Litinsects

  Litinsects #36: Honey  Honey is the only insect-made product consumed by humans! But how exactly is it made?   It all starts with a forager bee collecting nectar from flowers. The nectar is stored in a special sac called a CROP or honey stomach and transported back to the hive, where it is regurgitated and ingested by a processor bee. Inside the bee’s honey stomach special glands secrete proteins and ENZYMES, which begin to break down large sugar molecules into smaller ones and change the chemical composition of the nectar. The regurgitation and ingestion process happens multiple times until finally the pre-honey is put into a hexagonal cell made of beeswax inside the hive. Bees fan the nectar with their wings which evaporates a lot of water and raises the sugar content, preventing microbes from being able to grow. Finally, the cell is capped with wax and the honey can be stored for the bees to eat later. Because honey sustains a hive over the winter, beekeepers can’t t...

Litinsects #35: Lice Today you’ll be learning about a rather hated group of insects: lice   Lice are wingless OBLIGATE ECTOPARASITES meaning that they need a host to complete their lifecycle and they live on the OUTSIDE of their host’s body (as opposed to ENDOparasites which live inside a host). Lice belong to the order PHTHIRAPTERA (the PH is silent), which comes from the Greek “phtheir” meaning louse and “aptera” meaning wingless. Taxonomically, lice are actually grouped within the winged insects but lost their wings SECONDARILY due to their parasitic lifestyle There are two subgroups of lice: CHEWING lice and SUCKING lice. Chewing lice are found mainly on birds and occasionally on mammals. Their mouthparts are built for biting and they feed on skin debris, feathers, hair, and skin secretions. Sucking lice have mouthparts adapted for piercing and sucking, which they use to suck blood from their hosts. They mainly live on mammals, including humans Lice undergo incomplete metamorph...