"Phil Marlowe" wrote to "Charles Angelich" (15 Jul 103 
17:08:20*@'@)
 --- on the topic of "BIG BUGS"

 PM> Yep, just heard a radio bit on that. Seems
 PM> importing those sparrows may have been based on
 PM> bad science. Since the West Nile scare that kind
 PM> of of solution has been proposed again. In fact,
 PM> even the bat advocates have been out in force,
 PM> suggesting the building of bat houses and so on,
 PM> because bats supposedly eat something like their
 PM> weight in mosquitos per day [I forget the exact
 PM> numbers, but something spectacular like that]. But
 PM> according to a local university, this is a flawed
 PM> conclusion based on an old study where bats were
 PM> put in a room with lots of mosquitos -- and of
 PM> course they munched away. But in real life, while
 PM> bats do eat mosquitos, they also eat every other
 PM> insect, and apparently only about 5 percent of
 PM> their diet is mosquito. And newer studies show no
 PM> noticeable mosquito reduction.
 PM>
 PM> But I don't think we've had anything in North
 PM> America like the damage wrought by the rabbits and
 PM> toads that were brought to Australia.

If I was a bat I think I'd far prefer a big juicy moth to a spindly tiny
mosquito. So I can't blame them for turning their nose on mosquitos.

We've had the invasion of the "Pale Spotted Lady Beetles" which was
imported from Asia into the Southern US in 1982 in an attempt to control
aphids. They have since spread like wildfire all over the continent
since they had no natural predator, and birds don't seem to like them.

It is has a pale orange colour with a small spot near the rear of each
wing cover but about twice as large as our native Lady Bugs. However
they don't seem to have the same cycle and my bushes are now full of
aphids. You can see the Pale Spotted Lady Beetles swarm around bushes in
late summer or early fall. They are so numerous it is almost scary.

Back to the mosquitos, the most voracious mosquito eater is the Dragon
Fly. The adults eat them and the water dwelling larva eats the eggs and
so forth (small fish even!). However they need pure water to breed, not
the typical industrially polluted cess pools found near cities.

In an effort to control West Nile authorities have been air spraying wet
bush areas around cities with a very tiny nematode to kill the mosquito
larvae. It seems to be working as only a couple of dead birds turned up
all last month.

 Mike
 ****

... Guilty of PUI (Posting Under The Influence)
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