Bugs of Spring

Bugs+of+Spring

Yazmine Franco-Santana, 10th Grade, BCECHS

During the spring season, plants begin to grow and flowers to bloom, animals awaken from hibernation and in some parts of the world, spring brings rain that falls for hours on end, facilitating the growth of different plant life. This is the time when bugs also start to come out and flourish. Here are some facts about some of our bugs of spring! 

  • With special help from out amazing biology teacher here at BCECHS, Dr. Fisher

Flatidae

This term “Flatidae” refers to a family of insects also known as planthoppers.  They feed on the phloem (or sugary sap) of lots of different types of plants.  They are not very heat tolerant, so you probably will only see them in the spring outside or in the shade during summer.  They actually walk very slowly and are known to hop from one leaf or stem to another to move around, since they are slow.

Rugosana Querci

This is the scientific name for an insect that has no common name because they are so abundant and occur in so many different versions, that this particular one was never named or was too hard to specify with all its similar relatives.  These are known as leafhoppers.  They belong to the group called Cicadellidae, which also includes the Cicadas that make that eerie summer sound in July when it is really hot outside, and also emerge in large numbers every 13 years….Leafhoppers are covered in a water repellent that also contains pheromones (hormones that attract the other sex) and have strong leg muscles for hopping.

Gulf Fritillary

This butterfly is also know as Agraulis vanillae (Linnaeus).  It is common to the deep south or in warmer areas of the south and can be found in Brunswick County in a lot of butterfly gardens. They often form breeding colonies in states like NC and then fly back to Florida after mating.   Their larvae looks sort of like a long and large version of the covid virus, check it out:

This insect is also known as Malacosoma americanum.  This is the rather disgusting caterpillar that forms a web and later brown covering on the base of branches of certain tree species, like black cherry, pecans, and other fruit trees.  Inside the web is a mass of hundreds of disgusting caterpillars that are massed together in a ball.  People in the south with pecan trees used to light fire to the webs to remove them from the trees, as they could eat all the leaves from a mature pecan tree and ruin the later nut harvest.  When burning the web net, the flaming ooey gooey caterpillars would fall on the ground and remain on fire until their death.

Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth

This insect is also known as Malacosoma americanum.  This is the rather disgusting caterpillar that forms a web and later brown covering on the base of branches of certain tree species, like black cherry, pecans, and other fruit trees.  Inside the web is a mass of hundreds of disgusting caterpillars that are massed together in a ball.  People in the south with pecan trees used to light fire to the webs to remove them from the trees, as they could eat all the leaves from a mature pecan tree and ruin the later nut harvest.  When burning the web net, the flaming ooey gooey caterpillars would fall on the ground and remain on fire until their death.

Acanalonia

Acanalonia is another in the group of planthopper insects.  This particular one is known for its wing venation that looks alot like the veins on a plant leaf, probably good camouflage against birds as predators.    They feed on the phloem (or sugary sap) of lots of different types of plants.  They are not very heat tolerant, so you probably will only see them in the spring outside or in the shade during summer.  They actually walk very slowly and are known to hop from one leaf or stem to another to move around, since they are slow.