This is the amount of insects we got for the first week. It wasn’t much, but we hope to get more the second week.The area we put it in has an abundance of creatures of all different kinds (we saw a red admiral butterfly before we went to set it up!) We showed our project to a younger class in our school and they got so excited!This is a great program and all the kids in our school want to participate!
It has definitely been a different week than last week for collecting specimens.. overall much cooler and certainly much soggier!
J. F. Ross students in periods 1, 3 and 4 have been collecting their data on a daily basis, Mr. Neerhof’s class visited with Dr. Steinke during the virtual BioBus tour.
Students have enjoyed visiting the trap each day, and have incorporated this hands-on study into their ecology unit.
Activities and discussions around biodiversity, ecosystem sustainability and carrying capacity have stemmed from the experience.
Thanks so much from all of the Ross students!
Today Emma, Meagan, and Paige checked the insect trap. We discovered 8 bugs. There were 5 mosquitoes, 1 crane fly, and 1 horse fly. It was very cloudy and humid outside. We finally got to check the trap because the clown boys always beat us to it when asking to check the trap!
Meet Helix (the European Mantis)!
A few days ago, one of our collections technicians, Valerie, spotted a European Mantis (Mantis religiosa) while working in the Arboretum at the University of Guelph. Valerie is a fantastic photographer and has graciously shared some of her pictures of Helix with us.
As you can tell by his species name, Helix is native to Europe, Africa and Asia and was introduced to North America in 1899. The European Mantis is now found across Canada as well as throughout northern parts of the United States.
The European Mantis can live in a variety of habitats, but seems to prefer green growth and sunny areas by shrubbery or herbaceous plants.
Helix will prey on several different kinds of insects including moths, caterpillars, butterflies and bees. Here Helix is pictured munching on a cricket.
The European species comes in a wide variety of colours ranging from dark brown to bright green. Like all Mantids, the female is larger than the male, especially at the abdomen. Due to their size, females are unlikely to fly and will scare off predators by flaring their wings and raising their arms. After mating, females have been known to consume the male they reproduce with.
Jack Chambers PS has sent us a #SMTPselfie! Great Picture!
