Pseudoscorpions are a type of arachnid, meaning that they are not insects, but are closely related to spiders. They are named “Pseudo” scorpions because they have pincers that resemble scorpions, but do not have a tail and stinger. They can be found anywhere from a tree canopy, to somewhere in your home where they feed on the larvae of some household pests. They can also be found in leaf litter, where they feed on other tiny arthropods. Males use chemicals known as pheromones, and a fancy dancing behaviour, to attract females to mate. These arachnids construct a silken cocoon which they use to protect themselves during the winter. Pseudoscorpions occur all over the planet, but are rarely collected in Malaise traps. In total, only one specimen was collected during the Fall 2014 School Malaise Trap Program, by Chesley District Community School. For an interesting video of a pseudoscorpion hunting, click here.
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!
Hi, we’re the grade 6 class at Chesley District Community School, in Chesley, ON. We set up our Malaise trap on Monday morning and our first thought was: this trap is so big, it must catch a lot of bugs! The next day we found out we were right, because not even 24 hours had caught bugs up to the first line. We chose the spot that we did because it is a fenced in area that cannot be disturbed by other students, and it is right next to a garden that is buzzing with wildlife at this time of year. We estimate that there will be lots of flies, bees, and other bugs that like weeds a lot. Our class appreciates nature and we are so excited to see what we have caught in our trap as citizen scientists!
The trap is in place not far from the barn and our public park. it was a bit of a challenge putting it together. The ground was wet due to a lot of rain. We are curious about what we will get in the trap.
