Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods)

The Quiz Page

News and Notes
Brief on label data standards published

Field trip to the Onefour grasslands

Summary of the Scientific Committee meeting

Survey office disruption

Second spider newsletter published

Canadian Biodiversity Network

Members of the Scientific Committee

Project Update: Arthropod Fauna of Soils 2001

The Quiz Page

Arctic Corner

Selected future conferences

Requests for Material or Information

— test your knowledge of Canada and its fauna —

1. What feature of entomological relevance do the following sites have in common:
Cape Thompson, Alaska
Clyde Inlet, Baffin Island, Nunavut
Fort McPherson, N.W.T.
Hazen Camp, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut
Isachsen, Ellef Ringnes Island, Nunavut
Ross River, Yukon Territory
Summit Lake, Alaska
Umiat, Alaska        Answer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers to Faunal Quiz

 

1.All of these arctic and sub-arctic sites were visited for insect collecting by the Northern Insect Survey [during 1957 to 1961: Arctic Circular 14(4): 68-69].

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2. Typical developmental stages of mites are egg, larva, protonymph, deutonymph and adult, although in some groups stages are added (e.g. another nymphal stage) or eliminated.

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3.There are many examples of microhabitats that can have populations of a single insect species in excess of 100,000 per m², though not necessarily over an area as large as 1 m². For example:

Certain soils where some oribatid mites regularly reach very high populations.

Plant shoots with growing aphid colonies.

The mud of eutrophic ponds in which some species of chironomid larvae reach very large populations especially in early instars.

Birds with feather mites, which are locally abundant on the plumage.

Sites where dormant individuals aggregate in very large numbers for the winter or summer (e.g. some species of coccinellids).

Large insects attacked by small parasitoids with gregarious or polyembryonic larvae.

Leaves or flowers of some plants infested by phytophagous mites or by very small insects such as thrips.

Egg masses of some insects attacked by scelionid parasitoids.

Foodstuffs heavily infested by certain stored product pests, including certain mites and beetles.

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4.Sixteen families of Diptera in Canada have names that begin with the letter C:
Calliphoridae, Camillidae, Canaceidae, Carnidae, Cecidomyiidae, Ceratopogonidae, Chamaemyiidae, Chaoboridae, Chironomidae, Chloropidae, Chyromyidae, Clusiidae, Coelopidae, Conopidae, Culicidae, Curtonotidae

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5.a) The warble fly Hypoderma tarandi normally attacks caribou.

b) The flea Megabothris groenlandicus normally attacks lemmings.

c) The tick Dermacentor albipictus is a parasite of moose, deer and other animals.

d) The philopterid louse Strigiphilus ceblebrachys is a parasite of snowy owls.

e) The echinopthiriid louse Echinopthirius horridus is a parasite of walruses.

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