A harmless imposter Being the local “bug guy,” I was recently asked about a spider that looked “almost exactly like a black widow” but lacked the distinctive red hourglass on the underside of its abdomen. This is a spider with which I am very familiar. They were nearly everywhere where I grew up in Pacifica, […]
aphids
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Aphid Cows and Ladybugs
I recently wrote about spittlebugs and how their larval form covers themselves with a bubblebath of processed plant sap for protection. At the end of their last larval stage (instar) they climb out of the slimy soup, shed their skin one last time and emerge as a stout looking version of their leafhopper cousins. As adults […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: Ants
One of nature’s most successful designs has to be the ant. Judging by their numbers and the number of species occupying different niches they are one of evolution’s biggest success stories. It is estimated that they account for about 10 percent of the biomass in some environments and 10 percent of the carbon dioxide in […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: Giddyup!
Having rained the day before, the sky hung low and menacing over the warm, muggy, quiet clearing. Strangely at that moment there were very few insects in a place I expected to see many. I was reminded of an old jungle movie. The words – “It’s quiet. Too quiet!” – ran through my mind. Where […]