New November Bingo: INSECTS! 11th numbers posted

[Fizzbw]

Our atlas moth!! For some idea of scale, here she is on her favourite place, the living room light shade!



I got one number today.

Niki xxx

[cairee]

wow nikki thats huge!

one number today so 5/10

[Squirrel]

WOW Niki, that is one large moth. Very pretty colours and markings but no thanks - a bit large for me.

[Ketta]

Today's picks are:

8. Mantodea
12. Embiidina

Mantodea: the mantids (praying mantis)

The mantids consist of about 2,400 species. They are one of my favorite groups due simply to their charisma (despite being gruesome and very effective predators). Whenever I can get them, I have them in my house to help control spiders and unwanted insects, and I've lost count of the time I'll sit down to do some sewing and look up to see one staring at me from a prime hunting location.

It's true that if a male isn't quick enough in mating that females will consume them, starting with the head. Even after losing his head, he'll keep mating--insect's brains work differently than ours in that they aren't connected by a nervous system to every part of the body; instead, ganglia interspersed throughout the nervous system serve as 'relays'...sort of... so for quite some time after losing the brain, insect reflexes continue to be active.

Mantises don't just come in your everyday greens and browns. There are some really beautiful ones out there, that spend their entire lives on flowers. Some are very specific to certain types, too, like orchids.

A red mantis:


A white orchid mantis, caught in a silly situation:


And a beautiful pink orchid mantis:


Embiidina, the webspinners

This is a small order of insects, characterized by their incredibly flexible wings, their ability to fly fast, forward or backward. They also spin silk, living in silken tubes for parts of their lives. The silk comes from glands on their front legs...not their rears like caterpillars or spiders. All within this group have a long, narrow body form perfect for living in their homes made of silk.

An adult webspinner:

[nachosmiley]

Well I got one over the last two days bringing me to the halfway mark 5/10

Wonderful pictures and info Ketta the little critters are just fascinating!

[stitchingmae]

I am up to 5/10
I will tried my best to leave out the obvious pun about how skome males I know are like mantis males and look for mates with out their upper heads attached.

That pink orchid mantis is simply beautiful.

I don't know that I could ever let a bug in purposefully, I do let them out, but not in, but I have a 2 year old and a chihuahua that like to put things in their mouths haha.

[cairee]

love the pink mantis, so pretty!
one more so 6/10

[rcperryls]

The silk spinner brings me up to 4/10, but the pink mantis is the one that is really pretty!

Carole

[Ketta]

I forgot in my last post to comment on that atlas moth...absolutely beautiful! I'd love to get my hands on a few to give my niece, who is a budding insect lover.

My apologies for the (very) late posting. Today's picks are:

22. Coleoptera
23. Strepsiptera

Coleoptera: the beetles!

Beetles populate the planet at an awesome scale. They represent 40% of the 1,000,000 described species and 25% of the TOTAL species of all known animal forms. Characterized by their outer wings being hardened into what are called 'elytra', beetles are incredibly (mind-blowingly) diverse. I'm not sure just how many specimens we have at the OSU museum, but to put it in perspective: the grad student who is currently finishing up his thesis there this year discovered three new species just by digging through the collection (some DNA sequencing was done, but he was fairly sure beforehand that they were as yet undescribed). All three were from the Pacific Northwest...not the tropics, where new species of insect are discovered frequently.

It's believed that beetles evolved their elytra for lifestyles where they had to dig and burrow, yet still retain the ability to fly. A high number of beetles are fossorial (living in the ground) to some degree, and many others live in other close quarters like tree bark, rotten logs, and...poop (dung beetles). Not all beetles live this way of course, and some have elytra that are so modified for other reasons that they wouldn't function for anything practical other than covering their flying set of wings.

So, everyone knows what dung beetles are, and an image of them probably comes to mind of how they push dung balls backwards. A study was done fairly recently on how they knew where they were going--depending on species, they can be active day or night. It was found that they use the sun or stars to position themselves in the right direction. Cloudy nights saw little dung beetle locomotion, and during the day, researchers simply stood over traveling beetles with a big piece of cardboard to block the sun. Sometimes they used mirrors and glass to change the sun's orientation. Block the sun, and they stop and act confused. Change the sun's orientation, and they changed with it. Pretty cool!

Here's one of my favorite beetles, the calligraphy beetle. These can be found in many areas of the world, and many are found here in the Pacific Northwest. OSU has a large collection of them, and I kid you not...to me they look fake, like someone painted the lines on them. Some are so precise and intricate they look like writing!


There are lots of species that are beautifully iridescent, and as a result, some are collected in large numbers for making jewelry (or raised in captivity):


Here are couple of images of another favorite, tortoise beetles. I think they're kinda cute.




And something really big!


Strepsiptera, the twisted-wing flies.

This is one of the weirder orders. It's also small, with only about 600 species. All are parasitic, mostly to other insects like wasps and bees, but also to silverfish and cockroaches. Chances are, you've been close to them and never known it.

So, to explain part of their weirdness, I have to tell you a bit about true flies. True flies (like those in your house) have only one set of wings. The second pair, behind the first, have evolved into 'halteres', which greatly aid flies in maneuverability. I'll post a video link about this when that family gets drawn. In twisted-wing flies, the FIRST pair of wings are halteres, and the second set, the 'hind' wings, are functional wings. They have a twisted, warped appearance, which is how they got their name.

They even look weird...


This one still looks alive--they're small, and it might just be me, but it looks like this one is sitting on some aida cloth!

[cairee]

one more so Im at 7/10!

[stitchingmae]

6/10 love the caligraphy beetle...is this the doodle bug?

[rcperryls]

Great pictures! I am amazed at how lovely you make these look. Are scarabs in the beetle family? When you mentioned jewelry that is what jumped into my mind. None for me today, but I enjoyed the information.

Carole

[Ketta]

@maemae actually, the doodlebug is the ant lion larva. The larvae kind of twist and corkscrew their way into sand when they form the funnel-shaped traps they catch their prey in. If you ever pick on up, it does the same thing in your hand as it tries to burrow.

@Carole yes, scarabs are in the beetle family. They have been made into jewelry (the beetles themselves as well as their likeness) since the rise of the Egyptian culture. There are around 28,000 described species.

Here's a link to a HAED pattern in an Egyptian theme, scarabs included.

http://heavenandearthdesigns.com/index. ... ts_id=5721" target="_blank

[Fizzbw]

Ooh, up to 5/10.

Some of those beetles are incredible, and I'm finding it hard to believe the pink orchid mantis IS a mantis! Are you sure you didn't just put a picture of pink orchids there and you are winding us up??

Right, I'm off to hospital hopefully (as in I hope there's a bed rather than hoping for the op!!) so I'm going to send my list to Carole who very kindly has said she will look after it for me

I hope every one has a great bingo!

Niki xxx

[ersa76]

5/10 now.

[Squirrel]

Love the colours of the beetles Ketta.

Dad (during WW11) sent back to Mum a set of scarab beetle jewelry with had necklace/ear rings and braclet all beetles. You could see their legs tucked up underneath. She never wore any of it. I did wear the wear the necklace and bracelet once or twicein my late teens but eventually I sold the set as my sister didn't want anything to do with them and I was too busy bringing up 5 kids to go out to dress up events.

I now have 7/10

[Ketta]

For any of you doubters out there (myself included) that the pink orchid mantis is the real deal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdfGCscTMak" target="_blank" target="_blank

Today's picks are:

10. Mantophasmatodea
30. Collembola

Mantophasmatodea: the heelwalkers or gladiators.

This order of insects is in flux; a few months ago, it was its own order, but as of very recently it's now within a different suborder. I know most of you are likely scratching your heads at this information, but I mention it just as an example of how even in science, things aren't set in stone. In a few months, it could be in a completely different group based on some new DNA finding!

The group is very small and little is known about them. They are native only to certain regions of Africa, and their name comes from some characteristics similar to mantids and phasmids (the walking stick insects). To me, they look more like caterpillars with long legs. They're wingless even as adults, and long went unnoticed due to similarities to other insect's juvenile stages. They get the name 'heelwalkers' from the way their feet touch the ground. Most insects walk with the bottoms (tarsi) of the feet/legs, but the 'feet' of a heelwalker stick up (certain sensory receptors are on its feet) and it appears to walk on its heels.



Collembola: the springtails.

First, springtails aren't technically insects, but are part of the Hexapoda (meaning six feet) group. They do have six legs as well as other characteristics they share with insects, but their is one major difference: insects have external mouthparts while springtails' are internal. They are thought to possibly have diverged from the lineage that gave rise to insects (though some will argue that).

Now the more fun part: springtails are tiny, mostly harmless (they can be crop pests, but not usually on the level of aphids or locusts)...and one of the more enduring creepy crawlies out there. They can jump incredibly long distances using a modified appendage called a furcula, which extends from the abdomen in such a way that they actually 'flick' themselves rather than jump. These little guys are often used in labs, as they're very good at indicating the health of soils (they're quite sensitive to most forms of pollutants) and they're easy to take care of. Except for that jumping thing they do.

Here's a still image of a springtail:


And here's a link to part of the first episode of 'Life in the Undergrowth' narrated by one of my favorite people on the planet: David Attenborough. I definitely saw springtails in a much cuter light after seeing this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwOL-MHcQ1w" target="_blank" target="_blank

[rcperryls]

What interesting videos!! The pink mantis is so pretty (am I really saying that about a bug ) and the video from David Attenborough (also one of my favorites) makes the springtail look cute (a bug? ). Or maybe I just liked the picks for today. Niki and I got both picks so I am 6/10 and she is 7/10. Yay!!

Carole

[nachosmiley]

Aren't bugs amazing?! All the different genera are wonderul in their own way but I have to say that my favourite so far is the tortoise bug.....such amazing colours and they remind me of blingtastic horseshoe crabs without tails!

I'm up to 7/10 too...very exciting!

[cairee]

one more! 8/10
really enjoing the pics and info!