The first changes have already taken place. The Haiku button has been deleted and replaced with a Search button for the museum specimen database. What this means is that there is not going to be a Haiku contest this year. Sorry to all the poetry lovers out there but I am a music lover not a poetry lover and with the loss of personal at the museum here there is no way I feel like I can take on the job of judging the entries.

The database continues to grow in record numbers. Currently there are over 60,650 records and growing. While just a drop in the bucket of all the specimens in the collection it is a start and a number that is added to usually daily. I am also taking images of the holotype labels and hope to begin uploading them soon.

I am happy to announce the North Carolina Entomological Society’s annual photo contest! Here are the details -

TO ENTER: Submit digital images (JPGs preferred) of living insects or related arthropods to cffunaro@ncsu.edu. All images must be received no later than Monday, October 19, 2012. Please include your name, a title, and category of competition for each image (category choices below). Each participant may submit a maximum of six images. Images will be displayed and judged on a screen using a LCD projector, so keep the image size and resolution appropriate (96 dpi, 2-3 MB). The contest is open both to members and non-members. Although emailed images are preferred, CD versions can be sent to:

Colin Funaro
Department of Entomology
Box 7613, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7613, USA

JUDGING: All submissions will be reviewed by a team of judges and the top four images in each of the following five categories will be selected for final judging at the North Carolina Entomological Society Fall Banquet on October 25th, 2012 at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh.

Categories:

1. Adult insect or related arthropod (excluding moths and butterflies)
2. Adult Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
3. Immature insect or related arthropod (caterpillars, nymphs, etc.)
4. Unusual / Extreme / Close-up of Insect, Arthropod, or other Invertebrate (unusual or extreme invertebrates; interesting behavior; close-up photographs)
5. Young photographer (any insect or related arthropod submitted by a
   contestant 12 years old or younger)

An image may be entered in only one category (indicated by contestant in the email submission). The criteria for judging images will be determined by the judging team.

The top four images in each category will be shown twice, category by category, at the Fall Banquet and attendees will cast votes the “Best Image” in each category and “Best in Show.”

RECOGNITION: If possible, all images submitted for the contest will be displayed in a presentation at the North Carolina Entomological Society Fall Banquet. Winners of “Best Image” in each category and “Best in Show” will receive an award certificate. Winning images will be displayed on the Society’s web page with proper credit to the photographer.

If you have questions regarding the contest or if you would like information regarding the Fall Banquet, contact Colin Funaro (cffunaro@ncsu.edu).

We hope to receive some great submissions this year! Good Luck!

This may be the “Insect Minute,” but a tick is no insect! Ticks are a part of the subclass Acari making them close relatives of mites and  distantly related to spiders. Ticks have four life stages, beginning as an egg that hatches into a six-legged larva. The six-legged larva immediately sets out to look for an appropriate host to find a blood meal. Ticks, both male and female, need blood to continue to the next stage of development. Once the larva has fed it will molt into an eight-legged nymph which, after feeding, will molt into a reproductive adult.

Tick Life Cycle from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Ticks find their hosts through detecting the breath, body odor or body heat of an animal or through questing. When a tick is questing for a host it will climb to the end of a leaf or tip of a blade of grass and hold on tightly with the last two sets of legs and stretch the fore legs out, holding this position until an animal comes by to climb on to.  Once the tick is “aboard” it will begin looking for a place of attachment, preferably a location with thinner skin. Location found, they cut the skin’s surface and insert the feeding tube. Ticks maintain attachment either by having a barbed feeding tube or secreting an adhesive like substance that sticks the tick in place.

The most common ticks found in NC are the American Dog tick, the brown dog tick, the Lone star tick and the black-legged or deer tick. The American dog tick and brown dog tick both carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The brown dog tick is entirely dark brown and the American dog tick is brown with white markings on the body and legs. The lonestar tick is named for the single white mark in the center of its otherwise brown body and carries the disease Ehrliciosis.  The black-legged or deer tick is easily recognized by its black legs and is a carrier of Lyme disease.

from Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Ticks can be difficult to avoid, but there are methods of prevention that can be employed to protect you. If you are going into an area where you would expect to find ticks, like a wooded area or a grassy meadow, tuck your pants into your socks. It may look

‘dorky’, but it can prevent a tick from quietly latching on to your leg catching you completely unaware. If you want to increase the protection, as well as “style points”, wrap the area where your pants tuck into your socks with duct tape. New suitors may not come-a-callin’, but neither will the ticks. If you will be going camping, hunting or frequenting areas where ticks are present it is a good idea to spray your pants, socks and shoes with permethrin (allowing it to dry before donning the clothes), a chemical that has proven to be very effective in warding off ticks. WARNING*** Permethrin is toxic in its liquid form, so use gloves when applying it, do not get it on your skin or in your nose or mouth.

If you do find a tick on your person and it has latched on, it is important that you move it properly. Not only do ticks carry bacterial diseases they transfer to you through their bite but they also carry different types of staphylococcus bacteria that can cause an infection at the site of the bite. Once you locate the tick, do not bother with trying to suffocate it with oils or fingernail polish in attempt to make the tick release your skin, it should be removed immediately. Remove the tick by grasping it, with tweezers, as close to your skin as possible and then squeeze the tick tightly and pull upwards, being careful not to twist or jerk the tick. Once the tick is removed sterilize the area with rubbing alcohol or by washing the area with soap and water.

Now, what to do with the tick? DO NOT THROW IT AWAY! We recommend taping the tick to a calendar on the day in which you found it. If you begin to exhibiting a rash or flu-like symptoms, visit a doctor immediately and bring the tick with you. It may aid the doctor in properly diagnosing you more quickly.

Do you want to have a guide to ticks in your pocket? Check out this really cool app that was developed by a professor and his students here at North Carolina State University!

http://web.ncsu.edu/abstract/technology/tp-got-ticks/

http://itunes.apple.com/app/tickid/id531348104?mt=8

Transcript of Insect Minute 5 – Ticks

Hi this is Heather with your Insect Minute brought to you by WKNC and the NC State Insect Museum.
We have a special report on ticks this week! We go to Buzz Beesome in the field to find out more!

Buzz…

Buzz: We have here Miss Henrietta Hemophile. Now madam, you are a tick are you not? So, you’re not a true insect is that right?  You’re a member of Acari?

Tick: Yes, that’s right, our closest relatives are mites (mites)

Buzz: and you’re getting ready to add to the family I see.

Tick: I am indeed! Soon I will lay my eggs in the grasses around my habitat

Buzz: and you just ….. leave them in the grass?

Tick: They’ll be fine! Soon adorable little six-legged larvae will hatch and immediately begin searching out an appropriate host for a blood meal.

Buzz: uh….Blood meal?

Tick: Yes, ticks, male and female, need blood to continue development.  (like milk for mammals) Once the larva feeds it molts into an 8-legged nymph which, after feeding develops into an adult.

Buzz: And how do you FIND this……blood?

Tick: In two ways, either through detecting the breath, body odor or body heat of the animal or through questing.

Buzz: Questing?

Tick: We climb to the top of grasses or leaves
and
hold on, with our front legs
outstretched until an animal comes along to climb on to. It can take a while to
find the right host. It takes some of us up to 3 years to complete development.
In fact, a lot of us don’t make it.

Buzz: I am saddened, really,  but that IS hard to believe with all the ticks I’ve carefully removed using tweezers and sterilized with alcohol! Back to you in the studio, Heather

Thanks Buzz!

If you would like to find out more about ticks, how to identify them and the diseases they carry visit the museum’s website at insectmuseum.org where you also find information about our museum and read our blog where we talk about interesting stuff going on in the world of entomology.

The members of the family Cicadidae sing using organs called tymbals which are located on the abdomen of the males. The tymbal is like a drum. A complex membrane with taenidia-like striations running parallel along the surface and as the membrane vibrates and the enlarged chambers within the trachael system in the insects body act as a resonating chamber.

Image from Cicada Mania

Image from what-when-how

The males use the tymbals to attract females and have distinctive calls to ensure that they attract the females in their species. Males and females have tympana on the underside of their abdomen which the females use to hear and orient toward potential mates, while the males use the tympana to identify competeing males.

Image from Cicada Mania

The life cycle of cicadas is pretty neat, a female cicada will lay eggs into the twigs of a woody host plant using a lance-like ovipositor. When the nymph hatches it drops to the ground and, using it’s fossorial legs, burrows into the soil where it spends the majority of its life feeding on juices it sucks from tree roots. The cicadas we are that we hear every summer are known as the dog-day or annual cicada. The latter name is actually a misnomer. Many believe that the dog-day cicada has a one year life cycle when in fact they live under ground for up to 8 years before they emerge. Because they emergence patterns are asynchronous they do not make as big of an impression. When it is time for cicadas to come above ground the nymph will dig to the surface, climb part way up the tree and molt into its adult form.

The periodical cicada get the most attention because of the grand synchronized emergence that occur every 13 to 17 years. These cicadas are in the genus Magicicada, which looks a lot like magic cicada. That is not too far off when you consider that no one knows exactly how they time their appearance. What is it that signals all the members of a brood to emerge at the same time? Some researches have hypothesized that it is a temperature shift, others believe it could be that the cicadas are tracking the seasonal changes in their host plant until they reach 13 or 17 cycles. It could be a combination of both or something else entirely but because they are so long lived it is hard to pinpoint the reason.  Regardless of how they do it, it makes an impact on anyone who is lucky enough to experience it.

photo by billy liar

If you would like to learn more about cicadas there are plenty of websites dedicated to them. They are such enigmatic little creatures it is no surprise!

1. DrMetcalf database http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/digital/metcalf/cicadas.html
2. Cicada Mania http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/
3. Track brood emergence of Magicicadas at http://www.magicicada.org/magicicada_i.php

Transcript of Insect Minute 4 – Cicadas

Hi this is Heather with your Insect Minute brought to you by WKNC and the NC State Insect Museum.
Do you love the sound of cicadas singing on a warm summer night? Typically the serenaders you hear are Dog Day Cicadas, which have broods that emerge every year. But, if you were in Wake County in the summer of 2011 you may have heard a different sound. The sound of hundreds of thousands of periodical cicadas singing in unison! These infrequent visitors are in the genus MAGICICADA. Magicicadas have an amazing life history. They live underground as nymphs for 13-17 years feeding on the juices they suck from tree roots. Then, in a synchronized emergence they take to the trees where they molt into their adult forms, feed and mate. Magicicadas have black bodies, orange wing veins and striking red eyes. The dog day cicada has green wing veins and lack red eyes, making the red eyes a key distinguishing character.
Guess what is coming in 2013? You got it; North Carolina will see another grand emergence of magicicadas. So keep your eyes to the trees and your earplugs at the ready!
If you’d like to learn more about the cicadas visit the museum’s website at insectmuseum.org where you find out more about the museum and read our blog where we talk about interesting stuff going on in the world of entomology.