Mosquitos & Microscopes

During today's ongoing study of insects, we brought out the microscopes. We have several prepared slides of various insect parts, and used those to further continue studying the insect parts we're reading about this week such as the legs, wings, head, etc. We also have various parts from a wasp which we squashed after he found his way into the house. His legs and wings are by far the coolest we've seen!



We rely heavily on the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock to further our study of various insects. If you enjoy nature studies, this book is a must have. Today we collected mosquito larvae from a container outside and observed their behavior. We read about the different stages of the mosquitos, and made sure to collect both a larvae and a pupa. Then, in the name of science, I added flea spray to their water and killed them so that we could study them under the microscope. It was impossible to do so while they were living because they simply wouldn't stay still long enough. Suffice it to say that I don't think we will EVER look at mosquito larvae the same again. Here is a close up of our specimens. The long skinny one is the mosquito larvae, and the fat rounder one is the pupa. He is getting close to hatching and becoming a full grown, blood thirsty mosquito. Makes me not feel so bad about his death.



In case your interested in doing your own nature studies, I highly recommend doing the Outdoor Hour Challenges hosted here. Our mosquito study was the first challenge in her summer challenge series.