INSECTS AROUND BANNING
DRAGONFLY
Dragonflies, scientifically known as Anisoptera, don’t sting and generally don’t bite people. When first hatched, the larva or nymphs live in the water for around a year. In Indonesia some people like to eat them for a snack. Having a dragonfly land on your head is considered good luck. In general, the adult dragonfly has a lifespan of 6 months. There are over 5,000 species of dragonflies. Dragonflies measure 1 to 4 inches long and have a thorax, abdomen, and six legs. They have transparent wings, long bodies, and large eyes.
Dragonflies are expert fliers. They can fly straight up and down, hover like a helicopter and even mate mid-air. If they can’t fly, they’ll starve because they only eat prey they catch while flying.
They also have the advantage of excellent eyesight. Each of their two large eyes is made up of thousands of six-sided units. Together, these smaller eyes enable a dragonfly to detect even the slightest movement.
Dragonflies are natural predators for mosquitoes. In fact, they eat them at all stages of life. An individual dragonfly can eat hundreds of mosquitoes each day.
What eats dragonflies? Frogs, fish, birds, and large spiders are all predators of adult dragonflies. A dragonfly baby, also called a larvae or nymph is vulnerable to the same predators
Underwater, aquatic plants, grasses and roots provide excellent cover to sleep among. On the land, dragonflies will sleep tucked away in bushes or under leaves, or sometimes more out in plain sight, if they feel sufficiently camouflaged. Dragonflies do sleep.
Dragonflies also don’t carry diseases or germs! Adult dragonflies typically weigh just over a tenth of an ounce. Their wingspan generally reaches from two to five inches wide. They are some of the fastest flying insects in the world reaching speeds of over 48 kilometers (30 miles) per hour.
Some species of dragonflies actually migrate. A dragonfly called the globe skimmers (Pantala flavescens) has the longest migration of any insect — millions of dragonflies are flying 11,000 miles across the Indian Ocean from India to Africa.
HICKORY HORNED DEVIL
Hickory horned devil caterpillars look fierce and can be almost as big as a hot dog, but they’re harmless. They have green bodies (that become turquoise as they age) and lots of prickled, orangey horn-like structures on their heads. They’re so big and fierce-looking that even chickens — which usually love to eat caterpillars — have been known to stay away from them.
HHDs eat leaves, chiefly those from hickory-type trees, such as walnuts, pecans, buttonbush, filbert, ash, and others. They also like persimmon leaves.
HHDs live in the deciduous forest areas of the eastern U.S. In earlier years you could find them as far north as Massachusetts, but now they only get as far as New Jersey. They’re more common down south — as far west as eastern Texas and as far east as central Florida.
They hatch from eggs in about a week, and then the larvae (the HHDs) live about five weeks -– usually from late July to the middle of August. They are then known as the Regal Moth.
They eat leaves, storing up energy for their pupation and final transformation. They eat a huge meal right before they start looking for soft earth to burrow into for pupation, when they live in dark brown cocoons.
It’s their last meal ever, because as moths, they don’t eat. They don’t even have mouths that can absorb nutrients. Also, pupation could last one season or even two, depending on when the pupa senses conditions are ripe for its emergence.
The HHD is the larva of the regal moth, which is the biggest moth found north of Mexico. It has gray-green and orange wings about four to six inches wide. It lives only about a week, and in that time this beautiful moth works as hard as it can to mate and reproduce, before it eventually dies of exhaustion.
LUNA MOTH
We spotted this beautiful moth right down the road from us this July! The Luna Moth is a Nearctic Moth which is in the Saturniidae family more commonly known as Giant Silk Moths.
The Luna Moth can reach a wingspan of 7 inches or larger but most commonly is found with a wingspan around 4.5 inches. The Luna Moth, like the Regal Moth does not have a mouth and cannot feed, but instead feeds off stored fat reserves left over from it’s caterpillar stage.
These moths lay between 200-400 eggs in one location or split into smaller groups and takes several days to finish laying them all. The Luna Moth can be found along the east coast from Florida to Maine and even into Canada!
WRITING SPIDER
Argiope Aurantia
Writing spiders, (the yellow garden spider), are both scientifically fascinating and culturally significant due to their distinctive web structures and associated folklore. These spiders are renowned for their intricate orb webs, which often feature a characteristic zigzag pattern known as stabilimentum.
Scientific Insights
Web Structure and Function: The stabilimentum, a prominent zigzag band of silk, is a defining feature of writing spider webs. The silk can be sticky for the capture of the prey or strong to support the web. The spider will also spin a spiral of sticky silk in the middle of the web. Once the web is spun, the spider waits until she feels vibration on the web. She knows prey has flow in into the web and she knows dinner is on the table! The writing spider has an additional claw on each leg which enables her to weave the zig zag pattern especially in the inside of the web. She also will eat the sticky capture spiral parts of the web and then re weave them if necessary.
Coloration and Behavior: Argiope spiders are notable for their striking coloration—typically yellow and black—which not only contributes to their visual appeal but also serves as an aposematic signal to potential predators, indicating that they might be unpalatable or venomous. Despite this, their venom is not harmful to humans, though it is effective in subduing their insect prey. They can bite and the bite will feel like a bee sting. When the spider feels threatened, she will bounce back and forth on the web to scare the threat away. The writing spider has 8 eyes with two in the front and the rest on the sides. Writing spiders can see the colors of red, yellow and orange. Studies show that they hate blue! They grow to about one inch long. The females will make from one to four egg sacs with each sac having close to 1000 eggs in each. The spider lives a year and will then die at the first hard frost and the eggs will hatch when warm weather comes. Males have two pedipalps at the front of his head and they look like boxing gloves. The male spider is smaller than the female and at mating time, he has to be careful that the female does not eat him!
Myths and Superstitions
Cultural Perceptions: In some traditions, the presence of a writing spider is considered a sign of good fortune, symbolizing protection or the presence of a guardian spirit. This belief may stem from the spider’s conspicuous web patterns, which could be interpreted as a form of divine or supernatural communication. Writing spiders represent patience and persistence.
In contrast, some cultures look at the writing spider as a bad omen. If you disturb the web or show your teeth, the spider will write your name on the web with resulting bad luck or death.
Ecological Impact: Beyond their symbolic significance, writing spiders play a crucial ecological role. Their webs contribute to controlling insect populations, which can have significant impacts on the surrounding environment. Writing spiders are most active in the early mornings. By preying on a variety of insects, they help maintain the balance of local ecosystems, demonstrating the complex interdependencies within nature.
FISHING SPIDER
Fishing Spiders are also known as Raft Spiders, Dock Spiders, or Wharf Spiders. There are many species of Fishing Spiders with a range from Florida and Georgia up to Canada. The species found mostly in Georgia is the Dolomedes Okefenilenises.
Fishing Spiders are large and can reach up to 4 or 5 inches in length. Their habitat is usually a wooded area near bodies of water or swampy areas. Fishing Spiders can stay underwater for up to 30 minutes by using the air on the hairs of their body to breathe! Unlike many spiders, these spiders do not spin webs to capture their prey, but rather wander around looking for insects, minnows, lizards, tadpoles, and frogs to eat.
Fishing Spiders can sit back on their hind legs and put their front legs up in the air to use as sails. This allows the wind to push them across the water towards their prey.
Female Fishing Spiders will eat the male after mating. She will lay eggs on a silk mat and then secure them in the foliage. She will then spin a nursery web around the eggs to protect them. The female fishing spider guards the eggs until the babies hatch and go through their first molt. Fishing Spiders live one to two years.
Fishing Spiders have fangs which do have venom if they bite, though they normally don’t pose a threat to humans. They are very shy and their venom does not pose a threat to humans unless the person is allergic to spider bites.
CHIGGERS
Chiggers (Trombiculidae), also called Red Bugs or Berry Bugs, are tiny insects commonly referred to as Mites. They can be found world wide but are especially abundant in the South East United States. They like to hang out mostly in damp areas, in grassy or wooded spaces. Chiggers are out from Spring to first frost. During the winter, Adult Chiggers burrow deep in the soil. In Spring they emerge to lay eggs which hatch into larvae.
Contrary to popular belief, Larvae do not bite or burrow into the skin, nor do they lay eggs in your skin. They use their mouths to drill a hole into the skin and then secrete special salivary enzymes which breakdown the skin. A tube of hard skin is formed called a sylosome and the larvae then “slurp” up the mixture. The larvae can feed up to 4 to 5 days if not removed from the host. Eventually, the larvae will drop off and turn into a nymph and then an adult. This process causes severe itching and skin reactions resulting in hard, reddish raised bumps that can last a week or more.
Protection can make a big difference for your comfort in the outdoors. The larvae will crawl up your shoes and legs. They love finding tight fitting clothing such as the top of socks and waistbands. To protect yourself against Chiggers, make sure you stay away from high grassy areas and be sure to use an insect repellant with DEET or permethrin. If you do get a case of Chiggers, be sure to wash off all areas with soap and water and apply cortisone cream to the affected areas. Calamine lotion can be applied and Benadryl can be used as well!