#in-sects

[onenicebugperday]

so I’m a budding entomologist

and I just wanted to say, at least to get this out there, that honey bees shouldn’t be our main priority with the whole “save the bees” thing

wasps, bumble bees, various beetles, other hemipterans and even fuckin bats deserve a lot of the credit and usually pollinate a lot better than honey bees

not to diss my bee friends ofc...

They’re definitely not the priority for scientists and conservationists, since they’re not native to the US and they’re not endangered. But yeah most people don’t realize that “save the bees” means native species like bumblebees and a handful of solitary ground-nesting bees, and a whole bunch of others we don’t really have enough data on. Honey bees outcompete native bees, and they don’t need our help.

For people who want to support native species, I recommend checking out the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. You can either donate or look into their resources for things like planting native pollinator gardens.

[onenicebugperday]

HELP i saw a facebook video of a metallic woodboring beetle absolutely CAKED in sawdust. therefore they too can get lost in the sauce and not just bees. i should write a scientific paper

I would love to read a very long paper about beetles getting lost in the wood sauce

[onenicebugperday]

oh god I just had my first tick encounter that was terrifying

I was getting in my truck and having an emotional moment with my mother when I feel a little tickle to find a big ass mfin LONE STAR TICK crawlin up my damn leg!!! Like excuse me that’s MY leg not yours thank you

That sounds like the least scary tick encounter possible since it wasn’t yet embedded! Just visiting. Still though...I also would prefer they not visit my body.

[onenicebugperday]

is ichneumon pronounced like

ick-NEW-mehn

ICK-new-mahn

or maybe even

itch-neyu-mon (I’m only half joking, someone on my ento team pronounced it that way :,)

I’ve pronounced it the first way for a long time but a professor I spoke to pronounced it the second way and I’ve been floored

I say it the way you say it, and that’s how I’ve heard it as well. But truly the variety of pronunciations I’ve heard for bug-related words is insane so I think we just all do whatever we want.

[onenicebugperday]

i got 2nd place entomologist out of 149 and i am QUAKING

Ooooh congrats, that’s awesome!

[onenicebugperday]

what’s the difference between assassin bugs, stilt bugs, and damsel bugs ?

There are just too many differences to start listing them all considering the number of species in each family and the differences between those species, not even considering the differences in the families.

Assassin bugs and damsel bugs are both predatory, and stilt bugs are not always - many of them are plant feeders. Stilt bugs are also easy to differentiate because they usually have long, thin, clubbed antennae, and their legs are thread-like (sometimes with slightly widened areas), which is why they’re sometimes called thread bugs (not to be confused with thread-legged bugs, Emesinae, which have raptorial forelimbs, and are actually a type of assassin bug).

As far as telling the difference between assassin bugs and damsel bugs in the field, honestly it may be easiest just to memorize what the damsel bug species in your area look like. There are far fewer damsel bugs than there are assassin bugs - about 7000 species of assassin bugs worldwide and only 500 damsel bug species. Damsel bugs in general also prefer low-to-the-ground vegetation to do their hunting in, but that’s not a super reliable way of IDing since they can certainly wander into higher areas.

That probably wasn’t helpful at all but if you have a more specific question about differentiating species, feel free to ask.

[onenicebugperday]

hello!

so i recently found out i have a threatened species in my area - the hill prairie spittlebug.

what can i personally do to help the spittlebug population, if anything? i’m not really sure if there’s spittlebug care guides where i can raise nymphs haha

i’m also curious why this very specific insect would have a hard time flourishing in my area (parker county tx)

thank you! tell ur centipedes i said hi btw 🤧

Hi! I don’t have centipedes but I will tell my millipedes you said hello.

Anyway the hill prairie spittlebug or great plains spittlebug, Lepyronia gibbosa, has very specific habitat requirements and a very low tolerance for habitat disturbance, and they don’t adapt well to other habitats. Basically humans have destroyed their prairie habitats and replaced them with farmland so they only have very small areas they can still live successfully.

Honestly there isn’t a ton you can do personally, unless you own a ton of land where you can leave wild prairies undisturbed. This is pretty specific but I imagine a lot of people do it in Texas? Avoid off-roading in trucks or ATVs. That hugely disturbs habitats. People think big grassy fields and sparsely wooded areas are empty so it doesn’t matter, but literally thousands of species are found in areas like that.

You can also look into land conservation efforts locally - support state and national parks where land is protected, support environmental charities (i.e. the Sierra Club, Xerces Society, etc.), and whenever possible, vote for politicians that prioritize regulations that help the environment.

You can also look into local conservation efforts to volunteer with habitat cleanups and that sort of thing if you want to take direct action instead of throwing money at various causes.