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Summer is here, so the insects can’t be far behind. You might think of houseflies, ants, ticks, and the dreaded mosquito, but let’s leave those subjects for another time. There are some really fascinating and (dare I say it?) nice bugs we can enjoy in the summer.
Honeybees
A honeybee will sting you if you step on one barefoot, but we couldn’t get along without them. Honeybees traipse from flower to flower, ensuring that our food crops are pollinated. Pollination is a fortunate side effect; what the bees are after is sweet nectar, which they concentrate and covert to honey. And there are few things better on a hot fresh biscuit!
Fireflies
According to The Firefly Files, fireflies produce light “via a chemical reaction consisting of Luciferin (a substrate) combined with Luciferase (an enzyme), ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and oxygen.” Personally, I just love to watch them blink on and off in the distance as I enjoy a late night campfire with friends.
More delightful bugs, after the jump.
Butterflies
There are 24,000 different species of butterflies, each more beautiful than the last. People plan entire gardens around the plants’ ability to attract butterflies.
Luna Moths
Luna moths only live about a week as adults, so if you see one, consider it a rare treat. They are more likely to come out at night, so watch for them by the light of the moon.
Ladybugs
A single ladybug can eat 5,000 other insects in its lifetime, which makes them the perfect addition to a garden. And they’re cute, too.
Praying Mantis
Praying mantids tend to have a gruesome sex life, but that’s their business. Seeing one can startle you, since they blend in so well with their plant habitat. Praying mantids eat other insects, which can be beneficial in a garden unless they eat other beneficial insects, such as ladybugs. For an insect, they make fairly good pets, and can live up to three years in captivity.
Do you have any to add to this list?
Comments (16)
Comment
I agree that lady bugs are useful and pretty, but they get pretty gross when they overpopulate. A friend had a lady bug problem around her house, we had to brush ourselves off before entering, and get someone to get our backs! Yeesh!
posted by Shann on 5-29-2007 at 9:09 am
Mosquito Hawks and Dragonflies
posted by Johnny Cat on 5-29-2007 at 10:04 am
Dragonflies! They are beautiful and they eat massive quantities of mosquitoes.
posted by cayyee on 5-29-2007 at 10:06 am
June Bugs - You see the big beetles at night. They often take to the air, but are horrible at navigating. They fly blindly until they hit something and then they just stick to it - often someone’s hair. When you pick one up, it will hiss at you like a cat; which is ironic, because cats think they are fillet mignon.
Grass hoppers - OK these aren’t that delightful. However if you collect a quart jar full of grasshoppers and then empty them out into a chicken coop, you will get quite a show. The normally awkward farm fowl become suddenly graceful and acrobatic when chasing dozens of hopping arthropods around the cage. (When was the last time you saw a hen execute a full back-flip 4 feet in to the air, snatch a grasshopper off of the roof while fully inverted and land back on it’s feet?) I can only describe the result as a cross between “Chicken Run” and “The Matrix”. We used to call the newly created martial art Chick-Fu.
posted by n2y2 on 5-29-2007 at 11:03 am
Fireflies are the Pennsylvania State Insect. A teacher from my elementary school and her class suggested it, although that was long before my time.
posted by leofishy on 5-29-2007 at 12:55 pm
I very much enjoy the hummingbird moths that I occasionally see around my gardens.
Much more so than the real hummingbirds which seem to have it out for me.
/me shakes his fist
posted by tinfoil on 5-29-2007 at 1:15 pm
Luna moths are pretty from afar, but they’re scary when one surprises you at night. I remember accidentally squishing a lightning bug one time and seeing the phosphorescent fluid going everywhere. Poor bug. :(
posted by Stephen on 5-29-2007 at 1:19 pm
And as someone with long hair, I can honestly say June Bugs are one of my least favourite lifeforms. Though I never knew they hissed, I’ll have to check that out!
posted by tinfoil on 5-29-2007 at 1:37 pm
June bugs are NOT a nice bug to enjoy in the summer… although it is entertaining to flick them off the screen door by thumping them from the opposite side.
posted by Jason! on 5-29-2007 at 2:19 pm
TOADS! We spend lots of time catching the dumb, but harmless june bugs and placing them strategically so our backyard toads can nab them easily - wildly entertaining. The toads also sing through the night for about two months each year. Although it is loud and croaky, it is also surprisingly soothing.
Spider webs with summer dew on them also bring me great joy in the summer. Sometimes we catch prey for spiders, too. Can’t get enough insectivore predator action!
BTW, we live in a city (about a million people). I’m always happy to know that nature still likes our backyard.
posted by elizabutt on 5-29-2007 at 2:44 pm
WALKING STICKS! I can’t believe you left out walking sticks! They are the coolest insects around, period.
We’ve got a carpenter bee problem at our house, and even though they burrow into all the surfaces of our log cabin, it’s pretty neat to have what resembles a buzzing garland on our front porch.
Ladybug infestations are common in the winter here in the south, and once you’ve had one land in your mouth while you sleep, you tend to lose your love for them.
Another insect I have no love for: wasps. I was cleaning my sister’s car out and a wasp kept trying to get at something sweet that was spilled under her back seat. Since the car was where the wasp wanted to be, by default it became the place I didn’t want to be.
posted by Daylightrambler on 5-29-2007 at 4:51 pm
Ummmmm…
I may be wrong here, but I’m not sure that a toad is actually an insect.
posted by Pointy-Hatted Geek on 5-29-2007 at 5:44 pm
Cicadas anyone?
posted by arabe on 5-29-2007 at 9:29 pm
Nothing says summer like a field full of chirping crickets in the moonlight. Though they can get annoying when there’s too much of them.
And let us not forget those ever enigmatic worms!(not exactly bugs, but close enough) They renew the soil and help things grow. Those guys are truly fascinating, I mean what other anumal can survive being cut in half AND is hermaphroditic?
posted by heather on 5-29-2007 at 10:25 pm
To be nit-picky: Honeybees coNvert the nectar, not covert.
But, almost all of these insects are ones which we see less and less often. It’s already June and I haven’t seen a bee. Lightening bugs aren’t doing too badly. When I was a kid there were swarms of June Bugs. You couldn’t step outside without them regularly smacking into you. They are very rare now.
Re: earthworms. A really good book: The Earth Moved
posted by Bassman on 5-30-2007 at 6:35 am
No on the cicadas. Here we get the 7 year ones that infest everything. It’s extremely gross.
Hoorah on the walking sticks/stick bug/Phasmatodea! (I definitely just looked that one up :) Did you know there’s about 2,800 described species of those little darlings?
posted by Beth on 5-30-2007 at 8:52 am