Apheloria Virginiensis
2011-05-31 - by
Early the other morning when I walked out the front door and up the sidewalk and leaned down to lift the newspaper the yard was swarming with caterpillars – not the furry caterpillars from years ago who would curl into a ball when touched, who seem to have vanished, but caterpillars with brown shells crossed with yellow lines; two with rows of yellow legs started climbing a pine tree, slipped on the bark (it had rained during the night) and fell back to the ground; another, striking out on his own, made a beeline straight as an arrow across the yard.
When I walked back into the kitchen my wife asked, “What were you staring at so hard?” and I told her and ever practical she looked up the bugs then announced: “They’re not caterpillars. They’re millipedes. They’re called Apheloria Virginiensis.”
“What do they eat?”
“They’re vegetarians. They also secrete cyanide.”
“How much?”
“Enough to kill a bird.”
“Then why isn’t the front yard covered with dead birds?”
She folded her hands in front of her. “Explain that?”
“ If I can’t look at that bug and tell it’s poisonous how can a bird?”
“Intuition.”
“I don’t believe birds have intuition.”
She stopped. And leaned back. “Well, they’re only two other explanations: Either those birds were saved by divine intervention – or they’ve got more sense than you do.”
Posted in General
Apheloria Virginiensis
2011-05-31/
Early the other morning when I walked out the front door and up the sidewalk and leaned down to lift the newspaper the yard was swarming with caterpillars – not the furry caterpillars from years ago who would curl into a ball when touched, who seem to have vanished, but caterpillars with brown shells crossed with yellow lines; two with rows of yellow legs started climbing a pine tree, slipped on the bark (it had rained during the night) and fell back to the ground; another, striking out on his own, made a beeline straight as an arrow across the yard.
When I walked back into the kitchen my wife asked, “What were you staring at so hard?” and I told her and ever practical she looked up the bugs then announced: “They’re not caterpillars. They’re millipedes. They’re called Apheloria Virginiensis.”
“What do they eat?”
“They’re vegetarians. They also secrete cyanide.”
“How much?”
“Enough to kill a bird.”
“Then why isn’t the front yard covered with dead birds?”
She folded her hands in front of her. “Explain that?”
“ If I can’t look at that bug and tell it’s poisonous how can a bird?”
“Intuition.”
“I don’t believe birds have intuition.”
She stopped. And leaned back. “Well, they’re only two other explanations: Either those birds were saved by divine intervention – or they’ve got more sense than you do.”
Posted in General