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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2023)
Page A-12 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, June 21, 2023 Crawlies with Cri: by Christy Solo Weather Watch Cave Junction Thursday, June 22 6% Chance of Rain High -- 82 Low -- 51 Friday, June 23 24% Chance of Rain High -- 76 Low -- 50 Saturday, June 24 15% Chance of Rain High -- 77 Low -- 55 Sunday, June 25 24% Chance of Rain High -- 78 Low -- 53 Monday, June 26 24% Chance of Rain High -- 78 Low -- 53 Tuesday, June 27 40% Chance of Rain High -- 77 Low -- 53 Wednesday, June 28 24% Chance of Rain High -- 81 Low -- 55 Following are the high & low tempera- tures, and rainfall recorded in Selma by Chris Granville June 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 High 84 88 92 88 77 81 91 Low 48 54 57 51 43 51 54 Rain 0 .28 0 0 0 0 0 year To Date Rain: 49.20 I.V. is off the drought meter - Williams & Grants Pass are D-0 Abnormally dry Medford is Moderate drought (Photo by Christy Solo for the Illinois Valley News) Ten-lined June beetle (Polyphylla decemlineata) “How can you tell I’ve been enjoying the summer sun? You can see my TEN-LINES! Ha cha cha!” No one laughs harder at their own dad jokes than this week’s crawly. Meet the ten-lined June beetle (Polyphylla decemlineata). If you live in the western United States and have a porch light, odds are you’ve seen a ten- lined. Odds are greater one of the clumsy males has flown into you with a “thunk” after dark. True to their name, the best time to see ten-lined June beetles is in June. They can be found in our area in July as well. FREE INTERNET Qualify today for the Government Free Internet Program YOU QUALIFY for Free Internet if you receive Housing Assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, Veterans Pension, Survivor %HQHÀWV/LIHOLQHDQG7ULEDO C O N N EC T S CALL TODAY (877) 930-2920 Bonus offer: 4G Android Tablet with one time co-pay of $20 ACP program details can be found at www.fcc.gov/affordable-connectivity-program-consumer-faq A Help Button Should Go Where You Go! From 19 $ * .95 * / month Optional Fall Button 1-877-649-1128 Limited Time Offer! 50% OFF Fall Detection Service* Comfortable & Lightweight • Waterproof Wearable as a Pendant *$19.95 is the monthly price of subscription to a MobileHelp Classic at home only system. There is a one-time $49.95 processing fee and $15 shipping fee required to subscribe to this plan. Equipment may vary as shown. System featured in photo above is the MobileHelp DUO available at an additional monthly cost. Call or see terms and conditions for further details. 50% off Fall Detection Promotion valid when Fall Detection Service is added to your monitoring system and MobileHelp Connect Premium service is included with the order. Offer is valid for the first year of service only. This offer is for new customers only and cannot be combined with any other offers. Promotion available for select plans only and for a limited time. During the promotional term, you will receive $5 off the $10 full retail price of Fall Detection service. After first year, Fall Detect pricing reverts to discounted price of $7.50/ month when combined with MobileHelp Connect Premium. Fall Button does not detect 100% of falls. If able, users should always push their help button when they need assistance. Fall Button is not intended to replace a caregiver for users dealing with serious health issues. Service availability and access/coverage on the AT&T network is not available everywhere and at all times. Current GPS location may not always be available in every situation. MobileHelp is a registered trademark. Patented technology. MobileHelp is an FDA registered company. MHPN-00939 Rev. 1 At just under one and one- quarter inches with bold patterning, ten-lined are one of our area’s stand-out arthropods. They are a native species in the scarab beetle family. Fun fact: If “ten-lined” doesn’t float your boat, they are also called watermelon beetles and hissing beetles. Boy, can they hiss! Adult ten-lined have no real defense mechanisms. Their bite force is only sufficient for chewing leaves, not would-be predators. They don’t produce any noxious chemicals and they aren’t poisonous. So, they hiss. Loudly. They produce the hiss by squeezing air out through the spiracles, which are openings to the respiratory system. The openings are along the males’ sides, so their elytra (hardened wing covers) will move up and down as they hiss. Males will also sometimes fan out their antennae into their full, feathery shape when feeling defensive. When chilling out, their antennae are pulled together (as in the photos) and look like simple club-like antennae. I’ve never managed to get a photo of one with the antennae feathered out; it’s pretty impressive to see though. Males use those antennae to sniff the air for female pheromones. Generally, it’s males you’ll see out and about and around lights at night. Females hang out close to where they hatch and let the males do all the flying about to find them. During the day males hunker down in foliage, sleeping and snacking on leaves. Now, ten-lined can be considered a pest insect agriculturally as their larvae feed on tree roots. However, ten-lined are generalist feeders; they aren’t picky about what roots they munch on, so usually they aren’t around in significant enough numbers to cause terminal damage to trees. Their generalist feeding nature helps mitigate potential damage as well because even if there are – say – five females in one yard (which is unlikely) they won’t all lay their eggs near a single tree, or even a single species of tree. In an orchard setting, there’s no choice of tree species, and all the trees are packed together presenting an “all you can eat” buffet, so infestations can happen. Even then, ten-lined need to be present in large numbers to cause noticeable damage or death to trees. The upshot is “don’t panic” if you see them in your yard. Per Oregon State’s Metro Master Gardeners Association ten-lined are “usually not a major problem in the Pacific Northwest.”
