Do you enjoy a tasty bowl of fruit in the morning? Or maybe a hot steaming cup of coffee? If the answer is yes, then raise (or tip) your hat to our pollinators. About 75% of food crops depend on pollination to some extent, but pollinators provide the bulk of the pollination for over 80% of the world’s flowering plants. A pollinator can be birds, bats, or even small mammals but, insects such as ants, bees, beetles, wasps, butterflies, and moths do the bulk of the pollination that affects our daily lives.
Plants normally benefits from attracting a particular type of pollinator to their flowers, ensuring transfer and hopefully resulting in reproduction. The pollinator benefits from its adaptation of a particular flower with different traits to access nectar and pollen. These floral traits include odor, color, size, flower shape, reward type, amount, nectar composition, and timing of flowering. This plant pollinator interaction is known as pollination syndrome.
Did you know –
That tubular red flowers with a lot of nectar often attract birds.
Also, foul smelling flowers attract carrion flies or beetles.
Butterflies and moths can help spread pollen; however, they don’t have any specialized structures for collecting pollen.
Beetles pollinate more than 80% of all flowers – clusters of flowers are ideal because beetles are clumsy fliers.
While bees are drawn to plants on the blue, white, purple, and yellow color spectrum. Bees possessing hairs and other specialized anatomical structures that can readily collect and transfer pollen, making them an important plant pollinator. However, the honey bee, (Apis spp.) is the world’s top pollinator and is responsible for one-third of what we eat, yet they are just a small representative of all the bee species.
UF/IFAS Photo: Rodger Evans
FAMU/UF/IFAS Photo: Donna Arnold
Did you Know-
Everyone can contribute to pollinators by creating a home garden. Pollinators will make use of food and habitat anywhere it is found – roadsides, open fields, pastures, backyard flower gardens etc. One can be pollinator friendly by doing any of the activities below:
Plant an assortment of plants – varying in color, size and type to support a greater number and diversity of pollinators.
Plant nativeplants – as they are considered the best choice due to their abundance of nectar and pollen, among other benefits.
Use little or no pesticides – instead maintain a sustainable garden with the suitable plant species that will support natural beneficial insects—reducing the need for pest control.
Educate– others about the importance of pollinators.
Seasonal planting – Choose pollinator plants that bloom in spring, summer, and fall. Timing is crucial – plant flowers in clumps that bloom in early spring (emerging winter hibernation) and late summer (preparing for hibernation) so bees have adequate food supply.
Provide habitat or installbat boxes. Bats play a vital role in pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds.
UF/IFAS Photo: Tyler Jones
Helpful Hint: Did you know dandelions are the first food for bees emerging in the spring. Leave them in your yard and feed the bees!
Have you ever been strolling through your garden and decide to rearrange or remove a log? You might be amazed or intimidated by the sight of a dark shiny creature with large mandibles (mouth parts). But don’t be alarmed- it is the Horned Passalus, Odontotaenius disjunctus. This beetle also is known by many other common names including the Betsy Beetle, Bess Bug, Patent Leather Beetle, Jerusalem Beetle, Horn Beetle, and Peg Beetle.
This beetle is a widely distributed from mid-Florida to Massachusetts, Southern Texas to Minnesota, and Nebraska. Beetles are easily recognized due to their large size, ranging between 30 and 40 mm (1.2 and 1.6 inches) in length. They are known to have pre-social activities, where both males and females perform the same duties of processing decaying wood and protecting larvae.
Friend or foe?
Horned Passalus Beetles are beneficial decomposers of decaying wood or logs, often found in large numbers to efficiently complete the task! However, they are medically harmless and not considered a pest of urban structures. Horned passalus beetles are considered to be beneficial insects as these beetles help decompose deadwood by chewing the pulp and then expelling the frass.
Musically inclined or just a talkative beetle?
The phrase “crazy as a Betsy Bug” may refer to the sounds that these insects make — The adults are able to produce at least 17 different calls (Stridulation) as they communicate with other beetles or when disturbed/agitated, which are audible to humans.
Life cycle/ Developmental stage.
Using its large mandibles, the horned passalus cuts into fallen logs and creates tunnels where the eggs are deposited and hatched into white grubs (larvae) that have up to three instars. They appear to only have two pairs of legs, but a third pair is present and reduced. Only the first two pairs are used for movement. These grubs usually retain a distinctive C-shaped position when not active.
As pupae begin to form they become pearly white with a rainbow sheen. As the pupae age, they lose their rainbow sheen and can range in color from off white to earth-toned. Adult beetles aggregate and compete for sections of fallen wood.
Nuptial flight or defense?
Newly mature adults will leave the parent log and participate in a nuptial flight, one of the only instances of their wing use. During observations of the nuptial flight, adults were found to be susceptible to light attractants such as light traps and street lights. At the end of the nuptial flight, adults will seek out a new log to start another aggregation.
For more information, please contact your local county extension office. Supporting information for this article can be found in the UF/IFAS EDIS publications/websites below: horned passalus – Odontotaenius disjunctus (Illiger) (ufl.edu); EENY 487/IN879: Horned passalus, Odontotaenius disjunctus (Illiger) (Insecta: Coleoptera: Passalidae: Passalinae) (ufl.edu) and Odontotaenius disjunctus (tamu.edu)
The bay laurel tree in the Escambia County Demonstration Garden had some dead branches on the outer canopy. Further investigation led us to the culprit, the black twig borer. Learn more In the Garden with UF IFAS Extension Escambia County.
On June 6th, we held an Invasive Species Workshop: Air Potato Challenge and Species Awareness day at the UF/IFAS Extension Office in Panama City. Over 700 air potato leaf beetles were distributed to more than 30 sites in Northwest Florida by citizen scientists to help manage the invasive air potato vine!
Rick O’Connor, UF/IFAS Extension, tells us about the ball python, a potential invasive species. Rick also provides an overview of keeping pythons and other snakes as pets. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/UW/UW34100.pdf
Holli Nichols, FWC, tells us about the Wildlife Assistance program for homeowners and property owners. Holli helps out find solutions for negative encounters with Wildlife. Most problems are easily solved and she provides a few tips. Holli also tells us about the FWC Pet Amnesty Program for Exotic Pets. Watch to learn more. http://myfwc.com/conse…/you-conserve/assistnuisance-wildlife
Kira Burdeshaw, SCN of NW FL, shows off the tokay gecko we found at the Extension office on the front porch earlier in May. The Gecko moved in with Kira and her other reptiles at the Science and Discovery Center.
…http://myfwc.com/wildlifeha…/nonnatives/reptiles/tokay-gecko
Derek Fussell with FWC Invasive Aquatic Plant Management talks about Giant Salvinia, a species of concern for Deer Point Lake in Bay County, Florida. Here’s a link to a story about the discovery of giant salvinia in Bay County from 2016 https://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/…/nisaw-2016-working…
Derek Fussell shares a behind the scene’s view of their new boat for controling aquatic plants in Bay County and Northwest Florida. We will visit with Derek and Jamie later and show some of the aquatic invasives they work to control everyday!
On June 6th, we held an Invasive Species Workshop: Air Potato Challenge and Species Awareness day at the UF/IFAS Extension Office in Panama City. Over 700 air potato leaf beetles were distributed to more than 30 sites in Northwest Florida by citizen scientists to help manage the invasive air potato vine!