What do fireflies eat?
This was a question that came from a youngster and it got me thinking about other insects of the summer and their mealtime choices. This is for the youngsters but I’ll bet the rest of you will find it interesting too.
Fireflies – generally enjoy places close to a body of water. The girl watches for an attractive “flash”. Courting is next, followed by eggs. The eggs turn into larvae and here is where the eating is interesting. The larvae are predatory, injecting their dinner with digestive juices, paralyzing it. The food? Small insects, snails, slugs, earthworms, dead animals and organic material mostly. This feeding helps them develop into a pupae. The next stage is adult, and what do they eat then? Mostly dew, pollen, or nectar, but they have been known to eat smaller insects. There’s one species where the females attract, kill, and eat the males from another species!
Dragonfly - a.k.a. Ear Cutter, Devil's Needle, Snake's Servant, and Horse Stinger, is considered a symbol of victory in Japan, and includes more than 5,000 species. It’s roughly 300 million years old, can fly at an average speed of 30 – 45 mph, moves in 6 different directions, can see 360% around itself. They’re carnivorous, feeding on aquatic insects, worms, mosquito larva, small fish, and little tadpoles during the nymph phase. As adults the feeding continues with the choices being small insects such as bees, ants, wasps, butterflies, flies, and midges, termites, and mosquitoes.
Chiggers – a.k.a. harvest mites, berry bugs, red bugs or scrub-itch mites, are reddish-orange and spider-like in appearance and they don’t just bite people; they feast on rodents, birds, poultry, rabbits, livestock, toads and snakes too. Most active in mid-summer, these little devils are quite adaptable in their environment. They can move pretty fast for their size, and they can climb up a shoe, crawl under a pant-leg and seek out a warm place, preferably thin skin, to bite like ankles, waistband, crotch, armpits, etc.; Myth: chiggers burrow under the skin. Truth: they insert their feeding parts into the skin and inject digestive enzymes that destroy the host tissue. The skin hardens around the bite, forming a feeding tube, thru which the chigger feeds on pre-digested human skin cells, NOT BLOOD. The severe itching usually starts when the feeding is done and the critter lets loose leaving the feeding tube and juices behind. We really aren’t aware of them until they’re gone, so remedies like nail polish, bleach are not effective. Instead, the bite should be treated like what it is…an allergic reaction. Cortisone and Benadryl are helpful. A hot shower and hot compresses might bring some relief as well. How do you help prevent bites? Wear long pants and sleeves, all tucked in. Wear thick socks and high-top boots. Wash well with soap and water when you get in. Wash clothes too.
The Tennessee Dirtgirl
