Litinsects

© Günther Matula Litinsects #28: Odonata Dragonflies and damselflies (both not actually flies) make up the order ODONATA, meaning “toothed ones”, which refers to the insects’ strong and sharp mouthparts. This is one of the most primitive orders of winged insects! Odonates are further categorized into two infraorders, the dragonflies and the damselflies. Dragonflies belong to ANISOPTERA, from the Greek anisos for “unequal” and pteron for “wing” because their front wings are slightly narrower than t heir hindwings (just check out the first picture). Damselflies belong to the infraorder ZYGOPTERA, from the Greek zugos meaning “even” because both wing pairs have the same shape Damselflies are generally daintier looking, while dragonflies appear more robust. An easy way to differentiate between the groups is how they hold their wings at rest: dragonflies hold them open and out to the side while damselflies hold them closed and upright over their backs (see t...

Bonus points if you can spot the beetle larvae on the leaf! Litinsects #27: Ants Think about this for a second...there are 10 QUADRILLION ants 🐜 on the planet. This number is pretty much unfathomable... that’s around 1.3 million ants for every human alive on the planet! It is estimated that ants make up around 15-25% of terrestrial animal biomass. That means if you put all the animals living on land onto a giant scale and added up the weight, ants would account for about a fifth of that weight. JUST THE ANTS!!! Here are some fun facts about ants in general, but stay tuned for some later posts that go into some more really cool ant topics. Ants are some of the strongest animals in relation to their size. Depending on the species, an individual can carry from 10-100 times its own body weight and working together they can carry even heavier objects! Despite its name, ANTARCTICA is the only continent not home to ants The most painful insect sting...

Photo: Todd Ryan Litinsects #26: Eusociality I’m sure everyone has heard of worker bees, queen bees and drones. Bees 🐝 have a complex and interesting social structure and they are not the only ones! There are many different kinds of social systems within the animal kingdom. Even within specific taxonomic groups, individual species can display vastly different social structures and behaviors. Today I’m talking about the highest level of social organization: EUSOCIALITY Eusociality (with the Greek prefix “eu-“ meaning “true”) is defined by 3 GENERAL CHARACTERISTIC: 1) OVERLAPPING GENERATIONS living within the same colony 2) COOPERATIVE BROOD CARE, meaning that individuals collectively care for offspring other than their own 3) REPRODUCTIVE DIVISION OF LABOR into specialized groups Continuing with the bee example, we know these 3 points pertain... different CASTES have specialized jobs pertaining to reproduction (queens produce offspring, drones are there ...

© Richard E. Lee Jr. Litinsects #25: Antarctic Midge Are you ready for a truly crazy-sounding fun fact? The Antarctic midge, a fly that measures 2-6 mm, is the largest fully terrestrial animal found on the entire continent of Antarctica!  It might sound crazy but it’s true! Animals that you immediately associate with the continent, such as penguins and seals, are not purely terrestrial because they spend a large portion of their lives in the water. The islands surrounding Antarctica are home to a few other invertebrates including mites, springtails, earthworms, and nematodes but the midge is special because it is ENDEMIC to Antarctica, meaning it is found nowhere else on earth. These tiny guys are FLIGHTLESS. It is thought that they have evolved to have reduced wings to prevent being blown away by wind They feed on terrestrial algae, moss, detritus, and microorganisms Of all insect genomes sequenced so far, the Antarctic midge has the smallest, a...

Litinsects #24: Silverfish You’ve probably seen these guys in your basement or scurrying around your bathroom floor. Silverfish are among the most primitive groups of insects, around 400 million years old, and are APTERYGOTES. Here’s some nomenclature again... The prefix “a-“ means “without” so this group consists of members WITHOUT WINGS. Unlike other wingless insects that come from winged ancestors (aka, secondarily lost their wings) silverfish evolved from very primitive, wingless insects. Silverfish are some of the few insects who continue to MOLT into adulthood. They may molt up to 60 times throughout their lives! They are AMETABOLOUS and do not undergo metamorphosis. They are simply born as mini versions, grow with each molt, and are adult once they reach sexual maturity Silverfish tend to avoid light and like relatively humid areas (hence you can find them in your basement/ bathroom) I’m sure you’ve noticed those long antenna-like things at...

From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada> © Bruce Marlin Litinsects #23: Cicadas When I was a kid, I once found this crazy looking thing attached to a tree in my yard and I kept it because I was so fascinated. It wasn’t until a decade later that I realized what that thing had actually been... the exoskeleton of a cicada. Cicadas might be a pain because of the deafening noise they can make but they are really interesting and cool-looking insects. Cicada calls are produced by TYMBALS, which are complex structures on the abdomen with membranes and thickened ribs. The membranes vibrate extremely quickly and the cicada’s body acts as a resonance chamber to amplify calls The calls are so LOUD that males disable their own tympana (remember, insect ears?) so that they don’t damage them. At close enough range, they can actually damage human hearing! ANNUAL CICADAS appear every year. Most species spend years underground during their nymphal stages but there is no s...