聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Bugs: what birds and toads consider fast food! Bugs are an interesting topic which has been on my mind for a long time. Just last evening, Marion talked to me about fruit flies. I took a good look, but I didn鈥檛 see any fruit that was flying! Marion kindly informed me that she was referring to the tiny little insects that were coming off the apples that she had harvested.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Then horseflies came to my mind.聽 As far as I know the only horse that ever did fly was Pegasus in Greek mythology. I have seen and experienced fast horses that might seem to fly, but I have never seen a winged horse. Ergo, a horsefly is a name for an insect that is found around horses.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Now deer flies are a whole different matter. It would seem obvious that it would be a description originated by a hapless hunter who was unable to bag a fast-running deer. And again there are no deer with wings, only horns (Editor: antlers, not horns), which incidentally don鈥檛 make any sound, as they don鈥檛 use them even while crossing at the deer crossing signs. Therefore, it must again be descriptive of insects buzzing around deer. There is not much I can say about houseflies.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Flies are insects of the order Diptera, a name derived from the Greek words 鈥榙i,鈥櫬爉eaning two, and聽鈥榩tera,鈥櫬爉eaning wings. Diptera is a large order containing an estimated 1,000,000 species, although only about 150,000 species have been described! And we wonder where all the darn flies come from! We swat one and another 10 take its place!
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Spanish fly was believed to be an aphrodisiac for men, and was created in the 1970s. It wasn鈥檛 a fly at all, but rather a liquid derived from a special beetle. And if a special beetle is good for men, then what about the ladybug for women? Nope, the name ladybug actually has a quasi-Catholic religious background. 聽was often depicted wearing a red cloak in early paintings, and the spots on the seven-spot ladybug (which was the most common ladybug in Europe) were said to symbolise her聽听补苍诲听.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Mosquitos are small devilish creatures that lay eggs in bodies of water.聽 The eggs can survive thousands of years before they hatch. In other words, they are in abundant supply, as I鈥檓 sure you have noticed during your nature hikes. Females have tube-like mouthparts that pierce the host鈥檚 skin to draw blood which they feast on, which is similar to what vampires do. The saliva of the mosquito often causes an irritating rash that is a serious nuisance. More serious, however, is the role of the mosquito as a vector of diseases. They have passed on from host to host many harmful infections including the Zika virus. Mosquitos are considered the deadliest of all the bugs.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Then we have the no-see-ums (which are one to four millimetres long), also known as biting-midges, sand-fliesand punkies. Their Latin name ceratopogonidae is longer than the bug!聽 聽 These are the bugs that attack you while you鈥檙e sitting on the beach with your favorite person enjoying the setting sun in the early fall. No-see-umstake the romance right out of the moment!聽
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Flies, mosquitos and no-see-ums are clever little bugs, because they always know when we are outside having a drink and a barbecue!
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Lena yelled to Ole from the bathroom that there was a strange bug flying around in there.
聽 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 She had just started to draw hot water for her bath and get ready for bed. Sometimes she liked to burn scented candles while relaxing, and this was one of those times. Ole ran in and spotted a mosquito that was flitting around the light. It had been trapped in a cobweb and was still dangling a piece of web from its body. This is what made it look so strange.聽
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Anyway, Ole picked up a slipper and started to swat the thing. Ole missed and asked Lena to hand him the fly swatter, but he made one more swipe then yelled, "Never mind." He had contacted on the last swing and knocked the mosquito into the candle flame. There was a puff of smoke and the candle went out. Lena asked Ole if he got it.聽
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Ole picked up a pair of tweezers and lifted the dead bug out of the melted wax, held it up and said, "Yeah, I waxed the little sucker."
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Creepy Crawlers were playing against a team of flies. The Flies were winning by 30 points. At the third quarter, the Creepy Crawlers put a millipede in the game who scored a total of 50 points. At the end of the game, the coach of the Flies asked the coach of the Creepy Crawlers, "Why didn't you put the millipede in during the first quarter?"
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Creepy Crawlers鈥� coach replied, "Because it takes him forever to put his shoes on!"
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Sven and his grandson Ole entered Sven鈥檚 cabin in the woods. It was dark so they kept the lights off until they were inside and had closed the door to keep from attracting pesky insects.
聽 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 A few fireflies, however, followed them in. Ole noticed them before his grandpa did and whispered, 鈥淚t鈥檚 no use, Grandpa. The bugs are coming after us with flashlights!鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Knut said, "Know what Sven? I killed six flies yesterday. Three were males, two were females and one was a short story writer."聽
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 "How could you tell them apart, Knut?" asked Sven.聽
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲ell,鈥� said Knut, 鈥渢hat was easy. The three males were sitting on a case of beer, the two females were on the phone and the short story writer was posed on the keyboard!"
