The Super Bowl match-up between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints poses an important question: Will the Colts feel the Saints’ sting like a horsefly they can’t shake? Or will they easily swipe them away and claim the championship?

I’m sorry fans. I have no crystal ball and can’t help you with that question. I can, however, tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the horsefly.

No groans of disappointment, please. These insects can quickly draw all your attention if they bite you – whether you’re a horse or human.

These babies hurt – and they’re among the loudest and noisiest of flies, so you can see and hear them heading your way as well. Unlike some bugs that have more of a stinger, horseflies have mandibles that rip or cut the flesh – sometimes actually taking out a chunk of skin. Once they do the damage, they lick up their victims’ blood. It won’t make you feel any better to know that the females need a blood meal to reproduce.

Here’s some more bad news: Horseflies are present around the world. And their virtue – I know, it’s hard to believe – is that they’re an important pollinator of flowers.

This’ll ring truer to you: Horseflies are also known as gadflies, a term the dictionary defines as somebody regarded as persistently annoying or irritating. We’ll find out a week from Sunday which team – the Colts or the Saints – better earns the distinction.

Always remember – The Mousecar is riding around with his windows down, looking for more friends on Facebook (Truly Nolen Mousecar) and tweeps on Twitter (@TrulyNolen) – interested?

Barry “The Bug Guy”

Tips to Help Fans From Allowing Insects to Score Touchdowns

With college football season beginning Labor Day weekend and professional football starting one week later, millions of football fans around the United States are once again taking part in the art and spirit of tailgating. As grand picnics outside sports venues, tailgates are a perfect vehicle for unwanted insects to join the party; however, there are ways to keep pests from spoiling the fun.

For starters, it is important to know what type of insects will be on the offensive at a tailgate party before you can prepare a proper defense. There are three insects to be aware of during your tailgating festivities.

Crazy Ants, Mosquitoes and Brown Recluse Spiders all fit the profile of tailgate party crashers. Each of these insects has the ability to cause problems for food, guests and pets under the right conditions.

One proven method of keeping Crazy Ants away is to make use of properly sealed food containers, because food scent will otherwise attract these uninvited guests.

Meanwhile, with football starting during the warm-weather time of year, the range of impact mosquitoes can have during tailgating season is tremendous. It is important to drain any sources of standing water near your favorite tailgating spot. In addition, applying insect repellent repeatedly to exposed skin and clothing can help keep mosquitoes at bay while outdoors.

One of the sneakier pests at a tailgate is likely to be the Brown Recluse Spider. Because tailgaters often take their shoes off and relax in the hours prior to a football game, these spiders can crawl into shoes without warning. I cannot stress enough the importance of shaking out shoes prior to putting them back on in order to minimize the possibility of being bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider, and if you are changing clothes prior to the game, avoid keeping clothing on the floor as well.

By taking these simple precautions football fans around the country can keep insects from making touchdowns on bodies.

In the meantime, be safe, stay dry, and hope you all have a buzzing day! The Mousecar is riding around with his windows down, looking for more friends on Facebook (Truly Nolen Mousecar) and tweeps on Twitter (@TrulyNolen) – interested?

Barry The Bug Guy

Many people are aware that an outbreak of certain harmful insects can stunt a garden’s growth in its tracks; however, there is a misconception that insects are no help to someone with a green thumb. In fact, insects with names like assassin bugs, bald-faced hornets, praying mantises and soldier beetles can help manage pest populations in a garden.

While complete prevention of insect pests in a garden is simply unrealistic, the positives that come with beneficial bugs should not be understated.

Beneficial bugs are one of the best-kept secrets in the gardening industry. These insects are likely to remain in your garden if there is a food supply for them and if you mix the variety of plants to bloom over as many months of the year as possible. In addition, gardeners can purchase several types of beneficial bugs at their local home improvement stores and often times from nurseries.

Other insects that serve as beneficial bugs include bumble bees, centipedes, dragonflies, damselflies, green lacewings, ground beetles, ladybugs, spiders, tachinid flies and yellow jackets.

As beautiful as a ladybug is, many people probably don’t realize they will eliminate aphids and tree lice from a garden. A praying mantis will eat just about any bad bug, from flies to crickets. By attracting beneficial bugs, a person’s garden has that much more of a chance to last all summer long.

Speaking of which, congratulations to the Bald Faced Hornet for winning the July Bug Off!

In the meantime, be safe, stay dry, and hope you all have a buzzing day! The Mousecar is riding around with his windows down, looking for more friends on Facebook (Truly Nolen Mousecar) and tweeps on Twitter (@TrulyNolen) – interested?

Beginning today, we’re starting our next “Bug-Off” competition on our Facebook page and also accessible through Twitter.

This month’s Truly Nolen “Bug-Off”: Which insect has the more colorful name?

We would like you, the reader of this blog, to vote for the insect you believe has the more colorful name – Bald-Faced Hornet or Lovebug!

You can vote either in the comments section of my blog, on Twitter at @TrulyNolen, or the Facebook page for Truly Nolen Mousecar.

To access the company on Twitter, visit http://www.twitter.com/trulynolen. To access my friend on Facebook, visit http://tinyurl.com/Bugoff3.

Voting will take place July 1-14, and on the 15th of July, the winning bug will be announced on Facebook, Twitter and in my blog.

In addition, three voters (one from each avenue) will be randomly chosen to win some fabulous Truly Nolen Truly-Wear merchandise.

I look forward to you continuing to help us determine a Bug-Off winner each month!

In the meantime, be safe, stay dry, and hope you all have a buzzing day! The Mousecar is riding around with his windows down, looking for more friends on Facebook (Truly Nolen Mousecar) and tweeps on Twitter (@TrulyNolen) – interested?

Barry The Bug Guy

Beginning today, we’re starting our next “Bug-Off” competition on our Facebook page and also accessible through Twitter.

This month’s Truly Nolen “Bug-Off”: Which insect do you dislike more?

We would like you, the reader of this blog, to vote for your least favorite insect among the Cockroach and Dung Beetle.

You can vote either in the comments section of my blog, on Twitter at @TrulyNolen, or the Facebook page for Truly Nolen Mousecar.

To access the company on Twitter, visit http://www.twitter.com/trulynolen. To access my friend on Facebook, visit http://tinyurl.com/na677n.

Voting will take place June 1-14, and on the 15th of June, the winning bug will be announced on Facebook, Twitter and in my blog.

In addition, three voters (one from each avenue) will be randomly chosen to win some fabulous Truly Nolen Truly-Wear merchandise.

I look forward to you continuing to help us determine a Bug-Off winner each month!

In the meantime, be safe, stay dry, and hope you all have a buzzing day! The Mousecar is riding around with his windows down, looking for more friends on Facebook (Truly Nolen Mousecar) and tweeps on Twitter (@TrulyNolen) – interested?

Barry The Bug Guy

Most people treat their dogs and pets as members of the family, but much like a cold that causes humans to feel sick, people need to be aware of how their pet’s health can be affected by indoor and outdoor insects.

For example, it is easy to forget that pets suffer from mosquito bites too.  Mosquitoes feed on blood, so anytime your pet is in an active mosquito area, they are at risk of being bitten, which can cause conditions such as heartworm disease, which is a slow developing disease that often proves fatal for cats and dogs if left unchecked. In fact, one flea can bite your pet more than 400 times a day, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s FDA Consumer magazine. So how can responsible pet owners take precautions against mosquitoes?

Disrupting mosquito breeding grounds is the key in helping to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne viruses. It is important to drain any sources of standing water in the yard. In addition, emptying old flower pots, tires and other containers of water can also help prevent the spread. Still water is a magnet for breeding mosquitoes.

Meanwhile, fleas and ticks are no picnic for pets either.  A flea’s saliva can cause anemia, dermatitis and a transfer of tapeworms to a pet, while ticks can cause even more severe conditions such as muscle weakness, loss of coordination and sometimes even death from respiratory failure.

Here are some tips I recommend to help protect your pets from pests ruining their spring and summer:

• Check your pets regularly for mosquito bites, flea dirt and ticks, especially after being outdoors. Any excessive scratching, licking or grooming behavior is normally a tip-off that a bite or infestation has occurred.

• Be aware of tall grassy areas where fleas and ticks gather and try to avoid them.
• Be aware that dawn and dusk is when mosquitoes are most active, so try walking your pets outside of these parameters.
• Be proactive inside the home by thoroughly washing pet bedding and regular vacuuming.
• Consult a veterinarian about heartworm protection, as many monthly pill options exist, and before using any flea and tick treatment.
• If confronted with an indoor pest infestation, contact a licensed pest professional to treat the problem.

In the meantime, be safe, stay dry, and hope you all have a buzzing day! The Mousecar is riding around with his windows down, looking for more friends on Facebook (Truly Nolen Mousecar) and tweeps on Twitter (@TrulyNolen) – interested?

Barry The Bug Guy

Another day, another dodged bullet! Tropical Storm Fay brought badly needed rain and some occasionally strong winds to South Florida today. I guess Fay knew that I am scheduled to discuss a Hurricane Pest Prevention Plan this Friday, August 22 between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Eastern on WFTX-Fox 4 Cape Coral/Fort Myers. Their website is www.fox4now.com.

Later this weekend, I will be discussing mosquitoes, West Nile Virus and prevention tips on Sunday, August 24 during the 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. morning news on WPBF-ABC 25 West Palm Beach. Their website is www.wpbf.com.

Doing some reading this week, I read an article about a common insect that most people are lucky enough to see but usually not quick enough to see up close.

The dragonfly is one of those rare insects that doesn’t bite or sting humans, nor do they cause problems for crops. Instead, they look for water where they can enjoy helping to control the mosquito population.

Did you know they’ve been around almost as long as Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno? Older than dinosaurs, the dragonflies come in over 6,000 species – in all shapes and sizes.

Female dragonflies lay eggs in or near water, often on floating or emergent plants. When laying eggs, some species will submerge themselves completely in order to lay their eggs on a good surface. It’s a little known fact that most of a dragonfly’s life is spent in a different form, beneath the water’s surface, using internal gills to breathe, and using extendable jaws to catch other invertebrates or even vertebrates such as tadpoles, fish, etc.

As for their unusual name, there is an interesting theory about its origin according to researchers at Texas A&M University, which can be found in a book written by Eden Emanuel Sarot in 1958 entitled Folklore of the Dragonfly: A Linguistic Approach. He theorized that the name dragonfly actually came about because of an ancient Romanian Folktale. In the folktale, the Devil turned a beautiful horse ridden by St. George (of St. George and the dragon fame) into a giant, flying insect. The Romanian names the people supposedly refed to this giant insect (when translated into English) mean ‘St. George’s Horse’ or, more commonly, ‘Devil’s Horse.’ According to Sarot, the peasantry of that time actually viewed the Devil’s Horse as a giant fly and that they may have started referring to it as the ‘Devil’s Fly’ (instead of Devil’s Horse). He stated that the Romanian word for Devil was “drac,” but that drac was also the Romanian word for dragon. He thought that eventually the Romanian name for the Devil’s Fly was erroneously translated to the English Dragon Fly and this eventually evolved into the “dragonfly!”

So keep an eye out and try to capture one on camera – I assure you, it’s easier said and done to snap a shot of a dragonfly! Do you have any great dragonfly images? Are you a fan of Bruce Lee’s Enter The Dragon?

Barry The Bug Guy

Last week, I spoke about how insects have amazing abilities, much like our U.S. Olympians.  But I neglected to search for whether there was a “gold bug” in existence, which would have certainly been worth some attention.

One particular athlete has gotten the world’s attention this week – Michael Phelps.  As of this writing, Phelps is five for five in gold medals and has won 11 golds in his career, making him the most decorated Olympic athlete EVER.  In addition, he still has three events left, and should he win those, he would be the first person to ever win eight gold medals at one Olympics!

To celebrate this super-human achievement, I did some research this week to see if a gold bug in fact exists.  Sure enough, it does – but only in literature:

THE GOLD-BUG.

As it turns out, legendary poet and short story rider Edgar Allen Poe actually composed a story entitled ‘The Gold Bug’, which was originally published in 1843.

The story is about a man named William Legrand who apparently goes mad after he finds and is then bitten by an insect that was thought to be made of pure gold.  After being bitten, he encourages his close friend to go with him and search for a lost treasure buried by a legendary pirate named Captain Kidd.  Although his friend has doubts, they do in fact find the treasure, which was worth nearly 14 million dollars, and Legrand explains he had all of these visions after he first found the gold bug.

Michael Phelps! Michael Phelps!  This American is swimming mad! He has been bitten by the gold bug.  The riches he finds when he returns from the Olympics will be his own treasure.

Now if I can just uncover a Silver Bug and a Bronze Bug, we’ll be on to something.  With a nod to Mr. Poe, Quote the Bug Guy, Always more!

Barry The Bug Guy

As the games of the Beijing Summer Olympics begin tomorrow, our American athletes will be attempting amazing feats that they hope will bring them many medals on the victory stand.  This got me to thinking – insects may make pests of themselves, but it’s hard to deny they have amazing abilities that would dwarf some of our human record holders.

Insects have tremendous adaptability. Those abilities allow them to survive in difficult settings and can make controlling insect pests a challenge at times.

For example, fleas are known for their jumping ability, which helps them elude predators and find new places to feed.  Inch-for-inch, they would far out-jump even the best human long and high jumpers. A flea’s 13-inch long jump, when translated to human terms, would be 450 feet. For a human to jump the equivalent of a flea’s 7-inch high jump, he or she would have to jump up 250 feet.

The current world record for humans is a 29.5 foot long jump set by Mike Powell of the United States in 1991 and Javier Sotomayor of Cuba currently holds the record high jump at 8.08 feet, which means Trevell Quinley and Jesse Williams will be hard pressed to match those feats, let alone the insect translations!

The world’s best power lifters can find inspiration in one of the world’s smaller creatures: the ant. Ants can drag food that is 25 times heavier than their own weight.  That’s the equivalent of a 100-pound human carrying around one of our VW bug Mouse cars.

Although the Bug Guy is quite loud, Cicadas are the world champions of noise making. The African cicada produces a calling song with a mean sound level of 106.7 decibels. Two species of North American cicadas produce an alarm call with a mean sound level of 105.9 dB. Both decibel levels are near that made by snow blowers or jet planes.

We wish all of our Olympic athletes the best of luck in Beijing and hope to be able to stage a bug Olympics someday soon!

Do you have any Olympic memories?  Have you ever experienced a world famous cockroach?  Ever been to a flea circus?

Barry The Bug Guy

When people hear the initials CSI, they think of a TV show where David Caruso got a second chance after foolishly leaving NYPD Blue. In the insect world, CSI actually stands for Crime Solving Insects.

Did you know that insects can help solve murders by pinpointing the time and location of death, the month a crime was committed and chemicals ingested in a body. They also can help determine if there was abuse and even the circumstances of automobile accidents. Meet the newest brigade of crime fighters: insects.

Forensic entomology has been in existence for centuries; however, it has only in the past decade gained widespread application toward criminal investigations. The use of insects in murder cases and other crimes is becoming quite significant — with police, FBI and other crime investigators now being trained in this area.

In fact, insects provide a level of objectivity to an investigation that should not be overlooked. Often, entomology is more accurate than what pathologists or coroners can do alone, because they must make approximations only on visual decomposition. Experts agree that insects are the only entirely objective way to determine the time of death, often within a range of two hours. Knowing that information can lead to who could have committed the crime.

Insects are usually the first to arrive to the scene of a murder crime – sometimes as early as minutes after a person’s death. Wiithin 30 minutes, insects begin to lay eggs.

The growth and reproduction of cold-blooded insects correlates with temperatures in their surroundings. By observing the stage of insect development and matching temperatures with the weather station nearest the crime scene, forensic entomologists can very closely estimate the time of death. The accuracy of the forensic entomologist is very important as a difference in even three degrees in temperature could cause a variation of three or four days.

Insects can also help determine where someone was killed or if a body was moved after death, according to M. Lee Goff, entomologist and author of A Fly for the Prosecution: How Insect Evidence Helps Solve Crimes. Different species of bugs are native to certain areas of the country, and some are characteristic to specific areas within a region.

Forensic entomologists have also been called onto the scenes of automobile accidents where the presence of bee stings or wasps have been suspected of cause and in perplexing accidents, remains of bugs impacted on parts of cars have been examined to determine location and direction of travel.

In my opinion, it’s only a matter of time before there’s a reality television show devoted to forensic entomology.

What are your thoughts on forensic entomology? Would you watch a reality show involving this crime-solving technique? Which CSI show do you watch the most? But I digress…

Barry The Bug Guy