Skip to main content

#25: Antarctic Midge

© 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, at 99 MILLION BASE PAIRS
  • The midge can survive temperatures as low as -15°C. By burrowing a bit under the snow, where temperature is stable at a few degrees below zero, it can survive even when air temperatures get down to -40°C, which is not uncommon there
  • Not only can it survive subzero temperatures, it also requires it to survive! A study found that larvae exposed to even +10°C (50°F) died within a week
  • The midges can survive being frozen, dehydrated, and blasted with UV radiation. They are pretty darn resilient but then again, they’d have to be to live where they do!
Image © Richard E. Lee Jr.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#13: Insect Legs

Litinsects #13: Insect Legs Insect legs can be as diverse as the animals themselves. Some are long and slender like a crane fly’s, some are short and hefty like a mole cricket’s. But what all insects share is the number and layout of those legs. Hexapods have 6 LEGS, a pair each of fore, mid, and hind legs that are made up of the same basic units. Starting closest to the body, they are:  (1) the coxa, which attaches the leg to the thorax  (2) the trochanter (3) the femur, which is oft en the thickest segment  (4) the tibia, often covered in tiny hairs (5) the tarsus, which contains 5 “pseudo-segments”  (6) the pretarsal claws, of which most insects have 2 on each leg The basic units of the leg always occur in this order but may be reduced or highly modified in some species to fit certain tasks such as running, digging, swimming, grasping, or jumping. This photo sums it up perfectly: from < https://wiki.bugwood.org/File:Insect...
Post a Comment
Read more

#22: Caterpillars

Litinsects #22: Caterpillars Since you are freshly familiar with metamorphosis from my last posts, I will today be talking about caterpillars 🐛 and some structures that change drastically in appearance from before to after metamorphosis: legs. Caterpillars are the worm-shaped larval stage of butterflies and moths. They have huge appetites; they mainly feed to grow and gain energy for their transformation into adulthood. In order to do this they need to get around, for which they use le gs because only adult stages have wings.  But insects only 3 pairs of legs, right? So where do all these extra legs come from all down the sides of their bodies?  Caterpillars have 3 pairs of TRUE LEGS, attached to their thorax, which are jointed and have little claws on the end. These legs are still present after metamorphosis, though they will have changed substantially Additionally, they usually have 2 to 5 pairs of PROLEGS, which are protrusions fr...
Post a Comment
Read more

WELCOME: Social Distancing Entomology Course

All week I’ve been seeing videos and posts of the creative stuff people have been doing while social distancing, all the while thinking, what could I contribute to all the people sitting at home on social media all day?? Well this morning it hit me. I will do what I do best! And that is... drop some nerd knowledge on you all 🤓 Welcome to my social distancing ENTOMOLOGY COURSE!  Every day I will post an insect photo, most of which I’ve taken through my microscope, and explain about the insect group or the feature pictured. My hope is that you might learn something new about insects and maybe, just mayyyyybe, be a bit more fascinated and a bit less grossed out by the most diverse and arguably most successful group of animals to ever live... thanks for reading, stay tuned 🦋 🦟 🦗 🐞 🐜 🐛
Post a Comment
Read more