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Ask the readers in advance!
I received a question from Suzanne Neijenhuis from Son and Breugel. When removing some old leaves from the banana tree, she saw to her great surprise that bananas are growing. She is afraid that she will not experience them fully, because with the first frost it will be over again for this season with the banana tree. Then he dies to come up again in the spring. The question is which banana tree this can be. She suspects the Musa Basjo, but is not sure. Maybe one of you, readers and listeners from Stuifmail, knows.
What kind of beautiful butterfly is this?
Jan Bod has seen a butterfly in Westenschouwen and wanted to know which finder it was. What he has seen is the moth with the beautiful name Spanish flag. Spanish flags are moths that are also active during the day and belong to the family of the Spinneruils. But they belong even more to the lower family of the Beervlinders, just like the Sint Jacobsvlinder. Hopefully you have also seen the beautiful red, orange or yellow rear wing with black spots, Jan, because that makes this moth so beautiful (see photo below). Where the Dutch name Spanish flag comes from is unclear. If you try to look for this, you roll from one uncertainty to the other. Anyway: Spanish flags in our country are quite rare. The most you come across them in the south of Limburg, but in recent years there have also been reports from the rest of our country.
Spider in living room looks like a black widow, is this spider native?
Bram Wijbenga found a spider in his living room that he thought could not be a native. He wanted to know if that is true. The answer is yes and no, because originally this spider lived on the Canary Islands and on the Portuguese island of Madeira. The name is giant steatoda. He has entered our country since 2012 and can be found in almost all provinces thanks to a steady rise. Incidentally, namesake and family member, the Grote Steatoda, has entered our country as an import species since the twentieth century, in the 1970s and eighties. Both spiders belong to the family of the bullet spiders, just like the black widow, but it is not (yet) here. In total this family consists of bullet spiders of more than 120 species. In Great Britain and Ireland, this spider is known as the most poisonous spider in the country. The bite is similar to a bee or wasp sting, so painful.
Giantsteatoda’s mainly live outside and you can come across them in messy, disturbed areas and in buildings. The female giant steatoda have a maximum length of fourteen millimeters and the female large steatoda have a length of ten millimeters. On the back body of the Giantsteatoda is a square light drawing with a point on the front and usually lines that run to the sides.
A special scene in Spain, which bee species are it?
Els Lugtenberg came across a special scene during her walk in Sant Pere Pescador in Spain. She wondered which bee species it was. On the photo you see insects busy with a nest. They are not bees, but wasps and they are called French field wasps. These fleece -wing insects belong to the family of the pleated wing wasps and are known for their legs hanging back during the flight. In addition to the French field wasps, the mountain field wasps fly like that. The difference is in the antennas. The French field wasps have predominantly orange or orange-yellow antennas. The mountain field wasps, on the other hand, have black antennas.
The mountain field wasps mainly make their nests outside. You can also see them hanging on stems of flowers, shrubs and herbs, and not under a cut -off. These nests are usually placed vertically. French field wasps make their nests mainly among roofs, but in warm countries they also make them outside. The difference lies in the placement of the nests, because French field wasps build horizontal nests. Sometimes it is a very confusing image, because the nest of the Bergveld wasps that is built vertically drops due to the increased weight to more diagonal and sometimes even horizontal. On the menu of the French field wasp there is mainly vegetarian food, such as plant juices, nectar from flowers and the juice of ripe fruits. For their larvae they mainly catch insects as an important protein source.
What kind of insect was there in the garden?
Cora Peemen found an insect in her garden and she wondered if it was a boktor. The Boktor family is fairly recognizable, because they all have an elongated body, thin antennas and legs. Above all, the antennas are about half of the height. The insect that Cora has photographed also meets that description. This boktor has the name Landboktor. Fortunately this boktor was in the garden, because you don’t like to see it in the house. Household drivers become a maximum of 2.5 centimeters and have black cover shields. The neck shield is also black and round with two bumpy protrusions and it is somewhat hairy with small, white hairs. The adult animal is completely innocent, does not live on wood and is a maximum of two weeks old.
The adult animal is therefore not the problem, or you should find that the egg -line female counts when causing the damage in Huizen. But the larvae of this species are the problem. Such a larva of the houseboktor can live to be ten years old and then the animal will only pupate. Often they do not get those ten years, but five years and then a lot of damage can occur in Huizen. The fact that they last so long has to do with the simple fact that dead wood has little food value. This means that such a larva has to eat a good amount of wood. If you now have a few of those sweethearts in the house, then it will be babysitting. Do you want to know what to do against the landscape in the house, Then take a look at this site.