American Pest Control

Map of the Fruit Fly Life Cycle

Video: The Ladybug

Cute stop animation about the ingenuity of wings

 

Insect Hybridzz

Insect robots designed by Mike Libby from Insect Lab include scorpions, spiders, beetles, grasshoppers, and other fascinators.

Mosquito Impostors?

 

 

 

These insects are often mistaken for mosquitos...

Midges (Chironomidae) are the most wide spread and numerous insects resembling mosquitoes. Adult Midges are commonly observed flying in swarms or "clouds", or are seen resting on fences, walls, under eaves and in protected areas such as porches and entryways. Individual adults will live about seven days depending upon the species and weather conditions. The larvae develop in sources having extensive areas of standing water. See page 9 for additional information.

 

 

Dixid Midges (Dixidae) are common around moist areas where vegetation is abundant and may be seen swarming at dusk along the edges of streams and lakes. The adults are short lived, usually being active less than a week. The larvae are found in slow moving water, at the surface, and swim in a characteristic "U" shape.

 

 

Winter Crane Flies (Trichoceridae) are often quite abundant in Alameda County in the winter. They so closely resemble mosquitoes that they are frequently mistaken for them and reported to the District. Their larvae are found in roots, fungi, decaying vegetation, rotting leaves, manure, and other vegetative material.

 

  Wood Gnats (Anisopodidae) larvae are found in or near decaying vegetation, fermenting sap, animal manure, tree trunks, mud and sometimes sewage. Adults are found on foliage in or near damp places, some are found around flowing sap. They are sometimes seen in small swarms.

 

   Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) are quite abundant in Alameda County near creeks, flood control channels and other water sources. Their larvae are found in most aquatic habitats and can live in moving water.

 

  Owl Midges (Psychodidae) are small hairy flies that can move about very nimbly, but are weak fliers. The larvae are aquatic or semi-aquatic and are very common in sewers and drains. The larvae are able to live in soapy water and are a good indicator of a leak in a shower/bath, sink, or laundry drain.

 

  Crane Flies (Tipulidae) are delicate insects varying in size from 1/4 inch to as large as 1 1/2 inches in length. The largest crane flies are sometimes called "daddy-long-legs", "gully nippers", or "mosquito hawks". They do not bite people and they do not eat mosquitoes. Some species of crane flies emerge from aquatic sources and others from terrestrial or decaying vegetation sources.

 

Video: Habronattus dossenus/Jumping Spider Mating Dance with Sound

The art of courtship, with regards to spiders, is quite a complex process.  Here is a clip of Habronattus dossenus....watch as the male does an intricate dance as he attempts to communicate his desire to mate to a female who is playing a game of hard to get.

 

Video: Dancing Honeybee Using Vector Calculus to Communicate

How do bees understand where to gather pollen? Forager bees, one in a series of bees who attend to specific tasks, participate in a special dance to communicate the location of flowering plants, indicating the source of nutrients.  This video attempts to decode the honey bee dance.

 

Video: NOVA | Lord of the Ants | The Ant Whisperer | PBS

Chemical communication is the key to the language of insects.  Watch and see as a human learns the art of mimicry using chemicals from the abdomen of an ant.

 

Video: Insect Communication

How do insects communicate?  How do caterpillars communicate?  Here is a glimpse into the secret tiny world of caterpillar communication...

 

Photo Album: Vintage Ant Farm

Back in the day, as well as in the present, one can purchase an ant farm for hours of entertainment.  Here is a nice collection of time suspended imagery of ant farms from the past...

 

Ant Farm Family

Beautifully Subdued 80's Ant Farm

Woah, look at these...

Mail Order Ant Farm

Ant Farms From Outer Space

Video: FLREC Termite Lab

"UF/IFAS termite expert and lab director Nan-Yao Su shows and explains how subterranean termite research structures used to study large colonies are designed and engineered in the lab."