White Eyed Lubbers

Here at the Lab we have been having some unusual occurrences with our Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers Romalea guttata. For those of you who are new or did not know, we breed our Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers right here at the lab. To give you a point of reference here is the basic life cycle of a lubber:

The common life cycle of a Lubber (even in captivity) is an emergence of nymphs as early as February to March. These black nymphs go through five molts (each stage is called an instar) and each instar stage lasts about 15-20 days. After their last instar stage the juveniles are adults and that is when the lubbers get their colorful exoskeleton and beautiful patterning. Adults will live another few months and females will lay up to three egg masses in the soil and by the next spring their life cycle begins again.

Our strange happenings began in December when an unusually early emergence of juvenile lubbers were born (and we still have more baby lubbers emerging!)

Then we have noticed three of our lubbers have white eyes! We are not totally sure why, but most likely it is similar to Drosophila melanogaster's white eye mutation. These lubbers are also white when they molt after each juvenile instar stage (usually they are red). We are anxious to see what they will look like as adults, but mostly I just wanted to share with the world that we have some cool WHITE EYED LUBBERS!

Eco-Kid Spotlight

Madi Jules

Overfishing, water pollution, coral reef damage, are not the typical concerns of a middle school girl, but for Madi Jules this is what drives her. At the age of twelve, this young conservationist already has an impressive resume. While her passion for all things aquatic began at an earlier age, it was last year when her activism really began. When her teacher assigned a speech project Madi immediately knew what she wanted to speak about, her beloved and endangered marine ecosystem. Pollution in our Seas and Oceans is a wonderfully brilliant speech of all the components that cause pollution in the world's waters and how her peers can make a difference. Madi has also collected donations for coral reef conservation, passed out Sea Food Watch Cards (informational booklets about sustainable seafood eating options), and most importantly has spread awareness of oceanic issues. Her future will be bright and she already has many plans and projects. One already set in motion is a fundraiser for her school where each student donates $2.00 to SaveNature.Org's Adopt A Reef program and together make a difference. She is also working on an informative website about coral reefs and oceans; and for next year her speech will be about overfishing and how it endangers sharks and all sea life.

If you would like a Sea Food Watch Card or would like to be featured as SaveNature.Org’s Eco-Kid Spotlight for March 2009 contact sharyl@savenature.org.