Each year Pacific Science Center sends a representative from the Life Sciences Department to the annual Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference. Last week, Life Sciences Manager, Sarah Moore attended and was able to work out a mutually beneficial maneuver with a few of her peers. Here is Sarah’s story:Seattle was hot earlier this month, but it was even hotter in Rio Rico, Arizona. That’s where I attended the 2009 Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference. This annual event brings together teachers, insect hobbyists, invertebrate zookeepers and conservation workers to discuss the minutia of invertebrate behavior, ecology and husbandry, and how to make more people say “Ooh! Ah!” and fewer say “Eww! Ick!” about bugs.
It is a chance for people who care about the smallest creatures in our environment to talk with each other and be reminded that yes, small is beautiful. Little lives still matter, and preserving a habitat for beetles or teaching a child not to hurt a spider can have many beneficial impacts, including the conservation and greater knowledge of many larger life forms. It is also a chance for organizations that exhibit insects to meet and form friendships with the breeders and vendors who provide them.
One of the highlights of the gathering is getting to see what cool animals Hatari Invertebrates brought this year. This small but reputable company, specializing in Sonoran and Southwest arthropod species, always has amazing, beautiful and diverse insects, spiders and scorpions available for exhibit.
This year, while waiting in line to buy some velvet ants and grasshoppers, I caught the eye of Woodland Park Zoo’s Manager of Collections, who also happened to be attending the conference.
“Hey,” I said, “Are you adding arthropods to your collection too?”
“Yes” 
“Well, I am purchasing some spiders for Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium as well as insects for our own display. Can we all ship them back together?”
“Sure. That would be ideal because the more organisms we ship, the larger and more heat-resistant container they can be transported in” (not actual words used, we don’t talk that way).
So all the regional purchases came back to Seattle in one big foam box. This not only saves on shipping costs, it is far safer for all the animals being shipped. A larger box with thicker walls is better insulated against extremes of heat. It also holds more air, which helps keep the insides of the cages from getting waterlogged or drying out.
At one time, regional organizations may have viewed each other as competition, or as having missions so different as to prevent working together. It was nice to share in this small way with our local zoos, knowing that the message of wonder these tiny animals bring is equally important to the work all three organizations do.
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Animal Caretaker Adrian Eng and Discovery Corp Summer Intern David are waging war on the tiny mites that live on our Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. This is Adrian’s first report from the front.
If you’ve ever handled a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, you may have noticed some teeny tiny invertebrates crawling across their exoskeleton. These are mites and they call the cockroach’s body their home. Like travelers on a cruise ship, they move to and from different food sources utilizing our beloved roaches as their mode of transportation.
This mite species, Androlaelaps schaeferi, is not a cockroach parasite, as some scientists and hobbyists first believed. Instead, they perform commensalism, where one animal benefits while the other is unharmed and unaffected. A recent study from scientists at Ohio State University suggests they may even be beneficial to cockroaches, feeding on organic matter that would otherwise grow fungus. As beneficial as these mites may be, at Pacific Science Center we felt that an excess growth of mites was overly disturbing to the many staff and visitors that handle our cockroaches every day.
I teamed up with our Discovery Corp Summer Intern David and decided to wage a war with the mites. Our first goal was to reduce mite populations so that people are at least unaware of their presence. Our second goal is to figure out how to keep the mite population manageable in the long term.
We came up with a few techniques. Sweeping the mites with a soft brush seemed the most obvious choice. We also used very fine tweezers to remove mites one by one. This method was very tedious but effective. A more aggressive approach was dunking the roaches in water, which helped to loosen and dislodge the mites living on the body. This seemed uncomfortable and possibly dangerous for the roaches and the outcome was only moderately effective.
The most aggressive approach was using CO2 to incapacitate both the mites and the roaches. When they were both knocked out we were able to use an air canister to easily blow the mites off. This seemed the most effective technique but also the most invasive. Another suggested method was to dust the roaches with flour, something we will have to test the next time around.
This weekend we will begin our second round of treatment. I recently checked in 
on our roaches only to find that most of the mites have already returned in just a few weeks. As disappointing as this news can be, we are still determined to control the population of mites and are excited to find the best way to procure happy handlers and happy cockroaches.
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“Fresh Sheet” is our weekly shipment report of pupae on display in the emerging window. Visit Pacific Science Center's Tropical Butterfly House and meet our newest residents.
Suriname
August 4, 2009
31-Anartia amathea (Scarlet Peacock)
40-Battus polydamas (Polydamus Swallowtail)
40-Biblis hyperia (Red Rim)
50-Caligo memnon (Owl Butterfly)
11-Catonephele orites (Orange-banded shoemaker)
25-Colobura dirce (Mosaic butterfly)
15-Dryas julia (Julia Longwing)
26-Heliconius erato (Small Postman)
10-Heliconius melpomene (Postman)
21-Heraclides anchisiades(Ruby-spotted Swallowtail)
10-Parides lysander (Lysander cattleheart)
21-Tithorea harmonia (Harmonia Tigerwing)
El Salvador
August 6,2009
15-Anteos maerula (Ghost sulfur)
10-Battus belus
15-Caligo memnon (Giant owl)
15-Colobura dirce (Zebra mosaic)
17-Hamadryas glauconome (Glaucous cracker)
18-Heliconius erato (Small postman)
18-Heliconius hecale (Golden longwing)
20-Heliconius ismenius (Ismenius longwing)
25-Morpho peleides (Blue morpho)
50-Morpho polyphemus (White handkerchief)
30-Myscelia ethusa (Royal blue)
16-Papilio erostratus (Dusky swallowtail)
09-Parides montezuma (Montezuma's cattleheart)
20-Parides photinus (Pink spotted cattle heart)
10-Phoebis philea (Orange barred sulfur)
30-Prepona omphale=archeoprepona omphale (Blue belly button)
22-Smyrna blomfildia (Blomfeld's beauty)
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Myscelia
- Range: Southern United States to tropical South America
- Although there are 24 different species in the genus Myscelia, our Tropical Butterfly House only flies two: M. ethusa (Royal Blue) and M. cyaniris (Blue Wave). M. ethusa is notably brighter with a very intense, iridescent blue coloration.
- The males of this genus are often found perched on tree trunks. They may also mistake people for tree trunks and land on them as well. Females are quite active during the middle of the day. However, neither male nor female are capable of flying long distances.
- If you're able to spot a Myscelia at rest, you may notice that they close their forewings into their hindwings, forming a trianle. These butterflies are so compact that they are almost invisible! This is another good reason to check yourself closely before you leave the Tropical Butterfly House.
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Each year Pacific Science Center sends a representative from the Life Sciences Department to the annual Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference. Last week, Life Sciences Manager, Sarah Moore attended and was able to work out a mutually beneficial maneuver with a few of her peers. Here is Sarah’s story:
At one time, regional organizations may have viewed each other as competition, or as having missions so different as to prevent working together. It was nice to share in this small way with our local zoos, knowing that the message of wonder these tiny animals bring is equally important to the work all three organizations do.
