Trout in the Classroom

Can you think of an insect that lives most of its life in water and builds a home for protection? It’s the caddisfly. In North America, there are over 1,200 different kinds of caddisflies; worldwide there are over 7,000! Many species of caddisflies look similar and telling them apart can be difficult.

Caddisflies are insects that have four stages in their life cycle. They lay their eggs in water. The eggs hatch, and caterpillar-like larvae crawl out. The larvae turn into pupae, and the pupae into adults. Only the adults can survive out of water.

Caddisfly larvae are builders. They make a silk from the spit in their mouths. Some caddisflies use the silk to spin webs or tunnels. These caddisflies are predators. They trap very small animals in the sticky webs. Most caddisflies are not predators. They eat dead and sometimes living plants. These caddisflies use the silk as glue. As they spin silk, they mix in sand, twigs or grass. This makes a case, or shell, around their soft bodies. The case is held in place by a pair of hooks on the tip of the insect’s body. As the insect grows, it just adds onto the case. The case protects the caddisfly. It looks like a little twig or rock in the water. This camouflages the caddisfly and makes it harder for predators to see it.

Caddisfly larvae need oxygen to survive. They use the same thing fish use to get oxygen out of the water – gills. Adults do not live in water, so they do not have gills. Air enters and leaves their bodies through spiracles. Spiracles are holes in the insects’ abdomens.

Caddisfly adults look very different from the larvae. They look like moths that have lost the scales on their wings. Long, silky hairs cover caddisfly wings. Adults are brown to yellowish-brown in color. They have big eyes and long antennae. When resting, caddisflies place their wings like a tent over their bodies. Caddisfly adults do not live long. Once they leave the water, most never eat again. They breed, lay their eggs and die. Adult caddisflies are nocturnal or active mostly at night. During the day, they hide in cool, moist places around riverbanks, lakes and ponds. At night, caddisflies often swarm around lights.

Caddisflies are very interesting insects. Look for their cases next time you are wading in a stream or pond.

Toothed dragons are flying around Idaho! Actually they are just dragonflies and damselflies. Dragonflies and damselflies are in the insect order Odonata. Odonata comes from the Greek word for “toothed.” Dragonflies have chewing mouth parts that have a serrated edge; they look a bit like teeth.

Dragonflies lay their eggs in water. The eggs hatch out into something called a naiad (NI-add). The naiad gets bigger and bigger until one day it crawls out of the water. The back on the naiad splits open, and out crawls the adult! Some species stay in the naiad stage for up to five years.

An amazing part of a dragonfly is the mouth. They have a powerful set of mandibles that are used to chop up their prey, but the really amazing part is the labium (LAY-bee-um). It is sort of like a lower jaw. When a dragonfly is immature and living in water, it likes to eat slimy things. Tadpoles, small fish and other insects are all on the menu. To help the dragonfly grab its slimy prey, the dragonfly can shoot the labium out to almost its body length. The labium has hooks on it so the prey can be dragged back to the mouth. As adults, dragon­flies eat other flying insects. The adult dragonfly’s legs point forward like a basket. The basket is used to scoop insects right out of the air. Once a dragonfly has food in its grasp, dinner is served!

Have you ever sat along a pond on a summer day and watched dragonflies zip and buzz around you? Some might swoop down a little too close for your comfort! What you are witnessing is a battle over territory or space. It’s the males, not the females, madly buzzing around the pond. Some dragonflies are very territorial. They will try and chase off anything that gets too close. They will chase off dragonflies, birds, and even humans!

The largest dragonfly in Idaho is the green darner. The adults can reach a size of just over three inches. This dragonfly is a strong flyer. A group of bird watchers along the eastern coast of America saw an amazing event during the fall migration of green darners. They actually saw a green darner take down a ruby-throated hummingbird. Now that’s some amazing flying!

Idaho has 67 species of dragonflies and damselflies. Get outside this summer and look for them. You can find a dragonfly just about everywhere in Idaho where there is water!

EEEEE - A high-pitched whine buzzing in your ear. You may hear it while sitting around a campfire or while playing in your backyard. Just mention mosquitoes, and the skin on some people starts to itch and crawl. Wheth­er you love them, hate them or just tolerate them, one thing’s for sure, mosquitoes are interesting insects.

There are about 2,700 species of mosquitoes in the world. They may live in hot tropical forests or cold northern lands. Mosquitoes can be found from sea level to over 10,000 feet above sea level. Although they may be found in many different places, all mosquitoes need water. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water and develop and grow in water. They have four life stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. All life stages of a mosquito, except for the adults, are aquatic.

Male and female mosquitoes do not look the same. Females are usually larger than males and have thin antennae. Males have bushy, hairy antennae. Mosquitoes have short lives. It takes between seven to 14 days for a mosquito egg to become an adult. Adult female mosqui­toes can live several weeks. Males usually live less than a week.

Mosquitoes eat differ­ent things at different stages of their lives. Larvae eat plants. They also filter food from water. Both male and female adult mosquitoes eat nectar. Only female mosquitoes suck blood. They need a protein found in blood to make their eggs. Mosquitoes use their senses of sight and smell to find a blood meal. They see movement and infrared light given off by warm bodies. They can also smell chemi­cals, like carbon dioxide, on your breath, as well as smell chemicals on your skin. A mosquito can smell you when it is over 100 feet away! Have you ever noticed that mosquitoes seem to bite certain people more often? It’s true. Everyone has a different smell. Mosquitoes do like the smell of some people over other people.

The tip of a mosquito’s mouth has six needle-like parts for cutting and sucking. To suck blood, a mosquito slips the tip of its mouth into the skin. The mosquito then injects anticoagulants (an-ti-ko-AG-yu-lents) into the cut. This keeps the blood runny and thin, so the mos­quito can suck up the blood. The anticoagulants are not supposed to be in your body. Your body tries to break up and get rid of the chemicals, causing an itchy bump.

Although mosquitoes may drive you crazy with their biting, they are an important part of nature. Mosquitoes are food for many animals. Some bats eat 600 mosqui­toes in just one hour of hunting. Mosquitoes also help pollinate flowers when drinking nectar.

Next time you hear EEEEE, try to think of something positive about mosquitoes. They may irritate you with their biting, but they are important to have around.

Mayflies are classified in the order Ephemeroptera (e-fa-mer-OP-ter-a). This long, funny name comes from Greek words that mean “living a day.” This is a good name for mayflies; as adults they only live for a few hours or days.

Mayfly adults are gray, brown or yellow in color. They have a slender abdomen that slants upward with two or three long “tails” at the end. Their front wings are large and shaped like a triangle. The wings look a bit like the sail on a sailboat. Their back wings are very small and often difficult to see. Some mayflies do not have back wings at all.

Adult mayflies have one thing to do as adults. They need to mate and lay eggs. Adult mayflies cannot eat. Their mouths are small and not made for eating. This is one reason why they die soon after becoming adults. Male mayflies gather in large swarms. They move in a kind of dance together looking for females. Females lay their eggs in different ways. It all depends on the type of mayfly. Some mayflies fly close to the water, dip their abdomen on the water surface and lay the eggs while flying. Other females lay their eggs in strands attached to plants and other things in the water. Some just lay their eggs and let the eggs fall where they may. The females will die as soon as their eggs are laid. The males die after mating.

Mayfly eggs may hatch very quickly. Some eggs will hatch as soon as they hit the water. Others may take a while longer. A naiad (NI-add) emerges from the egg. They have biting mouthparts. Most mayfly naiads are scavengers. They scrape algae from rocks in the water and eat whatever plants or tiny water animals they can find. The color of a naiad may be green or brown. Their color varies depending on what they eat! Naiads may stay in the water for up to four years. When they leave the water they molt. This mayfly is called a subimago. Subimagoes have cloudy or smoky wings. Think of them sort of like short-lived teenagers. They molt and then they are adults. The adult mayflies have clear wings. Mayflies are the only insects that molt after they have wings!

Mayflies really are marvelous. Look for mayflies in the spring and summer. They are not only seen in the month of May!