Race Field Week 01 - milipede "bones"

Okay, so insects don't have bones, actually. By they do have exoskeletons -- skeletons on the outside. In the case of this expired milipede, that fact is very apparent.

Milipedes are a common out here. I don't believe they bite, which would make them among the few things that don't bite, sting, or poke humans around here. That fact alone makes me like them.

Millipedes have an interesting relationship with Aphanogaster ants. The millipedes live with the ants. I believe Burr Williams said the millipedes eat the decaying food down in the ant nest. In return for this easy dining, the millipede will help protect the ants with its defense by emitting a foul smell. Burr has also seen millipedes accompanying an Aphanogaster ant nest relocation, done usually at night, by the light of a full moon. No, really.

UPDATE: I had the story a bit wrong, so I asked Burr to tell it to me again. In his words:

we have a small species of army ant that only moves its nest site in the dark of the moon. blind snakes travel with them, for the tiny snakes eat their diseased eggs and pupa. when the army ants find the aphanogaster ants hole, they go inside, the aphanogaster ants leave the hole, the millipedes release liquid from their spiracles (holes on their sides) which contains a tiny bit of cyanide, which makes the army ants leave. after the gas clears, the aphanogaster ants go back inside

What a sight that must be!

And another correction, from FBer Chris Cherry: As a kid, his brother took some millipedes home in his pockets and had welts to prove it. Perhaps from the stuff they excrete? Ah, alas, yet another desert defense mechanism to be wary of.

Outside Links:

• Search results for millepede on the Sibley Nature Center site.
  

Race Field Week 01 - mantis egg case

I wish I had marked the location of this mantis egg case with a piece of wool so I would be sure to find it again! I'd love to watch it hatch in the spring. Baby mantises look like mini-me's of adults.

Better yet, maybe next time I see one, I'll bring it home with me, put it in a jar, and when the babies hatch, my grandchildren and I can release them into my garden.

After taking photos, of course.

Four-wing Saltbush & Irregular Wax Scale

Four-wing Saltbush, Atriplex canescens
on the left with a new and on the right an old infestation
of Irregular Wax Scale, Ceroplastes irregularis
(On the left, my dog in the background, Caninous DixieBellious v. Cates)

I've wondered about this orange stuff — now I know it's scale — for some time. So far, I've only noticed it on four-wing saltbush where sometimes it almost completely covers its host. I've also noticed that infestations are not sporadic, but rather grouped together, attacking most of the saltbush in a particular area.

There are about 8,000 varieties of scale, a kind of insect that usually is parasitic, sucking sap from its plant host. It is the female that we see, immobile, covered here in her waxy protection. The male has wings and can fly, but is typically short-lived, sometimes not even feeding in its lifetime. Generally scales are considered a pest because at some point their infestation will damage branches, or even kill their host.

Not always entirely a pest, though. The most well-known scale is probably cochineal that grows on prickly pear, and long before the infamous Red #5, was a valuable source of a much-coveted red dye.

While not as famous as its cousin, the irregular wax scale also was used ingeniously by Native Americans. The wax from the insect's outer covering was used to waterproof baskets, as a mastic on tool handles and bows, and even as chewing gum.

Out in the field one day, I decided to see for myself what was under that bumpy, cream-colored crust. I picked off a single insect. The waxy outer crust surprisingly came off with little effort, but it was difficult not to damage the inner creature, who exuded some reddish fluid under the pressure. It was apparent she was very definitely living, at least up until I plucked her from her food source. At another time, I had tried to see what was up with this crusty stuff, but then I must have worked with an older, dying infestation; the crust then was crumbly (I described it as "like granola") whereas the wax from this specimen was firm, but soft.

Not the prettiest insect I've ever seen. Still, I'd like to take some home to look at closer with a good light and magnifying glass. And I'd like to experiment with the wax as basket waterproofing since I've been making some yucca baskets. I confess that after seeing the scale insect inside, I doubt I will ever experiment with it as chewing gum!

Links (Four-wing Saltbush):

• Dave's Garden gardeners discuss the Four-wing Saltbush. It is native to Texas, evergreen, and all parts of the plant are edible. They say the leaves taste salty. I found it most interesting that its burnt leaves can be used as a leavening agent! Some more experiments for another day.
• A general article about the FWSB found on the DesertUSA site.
• FWSB is used as food and shelter by a large number of animals, per this Suite 101 article.

Links (Scale insects):

• General article about scale insects on Wikipedia.
  
• A short article with photos of irregular wax scale and ortheziid mealybug from The Colorado State Extension Agency.
• An incredible number of photos (more than 5800!) of scale from the ForestryImages.org site, a joint project of of The Bugwood Network and USDA Forest Service, the University of Georgia - Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Dept. of Entomology.
• Can't get enough of scale insects? You just might need this 1993 book by Yair Ben-Dov, A Systematic Catalogue of the Soft Scale Insects of the Worldhe Scale Insects. At over 500 pages and $200, it's probably only for the very serious. However, it's available with a limited preview on Google books.
• On the other hand, you can download all 19 pages in pdf of The Chemistry, Archaeology, and Ethnography of a Native American Insect Resin from University of California's eScholarship. Or this interesting 9 page pdf article about extracting lac (shellac) Notes on Creosote Lac Scale Insect Resin as a Mastic and Sealant in the Southwestern Great Basin by Mark Q. Sutton.