Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods)

The Quiz Page

test your knowledge of Canada and its fauna

1. Which province extends through the greatest number of degrees of longitude? answer

2. Which is the deepest lake in Canada? answer

3. What proportion of earwig species (Demaptera) in Canada is introduced and which of the introduced species has recently been spreading most rapidly?  answer

4. Name three species of moths that live during the larval stage in tents made of or held together by silk? answer

5. Give the approximate ranges of the following characteristic Canadian insects.
a) Aedes communis (Culicidae)
b) Aphrophora gelida (Cercopidae)
c) Aeshna septentrionalis (Aeshnidae)
d) Chrysops frigidus (Tabanidae)
e) Grylloblatta campodeiformis (Grylloblattidae)
f) Hylurgopinus rufipes (Scolytidae)
answer

Answers to Faunal Quiz

1. The province extending through the greatest number of degrees of longitude is British Columbia, nearly 25° of longitude.

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2. The deepest lake in Canada, much deeper than other Canadian lakes, is Great Slave Lake, reaching a maximum depth of 614 metres.

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3. Four or five of the five species of Canadian earwigs are introduced (Doru aculeatum in southern Ontario may be native). The European earwig Forficula auricularia has been spreading rapidly in recent years especially in eastern North America.

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4. The larvae of many species of moths form tents, but the most conspicuous and best known in Canada are tent caterpillars, species of Malacosoma (Lasiocampidae), the fall webworm Hyphantria cunea (Arctiidae), and species of Archips (Tortricidae), such as the ugly nest caterpillar A. cerasivorana.

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5. a) The mosquito Aedes communis ranges across the northern Holarctic, including Canada from B.C. to Newfoundland north to treeline and slightly beyond.

b) The boreal spittlebug Aphrophora gelida is locally common in the boreal zone across Canada (central B.C. to Newfoundland), south in the Appalachians to North Carolina.

c) The dragonfly Aeshna septentrionalis ranges from coast to coast in northern boreal habitats (Yukon, B.C. and Alaska to Newfoundland), north to treeline and south in the Rocky Mountains to 51°N.

d) The horse fly Chrysops frigidus occurs across the continent, south along the Rocky Mountains to Colorado, and in all Canadian provinces and territories north to treeline.

e) The rock crawler Grylloblatta campodeiformis lives in the western mountains of Canada (B.C., Alberta) south to Montana and northern Idaho.

f) The native elm bark beetle Hylurgopinus rufipes is eastern, ranging from New Brunswick west to Manitoba in Canada, and west in the United States to Kansas.

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