UGA ENTO2010E Spring 2023's Journal

Thanks for observing!

I'm loving all of the diverse insects and non-insect arthropods y'all are documenting as the semester ends! Keep it up!

We have our first class observation of the southern yellowjacket (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154562651), a species that I find endlessly fascinating! As described in the iNaturalist taxon information page for the species (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/233560-Vespula-squamosa), the southern yellowjacket (V. squamosa) is a social parasite of the earlier emerging eastern yellowjacket (V. maculifrons). A southern yellowjacket queen will take over a small eastern yellowjacket nest and put the eastern yellowjacket workers to work!

"Many annual colonies begin in late May or early June when the queen infringes on a small V. maculifrons colony (about 85% of colonies begin in this parasitic takeover, while only 15% of colonies are independent). Whereas workers do not survive the winter in annual colonies, the queen does survive, and in the spring, when she is ready to lay more eggs, she scouts for small V. maculifrons and V. vidua colonies to serve as the host colony. These “takeovers” can often be violent as evidenced by many dead queens found in the nests. This violence tends to be conspecific, meaning that multiple V. squamosa queens are fighting for control of the host nest or for control of the polygynous nest. A successful usurpation constitutes the beginning of the parasitic relationship between a V. squamosa colony and a V. maculifrons colony."

Fun fact - my lab is currently working on analyzing the first genome assemblies of V. maculifrons and V. squamosa in collaboration with the Goodisman lab at Georgia Tech!

Our first seven-spotted lady beetle of the semester has been observed! Can you spot the difference between genus Harmonia and genus Coccinella lady beetles? https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154456461

On the class project page, top right, click "Your Membership" and select "Trust this project with hidden coordinates?" > "Yes, for any of my observations"

Did you know you can learn more about taxa (species or other groups) by clicking an organism name on an iNaturalist observation? You can also search for more information about taxa at https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa!

Arthropods are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47120-Arthropoda
Insects are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs (6 legs!), compound eyes and one pair of antennae:
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47158-Insecta

Non-insect arthropods like spiders, centipedes, and pill bugs are welcome additions, but you should also document true insects from 3 different orders during the semester for our iNaturalist project.

The purpose of iNaturalist is to document biodiversity when and where it exists so please take pictures of the insects around you! It's ok if you catch them first, but please don't use photos taken by others or from dates prior to the project. If you have technical or other limitations please reach out and let me know.