Termite vs. Ant

Termite season is among us.  Do you know what they look like?  Termites are often confused with ants, so here’s a quick course in the differences to help you determine which pest you have.

• Termites have rectangular shaped bodies with no constrictions.

• Ants have a narrow, constricted waist.  

   

• Termites have straight, beaded antennae.

• Ants have bent antennae.  

• When wings are present, termites have wings of equal length.

• Winged ants will have a shorter hind wing and longer front wing.

• Termites are generally light in color.

• Ants are usually dark in color.

• Termites only eat wood, including paper products.

• Ants will eat just about anything! 

Roly Poly Fun!

Photo of a pillbug by Joe Buckingham at photographicdictionary.com

This morning I was trying to get some cleaning done which included picking up tiny legos on the floor before they got sucked up in the vaccuum never to be seen again!  Then I noticed a small dark thing on the floor that wasn't a lego at all.  It was a roly poly, which my 3 year old and I then preceded to play with for a few minutes.  I decided to learn more about them, and here are some of the interesting facts I learned:

Roly Polies, also called pill bugs and potato bugs, are in the Armadillidiidae family of woodlice.  Despite the names we call them, they are not bugs at all.  They are crustaceans, more closely related to shrimp than insects.  Like their sea cousins, they use gills to breathe.  Although they need moist environments to breathe, they cannot survive being fully submerged in water. 

Pill bugs roll themselves into a ball through a process called conglobation.  This little trick is where most of it's names come from.  This rolling action is a key defense against predators and may be triggered by stimuli like vibrations or pressure.  I barely touched our roly poly friend and he curled right up.  As he unrolled, he was lying on his back, and my little boy said, "Ew, it's legs are spikey!"  After seeing the little legs wiggle in the air my son was ready to move on to the next fun thing that did not involve "bugs." 

Pill bugs are decomposers.  They digest material from dead plants and animals and waste products (including their own-yes, they eat their own poop) and return essential nutrients back into the soil.  They are often found in decaying organic matter and in gardens.

Like a kangaroo, a mother pill bug carries her young in a pouch under her belly.

Pill bugs can contract viral infections causing them to look bright blue or purple.

Because of hemocyanin in the blood which contains copper ions, their blood appears blue.

photo from wikipedia.org

photo from wikipedia.org

Amazing Bugs You Probably Didn't Know Exist!

Take a few minutes to check out this youtube video. Whether you like bugs or not, you will be amazed at some of the images in this video!

We want to hear from you!

If you haven't already, go to www.facebook.com/midgapestcontrol and "like" us.  Then post any bug questions, comments, topics you'd like to see covered on the blog, or crazy bug stories of your own!  We'd love to hear them.  See something interesting around your house?  Take a picture and post it on our facebook page.  Not sure what something is?  Let us help you identify it.  Help us make this blog fun and informative! 

Love among bugs!

It's the season of love with Valentine's cards and gifts everywhere you go.  So, here are some interesting facts about mating among insects:

-Courtship rituals among mating insects include serenades, dances, physical touch, chemical aphrodisiacs, and gifts.

-Male balloon flies present a female with a small, balloon shaped cocoon as a gift.  Sounds sweet, right?  The reason they do this is because the female will eat the male if given a chance, and unwrapping the gift keeps the female distracted long enough for the male to love her and leave.

-The male gypsy moth can smell the female from 1.8 miles away!

-The female praying mantis initiates mating by ripping the male's head off (ouch!).

-Male crickets chirp to attract a female mate.

-Mosquitoes sing duets with each other.

-A female firefly flickers her light in a specific way to let passing males know her species, her sex, and that she is interested in mating.

-Male mealworm beetles apply anti-aphrodisiac pheromones to the female after mating to make her less desirable to other males.

image from Lawrence Wee on free-stockphotos.com

Eavesdropping Spiders

wolf spider observing video playback of male courtship (credit: George Uetz)

So did you ever try to outdo potential competition when it came to winning the heart of that special someone?  According to a recent article on sciencedaily.com, a study has been done to show how male wolf spiders use eavesdropping during mating to match or even one-up the visual signals of their rivals.  This type of behavior is common among humans and other animals, but it has only been seen in vertebrates until now.  This new revelation among spiders shows us they may be more complex and intelligent than we realized.

In this study, male wolf spiders were collected from the wild, placed in a lab with a video of a "virtual" male spider that was sending out courtship signals, and observed.  The signals include a leg-tapping mating dance.  The researchers found that experience matters.  This behavior was first noticed in the wild during mating season.  Previous studies on lab-raised spiders, however, were inconclusive, leading them to believe the spiders in this study had been exposed to these courtship traits previously in nature.  The spiders reacted as though their "virtual rival" was courting a nearby female.    

Ants Take Flight!

Ants are divided into three castes: workers, males, and queens.  The ants that people see looking for food are the worker ants.  These are sterile, wingless females.  The males and queens are the reproductive members of an ant colony. 
Queens are the largest members of the colony. They have wings, but they lose them after mating and finding a new place to build a colony.  Males also have wings, and their sole purpose is to mate with new queens.  They will die shortly after mating.
Males and queens will usually mate mid to late spring or summer by swarming, or flying, from their nests.  Occasionally swarms will emerge during late winter on warm, sunny days.   Swarming typically only lasts for one day, and colonies in the same area will swarm at the same time.



photo by Sharon Warner (bugguide.net)


Ants nest in a variety of places.  Some build their homes in soil, producing characteristic mounds.  Others may nest in decaying or moisture damaged wood.  Ants can also be found building nests indoors behind mouldings, baseboards, or countertops. 
If you see swarming ants indoors, this means there is either an ant nest inside, underneath, or very close to the structure of the home or building.

Winged ants are sometimes mistaken for winged termites, which also swarm.  If you have swarming termites inside, it is an indication that there is a termite colony in your home.  To help identify the correct pest, look for these differences:
Ants-narrow, constricted waist; bent antennae; hind wings shorter than front wings
Termites-rectangular shaped body with no constrictions; straight, beaded antennae; four wings of equal size and shape