Category: Invertebrates

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Antlions and Tiger Beetles

Ant Lion pit
showing loose sides that slide victims
to awaiting jaws at the bottom

Courtesy & Copyright,
Jim Cane, Photographer

Courtesy Wikimedia
Licensed under
GNU Free Documentation License

Lions and tigers in Utah. Oh my! But fear not unless you are an insect. Ant lions and tiger beetles are fierce, diminutive predators. They are not related to each other and the adults look very different, but the larval stages behave in very similar ways. Both await their prey in earthen lairs.

The conical pits of antlions are found in dry, soft sand, frequently under trees, rock overhangs or house eaves. The larvae dig their pit by crawling backwards in a spiral, plowing with their abdomen. The slope of the sides reaches the angle of repose, which is the steepest angle that the sand can lie before it collapses from a slight disturbance. They embed themselves in the sand at the bottom of the pit with their enormous mandibles open like a bear trap. Any small insect that inadvertently steps over the edge of the pit will tumble to the bottom into waiting jaws.

Tiger beetle larvae also await their prey in a burrow, but theirs is a narrow cylinder. The adult female inserts her eggs in the soil. The young larva uses its formidable mandibles to loosen the surrounding dirt, pushing it to the surface with its head and thorax. The larva’s lower back has a prominent hump with two pairs of large hooks. With these, it anchors itself to the burrow wall, its mandibles poised at soil level. Woe to the insect that walks nearby.

The adults of these two underground predators differ in both appearance and lifestyle. The adult antlion resembles a damsel fly with two pairs of long, transparent wings and a weak, nocturnal flight. The adult does not feed and only lives about 3 weeks. Conversely, the diurnal adult tiger beetle is an aggressive, mobile predator. For its size, it is the fastest running insect. It runs so quickly that it cannot see its prey, so sprints and stops repeatedly to track its intended victim. Tiger beetles come in diverse colors and patterns including bright, iridescent greens and blues. In Utah, look for them on bare ground, such as trails in open country or on dunes.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Images: Courtesy and Copyright Jim Cane
            And Courtesy Wikimedia
Theme: Courtesy & Copyright Don Anderson Leaping Lulu
Text & Voice: Linda Kervin, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

Other Wild About Utah Pieces by Linda Kervin

Tiger Beetles:

https://askabiologist.asu.edu/explore/chasing-tiny-tigers

A field guide to the tiger beetles of the United States and Canada [electronic resource] : identification, natural history, and distribution of the Cicindelidae / David L. Pearson, C. Barry Knisley, and Charles J. Kazilek New York : Oxford University Press, 2005. (via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Field-Beetles-United-States-Canada/dp/0199367175/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_beetle

Antlions:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/137
https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/pljuly97.htm

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The Migratory Locust in North America; a post mortem

The Migratory Locust in North America; a post mortem
Rocky Mountain Locust were similar
to this Large Grasshopper
Melanoplus sanguinipes
Photo#215400
Copyright © 2008 Lynette Schimming
As found on www.bugguide.net

Vast migratory swarms of flying grasshoppers, or locusts, have periodically scoured arid parts of Africa and the Middle East since Biblical times, devastating crops and causing famine. But did you know that during the 19th century, American homesteaders were likewise plagued by migratory swarms of grasshoppers? The largest swarm passed through Nebraska in June of 1875; it was 110 miles wide, 1800 miles long and more than a 1/4 mile thick, taking five days to pass overhead. It remains the world’s largest recorded insect outbreak.

Here in Utah, at the time of the transcontinental railroad, migratory locusts periodically descended on the homesteads of Mormon settlers, laying up to 1 billion eggs per acre. These ravenous swarms devoured crops, vegetation, even laundry hung out to dry. Around the Great Salt Lake, drowned pickled grasshoppers would wash ahore in vast drifts. Native peoples gathered these salty, sun-dried hoppers for food, a rich source of protein and fat.

Why are we no longer plagued by locust swarms? It appears that the Rocky Mountain locust, went extinct at the turn of the 20th century. Entomologist Jeffrey Lockwood reports that the DNA of specimens preserved in the ice of glaciers in the Wind River Range are like no other grasshopper alive today. The cause of the locust’s abrupt extinction may never be known with certainty, but Lockwood believes that these outbreaks originated in the mountain meadows of the northern Rockies. By the 1880s, these public lands were packed with cattle and sheep, far more than the land could sustain. In a few short years, livestock stripped bare the very core habitats needed by the Rocky Mountain locust, leading to its abrupt extinction and the end of locust swarms in North America.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Photo: Courtesy & Copyright © 2008 Lynette Schimming (As found on www.bugguide.net)
Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier, Jeffrey Lockwood, Basic Books, 2004,ISBN:9780738208947, https://www.amazon.com/Locust-Devastating-Mysterious-Disappearance-American/dp/0465041671 See also: https://www.jeffreylockwoodauthor.com/locust

First and annual report of the United States Entomological commission for the year 1877 relating to the Rocky Mountain locust and the best methods of preventing its injuries and of guarding against its invasions Digitized by Google Books from Harvard University

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust

Pestiferous Ironclads: The Grasshopper Problem in Pioneer Utah, Davis Bitton and Linda P Wilcox, Utah Historical Quarterly, 46 #4 as found on “Utah History to Go” https://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/pestiferousironclads.html

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Scuds

Scud
Amphipod – Gammaridae
Courtesy US EPA

Scud
Great Lakes Amphipod
Courtesy USGS
David M. Knott, Photographer

Tiny scuds abound in Utah’s waters, their flattened, flea-like bodies allowing them to scramble and tumble giddily under the surface. These crustaceans in the order Amphipoda can be up to ½ inch in length. Also known as freshwater shrimp and side swimmers , scuds look like minuscule, flattened shrimp with orderly ranks of leg-like appendages. Some of these legs can grip and are used for climbing and to anchor in the water. The front 2 pairs have tiny flaps to clasp their food while dining. The middle legs are for swimming. The hindmost legs can be used to kick off against surfaces propelling the scud forward.

All this exuberant movement helps scuds dodge predators and provides them with their common name. To scud under sail is to move swiftly before a gale. The blowing foam at the crest of waves is called scud. Evasive acrobatics are vital since scuds are a favored food of many fish. Half of a trout’s annual diet can consist of scuds. No wonder anglers use lures that mimic them.

Scuds coloration matches their habitat with browns and greens most common. When newly molted they are semi-transparent and baby blue. The female has a brood sac called a marsupium where she holds her eggs for fertilization and incubation. Fertilized eggs are usually bright orange. The newly hatched young are tiny versions of their parents.

In Utah, look for scuds in still water and in the calmer water along edges of streams and rivers. Prime habitat offers an abundance of submergent vegetation for concealment and plenty of plant and animal debris on which to scavenge. Our alkaline waters are rich in dissolved calcium carbonate which scuds incorporate into their chitinous exoskeleton.

To get a good look at these fascinating acrobats, catch them with a simple aquarium net and place them in a pan of water with some vegetation.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Graphics: Courtesy US EPA and USGS
Theme: Courtesy & Copyright Don Anderson Leaping Lulu
Text & Voice: Linda Kervin, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

Other Wild About Utah Pieces by Linda Kervin

https://www.epa.gov/bioiweb1/html/amphipods.html *(Updated 12/04/2023 Courtesy The Wayback Machine)

https://www.pond-life.us/pond-life-crustaceans-1.html (Updated 12/04/2023 Courtesy The Wayback Machine)

https://www.troutnut.com/hatch/71/Arthropod-Amphipoda-Scuds (Updated 12/04/2023 Courtesy The Wayback Machine)

https://www.flyfishersrepublic.com/entomology/crustaceans/freshwater-shrimp/ (Updated 12/04/2023 Courtesy The Wayback Machine)

A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America by J. Reese Voshell Jr. https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Common-Freshwater-Invertebrates-America/dp/0939923874

Field Guide to Freshwater Invertebrates of North America by James H. Thorp https://www.amazon.com/Field-Freshwater-Invertebrates-America-Academic/dp/012381426X

Guide to Aquatic Insects & Crustaceans by Izaak Walton League of America https://www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Insects-Crustaceans-Walton-America/dp/0811732452

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Nature’s Recyclers

Fungi Decomposing Fall
Leaves Outside the
Stokes Nature Center
Courtesy & © 2011 Andrea Liberatore
Stokes Nature Center


Redworms Eisenia fetida
from Stokes Nature Center’s
vermicomposting system
Courtesy & © 2011 Andrea Liberatore
Stokes Nature Center

On Tuesday, November 15th, our nation celebrates America Recycles Day. While the day itself tends to focus on human recycling activity, I thought we should also give a nod to nature’s recyclers. Worms, maggots, fungi, beetles, and bacteria – it sounds like a list of leftover Halloween horrors. But in reality, we should be more afraid of what our world would look like without these creepy-crawlies, for these are nature’s recyclers. Scientists call these organisms saprophytes, and as important as their role in life is, they are more likely to evoke a shudder than any feeling of gratitude.

What decomposers actually do is break dead things down into smaller and smaller pieces, until all that is left are the basic molecular components that make up all living things such as nitrogen, phosphorous, carbon, and potassium. Once broken down, this material is then free to be taken up again by plants and animals that use them to live and grow. This cycle of nutrients is vital to life on Earth, and our saprophytic friends make it all possible.

While decomposition would occur even without the help of the decomposers, it would take much, much longer. In some landfills, newspapers have been unearthed that are more than 20 years old, and still quite readable. This is because landfills often create anaerobic environments, where oxygen-loving insects, fungi, and bacteria cannot live and therefore cannot aid decomposition. If without decomposers, a newspaper can last 20 years, what would happen to much larger and hardier items such as tree trunks and roadkill? I shudder to think about it.

Did you know that the U.S. throws more than 33 million tons of food waste into landfills each year? This organic material goes to waste there – taking up valuable space and taking longer than normal break down. So this year, celebrate America Recycles Day by employing some of nature’s recyclers in your yard. Consider starting a compost pile where your fall leaves and food scraps can get broken down into nutrient-rich all-natural fertilizer for next year’s garden.

If you’re in Cache Valley and are looking for a way to mark America Recycles Day, please join the Stokes Nature Center for a tour of the Logan landfill to find out what happens to your garbage and how recycling programs ensure there is less of it. This free tour will be held at 4:30pm on Tuesday, November 15th. For details, visit the Stokes Nature Center website at www.logannature.org.

For composting tips and more information about nature’s recyclers, visit Wild About Utah online at www.wildaboututah.org. Thank you to the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for the research and development of this Wild About Utah topic. For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy & © 2011 Andrea Liberatore, https://logannature.org/
Text:    Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center, logannature.org

Composting Tips & Information:

Farrell-Poe, K. and Koenig, R. (2010) Backyard Composting in Utah. Utah State University Cooperative Extension. https://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/factsheet/HG-Compost-01.pdf

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Composting. https://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/composting/index.htm

Additional Reading:

Fogel, R. (2002) Waste Not, Want Not: Fungi as Decomposers. Utah State University Herbarium. https://utahpests.usu.edu/ipm/ornamental-pest-guide/diseases/wood-decay-fungi

Hoff, M. (2009) Young Naturalists: Nature’s Recyclers. Minnesota Conservation Volunteer Newsletter. July-August 2009. https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/volunteer/young_naturalists/natures_recyclers/natures_recyclers.pdf

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2011) Basic Information About Food Waste. https://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd-basic.htm