Page 6 June 20, 2013 TORRANCE TRIBUNE TerriAnn in Torrance Something’s Bugging Me By TerriAnn Ferren desk announcing that the Madrona Marsh example, but no…I seem to be frightened of the street to the marsh early before the lecture Bugs. They are here--and in the summertime, Preserve and Nature Centerwas offering aSpiders them and crunch--there they go! to catch, observe and then let bugs go. At this they seem to creep out of wherever they live and and Bugs Seminar Featuring Brent “The Bug Ruth McConnell greeted me as I entered the point, the children were screaming with delight. show themselves in all sorts of places around Man” Karner for the Second Sunday Science Nature Center. She took my $5 and shared with Meanwhile, I was trying to act mature and the house. Scouting ants have been casing out program. So I decided to investigate and attend. me that she has been a volunteer at the marsh not say “ewwww” and “ick.” Then Brent hit my house for weeks now. My plan has been to While driving to the Marsh located at 3201 since she moved to Torrance in 1995. Her sweet, me between the eyes with his words, “What welcoming smile made me feel comfortable from the start and then she escorted me to the lab where the lecture would be held at the far end of the gleaming building. Sitting in the front row already excited, I saw a family of four. The Reyes family had come to the lecture to hear all about bugs. Approaching the children, I asked them if they liked bugs and the sweetest voice you can imagine belonging to Arianna Reyes said, “Me like bugs.” I turned to this little three-year-old girl and smiled. Then her brother Aaron, age six, interrupted to tell me, “I like bugs too and my favorite is the worms.” “Me too likes worms,” added Arianna. Frankly, these two children seemed more comfortable with bugs than I have ever been. Will Gasner, age five, told me he wasn’t sure if he liked bugs and then added, “I got a roly Brent Karner Entomological expert. poly, but it died. I gave it a nice dry green leaf happens to people? Bugs are creepy, bugs are and gave it a wet paper towel and some sticks.” ugly--all of those crazy words we use. All you Darlene King seemed comfortable in the have to do is change the name into how neat room with all the bugs in plastic cases, dead they are, how cute, how handsome if you want, Arianna Reyes, age 3, Aaron Reyes, age 6, and Will Gasner age 5. and alive. She shared, “I love bugs. I’ve been but certainly how cool!” He went on to say that fight them by putting barriers up wherever I can Plaza De Amo, I was thinking not only about chasing them since I was a little girl back in the only way to change attitudes about bugs is and place ant sticks all over that I use to get the ants I have been trying to get rid of, but New York. There were fireflies back there and to change the way we speak about them. “Bug” rid of the ants. Friends and relatives have offered also spiders that I caught around the house and that’s what I did in the summer--is catch them is what we use to describe any bug, but Brent many suggestions on how to eradicate the pesky how I killed them. I flushed them down the in an old mayonnaise jar. Then we moved out told us there is something called a true bug. creatures. Everything from soapy water and toilet, crumpled them up in paper and stepped here when I was nine years old and there are no The groups of bugs are beetles, dragonflies, vinegar to coffee grounds were offered as on them with my foot. All of a sudden I was fireflies and I’m like, ‘Now what do I chase?’ grasshoppers, butterflies, flies and wasps. viable ammunition. And don’t get me started on feeling guilty. Would the naturalists be able to So I chose moths. Then I moved to butterflies Then Brent brought out an Emperor Scorpion the other bugs I pray I don’t see. You know, the tell I had killed spiders? My mom would never and then I moved to praying mantis!” Darlene from Africa and showed it around the room. creepy crawly ones including spiders and crickets. kill a spider. To this day, she still scoops them had clearly attended these lectures before and This particular scorpion has big claws, different Probably because bugs were on my mind, I up gently and sets them free in the backyard. wasn’t the least bit squeamish. from the Desert Hairy Scorpion found outside noticed an advertisement that came across my One would think I would have taken her At 2 p.m. sharp, Brent “The Bug Guy” Karner Los Angeles in the deserts. Lovely. Then we listened to Brent tell us all about the habits metro.net of the scorpion. Now I wasn’t screeching or wriggling my face, but trying desperately to believe Brent that these beautiful creatures (how’s that?) are cool. I was doing rather well until Brent brought out a Sweet Little Rose Hair Tarantula and told us we could “pet” it to feel how soft its fur was. Okay, I “pet” the tarantula. I knew I could do it. All of a sudden, I thought about my ants in the kitchen and how they annoyed me. Somehow after petting a tarantula, that seemed silly. Brent proceeded to bring out everything including a centipede, a millipede, a Whip Scorpion and a Giant Spiny Stick. He also explained there are no poisonous spiders. Not one. There may be some that are venomous, It’s your system...help us improve. Giant Tropical Cockroach from Brazil. the caterpillar of a Monarch Butterfly is verybut one surprise was that he also told us that began speaking in a robust, confident, informed poisonous. Of the 40,000 or so different kinds Become part of Metro’s decision-making process. manner and announced, “You all love bugs,” of spiders in the world, only 27 (including the Attend a Metro Service Council meeting in your area. as he picked up a glass-framed board housing Black and Brown Widow spiders) have venom beautiful butterflies to show the group. He began, and he assured us that no one had died of a “Everybody does like bugs--some bugs. We play bite in over 40 years. So if I see any spider that The councils conduct monthly meetings about Metro bus service favorites a lot. Like we call these pointing to in five geographic regions: the butterflies pretty, flying cockroaches ‘cuz > Gateway Cities (Southeast LA County) that is really all they are. They are just pretty > San Fernando Valley flying cockroaches. They are closely related > San Gabriel Valley to butterflies. Sometimes we don’t even like > South Bay Cities their cousins, do we? Do you know what their > Westside/Central LA close cousins are? The moth!” At this point, Brent was telling me in no uncertain terms These community-based councils advise on planning and that the beautiful butterflies we see are moths implementation of bus service within their area. They review and there is no such thing as a butterfly. He proposed service changes, conduct public hearings, make said that butterflies are moths that fly during recommendations to the Metro Board and participate in quarterly the day. Okay, already I learned something. meetings with Metro executive management. Then Brent picked up a beetle and asked us to guess how many different kinds of bugs there are, For times, dates and locations, check metro.net/about/service-councils. only to dash all our guesses by revealing there are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5 million different 2011 lacmta described species of insects--and those are the number of bugs we know about and have named. Then he said there are five to 30 million species An Emperor Scorpion - notice the big claws. © 12-0404th_gen-ie of insects. Some say 150 million, but according isn’t a Black or Brown Widow, I am safe. And to Brent, that estimate might be a bit high. if a Black or Brown Widow Spider does bite, Brent is an entomologist who goes out it won’t kill. Maybe a puncture and a swollen frequently to check out bugs. He took his spot will appear, but not much more. That is girlfriend “Annette” (a net) with him across See TerriAnn, page 11
Torrance 06_20_13
To see the actual publication please follow the link above