Our 5th instar caterpillar has turned itself upside down! What is going on? Describe in detail what magical event is happening!
Month: January 2009
Good Job Ameena!
Ameena had the correct answer to the ‘Cat’ questions! She joins Destiny and Arielle in the Winners’ Circle! Keep up the good work everyone!!
Sleyker–the caterpillar is a 5th instar, but it is not 5 mm long. Each little line on the ruler is a millimeter, but 10 mm=1 cm. Be careful with your measurement! I know it was a tricky question, so I will give you an A for effort! 🙂
Ms. Lenahan
Questions About Cats!
This caterpillar is quite large! It certainly has eaten a lot of milkweed! 1. How long is the caterpillar? 2. About how long are its tentacles? 3. Do you think this cat is a 4th or 5th instar? The first student to answer all three questions successfully (here on the blog, of course!) will win a prize!
Blue Dasher Photo #2
Here is the dragonfly after it has completely emerged, its wings are fully open and dry. You can see the instar or shedding that it has left behind. The blue dashers we watched emerging this summer all completed this process at night. Why do you think they emerge at night instead of during the day?
Dragonfly metamorphosis is different from butterfly metamorphosis.
Click here to learn about incomplete metamorphosis!Scroll down about 1/2 way and you will learn how it is different. What stage is missing in the incomplete metamorphosis?
Blue dasher dragonfly emerging!
This is a picture of a blue dasher nymph that is going through metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is a change in form from one stage to the next in the life of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly. A dragonfly lives the first part of its life in the water. When in this stage it is called a nymph. The nymph breathes through gills similar to a fish. It is quite the predator and will eat almost any living thing it can get its jaws on!
When the nymph is big enough, it climbs out of the water (as it has done here,) its exoskeleton breaks open and out emerges the strange-looking adult dragonfly! Watch for me to post another dragonfly photo! PS-I did not take the picture. John is the impressive photographer here! 🙂
Congrats Destiny! And hello to Ms. Hernandez!
Destiny was the first person to correctly answer my question in the last posting! Destiny wins a prize! Details on the prize to follow…
Many thanks for the comments from all of you. It is so nice to see Destiny sharing our website with her mom! That really made me smile! 🙂
I just signed up so that I can create blogs for each student. It takes 3-5 days for the payment to clear, so I should be able to set them up over the weekend. Then my students will be able to create their own blogs.
Important note to parents and students:
Students will not be able to write to their blog without it being cleared by me. So don’t worry, everything they do will be closely monitored and SAFE!