Litinsects

Litinsects #42: Weevils We are back on insects! Who has heard of weevils before? Weevils are a type of beetle known for their long “nose” or ROSTRUM. They are also called snout beetles and, believe it or not, some of those snouts are pretty cute. “Weevil” can mean either PRIMITIVE WEEVILS, which have straight antennae, or TRUE WEEVILS, which have elbowed antennae. Primitive weevils describe a number of different families whereas true weevils comprise a single family (which is a level of classification above genus). True weevils are considered one of the most SPECIOSE (aka species-rich) families of animals on earth. Disclaimer: of course we can only say this based on our current knowledge and not with absolute certainty because there are countless insect species yet to be discovered... but there are currently around 45,000 described species of true weevils! Let me give you some perspective on that number: if you added up all the living species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amp...

© Didier Descouens Litinsects #41: Centipedes Now for the centipedes! If you missed my last post on millipedes, go back and check it out... So how do they differ from millipedes? Unlike millipedes, which are mainly detritivores, centipedes are VENOMOUS and PREDATORY. Millipedes have a more cylindrical body whereas centipedes are usually flattened. Millipedes have (as the Latin name Diplopoda suggests) two leg pair per body segment but centipedes have only one pair per segment. As for the number of legs, centipedes can range from having 15 to about 170 pairs; this is generally fewer than millipedes have but it’s not always the case. Finally, millipedes tend to travel pretty slowly while centipedes are fast runners. Centipedes make up the group CHILOPODA. In Greek, “khelios” means lip and “poda” means foot. The name describes a pair of pincer-like appendages called FORCIPULES, located right behind the head, with which they inject venom to paralyze prey. So the “bite” of a centipe...

Litinsects #40: Millipedes   The level of disgust for an arthropod often increases proportionately with the number of legs it has. Well I’m here to tell you: you don’t really need to fear millipedes! What is a millipede? Millipedes and centipedes (more on them to come) both belong to a group of arthropods called the MYRIAPODA. Why? Because they have a myriad of feet! Myriapoda are one of the four arthropod groups, the others being arachnids, crustaceans, and hexapods (aka insects). Millipedes are known as DIPLOPODA from the Greek “diploos” meaning double and “pod” meaning foot. Have a look at the close-up photo and see if you can guess why... With the exception of the first four body segments behind the head, every other segment of a millipede is actually two fused segments, known as a DIPLOSEGMENT, so it appears as though each one has TWO legs attached rather than one, hence the name!   Millipedes are some of the very earliest animals to colonize land, around 450 mill...