아이차, eggo 더워

'아이차' was one of the ice products looonngg time ago in Korea, when I was a kid.

어쩌란 말이냐

이 더위를~

아이~아이차~

어쩌란 말이냐

이 갈증을~

아이~아이차~

The above verse is a commercial song for this product.

I am getting tired of the continued days of 90+ degrees.  Weather forecast does not show much hope for a while, either. 

메뚜기도 한철이라 쫌 더 버텨보면 끝이 있으리라.  

"아이차!"

듣기만 해도 '씨~원함'이 느껴지지 않읍니까??

=°|°=

so beautiful bug-9: Damselflies (실잠자리)

특별한 이유를 대라면, 할말이 없지만요, 그저 잠자리가 어느새 내가 가장 좋아하는 곤충이 되었내요.  어렸을 적, 잠자리에 실을 메달아 방안에서 놀던 추억이 되 살아 납니다.

다른 잠자리 (dragonflies) 와는 달리, 실잠자리는 주로 물가에서 많이 보이는데,

하늘하늘 날라다니는 것이 고운 색시 (=damsel) 같아서 인지, 영어로는 damselfly라 이름이 주어졌군요.

종류가 많지는 않지만, 날개가 색들어 있는 놈과 투명한 놈들이 흔히 보입니다.
Aren't they so beautiful??

metallic head and thorax. dark but transparent wings when they are spanned.

(Click to enlarge)

metallic body and black wings (click to enlarge)

transparent wings and light-blue body.  Since damselflies are not staying in one position long, it is a bit hard to approach closely to get their  portraits with better resolution. 카메라가 쫌 좋아야 하는데, ㄲㄲ...

Click to enlarge (클릭하면 확대할 수 있음니다).

With their cousins, dragonflies, they belong to Order Odonata.  Like grasshoppers, they undergo incomplete metamorphosis (in other words, they do not have distinct pupal stage).
Juveniles (larvae) are aquatic as shown below.  They have under-developed wings.  Who knows?  They might fly under the water. ^^!

damselfly larva (adapted from Bugguide.net).  Click to enlarge.

It is amazing to see that juveniles and adults have completely different life styles (aquatic vs. terrestrial).  Such changes of the habitat must be accompanied by substantial remodeling of the body structures (for example, breathing apparatus) during metamorphosis.   =°|°=

defense

Today is a big day, as one of my graduate students defended his dissertation successfully.  He is the third grad student receiving Ph.D.

After accomplishing certain amounts of research (takes usually five to seven years), graduate students write their thesis/dissertation and then do oral defense against committee members' offense.
If agreed by the committee (usually five members for Ph.D.), he/she is granted the degree.

Adapted from a commercial T-shirt store.

It is a moment of emotion for students as well as myself, as we have been mutually interacting for such a long period of time for better or for worse.

Best of luck with your future, Dr. Wang.

so beautiful bug-8: Hangingfly

이 넘들은 아주 우낀 넘들...
저 긴 다리들 좀 보라지. ㅋㅋ
평소에는 박쥐처럼  (이름 그대로) 앞발 끝에 난 갈궈리로 매달려 있다가, 지나가는 조그만 넘들을 잡아먹고 산다네요.

그러다  if disturbed, they show a very characteristic behavior: dancing up and down frantically.  Very funny!!!  Actually, I found this guy in the meadow, because of its crazy dancing.

It is about 1/2 inch long (body only).  Click to enlarge.

Hangingflies are often confused with the crane flies. But they are completely different from each other.
Hangingflies belong to Order Mecoptera; Family Bittacidae.

Hangingfly 는 이렇게 one word 로 쓰는 것이 옮음.   ㅎLㅎ

so beautiful bug-7: 사마귀

사마귀 (praying mantis) is a formidable predator, putting them on the top of the food chain in insects. Modified front legs are good for grabbing preys firmly, so no one can escape.

It was very hard to focus on this guy with digital camera.
(Click to enlarge)

I have to admit that 사마귀 are not beautiful to me. They look a bit threatening or scary in particular when they stare me in the eyes. ..섬찌~찢..  So until recently I had no courage to catch it with bare fingers.


While I was roaming our back yard, I noticed a figure with thin body (~ 1-inch long).  It was a baby 사마귀!!!!
I was very glad to see the baby mantis for the first time.




고슴도치 세끼처럼 사마귀 세끼도 귀엽네요.
그래도 이 쬐끄만 것이 째-려보기는....
나를 한번 어찌 해 보겠다고?  ㅠㅠ

사마귀 belong to Order Mantodea.  There are about 20 species known in North America.  =°|°=

In Korean, 사마귀 has an additional meaning; benign skin warts. I wonder how such completely different things got the same name.

so beautiful bug-6: Japanese beetles

Summer is the season when bugs rule the world. ^^

The bugs shown below are called Japanese beetles.  They are abundant particularly in June.
They are about 1/3 inch long and indigenous to Japan (Duh!).

According to the record, they seemed to immigrate into North America in early 1900's.  Because of no natural enemies, North America has been their paradise.

The two on the left are 열애중 in broad daylight. 차아식들... ㅋㅋ.   Male is piggybacking female.  In insects, the females store sperms in their body and fertilize eggs. So until all sperms are used, females are refractory to mating again. 

They have metallic green pronotum and brownish elytra.  They are marvelous but a headache for gardeners (devilish beauty?).

In June, the beetles infest trees and vegetables heavily, grazing leaves; some of you might have seen them in your valuable fruit trees. ㅠ|ㅠ.

So the battle begins. How?
Actually it is kind of fun to kill them.  An interesting behavior is that the beetles fall down directly to the ground when they are threatened even slightly.  This is perhaps their tactic to escape from enemies.

Hmm. OK.  So I prepare a pan filled with soapy water, place it under, and then disturb the beetles a little.  Then they drop into and get drowned under the soapy water (Drop Dead!).  There is no way they evolve 'resistance' to this kind of 'bugcide'.  Ho Ho.

Japanese beetles belong to 'Order Coleoptera; Family Scarabaeidae'.
=·|·=