12 Insects Back From The Brink

12 Insects Back From The Brink — page 1 — 1 RENEWED WATER SOURCES HELP CAPE BLUET DAMSELFLY Cape bluet damselflies may look fragile but they are hunters These insects eat any kind of prey they can catch and digest Their legs form a basket that can scoop other insects right out of the air But a water shortage in South Africa threatened their survival The damselflies lived near streams and other wetlands in South Africa Cape bluet damselflies are recognizable by their purplish color 4

12 Insects Back From The Brink — page 2 — IUCN RED LIST The International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN keeps a list of all threatened species in the world called the Red List Each species is labeled according to how at risk it is Least Concern Not considered at risk Near Threatened At risk of being vulnerable or endangered in the future Vulnerable At risk of extinction Endangered At high risk of extinction Critically Endangered At extremely high risk of extinction Extinct in the Wild Only lives in captivity Extinct No members of a species are left They laid their eggs in the water Their larvae grew there too But humans in the area also needed water The government used canals to move the water to areas where people needed it Farmers planted trees that also used a lot of water The streams began drying up The cape bluet damselfly was last seen in 1962 Scientists thought the species was extinct The South African government decided to do something about the water shortage It partnered with communities to clear away plants and trees that had been using up the water The streams returned Sunlight could reach the pools and water plants grew again In 2003 people started seeing the damselflies again Scientists do not know where they had been hiding all those years but they were not extinct after all 41 Years the cape bluet damselfly survived without being seen Status Critically endangered Population Fewer than 50 Home South Africa Life Span Unknown 5

12 Insects Back From The Brink — page 3 — 2 NORTHEASTERN BEACH TIGER BEETLE BACK ON THE BEACH The northeastern beach tiger beetle was named for the aggressive way it stalks its prey It eats flies sand fleas spiders and dead fish The larvae sometimes even eat each other These beetles catch their food on the wide sandy beaches sandy beaches where they live They used to be They used to be found all along the Atlantic coast he Atlantic coast etts to Virginia from Massachusetts to Virginia Then the beaches began to s began to disappear The beetles lay their heir eggs in shallow burrows in the soft sand The larvae live in the burrows for approximately two years But people use 6 the beaches too Visitors drove four-wheelers and other vehicles on the sand The vehicles crushed the burrows Residents also built homes on the shore They built barriers to keep the waves from coming too close The beaches coming too close The beaches Northeastern Northeastern beach tiger beach tiger beetles are beetles are about the length about the length of a fingernail of a fingernail

12 Insects Back From The Brink — page 4 — Their pale coloring helps these beetles blend into the sand became too hard and narrow By 1989 only 14 colonies of tiger beetles could be found in Virginia and Maryland Conservationists went to work In 1994 scientists relocated some of the beetles to a wildlife refuge in New Jersey In 2010 government officials began working with homeowners in Virginia to create offshore barriers These protect both the homes and beaches In 2013 the beetles were found at more than 50 sites near Chesapeake Bay THINK ABOUT IT If you lived near one of these beaches with the tiger beetle would you try to save it What if protecting the beetle meant that your home could be in danger 14 Depth in inches 35 6 cm that tiger beetle larvae will burrow into the sand Status Threatened Population More than 10,500 Home Northeastern US coast Life Span Two years 7

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