Audubon Insectarium hunts unique bayou bug for display

<p>In this Sept. 24, 2012 photo, Zack Lemann, animal and visitor programs manager of the Audubon Butterfly Garden Insectarium, shows a Northern mole cricket he found as he collects bugs for their exhibits in Des Allemands, La. Some of the bugs are raised to exhibit later at the insectarium, while others are shipped to museums. Much of an insectarium’s stock dies in a year or less, so the replenishment missions for local species are essential. (AP Photo/Kerry Maloney)</p>

Kerry Maloney

In this Sept. 24, 2012 photo, Zack Lemann, animal and visitor programs manager of the Audubon Butterfly Garden Insectarium, shows a Northern mole cricket he found as he collects bugs for their exhibits in Des Allemands, La. Some of the bugs are raised to exhibit later at the insectarium, while others are shipped to museums. Much of an insectarium’s stock dies in a year or less, so the replenishment missions for local species are essential. (AP Photo/Kerry Maloney)

By The Associated Press

DES ALLEMANDS (AP) — Whirligig beetles skittering atop the slow water of Bayou Des Allemands were the first target of an evening bug hunt for the Audubon Insectarium as scientists sought to replenish its stock of swamp-swimmers.

Each of the bugs was only three-eighths of an inch long, but ripples from hundreds of random darts and circles along the bank showed up across the bayou.

The beetles, with their compound eyes divided to see both above and below the water, are tough to snag as singletons, said Jayme Necaise, the New Orleans museum’s director of animal and

visitor programs.