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The glasswing butterfly can travel up to 12 miles a day and at a speed of 8 miles per hour. The key reason behind its migration is the idea of changing elevations and population density.
To attract females, male glasswinged butterflies will form large gatherings where they compete for available mates. They display themselves in large groups to attract females. They also release pheromones during these gatherings or lekking to attract mates.
Before the males’ butterflies can convert alkaloid compounds to pheromones they use during mating, these compounds are also nauseating to predators. Hence, they can lek without any worries of being prey.
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The Masked Hunter is a type of Assassin Bug. This family of insects is known for its ability to inflict painful bites on people thanks to a very strong, fang-like beak. This beak is normally used to rapidly stab an insect to death, but it also a weapon of self-defense if it feels threatened. Nymphs, or juveniles, are small and are covered in sticky hairs. Dust, lint, and dirt sticks to the body and legs of the nymph making it look appear more like an alien rather than an insect. This dusty covering makes the Masked Hunter nymph a curiosity to observers who do not know its true identity.
The Masked Hunter adult has a small head, with moderate length antennae and a short, stout beak. It is dark brown to black and elongate oval in shape. They primarily eat Bed Bugs and are active at night. Sightings of Masked Hunters indoors are usually a result of a bed bug presence inside the home. To eliminate the Masked Hunter, its food source -bed bugs- must be removed.
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🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
Stink bugs are invasive, six-legged insects. They are almost two centimeters long with a shield-like shape, and a grayish speckled coating. As the name suggests, these insects will produce a stinky odor when you crush them. Other than the unpleasant smell, stink bugs are only dangerous to certain plants.
Originally, the brown marmorated stink bugs are from East Asia. The insects have become more common in the United States. It’s assumed that these invasive insects got to the United States through shipping.
Although harmless, these bugs can be a nuisance. Stink bugs thrive in warm temperatures and will mostly invade your house during the winter.
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🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
Yellow garden spiders are large, orb-weaving arachnids, meaning they spin a circular web. Most spiders have two claws on each foot, but orb weavers have an additional claw to help them spin their complex webs. In females, the top side of the abdomen is black with symmetrical patches of bright yellow. The legs are reddish brown at the base and black toward the tips. Males are less striking in appearance—they are smaller with brownish legs and less yellow coloration on their abdomens. Females average 0.75 to 1.1 inches (19 to 28 millimeters) in body length, which is up to three times larger than the males.
These spiders produce venom that is harmless to humans, but helps to immobilize prey like flies, bees, and other flying insects that are caught in the web. The web of the garden spider contains a highly visible zigzagging X-shaped pattern called a stabilimentum. The exact function of the stabilimentum is unknown, but its purpose may be to alert birds to the presence of the web so that they don’t fly through and destroy it by mistake. The spider may eat and respin its web each night.
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The American lobster (Homarus americanus) is a species of lobster found on the Atlantic coast of North America, chiefly from Labrador to New Jersey. It is also known as Atlantic lobster, Canadian lobster, true lobster, northern lobster, Canadian Reds, or Maine lobster. It can reach a body length of 64 cm (25 in), and a mass of over 20 kilograms (44 lb), making it not only the heaviest crustacean in the world, but also the heaviest of all living arthropod species. Its closest relative is the European lobster Homarus gammarus, which can be distinguished by its coloration and the lack of spines on the underside of the rostrum. American lobsters are usually bluish green to brown with red spines, but several color variations have been observed.
American lobsters (Homarus americanus) are typically murky brown, green, or light orange. European lobsters (Homarus gammarus) have dark navy blue or purpleish coloring.
Their unique shade is the consequence of a genetic abnormality that results in the overproduction of a certain protein. Because they’re extremely rare, experts put the odds of this coloring anomaly at one in two million. However, these stats are merely guesses.
The odds of finding this two-toned blue lobster are one in 50 million.
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The evolution of the name Colorado potato beetle is curious because the beetle is believed to have originated in central Mexico, not Colorado. It had a series of names from 1863 to 1867, including the ten-striped spearman, ten-lined potato beetle potato-bug, and new potato bug. Colorado was not associated with the insect until Walsh (1865) stated that two of his colleagues had seen large numbers of the insect in the territory of Colorado feeding on buffalo-bur.
The life cycle of the Colorado potato beetle starts with the adult as the overwintering stage and can be as short as 30 days. Adults dig into the soil to a depth of several inches and emerge in the spring. They feed on newly sprouted host plants where they mate. Larvae drop from the plants and burrow into the soil where they construct a spherical cell and transform into yellowish pupae. This lasts from five to 10 days. There are one to three generations per year, depending on latitude; however two generations can occur even as far north as Canada.
Potatoes are the preferred host for the Colorado potato beetle, but it may feed and survive on a number of other plants in the family Solanaceae, including belladonna, common nightshade, eggplant, ground cherry, henbane, horse-nettle, pepper (rarely), tobacco, thorn apple, tomato, and, its first recorded host plant, buffalo-bur.
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The giant leopard moth (Hypercompe scribonia) grows from a red-striped "woolly bear"-type caterpillar to a white-spotted moth large enough to fit comfortably in an adult's hand.
As an adult, the moth is noteworthy in its appearance: Its wings are bright white, with a pattern of black and shiny blue dots (some solid and some hollow) sprinkled across them. It has a wingspan of three inches, and when its wings are spread, you can see its colorful abdomen: The top side is iridescent blue with orange markings, while the underside is white with solid black dots. Its legs have black and white bands. Male moths (they have a yellow band along the side of their abdomens) are approximately two inches long, while females grow to slightly more than half that size.
As a caterpillar, the giant leopard moth grows to approximately two inches long and has shiny black bristles covering its body. Unlike some other "hairy" creatures, these caterpillars' bristles are not urticant, which means that they don't break off in predators when touched, causing irritation and discomfort.
The giant leopard moth can be found across fields, meadows, and forest edges of eastern North America and as far south as Colombia in South America. It is nocturnal, flying only at night, and adults can be seen between April and September. When handled or threatened, it may release drops of foul-tasting yellow fluid from its thorax to ward off predators.
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Fairyflies are very tiny insects, like most chalcidoid wasps, mostly ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 mm (0.020 to 0.039 in) long. They include the world's smallest known insect, with a body length of only 0.139 mm (0.0055 in), and the smallest known flying insect, only 0.15 mm (0.0059 in) long. They usually have nonmetallic black, brown, or yellow bodies. The antennae of the females are distinctively tipped by club-like segments, while male antennae are thread-like. Their wings are usually slender and possess long bristles, giving them a hairy or feathery appearance, although some species may have greatly reduced stubby wings or lack wings altogether. They can be distinguished from other chalcidoids by the H-shaped pattern of sutures on the front of their heads.
Fairyflies include the smallest known insect, Dicopomorpha echmepterygis from Illinois, whose males are only 0.139 mm (0.0055 in) long. They do not have wings or eyes, their mouths are mere holes, and their antennae are simply spherical blobs.
All known fairyflies are parasitoids of eggs of other insects. These eggs are commonly laid in concealed locations, such as in plant tissues or underground. They do not seem to be species-specific when it comes to choosing hosts.
Adult lifespans of fairyflies are very short. Stethynium adults (males and females) may live only one to two days. In Anagrus, depending on the species, lifespan ranges from three to 11 days. Each fertilized (or parthenogenic) female can lay a maximum of about 100 eggs. Access to food can prolong lifespans and increase fecundity. In Gonatocerus, if hosts are not found females can resorb eggs, retaining energy to live longer and increase the chance of finding a host.
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The panda ant (Pachycondyla chinensis) is a species of ant native to China. They live in forests and feed mainly on bamboo shoots. This ant has become famous because of its ability to survive without water for long periods of time.
Pandas ants are black with white stripes along their bodies. Their heads are yellowish-white and they have large mandibles that help them break down food.
Pandas ants are social animals and they form colonies. When they’re ready to breed, they’ll send out scouts who search for potential mates. If they find one, the pair will start building a nest together. Once the nest is complete, the queen will lay eggs and the male will fertilise them.
When the larvae hatch, they’ll leave the nest and start searching for food. After a few days, they’ll return to the colony and begin eating again.
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Pieris rapae was first described by Linnaeus in 1758 as Papilio rapae, but subsequently placed in the genus Pieris by Schrank. Pieris rapae is the preferred and most often used name.
The head and body of the first-instar larva are pale yellow with fine transparent hairs arising from small white spots. The mature larva is about 3 cm long, its head and body are velvety green with short hairs. There is a faint yellow mid-dorsal line and numerous black, and occasional white, minute raised spots from which arise short translucent hairs. Segments have one or two yellow lateral spots. The larva has five pairs of prolegs.
Pieris rapae is a white, diurnally active butterfly with a wingspan of 4-6 cm. The wings are white with a black area near the tip of each forewing and a small black spot on the front edge of the wing. The female has two black spots on each forewing, while the male has only one. In the male, the apex and costa of the forewings are grey-black with a black spot at the lower angle of the cell and sometimes another obscure blotch below it. The hindwing has a black spot on the costa near the apex. The forewing below is white with the apex yellowish, and a pair of black blotches corresponding to the blotches on the upper surface. The hindwing is dull yellow, dusted with black. The female is slightly larger than the male, usually creamy white above and always with two black spots on the forewing.
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🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
The family Phylliidae (often misspelled Phyllidae) contains the extant true leaf insects or walking leaves, which include some of the most remarkably camouflaged leaf mimics (mimesis) in the entire animal kingdom. They occur from South Asia through Southeast Asia to Australia.
Leaf mimicry often is elaborate among the leaf insects, with the insects’ wings and legs closely imitating leaf colour and form. Female elytra typically resemble, in their vein pattern, the midrib and veins in a leaf. Some species are even adorned with markings that resemble spots of disease or damage, including holes. Nymphs may sway side to side, as though mimicking the movement of a leaf in the wind. Leaf mimicry is thought to play an important role in defense against predators. Some species possess rows of tubercles on their antennae that when rubbed together produce sounds that may also serve to ward off predators.
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🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
Silverfish, (Lepisma saccharina), species of quick-moving, slender, flat, wingless insect having three tail bristles and silvery scales. Silverfish normally live indoors and are found worldwide. They often are considered pests because they eat materials containing high percentages of starch, such as paste, bookbindings, and wallpaper, potentially causing damage to books and fabrics.
Superficially, the male silverfish resembles the female; in both, the antennae and the tail bristles are shorter than the body. Unlike other groups of true insects, which copulate, the silverfish performs courtship movements that end with the male depositing a sperm packet that the female places in her vagina. The oval whitish eggs are thought to be inserted into cracks and soil litter. The young, which hatch in several days, are scaleless and have short appendages. They molt every few days, gradually acquiring adult features. The silverfish continues to molt throughout the two or more years of its life, even after reaching sexual maturity.
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Southeastern Lubber Grasshoppers are a destructive nuisance to gardens and farms, but they are certainly eye-catching thanks to their size and markings.
As a member of the Lubber Grasshopper family, this type of grasshopper is truly large compared to more common grasshoppers and crickets. Immature nymphs are black with pink and yellow spots and bands, but they become a brownish-tan as they mature. When threatened, Southeastern Lubbers may flap their brightly colored pink-orange hindwings in alarm. In addition to that, they can secrete a noxious odor, and may even hiss as they try to hop away. They cannot fly and feed on low-growing, or ground-level vegetation. Their larvae are found in clusters and can devastate a plant by eating through it entirely. Warmer states may have more than one generation per year.
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The common brimstone is one of the longest-living butterflies, with a life expectancy ranging from 10 months to a year. Brimstone butterflies are a single brood species – the adult butterflies emerge in August and are on the wing, feeding and building up fat reserves, until they go into hibernation at the end of autumn. The butterflies, also called imago, re-emerge early in the spring to mate and begin their life cycle once more.
The brimstone butterflies feed on a range of nectar sources – as they are so early to emerge they rely initially upon long-flowering species such as dandelion, or early flowering species such as bluebell, cowslip and primrose. The key food plant in the autumn is thistles with a range of other species also used.
The larval food plant is surprisingly specific and not abundantly common – they require buckthorn or alder buckthorn. The species name for the butterfly eludes to this link – rhamni which refers to the latin for buckthorn – Rhamnus sp. This is a shrub which can be found in hedgerows and woodlands but is not nearly as common as other similar species such as hawthorn or blackthorn.
The cream and flavescent Brimstone Butterfly might be one of the representative species of the entire butterfly family since the very name ‘butterfly’ was probably derived from the ‘butter-colored flies’ that showed up with the advent of spring. Through their acts of mimicry and camouflage, they are known to be the ‘master of disguise’.
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The hermit crab differs from other animals in the Crustacean family because part of its body lacks a hard shell. Their abdomens are soft and unprotected, which makes them vulnerable to predators. Thankfully, these creatures can hide their soft abdomen inside of the shells of other creatures. The end of their abdomen is specially designed to wrap around and grip the coiled central columella of snail shells.
Ecuadorian hermit crab is one of the smallest hermit crab species. These little crabs grow to less than 1 inch in length.
Ecuadorian hermit crabs have four walking legs as well as a small and large pincer. They are quite active and can move more quickly than Caribbean hermit crabs. This species has oval-shaped eyes and the tips of their walking legs are darker in color than the rest of the leg. These crabs are typically tan in color but can also be found in bright colors like yellow or orange.
The Ecuadorian hermit crab is very particular when choosing its shell. They tend to prefer shells that have a wide, round aperture.
One thing to know about this and other hermit crab species is that they can be very long-lived. Ecuadorian hermit crabs have been known to live 30 years or more.
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The 0.5-inch (13-mm) euglossini bees are characterized by a brilliant metallic coloration, mostly green, blue, and gold.
Male orchid bees have uniquely modified legs that are used to collect and store different volatile compounds throughout their lives, which are believed to be released at their display sites in the forest understory, where matings are known to take place.
This perfume-seeking behavior is also where orchid bees get their name. The males are especially easy to spot as they hover over plants searching for that perfect smell.
Orchids have some unique adaptations that exploit this behavior to ensure pollination. These orchids lure bees in with enticing scents of vanilla, cinnamon, and…rotting meat.
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The cat flea belongs to the insect order Siphonaptera which in its adult stage is an obligatory hematophage. Adults of both sexes range from 1–2 mm long and are usually a reddish-brown colour, although the abdomens of gravid females often swell with eggs causing them to appear banded in cream and dark brown. Like all fleas, the cat flea is compressed laterally allowing it to slip between the sometimes dense hairs of its host just above the top layer of the skin, resulting in an extremely thin insect that may be difficult to observe even if the host's coat is pure white. Cat fleas are wingless.
The cat flea affects both the cat and the dog worldwide. The cat flea can also maintain its life cycle on other carnivores and on omnivores, but these are only chosen when more acceptable hosts become unavailable.[6] Adult cat fleas do not willingly leave their hosts, and inter-animal transfer of adult fleas is rare except in animals that share sleeping quarters. A flea which becomes separated from its host will often die within hours from starvation.
Unlike other insects, fleas do not possess compound eyes but instead only have simple eyespots with a single biconvex lens; some species lack eyes altogether. Their bodies are laterally compressed, permitting easy movement through the hairs or feathers on the host's body. The flea body is covered with hard plates called sclerites. These sclerites are covered with many hairs and short spines directed backward, which also assist its movements on the host. The tough body is able to withstand great pressure, likely an adaptation to survive attempts to eliminate them by scratching.
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🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
The Carolina Tiger Beetle is a ferocious predator of many pest insects, so having healthy populations is beneficial. As adults, these predatory beetles consume many insects that humans consider a nuisance: spittlebugs, flies, caterpillars, spiders and ants. This particular species may be considered a natural turf-protector. A study showed it consumes insects that are known to kill the short grass seen on pitches, football fields, and golf courses.The hunting style of this beetle accounts for its 'tiger' moniker. Larvae are worm-like creatures and they reside in vertical tunnels, latching onto the side of the burrow with a hook-like feature on their body. They wait, with their mighty jaws at the surface of the hole. When an unaware insect walks over it, the larva quickly clamps its jaws on the insect, drags it down into the hole, and eats it. To be successful at hiding and hunting, larvae need undisturbed soil or sand.
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Gonimbrasia belina is a species of emperor moth which is native to the warmer parts of southern Africa. Its large edible caterpillar, known as the mopane worm, madora, amacimbi or masontja, feeds primarily but not exclusively on mopane tree leaves. Mopane worms are an important source of protein for many in the region.
The moths are large with a wingspan of 120 mm. Wings are fawn coloured through shades of green and brown to red, with two black and white bands isolating the eyespots. An orange eyespot is present on each hindwing. Males moths have feathery antennae, which are used to find a mate.
Mopane worms are hand picked in the wild, often by women and children. In the bush, the caterpillars are not considered to belong to the landowner (if any), but around a house, permission should be sought from the resident. Chavanduka describes women in Zimbabwe tying a piece of bark to particular trees to establish ownership, or moving the young caterpillars to trees nearer home. When the caterpillar has been picked, it is pinched at the tail end to rupture the innards. The picker then squeezes it like a tube of toothpaste or lengthwise like a concertina, and whips it to expel the slimy, green contents of the gut.
Dried mopane worms can be eaten raw as a crisp snack; however, in Botswana people tend not to eat the head.
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Spanish moon moth of the Saturniidae family was described first in 1849 by Spanish entomologist Mariano de la Paz Graells y de la Agüera. This moth is native to Peninsular Spain. They live high up in the Pyrenees and other mountain ranges where climates are cold. There is a small representation in somes places located in France and Switzerland where they are not native but instead further generations of captive moths through repopulation attributed to human action with specimens from Spain.
The larva hatch after 1 to 1+1⁄2 weeks and begin to eat the very hard pine needles. It takes about one and a half months for the caterpillars to reach the last instar. In the last instar the caterpillars go down from the tree to pupate under leaves on the ground. In this stage the pupae in the cocoon overwinter until the next spring.
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Cyclosa, also called trashline orbweavers, is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by Anton Menge in 1866. Widely distributed worldwide, spiders of the genus Cyclosa build relatively small orb webs with a web decoration. The web decoration in Cyclosa spiders is often linear and includes prey remains and other debris, which probably serve to camouflage the spider.
These spiders are known to be both biting and venomous, but their bites are thought to be unable to seriously injure healthy humans and other large animals, such as dogs.
They create the so-called "trashline" web, which is a line of various components such as prey's carcasses, detritus, and, at times, egg cases. This trashline appears to hinder the predators from visually locating the spider within its web. The trashline" helps the spider to camouflage exceptionally well. But, even though the trashline itself attracts attacking wasps, these wasps are unable to locate the spider within the web since the debris of the web's decoration is of similar color, size, and shape as the spider itself. Because of the variability in the amount of silk reserves the spider has, webs of different diameters may be created. However, larger web diameters do not impact the insect-trapping efficiency of stabilimenta-adorned webs, and instead, the efficiency is dependent solely on the presence of stabilimenta, a type of web decoration.
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🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
Motyxia sequoiae, which are the only known bioluminescent millipedes, are found solely in a small region of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California.
Motyxia's glow warns nocturnal predators that these 60-legged creatures are armed and dangerous; any predator that riles a Motyxia risks being squirted by toxins, including hydrogen cyanide, an extremely poisonous gas, which the millipede releases when it feels threatened.
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Dobsonflies (genus Corydalus) are large and rather fearsome-looking insects (they raise their heads and open and close their jaws to try to intimidate, often quite successfully). They are primarily nocturnal, are more common near bodies of water, are active from late spring to mid-summer, and are attracted to lights. Both males and females can reach up to five inches in length, and although the rather frightening pincer-like mandibles of the male are much larger and more intimidating in appearance than are the female’s, they are so large that they afford weak leverage and are thus incapable of breaking a person’s skin. They are mostly ‘all show,’ so to speak, for impressing females, but also they are used for grasping a female during copulation. The mandibles (pincers) of the female, however, are short and stout and thus capable of inflicting a painful–but not venomous–bite (they are strong and sharp enough to draw blood).
Adult dobsonflies are some of the largest non-Lepidopteran insects of temperate zones such as the United States and Canada, with a wingspan of up to 18 cm (7.1 in).
The wings of a dobsonfly are densely lined with intersecting veins, and when the insect is at rest, the wings are folded along the length of the body, i.e. parallel to the body. Their antennae are long and have many segments. Dobsonflies possess an irritating, foul-smelling defensive anal spray that they use as a last resort. The larvae–called hellgrammites (see photo below)–are aquatic, can reach anywhere from 2″ to 3″ in length, and are familiar to fishermen who like to use them as bait, especially for catfish.
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The mole cricket is an invasive pest that attacks turfgrass and other plants. This unique insect gets its name from its huge forelegs, which it uses to tunnel through the dirt like a mole. It damages golf courses and lawns by eating plant roots and disturbing the soil’s surface.
The mole cricket’s long forelegs are its most distinctive physical trait. These enlarged limbs have blade-like projections called dactyls that allow the insect to dig through the soil. The number and appearance of dactyls differ among species.
Adult mole crickets have short antennae and long cerci, or appendages, on their abdomen. They have large hind legs and wings of varying sizes. Many mole crickets can fly awkwardly. Their bodies have thick, short hairs.
The mole cricket is an omnivore that feeds above and below the surface. These insects eat foliage, grasses, plant stem tissue, roots, and tubers. They also feed on fruit and vegetables like beets, carrots, eggplants, strawberries, sweet potatoes, and turnips. The southern mole cricket mostly eats small animals and insects that live underground.
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