GET THE BUG OUTTA HERE; SOME CREATURES ARE DANGEROUS, OTHERS ARE UGLY BUT HARMLESS; KNOW DANGER SIGNS.Byline: Rick Vetter Special to the Daily News There is a whole spectrum of emotions that six-and eight-legged creatures evoke from humans. Those who frequent the great outdoors are especially prone to such feelings. On the one end, the butterflies get ``oohs,'' ``aahs'' and gushy gush·y adj. gush·i·er, gush·i·est Marked by excessive displays of sentiment or enthusiasm. gush  i·ly adv. warm feelings when people marvel at their beautiful coloration and gossamer fragility as they silently float like little pixies pixiesprank-playing fairies; mislead travelers. [Br. Folklore: Briggs, 328–330] See : Mischievousness on the swirls of air currents. On the other end of the spectrum are the ``ughs,'' ``yucks,'' ``gacks,'' ``eeewwwws'' and ``eiyeeeees'' that the more aesthetically challenged arthropods elicit as they skitter skit·ter v. skit·tered, skit·ter·ing, skit·ters v.intr. 1. To move rapidly along a surface, usually with frequent light contacts or changes of direction; skip or glide quickly: underfoot or emerge from the shadows in garages or woodpiles. These negative reactions have a multitude of roots: fear, filthiness, disgust, danger. Of this last category, many people are familiar with hazards that various bugs can represent: the stinging of bees and wasps; the transmission of disease by ticks, flies, fleas and mosquitoes; the allergies caused by cockroaches cockroaches insects which may carry Salmonella spp. in their gut and play a part in the spread of the disease. and dust mites. Although people know about these common creatures, there is a group of marginals that people have trouble sorting into categories. People figure they must be bad because the animals ``look'' sinister or ``behave'' as if they are asking for trouble. Many of these animals are assumed to be venomous venomous secreting poison; poisonous. , and, hence, capable of causing harm to humans. Some are, some aren't. The real question should be: Are they poisonous? --CARPENTER BEE: Yes. These are large, round black bees that chew holes in dead wood (like your redwood deck and picnic table). They chew a vertical shaft to store pollen. When a pollen ball is sufficient for raising one larva larva, in zoology larva, independent, immature animal that undergoes a profound change, or metamorphosis, to assume the typical adult form. Larvae occur in almost all of the animal phyla; because most are tiny or microscopic, they are rarely seen. , the female lays an egg on it, seals off the cell with wood chips then starts another pollen ball. A carpenter bee's sting is similar in many aspects to that of a honey bee honey bee called also Apis mellifera. See also bee sting. ; it will hurt for a few days but isn't considered serious. You really have to go out of your way to get stung, for example, by grabbing the bee or sitting on it. That is because the carpenter bee is similar to most of the species of bees out there. A solitary creature, it is the only bee around to potentially defend the nest and, if she attempts to sting a predator, she dies and her brood is doomed. By comparison, the more familiar and very common honey bee is a sterile social insect. There is one queen accompanied by many thousands of non-reproductive workers who are willing to commit suicide on kamikaze kamikaze (kä'məkä`zē) [Jap.,=divine wind], the typhoon that destroyed Kublai Khan's fleet, foiling his invasion of Japan in 1281. flights by stinging in order to defend their home and bee brood. --SOLPUGID: No. The most common reaction to these animals by humans is outright disgust. People think that because solpugids are so ugly, they HAVE to be venomous. But they aren't. They are fast moving, which adds to their low ``cuddliness'' factor. They overpower o·ver·pow·er tr.v. o·ver·pow·ered, o·ver·pow·er·ing, o·ver·pow·ers 1. To overcome or vanquish by superior force; subdue. 2. To affect so strongly as to make helpless or ineffective; overwhelm. 3. their prey with their large, exceptionally strong mouthparts that are able to grasp things and tear them to shreds in short order. Because solpugids respond to vibrations, they sometimes will charge humans so people think they are aggressive (or just plain stupid). If they get a hold of you, they can leave a small laceration laceration /lac·er·a·tion/ (las?er-a´shun) 1. the act of tearing. 2. a torn, ragged, mangled wound. lac·er·a·tion n. 1. A jagged wound or cut. 2. but typically, they pose no threat except to aesthetics. --CENTIPEDE: Yes. These squirmy little squigglies do indeed have venom glands associated with mouthparts that evolved solely for the rapid knockdown of prey. When the centipede centipede, common name for members of a single class, Chilopoda, of the phylum Arthropoda. Centipedes are the most familiar of the myriapodous arthropods, which consist of five groups of arthropods that had a separate origin from other arthropods. finds food, it quickly buries its fangs into the potential food item and wraps its many legs around its meal like a ball so escape is impossible. Also, the venom quickly paralyzes the prey so it can't hurt the centipede. Although they are not a great threat to human health, there are incidences where centipede bites have caused medical consequences, but mostly in tropical foreign countries. Most of these centipedes centipedes many-legged members of the class Chilopoda of the phylum Arthropoda. They are relatively harmless, but some of the 1500 species can inflict a painful bite to humans and it seems reasonable to assume that bites to animals could happen. are of the genus Scolopendra, some species of which are found in California. --JERUSALEM CRICKET: No. This is another arthropod arthropod Any member of the largest phylum, Arthropoda, in the animal kingdom. Arthropoda consists of more than one million known invertebrate species in four subphyla: Uniramia (five classes, including insects), Chelicerata (three classes, including arachnids and horseshoe along with the solpugid that evokes disgust from humans. It is also known as the potato bug. It was regarded with great superstition and fear by American Indians and early Spanish settlers in the Southwest because it was thought to be highly poisonous. They anointed "Anointed" redirects here. For the process of anointing, see Anointing. Anointed is a Contemporary Christian music duo consisting of siblings Steve and Da'dra Crawford. Their musical style includes elements of R&B, funk, and piano ballads. the cricket with a variety of names as well - nino de la tierra (child of the earth), woh-tzi-neh (old bald-headed man). Jerusalem crickets are found in areas of high humidity and in loose, moist soils where they can easily tunnel underground. They are quite stocky and heavy for an insect. They are not venomous but, because of their large size and strong jaws, they can give you a little nip if you aren't careful. --VELVET ANT: Yes. These beauties are called ants but are actually female wasps. The males have wings but females are wingless. They are very attractive, coming in colors from white to orange to cherry red and can get up to an inch or more in length. Although they look all cute and fuzzy and sweet, they have a sting that will turn your socks inside out. On one sting-pain index, with zero being nothing and four being excruciating and debilitating de·bil·i·tat·ing adj. Causing a loss of strength or energy. Debilitating Weakening, or reducing the strength of. Mentioned in: Stress Reduction , velvet ants registered at an impressive three on the charts. But with their bright warning coloration, they are trying to politely tell you, ``Back off without touching or you'll be screaming like a car alarm, buddy.'' Velvet ants ``stridulate strid·u·late v. strid·u·lat·ed, strid·u·lat·ing, strid·u·lates v.intr. To produce a shrill grating, chirping, or hissing sound by rubbing body parts together, as certain insects do. v.tr. . . . that is, they make noise, a squeaky sound similar to a dog's rubber chew toy. --TARANTULA: Yes . . . well, maybe. Because a tarantula tarantula (tərăn`chələ), name applied chiefly to several species of the large, hairy spiders of the families Theraphosidae and Dipluridae of North and South America. The body of a tarantula may be as much as 3 in. (7. is so big, so hairy and so menacing, people assume that it is poisonous. Tarantulas are spiders and, therefore, they do have venom. (All but one family of American spiders have venom but most are not poisonous to humans.) The bite of a native American tarantula (genus Aphonopelma) is very mild; one really has to threaten an Aphonopelma spider to get bit. In fact, if you do get bit by one of them, you deserved it. What is more of a threat on the tarantula are little hairs covered with tiny barbs that are at the end of its abdomen. They can rub these tiny hairs off their bodies, and if they end up on your fingers and you rub your eyes, you can transfer the hairs into your eyeball. The hairs are very irritating and can stay lodged in your eye for more than a year. Ouch! Hopefully that clears up some of the confusion regarding these creatures. Some are pretty but potentially dangerous; some are considered mean or disgusting to look at but are completely innocuous. And whether they use venom or not, they are deploying whatever tools they have in order to survive. As long as you are aware of their potential dangers, you should be able to admire, marvel or despise all those creatures without causing yourself harm. CAPTION(S): 7 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Large shoe about to stomp a bug (no cutline) David R. Crane/Staff Photographer (2 -- color) JERUSALEM CRICKET G.R. Ballmer/Special to the Daily News (3 -- color) CENTIPEDE Kirk Visscher/Special to the Daily News (4) VELVET ANT Max Badgley/Special to the Daily News (5) SOLPUGID Kirk Visscher/Special to the Daily News (6) CARPENTER BEE Rick Vetter/Special to the Daily News (7) TARANTULA Rick Vetter/Special to the Daily News |
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