Potato Bugs

The potato bug, also known as the Colorado beetle, is a small beetle decorated with vertical stripes, nothing to be afraid of, right?

Well, did you know that no one can scare potato farmers as much as the potato bug?  That’s because a few of these bugs can easily ruin an entire potato crop.

This wasn’t always the case.  A long, long time ago, potatoes didn’t really grow in North America, and the potato bug was nowhere to be seen either.  The first people to cultivate potatoes were the Incas, who lived in South America.  When the Europeans arrived to the New World, they tried eating potatoes, liked them, and took them back to Europe with them, where they became very popular.  In fact, when the first immigrants came to North America, they brought the potato plants with them.  Now that’s a journey to be proud of!

And what about the potato bugs?  Well, they weren’t always known for their love of potatoes.  Originally from Mexico, these pesky bugs survived on a plant known as buffalo bur.  As the potatoes were introduced throughout North America, the potato bugs got a taste as well, and they liked them so much that they gave up the buffalo bur for good!

One of the reasons the potato bug has become such an enemy to the potato farmer is due to its ability to develop so quickly.  The eggs, which quickly change to larvae, feed for just three weeks then drop into the ground, returning ten days later as adult beetles ready to lay eggs.  The only thin slowing these beetles down is they have a few enemies of their own, such as toads, snakes, ladybird beetles, birds, wasps, flies, and stinkbugs, to name a few.

Who Am I?

I am famous for playing “follow the leader.”  A man named Jean Henri Fabre first discovered my head-to-tail trails on an everygreen tree.  If you put me on a bowl with several of my friends, we will follow each other around forever, or at least until we wear down.  Who Am I?

Answer: erbaF rallipretac

Lines and Stripes:  Draw two outlines of a beetle.  On one, add vertical stripes and on the other, make the  stripes horizontal.  Which beetle appears larger?  Now, take two more outlines and color one beetle a light color and the other one dark.  Is there any difference in how they appear? 

Now, consider this:  If you’re trying to look taller, which way should you wear your stripes?  And, if you want your room to look bigger, what shades of paint should you choose?

A Host Plant For Butterflies

Host plants serve as incubating stations for butterflies and moths, places where the females can lay eggs. 

When butterflies, these beautifully winged wonders, move on to the next stage of metamorphosis and become larvae or caterpillars, they proceed to eat their way through their former nursery to fuel their prodicious growth, using opposable toothed mandibles that can only be seen with a magnifying glass.

As the caterpillar grows, it molts its outer layer of skin from four to six times, much like a snake.  Once the caterpillar has eaten its fill, it casts off its final skin and enters the third stage, the pupl phase, where it generally disappers into a case.  That case is known as a chrysalis in the case of butterflies and a cocoon if the pupa is a moth.

A magnificent winged adult emerges anywhere from one week to several months later, depending on the species.  Once fully emerged, the adult will hang upside-down by its legs for several hours until its soft wrinkled wings fully unfold and harden for flight.

Caterpillars Diet

While adudlt butterflies and moths generally find a variety of nectar-producing plants appealing, caterpillars typically have very specialized diets.  For instance fodder for the sleepy orange caterpillar consists mostly of senna.  Monarch caterpillars feed solely on milkweed, also known as butterfly weed, while cinnabar moth caterpillars eat ragwort.

Both these plants not only supply monarch and cinnabar caterpillars with sustenance, but they also increase their survival odds because they are poisonous to many of their predators.

Caterpillars are such picky eaters that butterflies are very particular about  where they lay their eggs.  And how do female butterflies know which plants to use as hosts for their young?  Special taste receptorslocatedin the feeet of butterflies both sense sweet liquids and allow many species to “feet taste” the leaves, ascertaining the plant’s suitability as a host. 

Moths have similar taste receptors in their antennae.  In addition, both butterflies and moths identify plants by their shapes, colors, and odors  Still, favored host plants for any given species may differ from place to place because taste preferences can vary from one region to the next.

19 Plants That Attract Butterflies

“Butterflies need food and places to lay their eggs.  Help them help in turn feed our plants with pollenation!  Plant these plants to give our fluttery winged friends a helping “wing” to fly!”

The monarch butterfly is sometimes called the “milkweed butterfly” because its larvae eat the plant.  In fact, milkweed is the only thing the larvae can eat!  If you’d like to attract monarchs to your garden, you can try planting milkweed (if you live in the right area).

Adult female Monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves.  These eggs hatch, depending on temperature, in three to twelve days.  After awhile, the caterpillars attach themselves head down to a convenient twig, they shed their outer skin and begin the transformation into a pupa (or chrysalis), a process which is completed in a matter of hours.

The pupa resembles a waxy, jade vase and becomes increasingly transparent as the process progresses.  The caterpillar completes the miraculous transformation into a beautiful adult butterfly in about two weeks.

The butterfly finally emerges from the now transparent chrysalis.

It inflates its wings with a pool of blood it has stored in its abdomen.  When this is done, the monarch expels any excess fluid and rests.

The butterfly waits until its wings stiffen and dry before it flies away to start the cycle of life all over again.

Eastern populations winter in Florida, along the coast of Texas, and in Mexico, and return to the north in spring.  Monarch butterflies follow the same migration patterns every year.  During migration, huge numbers of butterflies can be seen gathered together.

Nope, those orange things to the left are not autumn leaves… they’re hundreds of Monarch butterflies!

Most predators have learned that the monarch butterfly makes a poisonous snack.  The toxins from the Monarch’s milkweed diet have given the butterfly this defense.  In either the caterpillar or butterfly stage the Monarch needs no camouflage because it takes in toxins from the milkweed and is poisonous to predators.  Many animals advertise their poisonous nature with bright colors… just like the monarch!

19 Plants That Butterflies Love

1. Aster
2. Borage
3. Butterfly weed
4. Chives
5. Coreopsis
6. Day Lily
7. False Indigo
8. Heliotrope
9. Hollyhock
10. Lantana
11. Marigold
12. Nasturtium
13. Parsley
14. Pearly Everlasting
15. Purple Cornflower
16. Sedum
17. Sweet Alyssum
18. White Clover
19. Wild Bergamot
20. Milkweed

Help the Butterflies!  Enjoy them in your garden!

-Wings To Fly