The Eastern Cicada Killer (Sphecius speciosus) is a local wasp that doesn’t mess around.  Like any good mother, this Hymenoptera is just looking out for her young, however not many mom’s would go to such extreme measures.

A cicada killer. Photo by Lynette Schimming

A female cicada killer lives in a well-kept home, a burrow, that may extend multiple feet underground.  After conception the killer takes to the skies to stake out her first victim.  As the name implies, she is hunting for cicadas.  Once she has determined her target she quickly paralyzes it with its large stinger, and then grabs the cicada upside down using her legs.  Next is the hard part, taking care of the body; the long journey back to the burrow begins.  A cicada killer may drag the cicada by foot, fly the cicada, or even climb a tree and then fly in a gliding fashion toward the burrow if home is too far away.  Once home, the killer then drags the cicada into the depths of the burrow and stores the body in a pre-made cell. The soon-to-be mother lays her eggs on the secured cicada carcass, which will serve as the larvae’s food for the next two weeks.  The venom of the paralyzing sting keeps the cicada meal preserved for twice as long as normal, long enough for larvae to eat it and grow into prepupae for the winter.  This is another natural example of a mother that will do anything for her kin, even kill!

For their small size, there are many insects that can do humans quite a bit of harm or, at the very least, bug us. We know to steer clear of wasps, ants, mosquitos, ticks, and when they menacingly head our way.  What you may not know is that the insects themselves have quite a bit to watch out for as well! Not only are predators like spiders or frogs waiting to gobble up a passing fly, but there are other insects just waiting to grab up their own tasty meal. One of the most interesting (and overlooked) insects is the assassin bug.

An assassin bug drains it's prey

As its name suggests this group does not snatch up every passing insect, nor does it hire itself out to underworld criminals. Instead, it waits patiently on a leaf or sturdy flower for the perfect meal. If something tempting flies or, more conveniently, crawls by, the assassin bug will raise its front legs in a ready stance. When the passerby is least expecting it, the assassin bug will snatch it up using its lightning-fast legs and then swiftly and deftly skewer the prey with its beak. The beak (technical term: rostrum) creates an insect shish-kabob and serves the secondary purpose of injecting a dose of lethal saliva that liquefies the insides of its prey. The assassin bug then sucks up its delicious meal of pureed bug.

While most species of assassin bugs snuff out insects like beetles, caterpillars, crickets, bees, and flies they are not afraid to feed on prey significantly larger than themselves. In fact, one species of assassin bugs has been given the name ‘kissing bugs’ for their propensity to take a blood-meal from sleeping humans, feeding primarily near the mouth and eye areas. One cave-dwelling species in Central America actually feeds on the blood of vampire bats (how ironic!)

If that isn’t scary enough, another species of assassin bug can use tools to entice food to crawl their way. A Neotropical assassin bug, Salyavata variegata uses the carcasses of freshly killed termites to lure worker termites their way. The workers think that they are grabbing a fallen comrade and instead get eaten themselves!
The next time you are walking through the woods (or happen to find yourself in one of those caves) be sure to keep an eye out. There are a few assassins on the loose….

Citation: MCMAHAN, EA. “ADAPTATIONS, FEEDING PREFERENCES, AND BIOMETRICS OF A TERMITE-BAITING ASSASSIN BUG (HEMIPTERA, REDUVIIDAE).” Annals of the Entomological Society of America 76.3 (1983):483-486.

You thought zombies and mind control existed only in science fiction? Guess what. You thought wrong. Here is your daily does of entomological nightmare fuel, courtesy of David Attenborough.

Cordyceps is a fungal genus that is perhaps the strangest of insect predators. Over the course of its evolution, it has adopted a very strange and unsettling method of reproduction. The process starts when a spore lands on an unsuspecting insect of the correct species (each cordyceps species preys on a single species of insect; we will focus on a species that preys on ants). The spore secretes enzymes that allow it to tunnel through the insect’s tough exoskeleton and enter the body, where it feeds on the soft innards. Once the fungus has obtained enough nutrients to reproduce, it initiates the most mind blowing part of its sinister plot.

In order to ensure that its fruiting body has the largest possible “blast radius” over which it can eject its spores, the fungus enters the ant’s brain and literally takes control over it. It directs the ant to climb higher and higher until it finally dies, at which point the fruiting body bursts from the back of the insect’s head and uses its high vantage point to spew out a deadly rain of fungal spores across the forest floor, infecting any unlucky ants that happen to be foraging below. To add insult to injury, some ant colonies have become aware of this gruesome fungal predator and if one of their members is determined to be infected, the poor guy is dragged from the nest and dumped far away to die alone.

Mind control is something which humans have only dreamt about, yet insects have been victims of it since long before science was invented. Damn, nature, you scary.

Thanks to http://wfsc.tamu.edu/winemiller/lab/UMEB_Experience.htm for the picture.

Article found at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104122532.htm

The mother-of pearl moth caterpillar (Pleurotya ruralis) is a green, fleshy and pretty defenseless little thing. So what’s it to do when it’s in the presence of a predator or disturbance of some sort? Run away? Ha, caterpillars are so slow…except this one.

Original photo found here.

Research on P. ruralis was conducted by John Brackenbury at the University of Cambridge. The caterpillar has developed a way to curl up its body into a wheel and roll away. With a push for momentum, it effortlessly rolls off with speeds up to about 40 cm per second, depending on the slope of the terrain. Here’s an interesting video clip on it from the BBC wildlife show Weird Nature.

Original story found here.

The mountain pine beetle, D. ponderosae, tunnels into living pine trees and lives under the bark. Picture from the New York Times.

The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae, family Curculionidae) has emerged in recent years as a threat to pine forests throughout the Rocky Mountains of the US and Canada.  These beetles kill trees via the fungus they inject to prevent the movement of sap through trees.  The reasons for the recent outbreak are unclear, but climate change and the forest fire suppression policies of the past 100 years have likely played a role.

The activity of this beetle not only poses a threat to the forests, but also a threat to people.  The mountain pine beetle can kill millions of acres of trees in a year.  In Wyoming and Colorado, it killed 1.5 million acres of trees in 2007 alone.  These large stands of dead trees will provide fuel for potentially devastating forest fires throughout the west if the beetle cannot be contained.

Millions of acres of trees throughout the west have been killed by mountain pine beetle infestations. Picture from the New York Times.

Many strategies have been adopted to combat the spread of this insect, including logging, spraying of trees, use of chemicals that mimic mountain pine beetle pheromones, and logging.  Recently, in Custer State Park, South Dakota, a new strategy has been adopted for dealing with these beetles.  Previously efforts within the park had focused on cutting down infested trees and sawing them into two-foot sections.  Although this kills 85% of the beetles in these trees, it does little to stop their spread.  Now crews plan to begin removing infected trees by helicopter, which they believe will greatly reduce the number of beetles present in the park.

Of course we all know that insects (or basically living things for this matter) have to defend themselves in this cruel, cruel world. Releasing toxins to deter predators is nothing new, but the armored ground cricket (Acanthoplus discoidalis) has an intense way of becoming highly unpalatable. The defense mechanism? Bleeding and puking.

These large, African crickets have toxins running through their veins, literally. The crickets will make themselves bleed upon being attacked, squirting the blood, or haemolymph, out through breaks in their exoskeleton. Lizards, who typically try to eat them, get one taste and quickly learn to avoid them. The haemolymph is pale green in color, and is bitterly pungent and acidic. If that wasn’t foul enough, the crickets have decided that self-induced vomiting goes well alongside the voluntary bleeding. Delicious.

Strangely enough, with all of these bodily fluids causing lizards to dash off, the armored cricket still does have one thing to worry about—other armored crickets. They are indeed cannibals, and will opportunistically feed on each other. So if an armored cricket has just bled and puked all over itself, other crickets may believe that it is wounded and try to eat it. Soon after bleeding, they’ve been noted to quickly clean themselves off to deter attention from others. Really, who needs enemies when you have friends like these?

Original story posted here, photos found here and here.

Here is a video of a Braconidae wasp laying eggs on a ladybug. (Thanks to youtube)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYcniJwbqoI

Article found at science daily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117102046.htm

It was recently discovered by scientists that insects, such as some moths and fruit flies, react to microbial infections in the same manner as mammals (reported here).  So what’s the big deal?  This means that insects can be used instead of animals to test the efficacy of new antimicrobial drugs.  They can also be used in determining how virulent fungal pathogens are.

Not only would this reduce the usage of mice for testing by up to 90% but getting results would be quicker as well.  It takes an average of 4-6 weeks to get results when testing with mice, whereas using insects for testing yields results in as little as 48 hours.  And remember: time is money!

Dr Kavanagh presented his research on September 8^th, stating: “we have shown that immune cells in insects and mammals are structurally and functionally similar despite being separated by over 400 million years of evolution.”