Insect and biodiversity quiz, 20 questions.

[suunto]

Originally Posted by dapjwy

I had assumed that cockroaches must've been brought to Antarctica by humans...so I got that wrong. Am I right to assume this? (From your response, suunto, I'm guessing they have been brought to other continents too. I know there are various species of them as well. Any indigenous to Austrailia? Were they brought to the Americas or were they already here?

Cockroaches have hitched a ride to Antarctica with humans (the American Station in Antarctica once was overrun with cockroaches that had arrived at the station in packing boxes and then multipled swiftly. It reportedly took the staff there several years to get rid it of them), but they certainly could not persist there as an indigenous component of the biota. However, they indeed are native to all other continents, including Australia (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_b...ng_cockroach); and just for the record, millions of years ago when dinosaurs roamed Antarctica, they may have been native there as well.

[bridget1964]

I also found several of the questions misleading, like the honey question and the moth question. Guess a 'real' entomologist didn't make up the quiz, did they?

[dapjwy]

Originally Posted by suunto

Cockroaches have hitched a ride to Antarctica with humans (the American Station in Antarctica once was overrun with cockroaches that had arrived at the station in packing boxes and then multipled swiftly...

Thanks. I figured as much.

Originally Posted by suunto

...and just for the record, millions of years ago when dinosaurs roamed Antarctica, they may have been native there as well.

~smile~

[BooBooBearBecky]

MrILoveTheAnts-
Great bee/hive/swarm photos!!!

You never cease to amaze me with your knowledge of bees.

[jpdenk]

I got 15, better than I expected to do.

John

[Gloria]

jpdenk, this is a good thing. The more we know about insects the less likely we will be to see them only as pests.