bee brainz

This is a recently published article about how bees use advanced math to determine the shortest path from food source to food source. I posted it because it reminded me of what we learned about how ants use trigonmetry to find their way back to their nest. Interesting!

http://http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101025090020.htm

Maggot Art?

Apparently so!
Entomologists are now getting these larvae to paint - or rather getting students to get the larvae to paint - with their very own bodies.



And little article about the project, Maggot Monets.

The idea has clearly taken off, being exhibited at the US Science and Engineering Fair this week, but it has been going on so a while now, as the Maggot Art website attests to.

They say the paint is non-toxic, but do the maggots really do OK with this goop on their bodies? I worry about latex in their tiny trachea...

AY

Cockroach King on the Bedbug Menace

The Midwest's finest news source, The Onion, can always be relied upon for the latest entomological buzz, including this article on the worry cockroaches are feeling over the emergent bedbug problem throughout the US.

The article reports cockroach King Leopold stating:

"We must not allow this ignoble parasite to usurp our rightful place as the most feared and reviled pest in all the land," continued Leopold, raising four of his six legs to the sky and shaking his scepter. "Scurry forth, my countrymen, and let our unmatched ability to repel be known!"

I have doubts on the taxonomic identity of the "maggot" shown in the interview section here - suspect it is a beetle larvae for some reason pretending to be Dipteran youth?



AY

the eyes have it

Yes, this is pretty much almost a second pair of huge eyes on the top of this mayfly's head, called "turbinate eyes." Given they live for only 24 hours, can you think of why natural selection may have favored the evolution of this trait?

taken by Laurie Knight, Tonbridge, Kent, UK, Turbinate eyes of male mayfly (10x)

Check out another nice photo of this other-worldly morphology here.

AY

a small small world (with many insects)

Well This year's Nikon's Small World Photomicrography Competition had many stunning images submitted this year with a whole host of fantastical winners, including quite a few from - you guessed it - the insect world. Check out some of them below:

The Grand prize Winner! Seems like Nikon judges favor a certain aesthetic formalism?

Jonas King

Vanderbilt University, Department of Biological Sciences
Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Anopheles gambiae (mosquito) heart (100x)

______________________________________

Charles Krebs

Charles Krebs Photography
Issaquah, Washington, USA

Ichneumon wasp compound eye and antenna base (40x)

______________________________________

Riccardo Taiariol

La Spezia, SP, Italy

Wasp nest (10x)

______________________________________

Dr. Tomas Cabello

Universidad of Almería
Roquetas de Mar, Spain

Apterous Aphis fabae (black bean aphid) female with offspring inside the body (40x)

______________________________________

To see many of the other stunning winners, browse the gallery!

AY

Linnaeus, Shlinnaeus!

Linnaeus, Shlinnaeus! and What Goes Into Naming A New Species? A Lot

Humans do the darndest things...

I debated whether or not to post this. Perhaps it's a bit risque. But I figured, since we've been learning about sexual behavior and patterns of insects, and since one of our new orders this week was Phthiraptera, I might as well go for it.

There is a website called CrabRevenge.com and it offers just that. You can order a vial of lice for the purpose of getting revenge on your ex by setting them loose on their bedsheets or underwear drawers. Although, really, you could get revenge on anyone this way. Those little guys don't discriminate.
I just found it entertaining to compare the sexual behavior of insects, which is completely driven by procreation, and that of our own species, often driven by...let's go with, pride.

katydids believe in clean feet

The little fellow caught at Chevalier Woods still hopping and clicking away - he seems to like black locust leaves particularly.....


AY

One of these things is not like the other...

hymenopteras

i am most fascinated with hymenopteras. mainly because of ants. i think ants are crazy. you dont mess with ants or they will mess you up by the tens of thousands. they build cities underground that we have no clue about, and they take on anything they can eat. im also terrified of hymenopteras. bees, wasps, and hornets. i havent been stung many times in my life, but the times i have were very unpleasant.

love, jeff pak

Colony collapse

A team of entomologists and military scientists have discovered a possible explanation for the 'colony collapse' that has affected 20-40% of bee colonies in the U.S.

article can be found HERE.
-Emily

New insects discovered!

A team of scientists were doing their thing up in an isolated mountain range in Papua New Guinea and discovered new mammals, plants, and insects. Here are some notable ones:

Katydids!




(this guy uses his spiny legs for defense by raising them up in the air)

Ants!




...and apparently Shrek!


More images and lists of the discoveries can be found HERE
-Emily

KILLER BEES ARE REAL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee

norballs

Sunday Trip

Documentation of the somewhat chilly day of bug collecting off the Rosemont stop.

Bad Ass Things Insects Inspired

Mantodea is my homeboy

Coleopteran Decor at Robin Richman

This is the Halloween themed window display at Robin Richman, the boutique I work at. Robin added beetle ornaments and this tiny bronze sculpture of an atlas beetle, done by Dear Swallow. Dear Swallow is designed by Ria Charisse, daughter of a biologist, whose inspiration comes from twigs, rock formations, and other wonders of nature, including insects.


For a closer look, stop by Robin Richman at 2108 N. Damen Avenue!
-Camila

entomologist in the dunes

Admittedly a little tangential, but a good movie recommendation is 'Woman in the Dunes', based on the book by Japanese post-war novelist Kobo Abe.

"The Woman in the Dunes is the story of an amateur entomologist who wanders alone into a remote seaside village in pursuit of a rare beetle he wants to add to his collection. But the townspeople take him prisoner. They lower him into the sand-pit home of a young widow, a pariah in the poor community, who the villagers have condemned to a life of shoveling back the ever-encroaching dunes that threaten to bury the town."

Definitely some good bug shots, and a lot of subtle bug/human metaphors, especially that of the antlion, which captures prey by digging traps in the sand.

becka

TOM WAIT: "ARMY ANTS"

I have always loved this song. Now my added knowledge makes it a bit better. Fun listening!





wesley

The ornamentation, a protrusion shaped like a boxing glove, often appears on just one of the fly’s front legs??

In today's paper in the NY Times, under the Science section of the paper, Sindya N. Bhanoo writes about male dancing flies found in Mount Fuji and their unique way of what assumes to be a way of ornamentation.


Dancing Flies Dress Up to Lure Female Partners
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
Published: September 27, 2010

In the animal kingdom, it is common for males to have ornamentation, like bright feathers, to impress females of their species, but a newly identified species of dancing flies found in Japan adds something new to the game of sexual display.
The ornamentation, a protrusion shaped like a boxing glove, often appears on just one of the fly’s front legs. The flies were found in the forested regions of Mount Fuji. While some males had the ornament on both legs, and some on neither, many had it on just one leg.
The researchers describe their finding in the journal Biology Letters.
“One struggles to explain why they are asymmetric — it could mean that this thing sits down on a log and sticks one leg up in the air to attract females,” said Adrian Plant, a taxonomist at the National Museum of Wales and one of the study’s authors. “We need more in-the-field live observations of the insects.”
Of the 33 male flies collected, 14 had one ornamented leg, and the remaining had either two or none. The fact that so many were asymmetric led the researchers to believe that it was more than a freak of nature.
What does seem clear is that the boxing glove detracts from the insect’s ability to fly efficiently, which adds to the idea that its function is to attract females. “It’s just like having a wild hairdo,” Dr. Plant said.
Further research is needed, but it is possible that the gloves also contain silk-secreting glands that allow the flies to capture prey and display their catch to potential female partners.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/science/28obfly.html?_r=1&ref=science#

Sae

nutrition, the holometabolous way!

A short sequence from Man vs. Wild showing not only how large beetle larvae can get, but how you might eat one as a protein-rich snack (note: not a video for the weak stomached!)

AY