BugFest 2005
Coming Saturday, August 13

Bug Bios

Cicadas

• Are cicadas harmful or dangerous? Cicadas cannot sting or bite humans or other animals, and they do not carry diseases.
• What good are cicadas anyway? Periodical cicada years are beneficial to the ecology of the region. Their egg-laying in trees serves as a natural "pruning" that results in increased fruit yields in the succeeding years. Their emergence from the ground turns over large amounts of soil, and after they die, their decaying bodies contribute a large amount of nitrogen to the soil.
• When do cicadas emerge? Cicadas emerge when the soil temperature exceeds 64 F, which in North Carolina, usually happens in late May.
• What is a "brood?" Groups of cicadas that share the same emergence are called broods. In the late 1800s, Charles Marlatt, a bureaucrat working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, designated a brood number for all cicadas that emerged during a specific year. The cicadas that will appear in 2004 belong to Brood X: there are 17 years between each Brood X swarm.
• How many species of periodical cicadas exist? Three different species of 17-year cicadas will emerge in 2004: Magicicada septendecim, M. cassini, and M. septendecula. There are also four species of 13-year cicadas: Magicicada tredecim, M.tredecassini, M. tredecula, and M. neotredecim, but these species will not emerge in 2004.
• Are cicadas "locusts?" Periodical cicadas are often incorrectly called locusts. Locusts are grasshoppers, while cicadas are most closely related to aphids and leafhoppers. The term "locust" began to be used to describe cicadas around 1715 in the English colonies, when settlers tried to make sense of the cicada emergences by equating them with the biblical plagues.
• What do they taste like? We're not suggesting you run out and eat them, but if you wanted to, experts say that periodical cicadas are best eaten when they are still white (teneral), and they taste like cold canned asparagus. Like all insects, cicadas have a good balance of vitamins, are low in fat, and the females are especially high in protein. They are also Atkins friendly!

Butterflies and Moths

• Butterflies and moths belong to the insect order Lepidoptera, which means “scaled wings.”
• They are well camouflaged or use bright warning colors to advertise their bad taste to predators.
• Their antennae are able to smell food and find potential mates.
• Moth antennae are more feathered and sensitive than butterfly antennae because most moths are nocturnal. A Giant Silk Moth can smell a female’s pheromones (perfumes) from a distance of seven miles!
• The Giant Swallowtail has a wingspan of six inches and is the largest butterfly in North Carolina.

Spiders, Ticks, and Scorpions: The Arachnids

• Arachnids are not insects because they don’t have wings or antennae and have eight legs instead of six.
• The mouthparts of spiders, ticks, and scorpions include fangs or pincers called “chelicerae.”
• Out of the 1,500 species of North Carolina spiders, only two are harmful to humans: the black widow and the brown recluse.
• There are two kinds of spiders, web builders who trap flying insects and wandering spiders who hunt crawling insects.
• The silk produced by web-building spiders is stronger than a steel wire of the same size.

Beetles: The Coleopterans

• One of every four animal species on Earth is a beetle.
• Beetles are so numerous and successful because of the hard shell, called the elytra, that protects their hind wings and abdomen.
• The elytra traps moisture and air around the wings allowing beetles to live in dry deserts and underwater. Beetles have been found almost everywhere on earth, from rainforests to ice fields!
• Ladybugs often appear as the sweet, polka dotted “bug” on stationary cards and fabric, but these predatory beetles don’t mess around. The children of one female ladybug can eat 200,000 aphids in one growing season.

Cockroaches: The Blattarians

• Cockroaches have existed on Earth for over 350 million years, which is long before the dinosaurs arrived!
• Out of the 3,500 species of cockroaches worldwide, only 50 are considered to be pests to humans.
• In North Carolina, there are 10-12 native species of cockroaches that are considered beneficial insects because they digest rotting wood and provide food for many animals.
• The other five species of pesky cockroaches found in North Carolina have been introduced accidentally from Africa and South America.
• The cockroach diet contains a long list of foods that includes paper, sugar, leaves, leather, and other insects. Not only do they eat almost anything, but some species, such as the American Cockroach, can survive without food for up to three months as long as it has water.

Honeybees: The Hymenopterans

• The insect order Hymenoptera includes bees, wasps, and ants. These insects are considered “social insects” because they live together in large colonies that are controlled by at least one queen.
• One queen of a beehive is fed a royal jelly and can produce up to 2,000 eggs per day.
• For the larvae of bees, their future job as a drone (male) or a worker (female) is determined by the quality of food they eat in the larval stage.
• Honeybees were introduced to North and South America to help with crop pollination. Although they help the farmer, these honeybees have crowded out many native bee species.
• Honeybees communicate with smell as well as with an intricate dance that shows the direction and location of food.

Meristomatids and Crustaceans

• Horseshoe crabs are called meristomatids. They are not crustaceans but are instead distant relatives to spiders, ticks, and mites.
• Horseshoe crabs are called “living fossils” because they have changed little since they appeared 350 million years ago.
• There are 30,000 species of crustaceans. They are an important part of the economy and a vital link in ecosystems worldwide.
• Pillbugs, also called Roly Polys, are not insects. They are land-dwelling crustaceans.

All cicada content and photographs retrieved from Cicada Watch: 2004 - The Official Cicada Web Site of the College of Mount St. Joseph. Visit www.msj.edu/cicada for more information.