The Lebanon Express from Lebanon, Oregon • 4

A4 Lebanon Express, Wednesday, August 14, 2013 mm mm 0 MATT DEBOWLebanon Express Kristie Reddick, left and Jessica Homer pretend to fight as male beetles at the Lebanon Public Library on July 31. Horner wins the fight by throwing her opponent to the ground. By Matt DeBow Lebanon Express Kids and their parents petted bugs and let critters crawl in their hands at the Lebanon Public Library on July 31. Two female entomologists, Kristie Reddick and Jessica Horner, let kids handle their pets, including cockroaches, beetles and mealworms. Reddick told kids not to be afraid of holding bugs as none of them bite and all have a diet of fruits and vegetables.

"They eat apples," she said. "You're not allowed to be afraid of things that eat apples. I think it's against the law." Reddick told parents in the audience that they needed to hold bugs too, so they could set a good example for their The first bugs kids held were baby beetles, which are larvae known as mealworms. Mealworms only have legs in the front of their body, which is how to tell them apart from butterfly or moth larvae, Reddick said. i "Parents you're going to have a bunch of bug dorks for the rest of the summer," Horner said.

Kids will now be going out in the backyard and finding all kinds of different insects and showing them to their parents, she added. As Reddick and Horner passed around bugs, several of the older kids took pictures with their smart phones. "Ladies, look with your eyes, not just your iPhones," Reddick said. "I know everything is Facebookable, but sometimes you have to experience things firsthand." Beetles Beetles have a circular body with a hard outer shell. They are soft on the inside, Reddick said.

"I like to think of beetles as with legs." This also means that' ladybugs are actuUy a type of beetle, she said. A defensive mechanism of ladybugs is they taste really bitter when eaten, she said. "So the next time a predator sees a ladybug, they probably won't eat it again," she said. Beetles that have horns are most likely males, and two male cockroaches will use those horns to fight. laio iy nub ws ir nria rices are a ae Usually over a female, Reddick added.

Reddick and Horner pretended to be two male beetles by using their hands as homs that they interlocked rocking back and forth until Horner threw Reddick to the ground. Walking sticks Reddick and Horner spoke about walking sticks, or stick bugs, and the irde-fense mechanisms. Stick bugs don't bite, sting or fly, so it needs a dif -ferent defense mechanism, she said. So walking sticks use a defense technique called "behavioral camouflage," Reddick said. "It's when you act what you look like." As predators approach, stickbugs stop moving so that they blend in with other sticks, she said.

The other defensive technique is what's called a "scientific fakeout," Reddick said If a predator picks up a stick bug, it will make noise and a leg might fall off. "Imagine how creepy that would be, if you picked up cat and its leg fell off." Red dick said. That will scare the preda tor causing to drop the stick bug, she said. Since the predator has dropped the bug, the stick-bug now could look like a stick in a pile of sticks and the attacker will not know what's a stick and what's a bug, Reddick said. Stick bugs are able to regenerate limbs.

More about the Bug Chicks Reddick's research focuses on the biology, biodiversity, and distribution of. solifuge arachnids in Kenya. She earned her master's from Texas University. Honaker is an entomologist, lecturer, and photographer, whose research focuses on integrated pest management and the effect of honeydew production by black-margined aphids in pecan agro-ecosystems which means she studies aphid pee, she said. She earned her master's degree from Texas University.

Her research on pecan aphids is helping to establish new pest control parameters for farmers in Texas. For more information about the Bug Chicks, visit thcbugchicks.comabout. Iva's why at Centra! Willamette Community Credit Union, we're to help you finance tliat car or RV, consoliJate your debt, or just some ext ra cash with a wiJe range of secure, quality loans. K.liy or any of our five convenient branches for more id ni.it ion, or visit us online at ccntralwcu.org i Central Willamette COMMUNITY CfOlT VNION Frier rls. For Life.

y'y fcy tN( NCUA. I A ik i tjB Servxet wekcrmt tft taHawiii pcoviiart to its Bciwwk tk.4 ini temjiassuiuts tf ficfcu'ioruts. J4 Kkir. UO. pri i-3 Vis beef tV Scfl VW7 I- '-r Jorj Sj i M-, Ha4 r.

I -v 1 i- fpnAEif fae4 $0nrfrt Jara gnMnd4 it (ftfeat nNdar 1 A 1 I II XJ. I I 1 L.I- I I 1,1.