Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Attacked!

So, we have had mice in our house, I'm not sure which species, but hopefully, we have gotten rid of these with a few well placed traps. However, our adventure continues.
We have an umbrella plant that Megan has raised for several years. We kept this potted houseplant outside on our front porch when we moved to 301 Girard. Since we have moved the plant inside to our living room for the winter, we noticed that it had been dropping its leaves. Today, I got a phone message from work, from Megan, saying that there were tiny little bugs all over the plant. I came home and examined the situation.
Here is what I found:

Here they are zoomed in:Turns out, these little guys were aphids, members of the insect order Hemiptera. They suck plant juices, and the leave a shiny waste product known as honeydew on the leaves (and floor) below the area they are sucking juices. They have several different life cycle body forms, and as you can see, they look very different from one another. Creepy! They are tiny, each being no more than a few milimeters long. I might try to hose them off, outside, this weekend. If that doesn't work, I may have to consult a few experts. The umbrella plant is quite nice and I like it. The point here is that you don't even have to leave your living room to learn about other creatues. Sometimes, they just find you.

Tom

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