This Monday, February 20, the association Les Fruits de Mer organized an evening to discover insects thanks to the installation of several ultraviolet lights. Exciting.
Exploration began around 18 p.m. Thanks to the installation of black lights that attract insects after dark, especially on a moonless night, Mark Yokoyama and Jenn Yerkes of Les Fruits de Mer guided visitors through the site of the Old House in Quartier d'Orléans where hundreds of insects have gathered on the white sheets. Moths, moths, moths, beetles, beetles, varieties of flies, mosquitoes and wasps, neuroptera, bedbugs, Mark Yokoyama, camera in hand and black light on his head, is a real human encyclopedia with whom this kind of experience educational and fun becomes unforgettable. After observing the insects clumping around the ultraviolet lights, Mark and Jenn suggested exploring the surroundings, scanning the vegetation for animals sleeping or living at night. Grasshoppers and crickets, lizards including the famous Anolis de Saint-Martin, an endemic reptile recognizable by the blue-gray outline of its eyes, stick insects (an insect that looks like a twig, the male of which has a thinner body than the female), spiders, some of which reweave their canvas every day reusing the silk of the day before, the duo of the association shared their innumerable knowledge with the public fascinated by so much life around them. The participants then gathered around a refreshment and snacks offered by the association, while continuing to observe around them in search of animals such as the brown widow, a spider close to the species of the black widow. whose underside of the abdomen sports an orange hourglass pattern. The one-night explorers gazed at two of them, from a distance and under the guidance of Mark. For the association Les Fruits de Mer, nature is observed on a daily basis, day and night, it reveals many beauties for those who take the time to look at it. _Vx
To learn more about the animal wealth of Saint-Martin, consult the incomplete guide to the wildlife of Saint-Martin by Mark Yokoyama, available on the association's website: https://www.lesfruitsdemer.com/projets/livres /
https://faxinfo.fr/en/environnement-exploration-nocturne-de-la-faune-saint-martinoise/
