Not too long ago, we had microwaving of termites. The fellow that came out seemed very thorough, and the only ones he found were in fairly isolated areas in the ceiling.

A few weeks ago, a swarm of flying insects appeared near the kitchen door. Soon after, another swarm showed up at the same spot. Today, a guy from the same company checked it out. These, he said, were of the subterranean variety.

My work gets frantic just before 1:00 p.m., and today, it was unusually crazy. Luckily, a family member left work to deal with the matter. When I emerged later, I learned that the soil around the door was treated, a substance sprayed around the door.

But even though the warranty on the previous work had expired, they didn’t charge anything. Nice people.

Me: How far away do I have to be while you’re doing the microwaving?
Guy: Oh, maybe in the next room.
Me: Really? Not necessarily the farthest room back?
Guy: No. About five feet is safe.
Me: What does it feel like if you’re too close.
Guy: Me, I get a funny feeling in my chest. My partner, he gets a headache. That’s when we know to back off.
Me: Like a numbness?
Guy: Nah, more like a tightness right here (puts hand over heart).
Me: Now is this going to affect my internet connection?
Guy: You on wireless? It does funny stuff to wireless.
Me: No. But I gotta work.
Guy: Should be okay. (It was, except when a family member accidentally unplugged the modem when moving desks out of the way.)

Droppings have been steadily falling directly over the table where I work. I had visions of insect masses in the infrastructure slowly and methodically eating the house.

He was due between 11 and noon, and being a veteran of such promises, I was stepping into the shower at 10-ish, allowing plenty of time before his arrival. There was a knock on the door.

This is the first time a service person has been early. His highly scented deodorant followed his every move, and when he ventured outside to check the eaves, he was very easy to find.

A friend had reported the results of her termite work not too long ago, so I was expecting the estimate to be in the four-figure range, and the dreaded tenting. Surprise! The infestation is not severe, limited to a few areas, and subterranean evidence is minimal.

Now if I can just get through the dental work at 8 a.m. tomorrow.

If you thought the choices in toothpaste, for example, were daunting, you might visit the hardware store and check out the caulk section (aisle 18 at the local Orchard Supply). In paint, not plumbing.

A new tool in my arsenal against the continuing ant battles. Over time I will seal every possible entry point, because I’m really tired of writing about ants. Especially after a family member reached up for the shower head only to find his hand covered with a multitude.

If you’re in need of aquarium sealant, which I needed a few weeks ago to patch a fountain, the hardware store is a better choice than the pet store. The sealant is hanging there alongside the 30 kinds of caulk, and you’ll save at least $5.

I miss my old dog, who always managed to tell me in no uncertain terms that it was going to rain. It wasn’t a conscious act, he didn’t come up, put his paw on my foot, and whine while looking up at the sky. That would have been kind of cool, actually.

No, he just did his usual, leaned his weather-sensitive fur against the door and then sink into a daily torpor broken up by the postman’s visit and regular trips to my various flowerpots. But there was never a mistake, even on an otherwise brilliantly sunny day. Brutie and I knew it was going to rain.

Now that he’s gone, the Argentine ants are trying to take up the slack. I’m not quite on their wavelength, and their collective attempts over the past six weeks have failed. (It did rain yesterday, but I had no idea it was coming.) I couldn’t help but notice their insistence at every crevice in my bathrooms, and their improved resistance to Terro ant poison. Stomping them didn’t work, as it seems every pair of shoes I own has soles designed to protect small insects. My fly swatter didn’t work either because the bathroom tiles have small indentations that provided just enough shelter for a fleeing ant.

Am I going to seek out another golden retriever? Oh yes. Not just yet though.

You probably thought I killed it after taking pictures last week. That’s what any sensible tomato grower would have done.

None of the pictures came out well because it never stopped moving its mouth parts. It was late afternoon, and where I was shooting, it was not very bright. I didn’t want to turn on the lights, which might have made it twitch. Not only did it move more than I thought it would, it produced an enormous amount of droppings. No doubt because of its nonstop eating. Didn’t the plant-eating dinosaurs do this?

So I put it under a plastic dome, actually the lid of a spindle of CD-Rs. Left it with plenty of fresh tomato leaves, courtesy of a lush patch of cherry tomatoes. Plus the half-eaten green tomato.

The next day, I didn’t want to face the subject, which seemed quite active, moving around its pen on top of an outdoor table. I could see it out of the corner of my eye as I worked. The leaves were wilted.

I still wasn’t up to it the following day, or the next. But I kept feeding it. It kept crawling around the perimeter, kind of like a fat green train.

Before I knew it, almost a week had passed. Normally tomato worms don’t bother me, although they must be one of the most repulsive-looking creatures, especially when you find them on your healthiest tomato plant. But my previous episode with the pistachios left me a little more squeamish than usual. Perhaps there is a little pistachio left in my system still.

A family member remarked that the worm looked less than happy. Perhaps, I suggested, it was preparing for its next stage of development. He couldn’t find a suitable container for it (although he didn’t look very hard).

I am very relieved. Sometime I will discuss the writhing mass of larvae in the compost heap, but not today.

Word has gotten out over the past few years among the pest community that my tomato patch is nothing to get excited about. This year is a little different, and the plants are still producing a surprising amount. This afternoon, I noticed that the tiny dog from a neighbor’s yard must have gotten in the garden and left its droppings on the tomato leaves. They were that big.

I had hoped that the hornworm had matured and gone away, but no. It had eaten most of one tomato and started on this one. But what I actually had was a free model.

Albeit a messy one, and noisy on top of that. Try putting one on a clean sheet of white paper. When it moves around, it makes a rasping sound, which could be the mouthparts trying to ingest the paper. Who knows. It will remain under cover till tomorrow when the light is better. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of tomato worm food.

We were only gone a few days. The squirrels removed the rocks from all the pots and planted their oak tree crop. In the kitchen sink, the Argentine ants set up camp, extending their reach to the dishwasher. The yippy yappy that lives behind us learned to enter the yard via a loose fence board.

It met my eye when I glanced out the window this afternoon. This triggered a huge startle reflex on both our parts, because the only eyes I meet in the yard are those of birds. In the case of this animal, its standard bark is the one that sounds as if someone jabbed a rusty but sharp, barbed spear into its rear end. It continued to bark as I coaxed it toward the opening in the fence, hesitant as I was to simply fling it over. From the safety of its own property, it kept up a steady racket.

A few minutes later, it taxed our hospitality again, announcing its whereabouts to all. I dispatched another family member, who decided to take the flashlight that is as long as a human leg. He reported that the guest departed in all due haste without encouragement. Another family member came home and patched up the opening. If the animal tries again, it will encounter a board with a nail.

Another day or so and deer would no doubt have come into the picture, starting with the bougainvillea and moving into the vegetables.

For awhile, I had four or five kinds of pears waiting to be photographed. Then the holidays came and went, and I honestly don’t recall eating these. But I bet the fruit flies have fond memories.

Or should I say, a whiter shade of white. Scientists are amazed at the unusual brightness of the white beetle, whose secret is a shell covered with ultra-thin scales.

When one of my kids calls out ‘Hey, Mom, come here’ in a cautious voice these days, it usually has to do with a live creature of some kind. Normally, he would have taken care of this with one of his many cameras, but he was on his way to catch the train.

Thanks, Jeff!

At the Conservatory of Flowers’ Butterfly Zone last weekend, a young girl was taking pictures with one hand while holding this with the other, and kindly allowed me to take a shot of this eastern swallowtail as well.

Some were in better shape.

At the Conservatory of Flowers in SF yesterday, butterflies were clinging to the windows as visitors streamed in and out of their controlled environment. Many of the insects had beaten-up wings.

It has been a long, racket-filled day of workers repairing fences. After a quiet dinner, I settled down for some dessert (an orange, nothing to get excited about) when I heard what sounded like a team of roof rats with high heels walking around on the patio. After a bit, it sounded like a few had managed to get inside. Very soon, the phone would ring and I would hear a hollow but ominous squeaking at the other end.

But then something very large flew across the room to the lamp, bounced off and careened to a wall, bounced off, went to the window, bounced . . . well, you get the idea. I didn’t get a good look, but went outside, because it’s not everyday you see a bunch of rats wearing clackety heels. The insect came outside as well. When I went in the garage, it followed, throwing itself against surfaces.

Perhaps it was the gnome, angry that I’d written of its supposed theft of apricots.

Last year I tried to offer a katydid to my mantis, but it failed as a menu choice.

Dragonflies behave very much like birds when they migrate, according to a new study. They build up fat reserves before taking off, and seem to navigate in similar ways.

It’s a little-known fact that ants love to have their pictures taken. I don’t set out to shoot them especially, but lately, they wind up in many of the photos.

For 10 weeks, he was lost in the Outback. After about one week, he discovered a natural dam where the leeches resided. He ate those, along with grasshoppers and frogs.

Observers say he looked like a walking skeleton when found.

It lunges out of the water to catch insects. Scientists are amazed at its ability to angle its head toward food, and say the discovery sheds light on how fish made the transition from water to land.

From a visit to Steinhart Aquarium.

They follow the ants, which are able to catch large insects. When the birds see that a choice morsel is there for the taking, they seize the opportunity.

The microbes in a termite’s guts break down cellulose into sugars. These can be fermented into ethanol. Other ideas detailed here.

Wouldn’t it be neat if part of California’s energy needs were filled by the pest that is constantly eating our houses?

Scientists were puzzled when it was discovered that batrachotoxin was the poison in both the pitohuis and the frogs. The bird is found in New Guinea, the frogs in Colombia.

At the California Academy of Sciences, Dr. Jack Dumbacher reports that the source is a beetle of the genus Choresine. Researchers found the beetle when they asked New Guinea villagers which insects caused numbness. The beetle belongs to the Melyridae family, which is also found in Colombia.

It is now annoying New Zealanders, who are concerned that the pests are invading many regions of their country.

I would not be surprised if these ants swam from California to NZ. The endless lines of them across and up and down the driveway, and all along the house foundation have diminished. But I know they’ll be back.

Not all quails are toxic, of course, and those that are do not have the toxin at all times. Symptoms: vomiting, terrible pain, difficulty breathing, and paralysis. It’s not fatal, however.

No one knows what causes the quails to be poisonous. Some say certain seeds, others say insects.

Quail available in American supermarkets and restaurants are imported from Japan, and quite safe.

Ants teach each other to locate food through a process called ‘tandem running’. Mutual feedback lets the novice ant learn at its own speed.

The areas under power lines are usually kept well trimmed so electricity flows unhampered by nature. One utility company spokesman said that the spaces are simply mowed without regard for what was growing.

Now, an insect researcher reports that large populations of bees inhabit those areas. Bees have largely disappeared from many regions in the U.S., to the detriment of farmers who depend on them for pollination of crops.

By making more habitat available, the bee population might increase enough to make biologists, farmers, and even the utility companies (who need some good PR) happy.

Elephants don’t like bees, which can attack vulnerable areas such as behind the ears, around the eyes, under the belly, and under the trunk. Researchers have found that they avoid trees where hives are hung, and are frightened by the smell of honey alone. Simply broadcasting the sound of angry bees also keeps them at bay.

In farm areas where elephants trample cultivated plants, encouraging farmers to keep bees will might keep crop loss at a minimum.

Scientists at Cambridge University discover that bees can detect the differences between four human faces, picking out a target face accurately.

A tantalizing glimpse has been caught on camera, but its face was hidden by leaves. It has red fur, little ears, a long bushy tail, and is slightly bigger than the average cat.

New species of snakes, beetles, bats, and fish are constantly being discovered in the Bornean jungle.

After her car hit a power substation that contained a hive, the woman died from thousands of stings. Her husband survived, but had kidney failure due to the toxin levels, and is now on dialysis.

From Thais.it, some colorful ones. Click on each picture to see details and a high-res image.

Amazing detail from the gallery of the Micro Archiving site.

Brian Fisher, an entomologist, named a new ant species Proceratium google, in appreciation of Google Earth.

This golden beetle from the scarab family is found in Costa Rica.

Years ago, there were lots more bees. This hive fell out of a palm tree after a storm.

A horned beetle from Nicaragua.

It appears to be waving here.

Won by Gentleman Joe Menchetti, who gulped down 89.

The one I took pictures of this summer was a big one with a lot of wing area. 89.

I’m guessing it was happy with the sound level. No hair was blown back.

I let it roam around a bit before escorting it outside where the surfaces are more friendly for tiny legs.

After checking out the equipment, it is now exploring one of the ivy geraniums outside.

Tomorrow I can get a better shot with daylight. I think. Then I will let it go.

All play a large role in the unique life-or-death situation experienced by a man living alone in the wilderness with seven wolf-dogs.

They are going for the Terro bait, but their numbers are continuing to arrive. I resorted to the home-mixed boric acid solution. It usually takes about a day before there is a diminishing.

Few things are as unnerving as finding the entire area under the desk alive with ants. This area is filled with cables that lead to other rooms. I do have an economy-sized box of Terro ant bait on hand, but the sight of so many ants is more than I can take first thing Monday morning, for pete’s sake.

So I use the swatter. And the Windex. That is one use not covered in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

The idea was to move them from Trinidad to the California Academy of Arts in San Francisco. What the transport team didn’t expect was the difficulty of vacuuming up masses of ants in the forest without beheading them.

Airport security proved even more difficult. At one point, the team was asked to open the container of ants for inspection.

Their stingers are a quarter-inch long, and the queen can be over 2 inches long. They can destroy entire colonies of Japanese honeybees in a very short time.

The honeybees have developed a unique defense. When they sense a hornet entering their nest, a tight ball of honeybees (about 500) will surround the hornet. This raises the temperature to 117° F., which is deadly to the hornet.

It’s not after humans, but mosquitoes that have recently fed on human blood. Scientists say that the East African jumping spider is the only predator that selects its prey based on the prey’s last meal.

Instead of building a web, it actively stalks mosquitoes using its keen eyesight and sense of smell.

Scientists have discovered that locusts sense bodies of water using their ability to detect polarized light. Locusts avoid flying over water because they would have neither a food supply nor a place to rest.

In order to discourage the locusts from flying over agricultural lands, scientists may use reflective surfaces to deceive the insects into thinking that the land below is water.

The botfly larvae enter the squirrel’s body, which causes itchy, tumor-like growths called warbles. Squirrels go beserk trying to get rid of the irritation.

In time, the larvae mature, and exit the squirrel, leaving only a small lesion that heals quickly.

This is common in the southeastern part of the U.S.

Scientists in Australia have discovered that a plant extract from the false sandalwood tree both repels and kills termites.

Here in California, houses periodically must be termited, that is, covered with a tent, and filled with poison. Our house is in need of this service. It is not cheap, and residents must vacate the premises for a couple of nights during tenting. Hapless, would-be burglars that decide to break in during a tenting die.

Imagine how much money would be saved if this extract could be injected into wood, as the article points out.

In the Amazon rainforest, there are sites where only one kind of tree grows. Superstitious natives regard these areas as the work of malevolent spirits. Elsewhere in the jungle, plants of all kinds grow side by side in profusion.

Now, the mystery has been solved.

The tree is the D. hirsuta, which provides a home for Myrmelachista schumanni ants. They need more of these trees in order to house their growing populations. In their zeal, they methodically eliminate all other trees by poisoning them.

There are 500,000 bees on this man’s body, as yet another hopeful steps up for a shot at a Guinness world record.

Is it really worth it. I mean, there must be a thrill here, right? I can’t see it. He certainly can’t see, period. So how does he get them off? Does anyone every panic, and begin screaming? Do they have bad dreams?

Some of her work appeared in New York in 2001. Here is another view of spiders and a fly.

Martin Walls captures the essence of an amazing insect.

Jigme Dorji is one of the few places in the world where Cordyceps sinensis-infected caterpillars can be found. Hunters command a hefty price of $7000/kg.

The method by which the fungus attacks the caterpillars is markedly unpleasant, somewhat reminiscent of the hairworm’s ways.

Teeming, seething, ravenous hordes that make up incredible statistics:

1. Ant experts estimate a third of the world’s animal weight is ants.

2. Each year, 10 tons of formic acid are added to the atmosphere by ants.

3. Predatory ants eat more insects than all other animals put together

These ants, also known as Monomorium destructor, can chew through electrical wiring, among other things. At least 50 were found inside the brand new iPod package purchased by a traveler in Fiji.

He was advised to pop the iPod in the freezer.

The hairworm drives its grasshopper host to suicide by drowning. It departs the insect at that point, and proceeds to breed in the water. When grasshoppers come to drink, the larvae enter their bodies, and the cycle starts again.

A ventriloquist that is also the loudest animal in the world. I should be grateful that the one I had was a female. To have a male lost in the house in the middle of the night is obviously a living nightmare.

It’s a red ant that can jump over three feet in the air to catch prey. More information can be found midway down this page.

Last night, pie in hand (Marie Callender’s apple), we went to say goodbye to neighbors who recently sold their house.

It used to be that prior to a sale, a huge tent would be erected over the house, and the obligatory termiting process begun. However, the housing market being what it is, this is no longer true, at least for our neighbors. The new owner has accepted their house as is, termites and all.

It lumbers around and makes a lot of noise due to its sheer bulk. The one I have is obviously a female, nights have been silent. Once in a while, it finds itself upside down, and then there is a frantic thrashing and spinning around with a lot of wing whirring.

But it needs no food. Unless you believe the folks here.