Author: Meredith Miller
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132/150: What’s green, marine and a potential killing machine? Sea Lettuce!
Plantae: Chlorophyta: Ulvophyceae: Ulvales: Ulvaceae: Ulva: Ulva lactuca Linnaeus 1753 Although it resembles terrestrial salad greens, Ulva lactuca (sea lettuce) is a species of aquatic green algae. The bright green ruffled edge “leaves” are composed of 2 layers of cells, found free floating or attached to surfaces in areas with exposed rocks and tide pools.…
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124/150: Good Indicators of Water Quality, True Facts about the Fishfly
Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Megaloptera: Corydalidae: Nigronia serricornis (Say 1824) Nigronia serricornis is neither a fish nor a fly, instead falling in the insect order Megaloptera (including both Fishflies, Alderflies and Dobsonflies or Hellgrammites). Females lay eggs in masses near open fast flowing water. Larvae are aquatic and predatory, feeding on insects and worms with their…
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119/150: Blue Bee or not Blue Bee… The unsung heroes of orchard pollination
Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Osmia: Osmia lignaria Say 1837 When you think of important pollinators, you picture honeybees and bumblebees, but have you heard of blue bees? The Blue Orchard Bee or Mason Orchard Bee (Osmia lignaria) is a species in the family Megachilidae, a group of solitary bees with long hairs on the…
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102/150: Silverfish and Firebrats Outlived the Dinosaurs!
Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Zygentoma: Lepismatidae: Thermobia: Thermobia domestica (Packard, 1837) Zygentoma is a primitive, wingless order of insects encompassing approximately 120 species in 3 families. The evolution of this group can be traced back over 100 million years, having survived multiple ice ages and mass extinction events, including the fall of the dinosaurs!
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83/150: Giving birth to live larvae through a hole in their head: The life cycle of the Twisted Wing Parasite
Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Strepsiptera: Elenchidae: Elenchus: Elenchus tenuicornis (Kirby, 1815) The Strepsiptera, or “twisted wing parasites” is a small insect order consisting of about 600 species in 9 extant families. Hosts are typically Hymenopterans (bees & wasps), but also include Orthopterans (grasshoppers & crickets) and Hemipterans (stink bugs and leafhoppers).
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79/150: Flying, with its legs! – The Phantom Crane fly
Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Diptera: Ptychopteridae: Bittacomorpha clavipes (Fabricus, 1781) No, that’s not a giant black mosquito. The Ptychopteridae family, (phantom crane flies), are a small family of Nemotocera (“longhorned flies”) related to mosquitos, true crane flies and blackflies. A common North American species, Bittacomorpha clavipes, is found east of the Rocky Mountains.
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67/150: Not Poisonous, and Not a Spider! The friendly backyard “Daddy-Long-Legs”
animalia: Arthropoda: Arachnida: Opiliones: Sclerosomatidae: Leiobunum: Leiobunum vittatum (Say, 1821) Harvestmen or “Daddy-long-legs” are commonly presented as “the most venomous spiders in the world, with fangs too short to bite”, but this is a myth! Although they are in the same class as spiders, mites and scorpions, (Arachnida), they are not true spiders.
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58/150: Using flying snakes to combat agricultural pests? –The family Raphidiidae
Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Raphidioptera: Raphidiidae: Agulla: Agulla adnixa (Hagen, 1861) Fear not, these little arthropods have the potential to keep our crops healthy! The family Raphidiidae, snake flies, are closely related to the “nerve winged” insects (Neuroptera) including lacewings and antlions.