During the two-day workshop, attendees got tips on how to use insects for inquiry-based classroom projects.  In particular, participants designed and tested several different experiments using roly-polies and giant hissing cockroaches!  Giant cockroaches?  Who would've thought learning about bugs could be this much fun?

We're planning more workshops in the coming months.  If you would like more information about future workshops, see below for contact information!

Singin' ain't just for us person-type-folks.  Insects enjoy hollerin' a tune every now and then, too.  If'n you've ever heard crickets on a summer night, you know what we mean.  But did you ever try figurin' out why insects like to make such a dag-blamed racket?

As you may know, many kinds of insects make noises during courtship.  It's a big world for bugs, and sound helps them find each other.  But insects don't just use sound for mating.  They use sound to communicate all kinds of information.  An important example: many insects can produce unique sounds that they use like a code to recognize members of the same species.  This is especially useful for social insects (like termites) that live and work together.

I don't think Hank done it this way.

If you put on your thinkin' cowboy hat, you'll see that this is an easy principal to demonstrate for students.  All you need is a few black plastic 35mm film canisters (or other small, opaque containers).  Then, depending on how many students you have in class, fill the canisters with items that will make a distinct noise when the canisters are shaken.  Don't make each canister sound the same, instead, make small groups of the canisters, and give each group of canisters a unique sound.  Make enough canisters so that each student gets one.

For example, if you have 20 students in class, make 20 canisters.  Fill 4 with BB's, 4 with paper clips, 4 with gravel, and 4 with pennies.  Make sure to secure the lids so that the students can't look inside.  Then randomly give out the canisters and instruct the students to find the other members of their "species" by walking around and listening to everyone's canisters when they are played "maraca-style."  In a few minutes they will all find each other.

Depending on the age of your students, you can make the exercise easier or harder by making the canisters that correspond with each "species" sound more or less alike (this will take some experimenting!).  Or, for an even more interesting activity, figure out a way to incorporate rhythms into the codes- the big challenge there will be teaching the rhythms to individual students without giving away which group is which.  And the more students, the more fun the exercise is, so be sure to invite neighboring classrooms!

• Some of the "bees" that you see flying around your garden aren't really bees at all.  Many of them are convincing "bee mimics."  There are many kinds of flies that look and act almost exactly like bees.  They hover, they feed on nectar, they pollinate plants, and they even have the familiar black and yellow color patterns that we associate with bees.   So how do you tell the difference between bee flies and real bees?  Well, since bee flies are flies, they only have two wings.  All flies (order Diptera) have just two wings, and all bees (order Hymenoptera, which also includes ants and wasps) have four wings.  Also, bee flies cannot sting.  Stingers are unique to bees, ants, and wasps.  Another big difference: bees have chewing mouthparts- mandibles that can grind food.  Bee flies have sucking mouthparts that are only used for consuming liquid food.

  Pictured below are a honeybee and a bee fly.  Which one is which (run your mouse over the picture to find out)?  And why would a fly want to look like a bee?
  

• Most people know that Kentucky has two spiders that are considered dangerous: the black widow and the brown recluse.  A bite from either of these spiders should receive medical attention.  Most other spiders are not dangerous to people.  But even though they aren't dangerous, almost all spiders are venomous.  Most spider species have fangs that can inject venom (only a few rare spiders lack venom glands).

  In most species, the venom is usually just strong enough to kill or paralyze the tiny arthropods that make up most of a spider's diet.  So even though most spiders aren't harmful to people, almost all of them use chemical weaponry to catch prey.

  Read more about Kentucky's spiders in our Common Spiders Found Around Homes and Buildings Entfact.

• The butterfly featured at the head of this newsletter is called a "hairstreak."  Hairstreaks are in the "Lycaenidae" family of butterflies.  This family also includes blues, coppers, and other small, delicate butterflies.  As a group, Lycaenids are often referred to as "gossomer-winged" butterflies.

  Visit the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) website for more pictures of gossomer-winged butterflies.

Blake Newton
S-225 Agriculture Science Center - North
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40546-0091
859-257-5107
Email: blaken@uky.edu

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