Family Planning
This montage documents the growth of a Paper Wasp nest (Polistes sp., Vespidae) from the time when the cells were small and contained eggs only, progressively expanding to house several generations of wasps-to-be from eggs to chubby larva to capped pupal cells. And always there is a vigilant and defiant adult to guard the brood.
Click the images to see larger size and the dates the images were taken.
(Top two images, April 7th, 2012; centre image, June 5th, 2012; lower left image, June 17th, 2012; lower right image, July 4th, 2012)Pu’er, Yunnan, China
See more Chinese wasps, hornets, bees and ants on my Flickr site HERE…..
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The exoskeletal scales of Lepisma saccharina, a silverfish.
Image by Anne Weston, Cancer Research UK.
Bizarre Insectlike Creatures Discovered in Spanish Cave
Three bizarre-looking springtails, tiny insect-like creatures, have been discovered in a Spanish cave. The three species are very different from one another and have been named Pygmarrhopalites maestrazgoensis, P. cantavetulae and Oncopodura fadriquei.
Springtails are amongst the most ancient and widespread animals. Like insects they have six legs, but are small, more primitive and lack wings. They usually have a furca, or a tail used to spring away from danger, hence the name “springtails.” Many cannot be seen with the naked eye; the largest species is about 0.24 inches long (6 millimeters).
These new species have these springy tails and hairy, tiny bodies, resembling Lilliputian monsters. One of them, O. fadriquei, lacks eyes.
Bug Sunbathes to Keep Germs Away
Talk about having a love affair with the sun.
Western boxelder bugs frequently stretch out in the sun, though not to get a tan. Canadian researchers found that these insects use sunbathing to keep germs at bay.
The winged bugs are often found grouped together in sunny patches in the interior of British Columbia. The researchers said sunlight seems to trigger the biosynthesis of monoterpenes, a strong-smelling chemical compound that encases fungal spores on the insect’s body and protects from germ penetration.
“Prophylactic sunbathing defends these bugs against pathogens that they encounter in their shelters,” researcher Gerhard Gries, a biology professor at Simon Fraser University, said in a statement. The pheonomen has yet to be observed or reported in other insects, Gries added.
“If they are converting the sun’s solar energy to fuel chemical work, without the aid of microbial symbionts — organisms that live together with a host, often to their mutual benefit — we would consider this a highly remarkable feat in the animal world.”
The findings were reported this month in the journal Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata.
Diamond Weevil’s Rainbow Bling Really Is Diamond
Like a gem-studded overcoat, the diamond weevil’s jet-black wings are covered by pits filled with sparkling, rainbow-colored scales.
Researchers have studied these “diamonds” since the weevil’s discovery in the early 19th century but, until recently, no one knew know how the scales reflected so much light.
A new high-tech investigation reveals the diamonds are just that: crystals of chitin in a diamond-type arrangement optimized to throw off brilliant greens, yellows and oranges. What most people call diamonds are made of carbon, but other materials can take on the same crystal structure.
“Materials scientists could look to these scales to inspire new materials, but we don’t yet know how they are made,” said biophysicist Bodo Wilts of the University of Groningen, co-author of a Dec. 21st study of the scales in Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Greta Oto (The Glasswing)
Caption: “Ecologist use the presence of the Glass-wing butterfly as an indication of high quality habitat, & its demises alerts them of Ecological change.”
Don’t worry guys, almost done.
Spiderman May Not Be The Only Wall-Climbing Human: Insect-o-Stick
Scientists have just invented an insect-inspired tape that can be repeatedly peeled off thousands of times without losing its adhesive qualities.
Scientists from the Zoological Institute at the University of Kiel in Germany studied the way insects can run up walls using tiny hairs on their feet and legs and made a sticky tape based on the same principle. They have made a silicone tape patterned with similar tiny hairs that is so strong one of the researchers even used it to hang from a ceiling.
The key to insects’ unique climbing abilities is the fact that their thousands of hairs have flattened tips that can splay out to maximize contact on surfaces.
theraphosa: ant lion (order Ephemoptera)
Vespa Mandarinia Japonica
It’s the size of your thumb and it can spray flesh-melting poison. We really wish we were making that up for, you know, dramatic effect because goddamn, what a terrible thing a three-inch acid-shooting hornet would be, you know? Oh, hey, did we mention it shoots it into your eyes? Or that the poison also has a pheromone cocktail in it that’ll call every hornet in the hive to come over and sting you until you are no longer alive? Think you can outrun it? It can fly 50 miles in a day.
Here’s how the Japanese hornet treats other insects (and would presumably treat us, if we were small enough). An adult hornet will fly miles to find some squishy shit to feed to its children. Often times, it finds its food in, say, a hive inhabited by thousands of bees.
What to do? Well, Vespa japonica sprays the nest with some of the acid/pheromone and brings in reinforcements, usually consisting of 30 or so fellow hornets. They then descend upon the beehive like an unholy plague of hell-born death engines.
Moral of The Story? Nature can be Hardcore
Illumination
The reflections, almost black and white imagery, and amber sunlight caught on the damselfly’s wing, all add up to an unforgettable image.
Image Credit: Xavier Coulmier/Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009
Vespa Mandarinia Japonica
It’s the size of your thumb and it can spray flesh-melting poison. We really wish we were making that up for, you know, dramatic effect because goddamn, what a terrible thing a three-inch acid-shooting hornet would be, you know? Oh, hey, did we mention it shoots it into your eyes? Or that the poison also has a pheromone cocktail in it that’ll call every hornet in the hive to come over and sting you until you are no longer alive? Think you can outrun it? It can fly 50 miles in a day.
Here’s how the Japanese hornet treats other insects (and would presumably treat us, if we were small enough). An adult hornet will fly miles to find some squishy shit to feed to its children. Often times, it finds its food in, say, a hive inhabited by thousands of bees.
What to do? Well, Vespa japonica sprays the nest with some of the acid/pheromone and brings in reinforcements, usually consisting of 30 or so fellow hornets. They then descend upon the beehive like an unholy plague of hell-born death engines.
Moral of The Story? Nature can be Hardcore
Rhombodera Basalis
Rhombodera is a genus of praying mantises native to Asia and possessing common names such as Shield Mantis, Hood Mantis (or Hooded Mantis), and Leaf Mantis (or Leafy Mantis) because of their extended, leaf-like thoraxes.
Rhombodera basalis de Haan, 1842 is a species of praying mantis of the Genus Rhombodera.
Rhombodera Basalis
Rhombodera is a genus of praying mantises native to Asia and possessing common names such as Shield Mantis, Hood Mantis (or Hooded Mantis), and Leaf Mantis (or Leafy Mantis) because of their extended, leaf-like thoraxes.
Rhombodera basalis de Haan, 1842 is a species of praying mantis of the Genus Rhombodera.
GREEN BOTTLE BLUE TARANTULA
Chromatopelma cyanopubscens
©StrictlyExotics.comThe Greenbottle Blue Tarantula is a native of Venezuela and has some of the most dramatic coloring of any spider species. Adult greenbottles have metallic blue legs, a blue-green carapace and a vibrant orange abdomen.
These tarantulas live in webbed burrows under bushes and tree roots in desert areas of northern Venezuela, near Paraguana. The entrance is often extended with webbing, sometimes resembling a tunnel. These webs may protect the entrance from the harsh desert climate, also acting as a trap for insects.
Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenbottle_blue_tarantula
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