Give it a try. Send you answers to Mr. Glassford

 

 Puzzler #1

WOW! I am so glad the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saved us. Three cheers for the 49ers. Just think without them we would be just another statistic. We are lovely small blackish-brown critters with striped forewings.We are restricted to Zayante sand hills habitat, an unusual mix of grasslands and ponderosa pine forest. Its a great place!

Our problem, among many, is the mining and urban development that have reduced our habitat by more than 60 percent. These miners wear large boots and our cousin lamellate was smashed, squashed, waffled, stepped on, flattened, compressed, deflated, crushed, pulverized, mashed, and atomized (I think you get the picture) last year in the Zayante sand hills by would-be sand miners.

Who am I?

Common Name __________________________

What family do I belong to? _________________

Puzzler #2

I live in the water as a larvae. You can find me under stones in a stream. I enjoy small aquatic insect cuisine. As a larvae, I differ from my close relative the dobsonfly (Corydalidae) in that I have terminal filaments, seven pairs of lateral filaments and no hooked anal prolegs. As an adult I'm about 25 mm in length or less. I like to stay close to the water.

Who am I?

Puzzler #3

I resemble a mantid (Orthoptera). My prothorax is elongated and my front pair of legs are raptorial. My wing span is about 25 mm or so. I am closely related to the green lacewings. As larvae my friends and I eat wasp and bee larvae, but my personal preference are spider eggs. I have to undergo hypermetamorphosis whether I want to or not. It's really not a pleasant sight...you're lucky you don't have to. As a result my first larval-instar is campodeiform and then all my subsequent instars are scarabaeiform. I know it sounds gross, it actually is, but I really do not have a choice. I am more common in the south but can be collected in Utah.

Who am I?

Puzzler #4

When I was a larvae you could have found me in streams where I attached myself to stones and other organic debris by suckers at my posterior end. I'll tell you straight our most people do not like the females of our species. It just so happens that they are bloodsucking. In other words, our females are vicious biters. I have seen them attack in such great numbers that they have killed livestock. Certain members of our species in Africa, Mexico, and Central America are considered vectors of onocerciasis, a dreadful disease. You could collect me in Utah, but we are not known as vectors here. However, don't get too close--we might bight you. I am in the same order as the mosquitoes.

Who am I?