THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE: Build Your Own!

THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE: Build Your Own Caterpillar & Parasitoid!

For your final Response Journal assignment, go to:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/explorer/ecosystems/be_an_explorer/map/caterpillar_play.htm

PART 1
Use this online tool to design and build your own caterpillar. You may adjust COLOR, SPINES, or EXTRA to match the situation described. Instead of typing the responses into the computer simulation and printing them, I would like you to write and draw directly into your response journal.

CATERPILLAR #1 (the ant scene)
CATERPILLAR #2 (the bird scene)
CATERPILLAR #3 (the forest floor scene)
a) Sketch each caterpillar in your response journal and use colored pencils or markers to color it
b) Name each of your caterpillars (common name and scientific name)
c) Under each drawing, describe why you chose these features for this particular caterpillar

PART 2
Next, I would like you to choose your favorite caterpillar (1, 2, or 3) and design a parasitoid that would parasitize it. Make your parasitoid either a fly or a wasp, but you can be creative!

a) Sketch and color it (you will need to draw an adult, egg, larva, and pupa
b) Give your parasitoid a common and scientific name
b) Write a paragraph describing its life history. Include the following:

-how does it find its host caterpillar?
-where and how does it lay its eggs?
-what special features does it have that allow it to be a parasitoid?
-how does the egg change to larva, pupa, and adult?
-how long does it take to go through all the life stages?

You may wish to use Google to read about real parasitoid wasps and flies, but I would like you to be creative and make something up that is highly specialized to your caterpillar. GOOD LUCK!