Cassaundra Bash's List: Experiments

• If you have just taken the leaf, keep  it on a moist paper towel or filter paper in a petri dish or any other clean  container. Keep the container covered to maintain modest moisture. Check each  day and add water a drop at a time to the filter paper if necessary.
• They won't eat any other plants, although they do eat many different species, or  kinds, of milkweed.
• They will usually eat this  skin!

  • The skin is full of nutrients so leave it there until it's clear they've abandoned it.
• Many types of containers can be used;

  • Be careful of narrow-necked jars; if your Monarch hatches and the wings dry it may be hard for the butterfly to come out without the risk of damaging them.
• You can tell that they will shed their  larval skin soon (within minutes) when their tentacles hang very limply and  their bodies straighten out a little.

  • They will also have a greenish cast due to the green chrysalis forming underneath.

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• Incomplete Metamorphosis.
  
  
• Incomplete Metamorphosis.
  
  
• Incomplete Metamorphosis.
  
  
• Incomplete Metamorphosis.
  
  
• Incomplete Metamorphosis.
  
  
• two stage
• not many insects that go through a two-stage development
• look like small adults upon hatching
• many other creatures
• Note: The pillbug shown is a NON-insect.

  • I can't think of a true insect that goes through only two stages, either! 3 is far more common.
• three stage
• Complete Metamorphosis
• On land
• nymphs
• naiads

  • "Naiads" were a type of water spirit in Greek mythology. "Nymphs" were their land-dwelling counterparts.
• water
• Molting (shedding of the skin) changes their appearance

  • Example shown here is a grasshopper. What other insects go through incomplete metamorphosis?
• Four-stage
• complete change in appearance between its larva stage and adulthood.

  • This is a Monarch butterfly. Other than butterflies and moths, what other insects go through metamorphosis?

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• a praying mantis can strike twice at a housefly before it begins to move to  escape.
• Mantis Kung Fu focuses on pressure points.  Like the moves of the mantis,  the technique and purpose of this martial art is to kill as quickly and as  efficiently as possible
• Watch the influence of the praying mantis in this video

  • Have class discuss what similarities they see in these martial arts moves with the way a mantis moves in mantis video clips.
• striking areas are lethal and the movements are ultra-quick yet graceful

  • Remember that the mantis usually tries to bite the back of the head or the neck. Compare and contrast the mantis' preferred attack techniques to the mantis martial arts moves.

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• Honeybees are social  insects.
• Ho neybees
• Ho neybees
• Ho neybees are   social   insects  . 
• Colony collapse disorder
• While many species of insects consume nectar, honeybees refine and concentrate  nectar to make honey

  • What other insects eat nectar?
• Honeybees have a bright color pattern to warn potential predators (or honey  thieves!) that they have a weapon to defend themselves. 

  • Certain colors in the animal kingdom are used as warnings. Yellow and black are two. What other color or colors frequently are found on insects that are dangerous to predators in some way (sting, bite, poison, etc.)?
• weapon is a modified ovipositor (egg-laying tube).   This is combined with a venom gland to create a stinger (formally known as an  aculeus) located at the  end of the abdomen.  Because the stinger is modified from a structure found  only in females, male bees cannot sting. 

  • Question: If the stinger is a modified egg-laying tube, can female bees sting and lay eggs? Have students research this.
• highly structured social order

  • What other insects are social?
• queens, drones and workers.

  • Have students research more in-depth about honey bee castes.
• The comb is two-sided, with cells on both sides.  As you can see, the cells  are perfectly uniform in shape.  Not only that, but the combs are built a  precise distance apart depending on whether they are meant to contain food or  young bees.

  • Research topic: What other insects build structures? What are they like? How are they different and similar to bee hives?
• honeybees accomplish 1/4 of the pollination needed for all fruit produced for  human consumption - an estimated $10 billion worth of work each year!

  • Research and ponder: What foods rely on bees and other polinators? What would happen if there were no bees?
• Since they are adapted for tropical conditions, they may not expand their range  beyond the southern part of the U.S., but that remains to be seen.  They  can tolerate up to 3 1/2 months of freezing weather.

  • How might a possible changing climate effect the range of Africanized honeybees? Class discussion.

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