Litinsects

Litinsects #57: Fireflies ©  Radim Schreiber You may know them as fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms depending on where you grew up…  these glowing bugs are actually neither flies, nor bugs, nor worms but beetles. They are a special group known for their BIOLUMINESCENCE. So how does that work? Bioluminescence is light produced by an organism through a chemical reaction. In some animals light is produced by bacterial symbionts, in others the light is produced by the organisms themselves, as is the case with fireflies. (Side note: this is different than biofluorescence, which is the absorption and re-emission of certain wavelengths but it doesn’t involve a chemical reaction.) Fireflies have a LIGHT ORGAN in their lower abdomen in which a special reaction takes place; it produces light but no heat (thus often called “cold light”). A compound called LUCIFERIN, coming from the Latin word for „light-bearing“ (also the same etymology for the name Lucifer) is contained in t...

Litinsects #56: Fleas If you have pets, you may have already recognized this... It’s a flea! Fleas are wingless external parasites that feed on the blood of mammals and birds. They make up the order SIPHONAPTERA, from the Greek „siphon“ meaning “tube/pipe” and „aptera“ meaning “wingless” (I love it, another perfectly fitting name!) -Adaptations to the parasitic lifestyle include piercing/sucking mouthparts, claws to hold on to their hosts, and LATERALLY FLATTENED bodies (narrow when viewed from above), which makes it easier to move through host fur or feathers. They are also covered in tiny backwards-pointing hairs, which help anchor them to a host -Though they have no wings, fleas are able to jump a distance of 50-200x their body length, which is how they get onto a host. The jump is faster than any muscle is capable of contracting. Instead, energy is stored in an elastic pad of protein called RESILIN. The pad is compressed and held in place by a tendon and can be released to ra...

Litinsects #55: Praying Mantis Here’s one you’ll probably recognize immediately: the praying mantis. These insects belong to the order MANTODEA and are most closely related to termites and cockroaches. And there are so many good fun facts to share about them so I will get right into it! All mantises are characterized by their triangular heads, bulging compound eyes, and instantly recognizable RAPTORIAL FORELEGS, which are adapted for catching and gripping prey Mantises are masters of camouflage, which not only protects them from predators but also allows them to avoid detection by prey. Flower mantises are camouflaged SO well to that they can wait undetected on a flower for an unsuspecting pollinator to come right to them. This is known as AGGRESSIVE MIMICRY  Most mantises are AMBUSH PREDATORS and rely heavily on sight to locate prey, meaning they are often diurnal. They will eat pretty much any type of insect and arthropod and have even been observed eating small birds and liz...

Litinsects #54: Tarantula Hawk Get ready for a fascinating yet possibly terrifying post... You are looking at a tarantula hawk, a wasp that hunts (you guessed it) tarantulas. There are a number of wasp species that hunt various kinds of spiders or other insects. These wasps engage in a PARASITOID lifestyle. ©  Joao Paulo Burini Parasitoids are a type of parasite but there are subtle differences between the two terms. While both benefit at the expense of a host animal, parasites live on or inside a host for an extended period of time and, since they have it pretty good, they want to keep their host alive while they continue exploiting it. Parasitoids on the other hand always kill their hosts eventually and it is often (in insects, at least) only the larvae that parasitize while the adults are free-living. So what’s this wasp’s deal? Here’s where it gets slightly disturbing... once adult female wasps are ready to lay eggs they go on the hunt for tarantulas. The wasp stings her vi...

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...