5/31/2012 Butterflies, Bees, and Beetles

5/31/2012 2:30 University of Washington Butterflies, Bees, and Beetles
Butterflies
There are 4 stages in a butterfly’s life: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult (butterfly). Their lifespan ranges, but is generally very short. The small cabbage white butterfly is one of the earliest to emerge and is very small and has a long lifespan. Painted ladies, on the other hand, only live for about two weeks. This means they must find a mate quickly. They females lay eggs on a host plant and they incubate for 3-5 days then hatch. Due to their short lifespan some butterflies don’t eat at all, but most drink nectar. They are very bad pollinators, but still try, which is why they are easiest to find around flowers.

Bees
There are over 100 species of bees on campus. Bees and ants both evolved from wasps. They are very vulnerable to cold, and they keep their nests very warm, usually around 97 degrees. They do this by flapping their wings very fast- up to 235 times per second! There are two kinds of bees: communal and solitary. Most of the bees on campus are communal, but in the real world 95% are solitary. Communal bees have a queen bee who is randomly chosen by the bees when she is a larva and then is fed more and is the only one to lay eggs. They have worker bees who are all female and collect pollen and nectar. They collect pollen in their hair. They communicate with each other by flying in certain angles to the sun, this is known as dancing. Recently there has been an increase in what is called colony collapse disorder, where bees leave their hive. It is predicted that they are dying from pesticides. Solitary bee species are different because all the females are fertile. Each female makes her own nest and there are no worker bees. The females leave the larvae alone in the nest but provide food for when they hatch. They die annually and only have a few weeks to reproduce. Some other interesting facts about bees:

• They don’t like the color black
• They can’t see the color red
• They use their sting as a defensive mechanism, but it is also a reproductive organ
• Honeybees are not native here. They originated in Europe and Africa and were brought to the USA. They are extremely dependent upon humans here.

Beetles
Like butterflies, they have a four part life cycle; egg larvae, pupa, and adult. All beetles have either hard shells or leathery wings. They are found in almost every environment, except polar regions and the ocean. Beetles are really important ecologically because they are decomposers. They have gotten a bad rap in the news (like the Pine beetle), and aren’t appreciated by society for all their hard work. There are probably around 1 million species out there, but only 4,000 have been named. Some specific kinds of beetles are listed below.
California firefly: They have a red edges pronotum. They are part of the firefly family but they can’t illuminate.
Greater Night Stalking Tiger Beetle: Live on the forest floor, have abnormally small wings and therefore can’t fly, they are slow so instead they ambush their victim and pull it into their lair to eat
Alder Flee Beetle: Found in Western North America and are pests to alder trees.

Posted on June 4, 2012 05:48 AM by brooke