Fri, 3 Oct 1997
Insect Identification Lab (Eric Day)
Soon it will be that lady beetle time of year again. See: http://everest.ento.vt.edu/Facilities/OnCampus/IDLab/id/id-lady.html
In a few days we will have a couple links with color shots of Harmonia axyridis on our main page: http://www.ento.vt.edu/
Although this is not the exact species of lady beetle you will find in houses this fall see also: http://everest.ento.vt.edu/Facilities/OnCampus/IDLab/id/lady.cmp
It's also that woolly bear time of year. I have attached an old press release on the critter.
This will be the last regular update, I will send out notices as things come up of note and I will resume regular updates in Feb.-March.
Woolly Bear Press Release
BLACKSBURG - Up and Down the eastern United States, folks say the woolly bear caterpillar tells of the coming winter.
The blacker he is, the harsher the winter, some say. The browner he is, the harsher the winter claim others. Still others look at the width of his stripes or the length of his hair as predictors of the forthcoming season.
Actually, there's no truth to any of those theories, say entomologists.
"The idea's simply part of the folklore that grew up in the eastern part of the country" said Charles Covell, entomologist at the University of Louisville and author of A Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America. "The color of the caterpillar tells you more about the previous summer than anything else."
The browner the caterpillar is, the older he is. That means a temperate summer may have enabled the insect to finish milting early in the season, giving him more time to mature. A blacker caterpillar may mean that the summer was unordinarily host or cold he said.
Woolly bear, or black ended caterpillars, become a common sight in the fall as they leave their hatch and feeding places in search of a spot to spend the winter, said Virginia Tech entomologist Eric Day.
"They feed throughout the summer, but generally don't leave their host plants," he said. "About this time of year, they begin to wander looking for someplace dry and protected for the winter."
Typical host plants of the woolly bear include asters, clover, corn, and sunflowers.
Day said he often sees the caterpillar trying to make it across the roads he's driving.
After the winter, caterpillars emerge as bright yellow tiger moths, which then lay eggs in early summer. The adult moth is known as the Isabella Tiger Moth.
See my lab homepage: http://www.ento.vt.edu/Facilities/OnCampus/IDInfo.html