Protecting Our Valuable Pollinators and Decomposers
In recent months, there has been a lot of news surrounding the bees and how they have officially been listed as endangered. For many of us, it’s a tough thing to wrap our minds around given that these insects are such crucial parts to our food source and plant life. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen a beloved bug be placed on the list of endangered insects.
In today’s blog, we’re going to touch on a few of the insects that have been listed as endangered. Some of them you may be familiar with, while others may be close to extinction. Either way, learning about these pests, the benefits of having them exist outdoors, and how you can protect them is something that we believe is valuable. Let’s dive in.
Beetles
While we’d love to say that there is just one beetle that has made its way onto the list of endangered insects, that’s not the case. Unfortunately, there are more than 20 different beetles on the list of endangered insects. These beetles were once found across the world, but are now difficult to come by even in the areas where they were once common. Each beetle has lived in a different habitat that, over the years, has been destroyed and made it near impossible for them to thrive. Below are just a few of the beetles that are on the list of endangered insects.
- American Burying Beetle
- Casey’s June Beetle
- Helotes Mold Beetle
- Tooth Cave Ground Beetle
- Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle
- Puritan Tiger Beetle
- Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle
- Stag Beetle
Butterflies
An insect that we don’t exactly mind seeing every once in a while is the beautiful butterfly. While you can count on seeing the numbers of butterflies increase during the spring and summer, these are another insect that we see on the list of endangered insects. There are over 750 different species of butterflies in the United States and Canada combined, and more than 25 of them are on the endangered insect list. Below are a few of the butterflies that are slowly starting to dwindle in numbers.
- Callippe Silverspot Butterfly
- Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly
- Miami Blue Butterfly
- Myrtle’s Silverspot Butterfly
- Saint Francis’ Satyr Butterfly
- Mount Charleston Blue Butterfly
- Quino Checkerspot Butterfly
- Silvery Blue Butterfly
Bees
We mentioned how bees have officially been put on the list of endangered insects, but we feel that it’s important for people to understand that it’s more than one species that has started to shrink in size. If you thought there were a lot of species of butterfly, wait until you hear how many different species of honey bees there are: 20,000. Of those 20,000, there are at least eight different honey bees that are on the endangered insect list. Here are just a few of the bees that we’ve seen on the list.
- Hawaiian Yellow-Faced Bee
- Hilaris Yellow-Faced Bee
- Assimilans Yellow-Faced Bee
- Anthricinan Yellow-Faced Bee
- Rusty Patched Bumble Bee
Flies
An insect that we can all agree are pesky to deal with are flies. While there are certain times that it’s easy to shoo them away, they aren’t always great to find in your home. What if we told you that this was another insect that was found on the list of endangered insects. There are more than 120,000 species of flies that have been discovered, but it’s believed that the actual number is much larger. And yet still there are species that have been led to endangerment. We’ll name just a couple of the species that have been listed as endangered.
- Tahoe Stonefly
- Hawaiian Picture-Wing Fly
Nothomyrmecia Macrops
This might be an overwhelming name for you to take in or even recognize, but this is an insect that has been around for ages. In fact, this is known as the dinosaur ant or the dawn ant because of how long it has been around. While this insect plays a major part in the history of ants and other bugs, it is extremely rare to come across them. Primarily found in South Australia, they require woodland and Eucalyptus plants to survive. Unfortunately, this historic insect has been placed on the endangered insect list because its habitat has been endangered.
That being said, let’s talk a little bit more about some of the ways that you can reduce the chances of pests going on the endangered list.
Reasons Behind Endangerment of Insects
Now that you know some of the insects that are endangered, it’s important that you know why so many of them have made it on that list. For the most part, it’s a threat to their habitat that leads to an overall extinction. Be it pesticides, construction, or simply human development, there are a lot of modern perspectives and measures that leave our insects without a place to call home.
While we can’t stop everything that’s harming the habitat of these insects, we are able to play a part. Earthwise Pest Management utilizes a method known as integrated pest management. This method focuses on removing the factors of the habitat that drew the pest to your home or commercial space. Though we always focus on altering the factors so that you don’t have to continue to deal with the pests, our safe and pesticide-free removal makes it so that these pests aren’t killed off entirely.
If you’re looking for a method that is not only safe for your family, but also for our planet, it’s time that you talk to the team at Earthwise Pest Management. Our pest control company strives to provide long-term results through our integrated pest management methods and our in-depth knowledge makes that possible. In turn, we are able to help you and the Sacramento area.
Contact us today to schedule your free consultation!