http://www.prestone.com/es/company/news/article/494?popup=1 wrote:
"Splatologist" Studies Insects Caught In Traffic
DANBURY, Conn., May 22, 2006 — By Mike Adamick, CONTRA COSTA TIMES
<<It's easy to identify bugs when they're flitting around flowers, buzzing your face or munching on your picnic. The rules are simple: Houseflies are black, bees are yellow and black, ladybugs are red and black, and cockroaches are just dis ... gust ...ing. But how do you identify them when they're plastered to your windshield?
Dr. Mark Hostetler has the answer. A professor of wildlife and conservation and author of "That Gunk on Your Car: A Unique Guide to Insects of North America," Hostetler is a self-professed "splatologist" who has made it his mission to unlock the secrets on your windshield.
A red splat, for instance, means your newly departed motoring buddy was a female bug -- most likely a mosquito. Large splats are typically moths or butterflies. Small splats are usually "no-see-ums." "There's a lot of variability in bugs -- the butterflies and moths come in all kinds of different sizes," Hostetler said. "If it's yellow or creamy in color ... it was a butterfly. And they tend to be dragged up the windshield because of their big wings."
Hostetler, who teaches at the University of Florida, got his start in splatology while on a road trip a decade ago. "I was at a gas station and this guy in a pickup truck that was covered in dead bugs turned to me and said, "What the blankety blank is all this?"" Hostetler said. "He asked the right person."
An entomologist -- or in professional circles, "bug guy" -- Hostetler determined the type of bugs stuck to the truck's grill: lovebugs. He also discovered a new way to get people interested in insects -- his passion. "They provide a service beyond just appearing on your windshield," Hostetler said. "They pollinate fruit and vegetables, for instance."
So he took a long road trip to study bugs and their impact on society, among other things. He stopped at 10 Greyhound bus depots and studied the grills and windows of more than 50 buses. "They're so big and flat that they got a lot of bugs," he said. "The night buses get hit a lot."
He also strapped a net to the roof of his car. After seeing a large splat, he would inspect the net to see what bounced off his windshield. This is what he discovered:
- Red splats are typically mosquitoes. Only female mosquitoes eat blood, so a red stain on your windshield offers an important clue.
Yellow or creamy spots that slide upward are typically butterflies or moths. Look for fluttering scales or powder, he said.
Lovebugs love exhaust pipes, which smell like perfect places to lay eggs.
The smallest splats are usually biting midges, or "no-see-ums."
"Glowing" splats are fireflies.
Tremendously loud splats are usually cockroaches. "They have the hardest shells," Hostetler said. "So they make the most noise."
"The summer is obviously very busy for us," said Berges Kerawalla, manager of Autopia car wash in Walnut Creek. "We can definitely tell the butterflies -- they stand out like a sore thumb," Kerawalla said. "It's really kind of sad to see a butterfly splattered all over because they're so beautiful, but we'll start to see them more and more in the latter part of summer."
He listed several Bay Area roadways that teem with bugs: Interstate 580, 680 and 780 have stretches of insect swarms, such as the wetter areas between Benicia and Vallejo. And don't even get him started on Interstate 5, the state's busy north-south connector. "It's terrible," he said.
Last year was a big year for butterflies in the Bay Area, according to UC Berkeley entomologist George Roderick. "We had a billion of them," he said. He said motorists driving through wetter or humid areas will encounter more bugs, which breed in the water. Nighttime will usually bring out the moths -- especially around Tilden Park in Berkeley, Roderick said.>>
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