Let’s have a little fun, a little learning and a little YIKES! today with the YELLOW MEADOW ANT: Common to Central Europe, the Yellow Meadow Ant is also found in North America, North Africa and Asia. As you may have guessed, the Yellow Meadow Ant is yellow, but its color shades vary into brown, too.  The Worker Yellow Meadow Ant [...]

Let’s have a little fun, a little learning and a little YIKES! today with the XERCES BLUE BUTTERFLY (pronounced Zer-seas): Sadly, the beautiful Xerces Blue Butterfly is eXtinct.  X-ed off the planet. (This is a YIKES that’s unimaginable.) Perhaps more sadly,  the Xerces Blue Butterfly is the first butterfly in North America to have become extinct at the hands of [...]

Let’s have a little fun, a little learning and a little YIKES! today with the WATER MEASURER: Not many creatures on earth are able to literally walk on water… but the Water Measurer is one that can. The Water Measurer gets its name from its appearance of slowly, methodically and deliberately measuring water without breaking its surface.  The long, thin [...]

Let’s have a little fun, a little learning and a little YIKES! today with the RED VELVET MITE: What looks like a tiny, red velvet thumbprint? The Red Velvet Mite, of course. The Red Velvet Mite is considered an arachnid and is a member of the subphylum Chelicerata, which derives from the Greek word meaning crab’s claws. The Red Velvet [...]

Let’s have a little fun, a little learning and a little YIKES! today with the TSETSE FLY: The Tsetse Fly is large biting fly that inhabits Africa.  It resembles a common housefly, but is larger. Both male and female Tsetse Flies suck on the blood of mammals… and its this bloodsucking that causes so much harm to human beings and [...]

Let’s have a little fun, a little learning and a little YIKES! today with the STINK BUG: Let’s just begin this whole discussion of the Stink Bug with a YIKES! The Stink Bug stinks. Seriously. The Stink Bug gets its name for its ability to release a very unpleasant odor when it’s hurt or its home is threatened. The Stink [...]

Let’s have a little fun, a little learning and a little YIKES! today with the RED DAMSELFLY: Actually, there are two species of the Red Damselfly… the Small Red and the Large Red and both are found in Wales, southern Britain and Ireland. There are distinct differences that make the two identifiable, the most obvious difference being size.  The Small [...]

Let’s have a little fun, a little learning and a little YIKES! today with the QUEEN ALEXANDRA BIRDWING BUTTERFLY: The Queen Alexandra Birdwing Butterfly, with its 10 – 12 inch wingspan, is a rare butterfly that looks as beautiful and as regal as its name.  It is known to be the largest butterfly in existence. (That’s a 10 – 12 [...]

Let’s have a little fun, a little learning and a little YIKES! today with the PRAYING MANTIS: The Praying Mantis is comprised of 3 distinct body regions – the moveable triangular head, thorax and abdomen.  What looks like the neck is really the elongated thorax. But the characteristic that makes the Praying Mantis so interesting is its bent and prominent [...]

Let’s have a little fun, a little learning and a little YIKES! today with the OREGON SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY: In 1979, the Oregon Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio oregonius) was designated the official Oregon State Insect. That same year, this lovely butterfly was printed on a 13 cent U.S. Postage Stamp… The Oregon Swallowtail Butterfly is a native of the Northwest.  It has [...]