Litinsects

Litinsects #53: Waggle Dance Communication in the animal kingdom comes in many forms... even dance! And honey bees are quite the dancers. As you know, worker bees spend much of their time visiting flowers to forage (see Post #36 for a recap on honey). When a scout finds a particularly good patch of flowers (or even another resource like potential nesting site), she returns to the hive to recruit more workers to fly to the resource. In the case of a food source, she first regurgitates and distributes some of the nectar she has collected in order to grab the attention of her hive-mates. And then she tells them exactly where they can find more. Enter the WAGGLE DANCE. This fascinating form of communication tells other bees in which direction and exactly how far to fly to find a resource. The waggle refers to the motion of the performer’s abdomen, which wiggles very quickly side to side. Here’s a play by play: While waggling, the bee moves forward in a straight line, called the wagg...

Litinsects #52: Bed bugs I now present every traveler’s worst nightmare... Bed bugs are true bugs from the order HEMIPTERA. They undergo incomplete metamorphosis through multiple nymphal stages and have piercing/sucking mouthparts.  ©   Piotr Naskrecki Bed bugs are OBLIGATORY HEMATOPHAGOUS, coming from the Greek „haima“ for “blood” and „phagein“ for “to eat”, meaning they eat blood and in fact can’t survive on anything else! Their saliva contains anticoagulants and painkillers, which is why you are not likely to be woken up by bed bug while they bite you While the “bug” part of the name is accurate (they are true bugs), the “bed” part is not necessarily true, as they may live in furniture as well Each immature stage requires a blood meal within a few days of molting in order to develop into the next stage, or else it starves. But adults can go up to six months without feeding! Bed bugs use carbon dioxide in exhaled breath to find their hosts. They are also attracted to bod...

Litinsects #51: Mayflies Mayflies are aquatic freshwater insects and belong to one of the most primitive winged insect lineages! First off, what’s in a name? Mayflies’ common name comes from the fact that some species start “hatching” from the water in May. But their scientific name is much more interesting and accurate; this order is named EPHEMEROPTERA from the Greek “ephemera” for “lasting one day / temporary” and “pteron” for “wing”. A more fitting name would be dayfly, considering their adult lifespan... Most live less than 24 hours after emerging, the shortest adult lifespan of any insect! -Mayflies have triangular-shaped wings that are held upright over their bodies when at rest (sort of like a butterfly) and have three long tail-like filaments. These characteristics, both of which make them easily recognizable, are probably traits that were present in the most primitive flying insects -They are HEMIMETABOLOUS insects, meaning they go through incomplete metamorphosis, with multi...

Litinsects #50: Month of Mites, Part 6   Here's to 50 posts!  And how cool is it that this milestone lines up, completely coincidentally, with the species I wrote my thesis on?   So, in my last post I told you about spider mites. They are crop pests found on plants all over the world. Now I want to introduce you (finally) to some “good” mites! The heroes that might finally be able to change the mite reputation: PREDATORY MITES, also known as phytoseiid mites from their family name Phytoseiidae.   A couple quick facts before I explain why they’re great:   There are a few thousand species of predatory mites. They live on plants and are found on all continents except Antarctica They are between 0.2-0.5 mm in size and usually have shiny, teardrop-shaped bodies All phytoseiid mites are EYELESS! They are light sensitive but they sense their prey purely through chemical cues. It has even been shown that these mites can localize prey by honing in on the chemical signals...

Litinsects #49: Month of Mites, Part 5 Let me introduce you to some pesky little dudes called spider mites. There are about 1200 species of spider mites and they are huge agricultural/commercial pests. The TWO-SPOTTED SPIDER MITE shown in these photos (named for, you guessed it, its two dark spots) is one of the most well-known and economically important pests worldwide because it feeds on hundreds of plant species. I worked with these mites as part of my master’s thesis and was able to witness firsthand how they can decimate plants if left uncontrolled!   So why are they called spider mites? Because they spin silk WEBBING that can cover entire plants. The webbing serves as protection for the colony from weather, desiccation, and pesticides but also protects from predators, who can’t maneuver through it very well   Spider mite females are larger, at around 0.5 mm and males are around 0.3 mm. The eggs are round and 0.15 mm in size. Just before hatching, the mites’ RED EYES are...

Litinsects #48:  Month of Mites, Part 4 One of the most well-known mite species, probably because they live so close to us, is the house dust mite. Just a warning, this one’s super interesting but slightly gross...   © Gilles San Martin Dust mites are microscopically small, 0.2-0.3 mm in size, and have a COSMOPOLITAN distribution. They are found pretty much everywhere humans live Dust is made up of dead human skin cells and also contains hair, dirt, mold spores, pollen, and other microscopic debris. Dust mites feed primarily on dead skin but don’t worry, they DON‘T BITE humans As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, our mattresses, pillows, carpets, and upholstered furniture are FULL of both living and dead dust mites. Since they love warmth, darkness, and humidity and because we shed plenty of dead skin cells while we sleep, our beds are pretty much the ideal place for them to live! Dust mites are well known because they are associated with allergies in about 1-2% of the world popul...

Litinsects #47: Varroa Mites Month of Mites, Part 3 We are now onto some mites that are kind of a bummer: VARROA MITES. These are external parasites of honey bees and they are capable of massive damage to hives. Let’s start with the basics: © Scott Bauer Varroa destructor mites are 1-2 mm in size, usually wider than they are long. They are flattened to fit between the abdominal plates of bees, where they feed The mites puncture the body and feed on the body fat tissues of larval, pupal, and adult bees. They reduce bee life span and leave hosts weakened with wounds that may be susceptible to other infections Varroa is also a VECTOR for numerous viruses that have a negative effect on bees including deformed wing virus Although they now have an almost global distribution, these parasites are native to Asia and Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) are not actually their native hosts! Some Asian honey bees (the natural hosts) are believed to have developed some resistance to the mites but Ap...