A car that is a Beetle and a Beetle that is a bug

      In April 1934 an order was received from Adolf Hitler to Ferdinand Porsche to develop a Volkswagen (literally “people’s car” in German).  It must be affordable, big enough to hold a family, strong and fast enough to travel the Autobahn.  

     The Volkswagen Beetle was originally known as the Volkswagen or the VW . The first use of the name Beetle may have been in England in 1950. There is a story that the nickname was given to John Colborne-Baber's VW (one of the first to be seen in England) by his son's school friends. 

     The VW was well-known as the Beetle when John Lennon and friends formed their famous pop group, The Beatles. In 1967, official Volkswagenwerk publications began to recognize the term "Beetle". By 1969, the name Beetle had become the official generic term.

     Like its contemporaries, the Type 1 has long outlasted predictions of its lifespan. It has been regarded as something of a "cult" car since its 1960s association with the hippie movement and surf culture; and the obvious attributes of its unique and quirky design along with its low price. For example, the Beetle could float on water thanks to its sealed floor pans and overall tight construction, as shown in the 1972 Volkswagen commercial: 

     I learned how to drive a stick shift in a white Beetle when living in Tripoli, Libya; I drove a white fast back in Cairo, Egypt; and in Newtown, Connecticut I drove a bright red Volkswagen Karmann Ghia.  The VW was a part of my life for two decades and I loved driving them all. 

 (Photo by Hasse Aldhammer, Creative Commons License; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Volkswagen_Bubbla_sista_bilen.jpg)

     The very last Volkswagen Beetle was manufactured in Puebla, Mexico, July 30, 2003, rolling off the assembly line to the music of a Mariachi Band.  It now lives in a museum in Mexico City.

A Beetle decorated in the Huichol style of beading now on display at the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City.  Creative Commons License; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vochol09MAP.jpg   "Vochol09MAP" by Museo de Arte Popular.

A  Beetle can be a work of art.

The ladybug is a beetle that helps control the aphid population.

(Photo by Gilles San Martin, Creative Commons License; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coccinella_magnifica01.jpg)

Beetle designs are in Quilts

The VW that thinks it is a spider

 




VW Spider bug located on US77 just about ½ a mile north of Lexington, Oklahoma. The Spider Bug sculpture stands on the side lot of a VW graveyard and at one point in the past it overlooked a small auto racecourse that’s long since been reclaimed by weeds and scrub.

     Let us tell the tale of a very interesting beetle: the Dung Beetle, neither a spider nor a car but the ultimate recycler.

     Dung beetles are beetles that feed partly or exclusively on dungs or feces. One dung beetle can bury dung that is 250 times heavier than itself in one night. 

     Dung beetles do just what their name suggests: they use the manure, or dung, of other animals in some unique ways! These interesting insects fly around in search of manure deposits, or pats, from herbivores like cows and other barnyard and domestic animals.

         Many dung beetles, known as rollers, roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or brooding chambers. Other dung beetles, known as tunnelers, bury the dung wherever they find it. A third group, the dwellers, neither roll nor burrow: they simply live in manure. They are often attracted by the dung collected by burrowing owls. Dung Beetles can grow to 3 cm long and 2 cm wide. (Photo by Alex Straub, Creative Commons License; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scarabaeus_viettei_01.jpg)

     Those that eat dung do not need to eat or drink anything else, because the dung provides all the necessary nutrients. No junk food for them. The beetles do a service by processing the dung dropped in pastures and open land and also reduce greenhouse gases and the fly populations.  Without the dung beetle, livestock would be out standing in their ... field.

     The sacred scarab of ancient Egypt, found in many paintings and jewelry, is a dung beetle. Ancient Egyptians thought very highly of the dung beetle, also known as the scarab. They believed the dung beetle kept the Earth revolving like a giant ball of dung, linking the insect to Khepri, the Egyptian god of the rising sun.

     In 2013, a study was published revealing that dung beetles can navigate when only the Milky Way or clusters of bright stars are visible. When the scientists put tiny black, cardboard hats on the beetles, to block their overhead view, the insects meandered hopelessly. When the beetles wore clear plastic hats, they rolled straight. They probably found the tiny hats for beetles on E-Bay.  One can find the most impossible things there.

     So what’s so great about dung beetles? They are mighty recyclers! By burying animal dung, the beetles loosen and nourish the soil and help control fly populations. The average domestic cow drops 10 to 12 dung pats per day, and each pat can produce up to 3,000 flies within two weeks. In parts of Texas, dung beetles bury about 80 percent of cattle dung. If they didn’t, the manure would harden, plants would die, and the pastureland would be a barren, smelly landscape filled with flies! While we enjoy our hamburgers, the dung beetle is enjoying the beef by-products.

     We suppose that we are superior to dung beetles, but are we really? At least dung beetles recycle. We scavenge, hoard, consume…what? Crap, mostly. It piles up around us; increasingly we live on a ball of it. But the dung beetle takes a pile of crap and recycles and makes it a home.

     We may question their lifestyle, but it’s certain that our world would be a much smellier place without the mighty dung beetle!

Undergraduate Research

This past Saturday, Josh Kouri presented a poster of his research on the spiders of Muskogee and Cherokee counties (Oklahoma).  Great job!  

- Andy

I Don't Like Spiders and Snakes

Jim Stafford summed it up in the lyrics of his song, the average person has a dislike of things known as arachnids (an animal with four pairs of legs and a body with two segments -- spiders) and things that slither. I happen to enjoy and respect them both.

We appreciate the Ladybug and her battle against aphids. We hate the cockroach, cringing as it crunches underfoot. We are in awe of a web built by the spider, but jump on a chair when we see a lone spider in our home.  How many of us have yelled “Kill it!” when we see one?

In a spider’s defense they can be beautiful, and daunting.  A Peacock Spider can dance as well as any professional on Dancing with the Stars.

"MalePeacockSpider" by Jurgen Otto. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons 

This arachnid, scientifically known as Maratus volans, is a mere 5mm in size and is capable of quickly escaping and jumping erratically. Yet, what defines the spider best is perhaps its unusual likeness to peacocks.  Like male peacocks with their exuberant tail feathers, the male peacock spiders are equipped with beautifully colorful flaps that rise up like a fan, displaying an unbelievable radiance and richness in breathtaking patterns. The males of this species are the only gender with colorful flaps so as to attract the females. They put on a bit of a show to win them over.  That combined with YMCA by the Village People make for entertaining viewing.

The web of the Orb Spider is so beautiful; a Master Gardner will even stop to admire the spider’s web, and to thank the spider for catching all the bad bugs in a garden.

In 1973, Skylab 3 took two orb-web spiders into space to test their web-spinning capabilities in zero gravity. At first both produced rather sloppy webs, but they adapted quickly.

Many spiders will build new webs every night.  Others will just keep repairing their damaged webs.  The spider will sit near the center of the web and wait for insects to land on the web.  Some species of Orb-web spiders will weave fancy looking webs.  Scientists think that the patterns help birds to see it and avoid flying into it.

The tarantula, even though harry and scary looking, is more afraid of humans than we are of the tarantula. People usually associate Tarantulas with the people-killing kind of poison.  They have small poison glands and will be about as painful as a hornet or bee sting.  It tickles when a tarantula crawls over your hand because tarantulas are covered in hair.  Most species of tarantulas are not dangerous to humans, and some species have become popular in the exotic pet trade.

Regardless of their fearsome reputation, tarantulas are themselves an object of predation. One of the spider’s worst enemies is the Spider-Wasp.  The female wasp will paralyze the spider by stinging it.  She then digs a hole and puts the spider and an egg into it.  When the egg hatches, the baby wasp will eat away at the paralyzed spider.

Humans can also be considered predators of tarantulas. .  Besides stepping on them, the pesticides we use to control other insects can kill spiders.  In addition to more mundane cuisine, tarantulas are considered a delicacy in certain cultures. They are usually roasted over an open fire to remove the hairs and then eaten.  They are said to have a nutty taste kind of like peanut butter!

Because they are small, spiders have many enemies. Larger animals, such as birds, toads, lizards and monkeys, hunt them.  But they are also used as food by many smaller creatures.  Ticks will attach themselves to a spider and eat away at it for a long time while the spider goes about its business.

"Brachypelma smithi 2009 G03" by George Chernilevsky - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Recently, giant spiders were featured in books such as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling. This book was later followed by a motion picture of the same name, using the giant spider Aragog from the novel as a supporting character and pet of Hagrid, a grounds keeper in the book. The kindest and most intelligent spider, of course, would have to be Charlotte, from the book Charlotte’s Web, since she could not only spell but saves the pig, Wilbur’s, life!

This museum had a wonderful volunteer, Dan Stroud, who would educate our visitors to the wonders of our friends, the “Creepy Crawlies”.   He had various live specimens from Hissing Cockroaches to Slither, a snake, and Rosie, the tarantula and an assortment of the catch of the day including spiders.  He told us how to see spiders in the grass on a summer night by lying flat on the ground with a flashlight even with the grass, turn it on and watch the light refract from the spiders eyes.  Which on a balmy summer evening, I tried; it was awesome to see all those little eyes staring back at me.  I was then afraid to walk on the grass as I didn’t want to harm any of them.

We have been scared enough to spill our popcorn while watching such movies as Alien,  laughed at Bug’s Life, chuckled at the quaint  special effects in Kingdom of The Spiders staring William Shatner. We cheer in the Spiderman movie and “Spider-Sense” helps solve the crimes of the day.  Wild Wild West, a 1999 American steampunk western action-comedy film, had a giant mechanical spider.

Why then are we so afraid of spiders? We are born with only 2 fears:  the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises!  Every other fear above and beyond that is learned!   We love spiders in movies, but we don’t love the spiders in our homes and gardens. There are a few spiders with poison strong enough to cause pain or even some nerve damage in humans.  These spiders include the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse spiders.  If left untreated, death could result.

In our ancient past, fear of the unknown kept us alive, the primitive brain reacted to certain threats.  Spiders themselves are preyed upon by lizards, frogs, birds and by predatory insects, such as the praying mantis and wasps. Spiders do play an important role in the ecosystem, just like any creature. A spider eats about 2,000 insects a year, so spiders are good to have around the home. The reward for the trouble? All too often, a smack with a newspaper. Spiders are usually killed by people because the arachnids seem scary, not because they're dangerous.

Want to get your blood circulating quickly, walk into a web by surprise. And I will save the snakes for another day.