Who Nose the Way?
Scientists find
a good sense of smell
goes hand-in-hand
with direction as well.
If spatial awareness
is one of your gifts,
it’s likely your nose has
superior sniff!
Discerning more scents
in the air we have crossed
may help with our sense
of NOT getting lost.
So “follow your nose”
as we like to say,
and “smell the roses”
along the way.
The Cup
The cup was gold and gleaming,
It shimmered in the sun,
It called to us along the line
As we were poised to run.
The starter called, ‘Get ready!’
The starter called, ‘Get set!’
Our hearts were pounding loudly,
Our hands were sleek with sweat.
And when we heard the cry of ‘Go!’
We sprang off in a burst,
We ran until our muscles ached,
All striving to be first.
And when the race was over,
There were no pouts or tears,
The cup went to the winner
And we each gave her three cheers.
But don’t think I don’t want it.
I’m never giving up.
I’ll train till I’m the fastest,
Then I’ll win that golden cup.
Lady Bird – Ladybird, you look so special – swish
Floating downstream on a green slender reed
Ants cannot attack you – you sit as flat as a dish
Riding a green rush – to a family of mouths to feed
So hip, so cool, you are resplendent
Coloured red with dark polka dots
Yes you, you are fiercely independent
Seven colourful joys, joyous black spots
Now your babies are calling-out, out from under logs
They’ve eaten their fill of aphids and scale
Surrounded by dragonflies, spiders and frogs
No time to drown, no time to tire, no time at all to fail
You’re on your way with a mighty display
Your colouring to them is bad taste
Scarlet red and dotty spotty spots, say
They better leave your babies post haste
True bugs are suckers
A true bug’s an insect
but insects aren’t bugs
if they eat by chomp-chomp
instead of glug-glug.
Ants are not bugs.
They’ve got mandible jaws.
While a bug’s beaky tube
will get used like a straw.
Bugs feed on liquids
like plant-juice or blood
by piercing the skin
and then sucking, glug-glug.
Cicadas and bed-bugs
are glug-sucking guys.
But ladybird beetles
aren’t bugs – so get wise!
First published in Double Helix (September 2016)
Reproduced with permission of CSIRO
http://www.amentsoc.org/insects/fact-files/orders/hemiptera.html
True bugs (Order: Hemiptera)
Including shieldbugs, plant bugs, bed bugs, pondskaters, cicadas, water bugs, aphids and scale insects.
The Hemiptera are called ‘true’ bugs because everyone – entomologists included – tend to call all insects ‘bugs’. That is a loose term, whereas the true bugs are just those contained within the insect order Hemiptera.
This group of insects is very large, with around 75,000 species worldwide. Around 1,700 of these can be found in the British Isles. Many of them are very different from each other, but all of them have piercing mouthparts with which they can suck the juices from plants or animals – usually plants. Their mouthparts are contained in a beak (or rostrum) which is usually held underneath the body when not in use.
As plant feeders, some bugs – such as the aphids, for example – are serious agricultural pests, not just because they damage crops but because they can transmit viral diseases too. However, most bugs are not pests.
The true bugs often have long antennae divided into a small number of segments, and the front wings can be somewhat hardened. Some bugs resemble beetles, but beetles have wing covers that do not overlap, unlike the bugs.
Bugs undergo incomplete metamorphosis – their life cycle stages include the egg, adult-like nymphs, and winged adults.
http://www.ento.csiro.au/education/insects/hemiptera.html
Hemiptera: bugs, aphids and cicadas
Characteristics
The insects in this order are extremely diverse in their size, shape and colour. There are about 6000 described species in Australia, ranging in size from 1 to 110 millimetres in length. The name Hemiptera means ‘half wing’ and all hemipterans share the following features:
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The young of hemipterans look like small adults. Some bugs may be mistaken for beetles but can be distinguished by their mouthparts as beetles have mandibulate mouthparts while bugs have sucking/piercing mouthparts.
Feeding
Most species of Hemiptera are plant feeders, sucking sap with many causing considerable damage to crops, ornamental garden plants such as roses, shrubs and trees. Some species are bloodsuckers of mammals and birds while others are predators that feed on other invertebrates, including some pest species and are therefore beneficial to man.
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https://theamericanscholar.org/a-bug-is-not-a-beetle/#.VzfDTZVJlD8
What is a bug? It’s not something you come down with. (A bacterium is not a bug; a virus is certainly not a bug.) A bug is not any old thing that crawls. It’s not a tick, not a mite, not a gnat. A ladybug is not a bug. (It’s a beetle.) Certainly, a butterfly is not a bug. Bug, it turns out, is a technical term: “true bugs” are insects in the order Hemiptera.
The stinkbug is a true bug. So are the squash bug, the toad bug, the red bug, the seed bug, the box elder bug, and the assassin bug. Assassin bugs capture their insect prey with sticky front legs and stab them with their little beaks. There are ambush bugs. Ambush bugs sit like statues on flower petals, waiting, waiting … Waterbugs are true bugs. The bedbug is a bug. Ugh.
Besides being an insect with the usual six legs and three main body divisions—head, thorax, and abdomen—bugs have sucking, beak-like mouth parts and their life cycle occurs in a pattern called “incomplete metamorphosis.” They go from egg to nymph (a baby that looks like a small adult) to adult, with no larva stage.
Free As a Ladybird
Ladybird ladybird fly to your tree
The children are screaming and coming to see
They have a big jar and a challenge to get
A most lovely bug they can keep as a pet
Ladybird ladybird fly away free
Take to the wind and race with the bee
For you are too quick and too nimble and wild
To be trapped and contained by a curious child
Ladybird ladybird fly to your den
The children have gone and you’re safe once again
The garden is quiet just you and the gnomes
Now the children have all raced away to their homes.
Food art
This mashed potato sculpture
is a splendid work of art,
the best I’ve ever seen, I’d have to say
and every slice of carrot,
carved to look just like a heart,
you’ve set out in a most creative way.
The broccoli looks pretty
cut in perfect little flowers.
I love the way the peas spell out my name
and I know that you’ve been working
on this masterpiece for hours,
but I’m sorry, every night I feel the same.
It doesn’t really matter
what you do to all this food,
what handiwork you serve me up for tea.
I may seem quite ungrateful
and perhaps a little rude,
but, they still all taste like vegetables to me!
Australian Children’s Poetry 