Waterskippers mostly communicate through constellations. Here, they form the image of the Apollo command module detaching from the service module, as they ask about humanity’s recovery plans for after we destroy our habitat.
Category Archives: Insect
Caterpillar
I think caterpillars are neat in large part because they have urticating hairs which stick in predators and allow their venom to flow, protecting them. In adults, these sometimes turn into urticating scales. That’s right. You’re living in a world with venomous butterflies.
Bee
Bees collect pollen on their legs as they move from flower to flower. These lumps of pollen are very sticky and are used to fill in cracks in their houses to keep the draft out in the Winter.
Bee
Some bees have given up their wings for helicopter backpacks.
Bullet Headed Ant
Some photos are impressive because you know exactly what you’re seeing. Some, because you don’t.
Most people I’ve showed this to have had to take a minute to figure out what they’re seeing. Go ahead, take the time. Then contemplate whether you want the gift the ant is clearly offering you.
Jade Headed Buffalo Beetle
Dicrocoelium dendriticum is a parasite that lays eggs to infect snails. Once a snail becomes infected, it protects itself by forming cysts and expelling them. This is good for the snail and for the parasite because these cysts are the yummiest things an ant has ever tasted. Once the ant eats a cyst and gets infected, the parasite gets into the ant’s brain. The ant brain takeover forces the ant to climb tall blades of grass and hang out all night. When day comes, this hold is released, so the parasite doesn’t bake in the sun along with the ant. Eventually, the grass is eaten and the parasite infects a large animal which then expels the parasite’s eggs in its dung … which are eaten by snails.
The Jade Headed Buffalo Beetle, of course, knows nothing about this and just really really likes its blade of grass.
Giant Spiny Leaf Insect (Heteropteryx dilatata)
Suppose you’re in insect. Your eggs need to be kept under 25 C to hatch, but you don’t want to bother with actually moving them out of the sun or finding a good home for them. What do you?
If you’re a giant spiny lead insect, you’ll coat your eggs in lipids and fling them all over the forest to ants to eat. They’ll find the eggs, carry them to their nest, eat the outer layer and then ditch them in their trash pile … which is kept under 25 C. Then your babies will hatch out, think “WFT? Where am I?”, find their way out and scamper up the nearest tree.
You may not think she’s the greatest mother, but as you can see, she’s punk and doesn’t care about your opinion.
Giant Water Bug (Abedus herberti)
This is the giant water bug. It’s range runs across Newfoundland to British Columbia to Utah, Nevada, Mexico and over into Florida.
If you’ve ever gone swimming in a lake or pond in the Summer in North America, you’ve gone swimming with these guys.
Congratulations on your bravery.
Giant Water Bug (Abedus herberti)
They’re not heavy, they’re my others.*
* Well, children, but that doesn’t fit the song pattern.
African Scarab Beetle / Sun Beetle
It’s actually scarabs all the way down.
Atlas Beetle (Chalcosoma atlas)
For those rare times when an atlas beetle’s horns and thick carapace are insufficient protection, they can emit a concussive force beam from their eyes. Here you see one charging up.
Jade Headed Buffalo Beetle (Eudicella smithi)
In Africa, apparently, this is what they think jade and buffaloes look like.
Bee
“Hodor”
(I hope that the TV series has this reference more accessible than when there only the books.)
Atlas Beetle (Chalcosoma atlas)
Personally, I would have named it a “Triceratops Beetle”.
Atlas Beetle (Chalcosoma atlas)
This is a close up of the head of an atlas beetle. Even though colour images have more information in them, when they’re converted to black and white, your eye can see more detail. I think this says a lot about how our brains work.
Bee
Don’t let their acting arise your sympathies. If they didn’t want pollen in their eyes, they wouldn’t climb right in to the flower like that.
Violin Mantid (Gongylus gongylodes)
According to Wikipedia, “This species are a communal species in that they live and breed in large groups without unnecessary cannibalism.” This means that someone, somewhere, has defined “necessary cannibalism”.
Water Scorpion (Ranatra sp.)
You know how when you’re in a lake, and you’re enjoying the warm water in the sunshine, just floating around. Then you see a neat frog nearby and swivel around so you can swim over there and look at it? Then you feel a little piece of pondweed on your ankle?
Sometimes it’s not pondweed.
Taxicab Beetle (Pachnoda peregrina)
At the height of rush hour, taxicab beetles can experience gridlock. It can take hours for the problem to clear up.
Tin Foil Beetle (Protaetia lewisi)
Back in the early days of the industrial revolution, it was discovered that you can use a steam-powered rolling press to convert these beetles into tin foil. These days, of course, the far-cheaper aluminum foil beetles are used.