American Oil Beetle Research Paper

Insect Collection
Tanner Jones
Honors Biology
1st period

Page 1 American Oil Beetle The American Oil Beetle is a type of Blister Beetle. These beetles are referred to as oil beetles. They are called this because they release oily droplets of hemolymph when they feel threatened. When the beetle feels threatened or put under pressure, they will release a chemical called cantharidin, which creates blisters and will irritate the human skin. These beetles have a soft, and stout abdomen with a shell that looks like overlapping plates. The beetle has a slightly bumpy surface. The antennae can be seen on its head. The beetle can be appeared as dull black, or can be even seen as shiny black or dark blue. The American Oil Beetle do not fly,
This type of butterfly is immense or large compared to other butterflies. When you see one it is a treat to see one. They usually can be found in flower gardens, edges of forests, and citrus groves. These butterflies are great pollinators and that reason they are helpful to have in a garden. When they are caterpillars there colors are orange, black, white, and brown. They are called “orange dogs” because of their colors. They are mistaken as bird feces on a leaf. They enjoy eating leaves of citrus trees like oranges and lemons. Because of this, farmers tend to consider them a pest. In warm, southern areas, many generations can live in one year. They are more active year-round, but are less likely to be seen in winter. They usually fly at heights of human heads and low to the ground. In the life cycle they are laid on a plant as a host, then the egg is bright orange and blacken over time. Then the caterpillars eat and grow about to 2 inches before going into a chrysalis. The chrysalis stage takes exactly 10-12 days to emerge from a chrysalis to a butterfly. Some features about the butterfly are, an adult’s wingspan can be the size of 100-160mm (3.9-6.3 in). Their body and wings are the colors dark brown and black with yellow bands. They have a yellow eye in each wing tail. The stomach has bands of yellow with brown in them. The scientific name of this butterfly is called “Papilio cresphontes”. The butterfly
This termite can be found all over North America, and is the most common termite in the region of North America. This termite is the most destructive wood eating insect in North America and because of this, they are called pests. They are commonly found in Ontario Canada, and in eastern states of the United States. The termite eats many wood or cellulose materials such as wood buildings, paper, wooden fixtures, and cotton. The colonies consist a minimum of 20,000 workers to over 5 million workers. The queen can lay over 5,000 to 10,000 per year to the colony. Like every other social insects, they divide labor work and share resources in the colony. This helps them work efficiently and this is founded on a caste system. The caste system contains the caste of workers, soldiers, and reproductive caste. Some characteristics of the caste workers are, they are about 3mm long, are wingless, soft-bodied, blind, and colors are grayish-white to creamy white. The soldier caste characteristics are wingless, a large rectangular head, and the heads colors are yellow and brown, The soldier caste primarily protect the colony from ants. They use their mandibles to crush the ants if the ants invade the colony. The reproductive caste are adult winged insects, dark body, and has a beaded antennae. When mating occurs they shed their wings. When its a queen or king the reproductive is neotenic. The life cycle of