• Phacelia flowers• Praying mantis• Mealyworms• Cockroaches • Slugs• Worms• Wee beasties (Paramecium)

Living Laboratory

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, FliesColeoptera, BeetlesPhasmida, Stick-InsectsDictyoptera, Cockroaches and Praying MantidsHymenoptera, 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: InsectaOrder: ColeopteraFamily: TenebrionidaeGenus and species: Tenebrio molitor

Egg-------Larva--------Pupa---------Adult10-12 days 12-54 days 3-30 days 80 days 9-20 moults creamy white to brown

Purchase from: Pet store and bait shop (Animates)Feed with: bran, oatmeal, fresh oats, wheat bran.

Sliced potato, carrot, apple (water source)Uses: Food source for reptiles, fish, wild birds, fishing baitRequire: Ventilation and dark preference

Orientation experimentsRanging – no knowledge about where to find resourcesLocal 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 junctionTry 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.

Frogs http://www.nzfrogs.org/Resources/Kids+Information/Keeping+Frogs.html

Cockroaches: (cerci in both sexes)Male (with stylets) Female (without)

Native bush cockroach

American cockroach Periplaneta americana

Celatoblatta spp.

Size range: up to 15 mmDistribution: NZ native, about 15 speciesLife History: Favours damp, dark habitat, wingless, not a household pest

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

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/scienceoutreach)

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.