Chicago Academy of Sciences Blog
Articles tagged Entomology
May 2, 2024
Everything You Need To Know About Cicadas!
Wondering why everyone is talking about cicadas this year? It's because of the emergence of periodical cicadas! Keep reading to learn more about periodical cicadas, how they differ from annual cicadas, and why they're such a big deal this year!
October 26, 2021
I’m Allen, the associate curator of entomology at the Nature Museum. That means I work very closely with butterflies, bees, and other insects! My favorite part of Halloween is the creative and elaborate costumes. For us Halloween costumes are fun or spooky, but for many animals their life depends on their ability to look like something else. That’s mimicry in its simplest form, when a living thing resembles something else. Animals can do this in many different ways, and insects are experts at it. Let’s break down a few different types of mimicry insects engage in.
September 21, 2021
Have you ever stopped to take a close look at the soil leaves that crunch under our feet as we walk outside? These leaves and loose soil that sit atop the ground is known as leaf litter and it is teeming with life. Entomologists developed a handy tool for separating small critters from soil and leaf litter in order to better observe them called a Berlese funnel. We can make our own DIY Berlese funnel at home with some simple household materials.
September 1, 2021
Black swallowtail butterflies (Papilio polyxenes) are an extraordinarily beautiful and common butterfly that, with the right plants, many people can observe in their own backyards. We receive tons of questions about them this time of year as the weather starts to cool so we sat down with Allen, our associate curator of entomology, to answer some of them.
August 24, 2021
Puzzling together insect metamorphosis
Insects are capable of undergoing a complete change in appearance throughout their life cycles. The process of growth and development from an egg all the way to their adult form is known as metamorphosis. There are two main types: incomplete and complete metamorphosis.
August 10, 2021
Curious questions, small bugs, big answers
We often get great questions about insects during our programs based on their observations of these small creatures. We took the chance to ask Allen, our entomologist, to answer some frequently asked questions about insect bodies. Do insects have blood? In a sense they do, but it is quite different from human blood. Insects have an open circulatory system, which means their “blood” does not flow through vessels like veins and arteries. Their body cavities are filled with a fluid called hemolymph which is moved through the body by contracting their muscles and through the dorsal vessel along their backs which functions like a heart. Hemolymph, like blood, plays a role in storing and transporting nutrients, hormones, and immune system cells throughout the body. Unlike blood, hemolymph does not contain red blood cells or oxygen carrying hemoglobin. Instead, insects breathe through a set of branching tubes called tracheae. The tracheae open to the outside at pores along the sides of an insect known as spiracles and branch out to reach every cell within the body.
May 31, 2021
One of the most common questions we get at the Nature Museum is, “What do butterflies eat?” In order to better understand what they eat, we have to understand how they eat! Butterflies have a long tongue, called a proboscis, which they can curl and uncurl to drink through like a straw. Because of their straw-like mouthparts, butterflies are mainly restricted to a liquid diet. Butterflies use their proboscis to drink sweet nectar from flowers. Nectar sometimes resides deep within a flower and the proboscis allows the butterfly to reach this sugary treat. We fill the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven with an abundance of flowering plants that produce ample nectar for the butterflies, including: coral vine, firespike, jungle cucumber, Ixora, and lantana.We also provide sponge pads soaked with simulated nectar for the butterflies. The simulated nectar is made by mixing honey and water.
February 22, 2021
National Invasive Species Awareness Week runs February 22-28, 2021. But what does that mean? What are invasive species and how do they impact our local habitats? In this post, we’ll explore how we combat those species. A non-native species may not become established when introduced into a new habitat. Of those that do, few will be invasive. Their negative impacts, however, can be astounding especially when it comes to invasive plant-eating, herbivorous, insects. Native plants have coexisted with their native herbivores long enough to develop at least some level of innate resistance to them. These plants do not share this evolutionary history with recently introduced insects, leaving them susceptible to herbivory. By invading a new habitat, insect herbivores are also able to escape the natural predators, parasitoids, and pathogens of their original habitat. With this new widely available food source and with fewer natural population controls insect populations can grow rapidly in their new habitat and cause extensive damage, which is what makes them invasive.
May 29, 2020
Host plants are big part of the insect world, so today we’re talking all about them! Keep reading to learn which species relies on which host plant, which caterpillars you might find in your garden, and more!