Living Laboratory Phacelia flowers Praying mantis Mealyworms Cockroaches Slugs Worms Wee beasties (Paramecium)
Phacelia flowers grow in the spring in the classroom and plant out in summer Purpose: provides pollen and nectar for beneficial insects which prey on insect pests Investigate: insect visitors compare pests in area with/without phacelia
INSECT CLASSIFICATION: Diptera, Flies Coleoptera, Beetles Phasmida, Stick-Insects Dictyoptera, Cockroaches and Praying Mantids Hymenoptera, Wasps, Ants and Bees Lepidoptera, Butterflies and Moths
Praying mantis Orthodera novaezealandiae
Praying mantis egg case Picture shows 11 eggs intact. 5-6 months in egg case (ootheca) until hatching in spring. Case taken from warm north facing garage wall.
Food supply: Nymphs: fruit flies (Drosophila spp.) Adults: flies, wasps, bees, grasshoppers Rear adults singly in ventilated container with water source and string across container for skin shedding / hanging by instars Investigations: Temperature for development Orientation of ootheca on development
Mealyworms (Darkling beetles) Class: Insecta Order: Coleoptera Family: Tenebrionidae Genus and species: Tenebrio molitor
Egg-------Larva--------Pupa---------Adult 10-12 days 12-54 days 3-30 days 80 days 9-20 moults creamy white to brown
Purchase from: Feed with: Uses: Require: Pet store and bait shop (Animates) bran, oatmeal, fresh oats, wheat bran. Sliced potato, carrot, apple (water source) Food source for reptiles, fish, wild birds, fishing bait Ventilation and dark preference Orientation experiments Ranging no knowledge about where to find resources Local searching more restricted search
Ranging and Local Searching Place a bug in the centre of a piece of filter paper and moisten paper at radius of 10cms (leave dry gaps around radius) If bug goes through gap re-position in centre. Repeat with other bugs. Results: Ranging occurs until moisture is detected and then localised searching begins.
Further ranging investigation: Place bug on wooden object and use paintbrush to keep it moving along. Note direction it turns at T junction. Repeat with same bug. Repeat with 4 more bugs.
NEXT... Use the bend right + T junction Try the bend left and T junction
Repeat with 20 bugs for each. How many turn left after the right bend or right after the left bend? Investigate the same with different starting orientation to light source. Repeat with 4 more bugs.
Investigate the same with different starting orientaion to light source. Repeat with 4 more bugs.
Frogs http://www.nzfrogs.org/r esources/kids+informatio n/keeping+frogs.html
Cockroaches: (cerci in both sexes) Male (with stylets) Female (without)
American cockroach Periplaneta americana Size range: Large insect, up to 40 mm long Distribution: Originally from tropical America, found in warmer parts of New Zealand A pest in heated buildings Life History: Fast running Scavenger. Eats almost anything, food scraps, paper, damp wood Unpleasant smell Native bush cockroach Celatoblatta spp. Size range: up to 15 mm Distribution: NZ native, about 15 species Life History: Favours damp, dark habitat, wingless, not a household pest
TIP - Put into deep freeze to slow them down to transfer to other containers. Investigations: Leg movement in which order? Life cycle and egg laying studies. Dissection of gut
Slugs
Slug eggs: Keep moist under soil and small rocks Investigation: Temperature for hatching
Worms: Mixing the soil in a wormery
Worms: Adults with clitellum (saddle) Investigation: Dollar value of earthworms (worksheet www.lincoln.ac.nz/scie nceoutreach)
Protists and wee pond beasties. Use dropper to take liquid from leaf bases of bromeliads (from hot house Botanical Gardens) Transfer to container and add straw. (Protists feed on the bacteria that rot the straw) Make sure the contents does not dry out.