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2014 06 13

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Converted from paper version of the Broad Ripple Gazette (v11n12)

Right in my Own Backyard - Summer Time, Beetle Time - by Brandt Carter

posted: Jun. 13, 2014

Summer Time, Beetle Time

Did you know beetles live everywhere? Did you know beetles comprise the largest group of living organisms known to science, Phyllophaga? Did you realize they were our first "knights in shining armor?"

I'm celebrating the June Bug this year. Growing up, June Bugs (or sometimes called May Bugs) along with lightning bugs seem to fascinate all ages. I watch my grandson pick up a beetle and observe it intently. I also remember boys pulling legs off beetles or disembodying lightning bugs trying to figure them out. Oh dear, we weren't always kind to bugs as we explored our natural world.

They come in all sizes from microscopic to quite large. I can remember being in a lighted parking lot on a dark summer night with my father and finding variety of beetles around lamp posts. I hoped they were already dead so I didn't execute them for my school bug collection. They were always a bit tough to spear with the bug pin and label for the required biology project. I cracked a few because of their body armor.

Beetles impact our environment right in our own backyards. Today's pressing concern is damage they are causing to ash trees. The emerald ash borer has killed millions of trees, which is sad for our yards, parks, and city streets. I hope if you have lost a tree, you have planted a new one so our village is not without a beautiful tree canopy. Rather than plant an ash, try a ginkgo, which is supposed to be disease resistant.

Another beetle that's "bugging" many of us these days is the Japanese Beetle, disastrous to some of our perennial plants. They love hollyhocks and roses. Have you seen the beetle traps in gardens around the area? I've also witnessed folks out picking them off plants, one by one and then drowning them in buckets of water.

June Bugs are plant eaters; thus the origin of their genus name Phyllo (leaf) phaga (eater). If you garden or cut grass you may overlooking a life cycle of the beetle. If you see a mass of small white eggs. . . the beetle, then as they develop; if you see a grub. . . .the beetle. Then they appear in summer as armored June Bugs. Many die after over exposure to light. I now know why I found dead ones under light posts.

So be aware that grubs eat grass roots and vegetables, and mature June Bugs chew foliage of trees and shrubs. That's why many homeowners resort to insecticides for grubs. One more fact: June Bugs develop from egg to larva to pupa and finally to adult. Their life cycle can be up to four years; with two to three of those years being underground.

One in five organisms (including plants) is a beetle. There are over 350,000 species of beetles, and they have been around for 230 million years. The beetle family has long captured our imaginations -- from lightning bugs in jars to beetles on leash-strings. So to finish this summer reflection, I am including a poem by the poet laureate of Tennessee, Richard "Pek" Gunn 1904 ~ 1995.

June Bug on a String

In days way back on Tumbling Creek

The latter part of spring

Twas sport for every boy to have

A June bug on a String

The bug would fly like all the rest

But what impressed me so

Was that the length of string controlled

Just how far he could go.

Some might have thought that he was free

to go his way but still

I held the string that gauged his flight

And pulled him in at will.

A man can get entangled too

No matter when nor where

And set a boundary upon

His freedom then and there.

He may fly high and buz about

And have a mighty fling

But after all he's governed by

The one that hold's the string.

Brandt Carter, artist, herbalist, and naturalist, owns Backyard Birds at 2374 E. 54th Street. Visit her web site www.feedbackyardbirds.com. Email your bird questions to Brandt@BroadRippleGazette.com

brandt@broadripplegazette.com

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