(Note: All links below are to external websites and leave the 51猎奇 website.)
Howdy, BugFans,
While we鈥檝e been quietly going about our business during this way-too-long pandemic (you know things are bad when you fantasize about going to a board meeting in person), the bugs have been perking along, too.聽 Here鈥檚 what they鈥檝e been up to:
LIFE IN THE WATER IN THE WINTER
For those BugFans who aren鈥檛 from God鈥檚 Country, the (incredibly beautiful), is a region of deep valleys and high ridges on either side of the Mississippi River around the juncture of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. During the peak of the Wisconsin Glaciation, the Laurentide Ice Sheet extended well into Illinois, but it missed the Driftless Area.
MURDER HORNETS 2021
HUNTING BEHAVIOR OF A FISHING SPIDER
On the face of it, here is a really nice picture story about the . But then there鈥檚 the video鈥�.
[Nota Bene: One of the BugLady鈥檚 pet peeves is the subliminal indoctrination that is communicated by the narrator鈥檚 tone or by the background music in videos showing predators. This one has it all, except for prey in the form of a cute, bright-eyed bunny or mouse (harder to sympathize with a minnow)]
HONEYBEES ARE FOREIGN BEES
Remember that honeybees were imported in the 1600s to pollinate foreign crops. Turns out that there were already plenty of native pollinators, and both the native and the honeybees are really important. .
IN WHICH SPIDERS DO PHYSICS
HOW CAN YOU 鈥淪EE鈥� WHEN YOU CAN鈥橳 SEE?
HOW BUTTERFLIES FLY
PEACOCK SPIDERS
Peacock Spiders are a genus (Maratus) of jumping spiders, almost all of which live in Australia. 鈥淧eacock鈥� because they are ridiculously colorful, and the male鈥檚 courtship dance involves flashing his abdominal flaps at skeptical females. Here are Read more here .
PERIODICAL CICADA BROOD X
Last seen in 2004, periodical cicada brood X is scheduled to emerge over parts of 15 states in 2021. (They barely make it over the Illinois border into Wisconsin 鈥� most of our cicadas are , which look pretty different than Periodical cicadas). Remember 鈥� the immature cicada (nymph) lives below-ground, biding its time, feeding on root juices, until the appointed hour, its internal calendar ticking off three or seven or more years, . abound during big years. (Points subtracted for saying that they鈥檙e related to shrimp, which they are, but not closely). Where can you view Brood X? .
TREEHOPPERS ARE JUST SO COOL!!
And finally, .
The BugLady