Insect Study MB: Req to collect insects

[theysawyoucomin']

Sorry Pack,

 

for my iggggnoorince I never earned the merit badge or I may have known that. My low brow view is that there are good bugs and bad bugs.

 

Pack, how do you bear to share the planet with us cretins?

 

Also, unless they be mayfly, caddis, stonefly or terrestrial I could care.

[OldGreyEagle]

Actually, Nike has given us the way for the boys of the troop he serves to earn the badge. Since insects who live in Nike's house need to die, we have to extrapolate that insects that live in the scouts house need to suffer the same fate as those in Nike's house. Likewise the insects in the homes of the relatives and friends of the scouts. It shouldn't take too long to collect 50 insects with that amount of resources. I mean insects in the garage are almost in the house, could come in the house and they need to die, insects in the yard could come into the house and they need to die as well.

 

BTW, how many of the scouts are vegans and how many of them have leather baseball gloves?

 

On the other hand, Nike, if you wish, contact National and propose the photo option, cant hurt even a fly(This message has been edited by oldgreyeagle)

[Lisabob]

Not that I know my insects from my isopods there pack, but I do know a bunch of 10-12 year old boys who thought this badge would be really really cool, based on the name, and then they looked at the requirements and changed their minds. Too bad. The only counselor I'm aware of in my area has a PhD in some sort of biology and is a high school bio teacher. Even she agrees it can be a tricky one. She's a great MBC but how many boys will ever work with her on this one? I think this badge is a candidate for the zealot award.

 

 

[packsaddle]

uz2bnowl, sorry you don't qualify...being from NY and not Crete. Anyway, the last thing I want is to have a completely wrong idea. I expect you and others to set me straight and so you do from time to time. I am glad to reciprocate, even if you don't care a rip about the difference between some of these organisms.

 

Lisabob, I hear you and the boys. This would be a way cool badge IF they only had to collect 50 species, identified to ORDER or FAMILY.

By the way, I challenge any of the super scouts who claim to have earned every MB to show me their collections. I would be extremely impressed if I see that they have truly done what the requirements require.

[Apache Bob]

Nike - I think you should contact the National people and see what they think and respond to your suggestion. It might be best is pictures were taken instead. Please let us know in the future what answer you got back from them.

Don't forget to remind those boys to leave the chiggers, ticks, no seeums and mosquitos alone and alive. They should not use any bug spray on camping trips as that will or might harm the insects.

For the record - in North America there are over 91,000 different types of insects and in the world there are over 900,000 types.

 

[eisely]

I wonder where PETA would come out on this ethical debate. PETA has already condemned the Fishing MB for causing pain to fish.

 

Aside from the sarcasm, any scout who wants to do this should be aware that some insects are protected species, particularly some butterflies. We wouldn't want our scouts to get busted for a federal offense would we?(This message has been edited by eisely)

[Gold Winger]

I don't care if they are protected by the Federal Government. If they are in my house, they are dying. Except for ladybugs and praying mantises.

[skeptic]

GB:

 

You might consider adding daddy long-legs to your list. They prey on other arachnids. Believe it or not, my understanding is that they are not actual spiders, but deadly cousins. They are not harmful to humans, other than scaring many half to death.

 

 

[Gold Winger]

Daddy-longlegs (Opiliones) - these arachnids make their living by eating decomposing vegetative and animal matter although are opportunist predators if they can get away with it. They do not have venom glands, fangs or any other mechanism for chemically subduing their food. Therefore, they do not have poison and, by the powers of logic, cannot be poisonous from venom. Some have defensive secretions that might be poisonous to small animals if ingested. So, for these daddy-long-legs, the tale is clearly false.

 

From http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

[packsaddle]

While I try to figure out who GB is, I wonder: Skeptic, you are joking, right?

Thanks, Gold Winger, for saving me the trouble. The common name for the group of organisms that daddy longlegs belong to is the 'harvestmen'. No fangs, no venom, not spiders. But you mentioned lady bugs in the house. There is recent invasive species that is still 'swarming' over the country. Here is link you might find interesting:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/lbeetle/

 

My old office used to get thousands of these in the windows and ceilings every week during the early winter. They don't bother anything really but they might accumulate inside computers and appliances. I had to vacuum my keyboard weekly.

We also had scorpions coming in every fall. The cobweb spiders used to really chow down on them.

 

[Gold Winger]

GB is either "Golden Boy," "Golden Bob," or "Gold Bond."

[skeptic]

Sorry Gold Winger; don't know where the GB came from. Now, on to the incredulous comments. Actually, there are many scientists that indicate they eat spiders, along with lots of other bugs, but also other types of things. Even the source you quote indicates they are opportunistic eaters. Anyway, here are some other sources:

HARVESTMEN ECOLOGY Average Daddy Longlegs eat a wide variety of foods, including: aphids, caterpillars, beetles, flies, mites, small slugs, snails, earthworms, spiders, other harvestmen, decaying plant and animal matter, bird droppings and fungi. One in a terrarium will survive on tidbits of bread, butter and fatty meat as well. If you watch one eat, notice how after each meal it draws its legs one at a time through its jaws, cleaning them. Birds are among its enemies. Daddy Longlegs release a stinking odor as a defense against predators. Every ten days or so the average Daddy Longlegs molts. It splits open its body case, or exoskeleton, then takes about 20 minutes to drag its long legs from their old casings. Once you watch Daddy-longlegs long enough, you might notice that there's a smaller-bodied, long-legged form, and a larger-bodied, shorter-legged one. The small-bodied, long-legged one is the male. There are over a hundred Daddy-longlegs species in North America north of Mexico!

What do Opiliones eat? "Everything", almost. There are many kinds of Opiliones and some seem to have distinct preferences in what they eat while most seem to be less choosy and eat almost anything, especially animal matter. Some species are predatory on small insects, snails, worms, etc., whereas others walk around nibbling on plants, fruits, and dead material that they find. In captivity, you can try feeding your Opiliones freshly chopped meal worms or other juicy insects. Oatmeal, a little piece of fruit or nut might also be eaten.

Daddy-long-legs usually are inactive and hidden during the day, then at sunset, they begin to wander about searching for food. Many Opiliones feed on live insects, especially aphids. Other species feed on dead insects or plant juices. ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/pdf/2060B.pdf

daddy longlegs Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 [or harvestman] Any of the 3,400 arachnid species constituting the order Opiliones. Daddy longlegs differ from spiders in having extremely long, thin legs and a spherical or oval body that is not divided in two. The body is approximately 0.051.0 in. (122 mm) long; the fragile legs may be 20 times the body length. Males are smaller than females. Adults have a pair of glands that secrete a foul-smelling fluid. Daddy longlegs are very widely distributed in temperate regions and in the tropics. The U.S. and Canada have about 150 species. They feed on insects, mites, spiders, carrion, and vegetable matter. crane fly. (This message has been edited by skeptic)

[PeteM]

PETA

What's the problem here?

Doesn't PETA stand for:

 

People

Eating

Tasty

Animals?

[Nike]

Thank you everyone for your answers. I have tried to think of why the boys would need to make the collection and can only come up with: 1)It is to illustrate the utter diversity of insect life in your own back yard, which is an admirable goal. 2) It's a lesson in persistence and accuracy.

 

And OGE, though I prefer to use the male singular pronoun when writing instead of the horrid s/he, when I put on the Scout Uniform, I have a killer pair of 2 inch heels!

 

I am going to approach the powers that be about this requirement and any movement to chage or adjust it.

 

THX, Nike

[jmwalston]

While the goal is admirable, I don't think most people are aware how hard it is to photograph small objects up close. To photograph insects at a distance in order to identify them, you are within the focal length of most cameras. And to properly identify some, you need to be able to closely examine appendages and wings. It is not just a matter of killing and mounting an insect. It is also a matter of close-up, minute observation in some cases. This merit badge has been around since 1923. I am sure that the requirements have been reviewed periodically.