bugs

The trailer for Shaun of the Dead.Not all zombies are created equal. The most popular zombie archetype is a shambling, brain-eating member of the recently deceased, but, in recent films from 28 Days Later to Zombieland, the definition of what a zombie is or isn't has become more complicated. Does a zombie have to be a cannibal corpse, or can a zombie be someone infected with a virus which turns them into a blood-crazed, fast-running monster? For my own part, I have always preferred the classic George Romero zombies from the original Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead films (as well as my…
What information is contained in the call of a mammal? Some calls might reflect the internal emotional state of the animal, like fear or anxiety, or they can refer to an external object, agent, or event, like the presence of a predator. Rhesus monkeys, lemurs, baboons, and guinea pigs, for example, will produce calls when separated from their conspecifics or in the presence of a stranger. Howler monkeys produce specific alarm calls for avian predators, even when they have never encountered an avian predator for several generations. Vervet monkeys produce different calls in response to…
Arilus cristatus, the wheel bug Photo details: (top, middle) Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D. ISO 100, f/13, 1/160 sec, diffused twin flash (bottom) Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D. ISO 200, f/11, 1/160 sec, diffuse overhead flash
This week, Minnow and I present "Where do Insects Live?" in the Science Emergent Readers Series, from which we've previously featured a book on oceans. (Yes, I am using bugs in the colloquial sense and not just to refer to some Hemiptera.There's plenty of time for Minnow to learn those details later. Who knows, she may go on to a career in entomology.) It's autumn in Mystery State and bugs are getting harder to find, but Minnow and I did see various bugs under a flower pot, ants on our sidewalk, and a spider on her swing set. On a walk with SciGram, Minnow also found a moth warming up on a…
A student at the University of Illinois navigates an aphid swarm between classes. We've had plenty of traffic here at the Myrmecos Blog as bewildered midwesterners look for answers about the swarm of tiny insects that has descended on our cities this week.  As best as we can tell, here's the scoop. Q: What are the annoying little bugs that are swarming Central Illinois this week? A: They are soybean aphids (Aphis glycines).  These small insects feed in summer on soybeans, overwinter as eggs on buckthorn (Rhamnus spp.), and feed in spring on Buckthorn before flying back to soy. A soybean…
Colliuris pensylvanica, long-necked ground beetle. Arizona. photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/13, flash diffused through tracing paper
Coccinella septempunctata This weekend's project: to shoot a beetle in flight.  I chose ladybirds not because they are pretty, but because they are the slowiest, clumsiest beetles I could find in any number.   An easy target. I had a cast of several beetles from two species, the seven-spotted ladybird Coccinella septempunctata and the multi-colored ladybird Harmonia axyridis.  I placed the beetles inside a whitebox with a backdrop of leaves, along with my Canon 550 speedlite flash, and tried to capture the beetles as they launched themselves into the air.  The timing was tricky, as it…
A paper by the University of Basel's Zoological Institute to be published in the upcoming issue of the journal, Animal Behavior, reveals the complex relationship that baby bugs - nymphs and larvae - have with their parents. When young tree hoppers feel threatened they will shake the leaves and stems that they reside on, signaling their mothers to sit on top of them and chase away any attackers. Burying beetles and earwigs kick their mothers in the face until they regurgitate delicious filth into their babies' open mouths. Even Vespidae wasp larvae, which grow up in cells, will scratch at the…
Macrosiphum rosae - Rose aphids Arizona
Andy Deans over at the NCSU insect blog surveys the madness of state insects. Arizona is thankfully immune to the bizarre tendency of states to pick imported species, as if the tens of thousands of naturally-occurring species weren't quite good enough.  Ours is the two-tailed swallowtail (photo by Jeffrey Glassberg):
The great majority of cabbage aphids are peace-loving. To aphids, ladybugs are infidels. And what's the greatest way to stop an infidel? A suicide bomb of course! In order to stave off their ladybug enemies, cabbage aphids strike back with internally produced, mustard oil bombs. The mustard oil--emitted in a single, deadly burst--either disables or kills the ladybug dogs, but also destroys the aphid who lets it loose.Cabbage aphids, fittingly, eat a form of cabbage containing chemicals known as glucosinolates, which they then store in their blood. The aphids also produce an enzyme called…