, and even though they are not insects, she kindly collected one in her yard and put it under the microscope for us to sketch.
There are about 1000 species and subspecies in the family Lithobiidae, mainly distributed in the northern hemisphere. (The house centipede I posted last week is in a different family.)
Fun fact: centipedes have one pair of legs per body segment. Millipedes have two.
If you see stoneflies by a creek, you can be happy that the water’s clean and well-oxygenated.
Justin Orvel Schmidt is an American entomologist, author of The Sting of the Wild, and creator of the Schmidt sting pain index. According to him, the sting of a velvet ant is a 3 out of 4, equivalent to having boiling oil poured all over your hand.
Just another fun fact shared by the irrepressible Trisha Nicols on Insectopia.
This beetle’s name literally means big mouth fire buttocks. Quite an impressive moniker for a critter that’s only 1cm long. Small but mighty, indeed.
Americans have a tendency to call all insects “bugs”. I first thought the terms were interchangeable, but I’ve learned that while all bugs are insects, not all insects are bugs.
The key difference between true bugs and other insects is their mouth parts. True bugs have rigid piercing/sucking mouthparts that look like a long beak and act like a straw. Most suck plant juices, but some feed on animals. Water bugs are venomous; they liquify then drink their prey. Yum!
Thanks to Trisha Nichols for another fun and informative lesson.
Tarantula hawks do it to tarantulas, mud daubers do it to other spiders. Steel-blue cricket hunters do it to crickets. Way to pack lunch for your kids.
Thursday night is bug night 🪳🪲🪰🐞🦟🐜🐝🦋
Apparently Sphinx moths have ropey, rather than feathery, antennae. And their hindwings are half the length of their forewings. Learn something new every day 😊
I attended a Youtube Livestream last night with a super-enthusiastic entomologist, who weekly magnifies and explains one insect for our edification and sketching pleasure. She goes fast and meanders frequently—it’s pretty hectic (but fun). I filled several pages with scribbled notes and sketches which I consolidated into this page after the session.
hashiworks 