Debbie's Insects Blog

South American owl butterfly, Caligo idomeneus
Photo: © Debbie Hadley, WILD Jersey

If you're in or near New York City by Memorial Day weekend, head to the American Museum of Natural History before the live butterfly exhibit closes for the year. The AMNH Butterfly Conservatory displays over 500 live butterflies in its indoor tropical rainforest. Volunteers will answer your questions and point out butterflies and moths from all over the world. On a recent visit, I photographed some of the live Lepidopterans in the conservatory, including a banded orange heliconian and the world's largest moth, the Atlas moth.

The American Museum of Natural History is located at Central Park West and 79th Street in New York City. For more information, contact AMNH at (212) 769-5100 or visit their website at www.amnh.org.

This trapdoor spider discovered by ECU biologist Jason Bond was named after the musician Neil Young.
Photo courtesy East Carolina University News Services

Any rock star aspires to certain milestones in his career - a number one hit, a Grammy award, a gold record. When Neil Young began his music career as a folksinger in the early '60's, you can bet he didn't predict this one. An East Carolina University biologist and fan of Young discovered a new species of trapdoor spider, and dubbed the find Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi to honor the singer-songwriter.

"With regards to Neil Young, I really enjoy his music and have had a great appreciation of him as an activist for peace and justice,” said Jason Bond, an ECU professor of biology. In 2007, Bond discovered the new spider species in Jefferson Co., Ala, and later co-wrote a paper with Norman I. Platnick, curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, on the genus.

Spiders in the trapdoor genus are distinguished on the basis of differences in genitalia from one species to the next. Bond confirmed through the spider’s DNA that the Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi is an identifiable, separate species of spider within the trapdoor genus.

If you discovered a new insect or spider species, who would you name it after and why?

A screw worm maggot shows its tusklike mandibles.
Photo: John Kucharski, USDA

Officials in Yemen are asking the international community for help in combating an outbreak of screw worms. Yes, they're really called screw worms, but they aren't really worms at all - they're maggots. Screw worms are the larvae of a kind of fly that lays eggs in the open wounds of cattle. When they hatch, the maggots feed on the animal's tissue, using sharp mandibles to tear at the flesh. Screw worms can kill cattle in 10 days if left untreated. Because the fly can travel far (up to 200 km), an outbreak can spread quickly.

Screw worms no longer infest cattle in North America, thanks to an ingenious scheme by entomologists. Scientists collected male screw worm flies, zapped them with radiation to sterilize them, and then released them in the infested area. The sterile males mated with females, but no offspring were produced from the pairing. Over time, the population diminished to an acceptable level. The practice, called Sterile Insect Technique, has been used successfully in other parts of the world as well.

Photo: © Debbie Hadley, WILD Jersey

As warmer weather takes hold at last, tiny shoots of milkweed emerge from the soil. Each day, I check my landscape beds for signs of the perennial. I know that until the milkweed appears, I'm not likely to see a monarch butterfly. My home lies almost precisely on the 40th parallel, and other butterfly enthusiasts living at the same latitude have reported seeing their first monarchs of 2008. Knowing the monarchs are so close by keeps me staring out the window. I'm not going to miss the first one to visit my yard this year.

If you live north of the 40th parallel, there's still time for you to join Journey North and report your first monarch sighting of the year.

More on monarchs:

• Monarch migration
• Birth of a butterfly

Photo: © Getty Images/Martin Ruegner

Any pet owner will tell you that fleas are no fun. A few adult fleas on the family dog will soon become hundreds of jumping, biting parasites. Flea eggs fall from the host animal, usually your pet, and hatch on carpets and pet bedding. Getting rid of them requires a little knowledge of flea habits and life cycles.

In North America, most home flea infestations are cat fleas. Don't let the name fool you, though - they're just as happy feeding on Rover.

Flea Control Tips:

• Best Flea Control Methods, by About Guide to Veterinary Medicine Janet Tobiassen Crosby, DVM
• Safe Effective Flea Control, excerpt from Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide To Natural Health for Dogs & Cats

When I was a kid, I had a few favorite books that could keep me engrossed for hours at a time. If it was full of cool facts, unusual stories, and interesting illustrations, I could read and reread it until the pages fell out. I still have most of those childhood favorites on my bookshelf.

I recently came across Buzz, a book about all-things-insects for the younger set. I would have loved this book as a kid. If you know a child with an interest in insects, or just the world of science, take a look at Buzz. It earned 5 stars in my review.

Photo: Flickr user ninjapoodles

Years ago, I spent some time bicycling around parts of the country, pitching my tent wherever I could find a park or wilderness area. After a long day pedaling through the hills of Missouri, I headed for a state wildlife area that allowed camping, according to my map. When I finally found the sign designating the land, I was confused. Nothing but an overgrown field and some woods, as far as I could tell. I left my bike by the side of the road, and ventured through the waist-high weeds, looking for a trail.

Missouri, I quickly found, has a lot of ticks. Within a few minutes, my bare legs were crawling with them by the dozens. So I did what anyone would do - I totally freaked out. If there was a contest for tick flicking, I would have taken home the trophy. Since then, I've been a staunch follower of the rules of tick avoidance, though I still have the occasional nightmare.

First instar gypsy moth caterpillar.
Photo: © Debbie Hadley, WILD Jersey

Last Friday, I sat in my backyard enjoying the sunshine, and subconsciously flicked a tiny black caterpillar off my knee. And off my arm. And my shirt. And out of my hair. That one finally got my attention, and I started looking around. A closer look at the garage revealed dozens more crawling up the siding. They had arrived, on Arbor Day, no less. The little buggers have a strange sense of humor.

The caterpillars, barely noticeable yet but present in good numbers, are gypsy moth caterpillars. The first wave emerged from their egg masses last week, and the tiny larvae are making their way to the newly emerged leaves of oak trees all over town. For the next two months, residents will contend with caterpillars dangling from silk threads and crawling on decks and siding. In a bad year, as we know we are due in my NJ town this year, the late instar caterpillars will completely defoliate our trees, and we'll be able to hear the frass hit the ground.

The wise folks who run my town decided to save the taxpayers a bit of money last year, and opted out of our state aerial spraying program. Each year in NJ, Bacillus thuringiensis is applied over areas where high gypsy moth numbers are predicted. Without the Bt to stop them, gypsy moth caterpillars had the run of our forests, parks, and backyards. A season without treatment allowed caterpillars to pupate, emerge, and reproduce. We've all been bracing ourselves for the onslaught, knowing this year will be even worse.

And now, after months of stormy town meetings and nasty editorials, they're here and we still aren't ready for them. We'll get our Bt spraying this year, but it's too little, too late. More to come...

American beautyberry.

Folk recipes for repelling insects have existed since humans and insects began sharing the planet. Maybe your grandpa showed you how to crush the leaves of American beautyberry and rub it on your skin. American beautyberry, a native shrub of the lower 48 states, repels mosquitoes quite effectively.

Now scientists tell us the compounds in beautyberry leaves - callicarpenal and intermedeol - may be just as good at repelling blacklegged ticks. Researchers from the Agricultural Research Service treated cloth strips with the natural compounds, and wrapped the strips around their fingers. The beautyberry compounds repelled 95% of blacklegged ticks .

In the woods without your DEET? Try beautyberry leaves - they work!

Image by Flickr user pellaea, through Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives license.

Photo: CDC/PHPPO/DPDE/CAB/PhotoServices/James Gathany

For 50 years, it's been a ritual. People heading outdoors first coat themselves in a layer of DEET to fend off mosquito attacks. For backyard barbecues, a 25% DEET formula may do. Head into the woods or go fishing on a lake, and you'll need something closer to 50% strength. Despite our hesitation to apply something that seems so toxic to our skin, we do it. Why? Because it works.

Now we know for sure why it works, thanks to a study completed at Rockefeller University. Mosquitoes simply can't smell us through the scent of all that DEET. The bloodthirsty tormentors find us with keen olfactory sensors that detect human sweat and carbon dioxide that we exhale. The smell of DEET simply overpowers their senses, making our bodies somewhat invisible to the mosquitoes.

What do you use to keep mosquitoes at bay?