Insect (DK Eyewitness Books)

Eyewitness INSECT

IENyeSwEitnCesTs

Chafer beetle Click beetle (Dicronorhina derbyana) (Semiotus from Africa angulatus) from Central America Fulgorid bug Chafer beetle (Pyrops delessertii) (Jumnos ruckeri) from India from northern India Stick insect (Tirachoidea species) from India Lamellicorn beetle Shield bug (Chalcosoma atlas) (Calliphara praslinea) from Indonesia from Indonesia Fungus weevil (Mecocerus gazella) from Southeast Asia

Blowfly (Calliphora Eyewitness vomitoria) found worldwide INSECT Tawny mining€bee Written by (Andrena fulva) from Europe LAURENCE€MOUND Stag beetle (Phalacrognathus mulleri) from northern Australia Bog bush cricket (Metrioptera brachyptera) from Europe Leaf beetle (Doryphorella Tortoise beetle 22-punctata) from South (Eugenysa regalis) from America South America Shield bug Cuckoo wasp (Sphaerocoris€annulus) (Stilbum splendidum) from Australia from Africa Rove beetle (Emus hirtus) Longhorn beetle (Callipogon senex) from from Great Britain Central America Shield bug DK Publishing, Inc. Leaf beetle (Cantao ocellatus) (Doryphorella princeps) from Indonesia from South America

Shield bug (Poecilocoris latus) from India Dung beetle (Phanaeus demon) from€Central America Butterfly (Ancycluris Bilberry bumblebee Dung beetle formosissima) from (Bombus monticola) (Coprophanaeus South America lancifer) from from Europe South America LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE, MUNICH, and DELHI Tree wasp Project editor╇ Helen Parker Longhorn beetle (Dolichovespula Art editor╇ Peter Bailey (Sternotomis bohemanni) sylvestris) from Europe Senior editor╇ Sophie Mitchell from East Africa Senior art editor╇ Julia Harris Editorial director╇ Sue Unstead Art director╇ Anne-Marie Bulat Special photography Colin Keates, Neil Fletcher, Frank Greenaway, Harold Taylor, Jane Burton, Kim Taylor, and Oxford Scientific Films Revised Edition Managing editors╇ Andrew Macintyre, Camilla Hallinan Managing art editor╇ Jane Thomas, Martin Wilson Publishing manager╇ Sunita Gahir Category publisher╇ Andrea Pinnington Editors╇ Karen O’Brien, Sue Nicholson Tiger beetle (Manticora scabra) Art editor╇ Ann Cannings from East Africa Production╇ Jenny Jacoby, Angela Graef Picture research╇ Lorna Ainger DTP designers╇ Siu Chan, Andy Hilliard, Ronaldo Julien U.S. editor╇ Elizabeth Hester Senior editor╇ Beth Sutinis Art director╇ Dirk Kaufman U.S. production╇ Chris Avgherinos U.S. DTP designer╇ Milos Orlovic This Eyewitness ® Guide has been conceived by Dorling Kindersley Limited and Editions Gallimard Jewel beetle (Chrysochroa This edition published in the United States in 2007 chinensis) from India by DK Publishing, Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 Copyright © 1990, © 2004 © 2007 Dorling Kindersley Limited 08 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 ID062 - 04/07 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Dusky sallow moth Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in (Eremobia ochroleuca) a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, from Europe electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without Chafer (Trichaulax macleayi) from the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Published in northern Australia Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-7566-3004-1 (HC)╇ 978-0-7566-0691-6 (Library Binding) Giant ant Color reproduction by Colourscan, Singapore (Dinoponera Printed in China by Toppan Printing Co. (Shenzhen), Ltd. grandis) from Brazil Chafer beetle Discover more at (Agestrata luzonica) from the Philippines

Contents Lamellicorn larva (Oryctes centaurus) 6 from New Guinea The parts of an insect 46 8 How to avoid being eaten What is an insect? 48 10 A watery life The first insects 50 12 Building a nest Wings and flight 52 14 Insect architects Through an insect’s eyes 56 16 Social ants Touch, smell, and hearing 58 18 Honeybees and hives Legwork 60 20 Helpful and harmful Mouthparts and feeding 62 22 Looking at insects Battling beetles 64 24 Did you know? Complete metamorphosis 66 26 Insect classification Incomplete metamorphosis 68 30 Find out more Beetles 70 32 Glossary Flies 72 34 Index Butterflies and moths 36 Bugs 38 Wasps, bees, and ants 40 Other insects 42 Living with plants 44 Hide and seek

The parts of an insect An adult insect never grows any larger. Tarsus Femur Tibia It€cannot, because it has a hard, external skeleton composed largely of a tough, horny substance called chitin. This “exoskeleton” covers all parts of the body, including the Claw legs, feet, eyes, antennae, and even the Folding point Front, or leading edge, of wing internal breathing tubes, or tracheae. Young insects must molt, or shed all these surfaces, several times during their lives in order to grow to adult size. Beneath the old, hard skin, a new, Base of soft skeleton forms. The Tip, or wing folds apex,€of wing underneath insect takes in extra air to Hind wing folded In order to fit beneath the make itself larger and splits wing cases, the larger hind wings, the old skin, which falls off. with which the beetle flies (pp. 12–13), The young stages of many must be folded. The wing tip, or apex, is folded insects are grubs or back at a special break known as the folding caterpillars (pp. 24–25), point in the front, or leading edge. The base of the wing is also folded underneath. which are very different from the adults; but these also molt, eventually Beetle body This adult jewel beetle (Euchroma producing a pupa or a gigantea), shown here at three times chrysalis. life size, comes from South America. It is a typical insect with three distinct body regions – the head, Ganglion in thorax, and abdomen. As in other Abdomen head (brain) arthropods (pp. 8–9), these regions The abdomen of an insect contains most of its “maintenance Nervous are all made up of small ringlike equipment” – the digestive system segments, and the legs are jointed. system, heart, and sexual organs. Like the other parts of the body it Internal anatomy Compound is protected by the rigid This illustration shows the internal eye exoskeleton, or cuticle, which is anatomy of a worker bee. Along the composed mainly of horny chitin. center of its body is the digestive Foregut breaks But between the segments the system (yellow), which is a up food body is flexible. The whole continuous tube divided into the surface is covered by a thin layer foregut, midgut, and hindgut. The Air sacs are important in of wax which keeps the insect breathing, or respiratory, system supplying muscles in thorax from losing too much water. (white) consists of a network of with enough air for flight Front wing branched tubes, through which air In beetles (pp. 30–31) the front pair of passes from the spiracles to every Midgut wings is adapted as a pair of hard wing part of the body. The two large air digests food cases called elytra. These protect the sacs in the abdomen are important body and are often brightly colored. for supplying the flight muscles in Air Food waste is Excess water is removed When the beetle flies (pp. 12–13), the the thorax with air. The bee’s heart is enters ejected from the remains of food elytra are held forward. a long, thin tube, which pumps breathing through anus in the hindgut blood along most of the upper part tubes Sting Poison store of the body. There are no other through for sting blood vessels. Blood leaves the heart spiracles to carry food to the other organs. The simple nervous system (blue) is formed by one main nerve, which has knots of massed nerve cells, or ganglia, along its length. The ganglion in the head is the insect’s brain. The female sexual organs and store of poison leading to the sting are shown in green.

Legs Armor plating Insects have three pairs of jointed legs (pp. 18–19), A tank is like a large which are used for walking, running, or jumping – beetle, with its hard outer depending on the species. Each leg has four main parts: skin protecting the the coxa joins the leg to the thorax; the femur, or thigh, important inner is the most muscular section of the leg; the tibia, or workings from lower leg, often carries a number of spines for being self-defense; and the tarsus, the equivalent damaged by Tarsus has of a human foot, consists of between enemies. between one and five one and five segments, also two segments claws between which there is Tibia sometimes a small pad for Wing case, gripping smooth surfaces. or elytron Femur Second and third Each foot bears two claws for Coxa segments of the climbing on rough surfaces Coxa thorax each bear a Feeding in information Antennae pair of wings and a The head carries the feeding The antennae of apparatus (pp. 20–21) as well as insects (pp. 16–17) pair of legs important sense organs such as the vary in size and shape compound eyes (pp. 14–15), from long and thin, as antennae (pp. 16–17), and the palps, in crickets, to short or feelers, which are attached to the and hairlike, as in mouthparts and help give the insect some flies. Whatever information about the taste and their shape, the smell of its food. antennae bear many sensory structures that Compound are able to detect air eye movements, vibrations, and smells. First segment of thorax Compound eyes bears front pair of legs Insect eyes (pp. 14–15) are Thorax called “compound” because The thorax is made up of three each is made up of hundreds segments. The first bears the first pair of tiny, simple eyes. These of legs and is often clearly separated eyes enable an insect to detect from the second and third segments, movement around it in almost each of which has a pair of wings and every direction at once. a pair of legs. The second and third segments are closely joined to the Segmented antenna abdomen. detects vibrations and smells Claw Leading edge of A spiracle can be closed hind wing to prevent the entry of air and Hind wing control outstretched water The wings have no loss muscles in them. As the wing cases are A breath of fresh air lifted, muscles Insects breathe air through a network of tubes inside the thorax (tracheae) that extend into the body from pairs of openings in the pull on the leading cuticle called spiracles. Some insects, like this caterpillar, have a pair edge of the hind of spiracles on each segment. More active insects often have fewer wings and make spiracles, as they can force air out of the tracheae. them open automatically (pp.€12–13).

What is an insect? Ground Insects are the most successful creatures in the whole of beetle Ladybird the animal kingdom. They are remarkably adaptable and live Mayfly beetle everywhere on land, in the air, and in water. Thus insects can adult Beetles be found in scorching deserts and in hot springs, on Beetles (pp. 30–31) snowy mountain peaks and in icy lakes. Their small belong to the order size means they can fit into very small places and do Coleoptera, meaning not need much food to live. Insects are invertebrates, “sheath wings.” The meaning that, unlike mammals, fish, reptiles, and front pair of wings are Mayflies hard, sheathlike These insects belong to coverings (elytra) that birds, they have no backbone. Insects belong to the the order Ephemeroptera, meet in the middle and group of invertebrates called arthropods; that is, they referring to the short lives protect the delicate of the adults. Young hind wings and body. have a hard, protective exoskeleton (pp. 6–7) and mayflies live and feed underwater. jointed legs. However, insects are different from other arthropods because they have only six legs. Most insects Fly also have wings, which enable them to escape from Flies danger and to search for food over a wide area. Today Flies (pp. 32–33) belong to the order Diptera, meaning “two wings,” so there are over a million known species of insect with named because, unlike other insects, many more waiting to be discovered. flies only have one pair of wings. The hind wings are modified into tiny balancing organs, called halteres (p. 12). Each species is a member of a Front wings are larger larger group, or order, than hind wings made up of other insects with the same Wasp physical features. Bee Ant Dragonfly Cockroaches Piercing, sucking Wasps, ants, and bees These flattened insects (p. 41) have mouthparts The name of the order that includes all hardened front wings that overlap wasps, bees, and ants (pp. 38–39) is each other. Young cockroaches look Wings hard at Hymenoptera. This means “membrane like smaller versions of the adults but base, soft at tip wings” and refers to their two pairs of without wings. thin, veined wings. The males of this Stick order are unusual because they develop Bug insect from unfertilized eggs. Many females in this group are armed with a sting. Bugs The name of the order of true Butterfly bugs (pp. 36–37), Hemiptera, means “half wing” and Earwig refers to the front wings of many larger bugs, which are hard at the base but Dragonflies and damselflies soft at the tip. Bugs have These two insects (p. 41) are closely jointed piercing and related and belong to the order sucking mouthparts. Odonata. The name refers to their Earwigs large, specially adapted jaws which The order to which earwigs they use to catch flies. The nymphs (p. 41) belong is Dermaptera, live underwater and only come to the meaning “skin wings.” This Folded wings surface when it is time for the adult to emerge (pp. 26–27). refers to the hind wings, which are kept curiously folded under very short front€wings. GrassÂ

These are not insects Pedipalps are specially adapted to form pincers Many people confuse other arthropods with insects. Spiders and Scorpion scorpions not only have four pairs of legs, rather than three as insects do, but their head and thorax (pp. 6–7) Prawn are fused together in a single structure. Unlike insects they have no wings, no antennae, and small, simple eyes instead of a pair of large compound eyes (pp. 14–15). Crabs and prawns, wood lice and centipedes, all have many more Vertebrates jointed legs than insects – millipedes Scorpions Prawns This monkey is a vertebrate, even have two pairs on each Like all These sea-dwelling meaning it has a backbone. segment. In contrast an earthworm, creatures have an Birds, fish, lizards (reptiles), although composed of many arachnids, external skeleton frogs (amphibians), and including spiders mammals are all and ticks, scorpions and ten jointed vertebrates.€They breathe have four pairs of legs. legs€– eight legs for This scorpion from North Africa catches its walking and two segments, has no legs at all, and prey with its big pincers, which are for€feeding the€body does not have a distinct really€a specially adapted pair and€defense. head. The structure of slugs, snails, of limbs, called pedipalps. and starfish is very different and is with lungs or gills, and not based on segments. have€a central heart. None Earthworm of them has six legs, and Millipede Head Earthworms their bodies are not divided All earthworms are into segments. made up of many ringlike segments. Unlike insects they Ringlike segments have no legs and no hard parts and it is often difficult to tell which end the head is at. Each segment bears four legs Giant earthworms may be more than 6 ft (2 m) long. Millipedes Wood louse Wood lice It is easy to see a Wood lice, or pill bugs, are related to the millipede’s head because, Beach fleas like insects, it has a pair beach flea. They need water and live in These strange creatures are similar to of antennae. Unlike an cool, damp places, under stones and logs, insects in appearance, but they have insect, its body is not where they feed on rotting wood and ten legs, rather than an insect’s six. divided into three leaves. When danger threatens they roll They live in damp sand on beaches separate parts (pp. 6–7) into a tight round ball of scaly armor. all over the world. When disturbed, but into many segments, they use their front two pairs of legs each of which bears two to jump surprising distances. pairs of legs. Millipedes often feed on plants and may be garden pests. Antenna Leg Pedipalps used as feelers “Poison claws” – Jaws modified front legs – Centipedes are used to catch prey Unlike millipedes, with which they are often confused, Spiders centipedes have only one This tarantula from Sri Lanka is pair of legs on each segment. one of the world’s largest spiders. In front They spend their lives in the of the eight legs there is a pair of leglike soil,€feeding on other small soil- appendages called pedipalps, which are dwelling animals. Centipedes used as feelers. The large jaws inject capture their prey with their poison into the prey and, as with all “poison claws,” a specially spiders, the food is sucked into adapted front pair of legs the body as a liquid. The with fangs. Large large abdomen has two species can give a pairs of book lungs, like painful bite. fish gills, which must be kept moist to absorb air. Centipede Tarantula

The first insects The first winged insects flew through the coal forests that covered the Earth over 300 million years ago. Early fossil remains show that a few of these insects, such as dragonflies and cockroaches (pp. 40–41), Limestone would have looked very similar to present-day species. But most fossil of a of the oldest insect fossils represent groups that are no longer moth’s wing from southern alive today. Some of these early insects were probably England slowed down by large, unfolding wings, with spans of€up to 30 in (76 cm), which prevented them from Insect jewelry making a quick escape and made them sitting Amber has been targets for hungry predators. Looking at fossils is looked on as a precious stone for centuries. This piece of our only means of understanding the evolution of Baltic amber, cut and insects, but because insects are usually small and polished as a pendant, contains three very different types of flies. delicate, most of them probably rotted away before they could become trapped in muddy sediments and fossilized. And so, with very little fossil evidence on SHOW YOUR COLORS which to base our conÂ

Oldest dragonfly Broken wing This fossilized folded wing is the oldest known dragonfly. It was found above a coal seam at Bolsover Colliery in Derbyshire, England, 2,300 ft (700 m) underground. The dragonfly flew 300 million years ago and had a total wingspan of 8 in (20 cm), considerably larger than the largest present-day species shown here. Compound eye Flowering plants The appearance of the first flowering plants Largest dragonfly about 100 million years ago signified a new This dragonfly (Tetracanthagyna source of food in the form of pollen and nectar. plagiata) from Borneo is a member Insects thrived because of this new food, and the of the largest dragonfly species still flowering plants thrived because of the variety of pollinating insects. The number of insects and in existence today. The largest plants increased together, a process known as dragonfly ever known is a fossilized coevolution (pp. 42–43). specimen from the U.S., with a Black spot, wingspan of about 24 in (60 cm). or stigma Veins Unlike the wings of more recently Abdomen developed€insects, dragonfly wings do not€fold Tip of abdomen Veins on wings Dragonfly predators Present-day earwig Turned to stone The artist of this whimsical (Labidura riparia) Fossilized specimens of smaller dragonfly engraving clearly had more imagination than biological 11 species, such as this one from southern knowledge. Present-day England, are relatively common. Even though dragonflies are fast and skilled this specimen appears to be missing a wing, it fliers. Fossils prove their ancestors were similar and would not have is possible to see all the veins quite clearly. made easy prey for a pterosaur. Drowned earwig The lake deposits at Florissant, Colorado, are about 35 million years old. They contain many wellÂ

Wings and flight Mosquito wing Fringed Insects were the first creatures to fly. Flight veins enabled them to escape more easily from predators, and to fly to new areas in search of better food. Later, Fringed wings wings became important for finding and attracting a Small insects have great mate – by being brightly colored or by producing a scent or making sounds. But the origin of wings is not difficulty flying. The CRUMPLED WINGS fringe of scales on this The wings of an adult cicada are much larger than the body (p. 36). understood. Some early wingless insects may initially magnified mosquito have gained an advantage over others by gliding wing probably act like But a newly emerged adult has the flaps, or airfoils, on small, soft crumpled wings. Blood is an airplane wing, and pumped into veins in the wings from€trees using pairs of primitive flaps on several help reduce the “drag.” making them expand rapidly. As segments of their body. Gradually, because two pairs Very small insects often the veins harden, the wings of flaps are more efficient in the air, wings evolved. straighten ready for flight. The€earliest known flying have narrow wings with€even longer insects, like dragonflies today, fringes. had two pairs of independently flapping wings that did not Antenna spread to fold. More recent insects, such sense the air currents as butterflies, wasps, and beetles, have developed various mechanisms for linking€their front and hind CRICKET SONGS wings to produce two, rather Male crickets produce songs with their specially adapted front wings. The base of the left front wing (above left) than four, flight surfaces that has a rigid file that is scraped against a special drumlike beat together. The true flies area, or mirror, on the right front wing (above right). This mirror amplifies the sound to attract female crickets many yards away. have lost one pair of wings altogether. Antenna Eye Wing cases, or elytra, 1before takeoff Claws on feet protect the beetle’s more Like any airplane, a large enable beetle delicate hind wings, insect such as this cockchafer to grip plant which are folded up beetle (Melolontha melolontha) firmly, ready underneath (pp. 6–7) must warm up its engines for takeoff before flying. Before taking to the air, beetles will often open 2unfasten the and shut their wing cases wings several times to check that The hardened wing they are in good working cases of the front order. It is not unusual to see wings are separated as moths rapidly vibrating their the cockchafer wings before takeoff to warm prepares to take off up their flight muscles. from the top of the plant. The antennae Wing cases start are spread to check the to open air currents. Hind wings folded beneath wing cases Abdomen 12

Tip, or Front margin Flash colors apex of wing, or Many insects that are perfectly camouflaged costa when at rest, have brightly colored wings that they flash when disturbed. As soon as the Inner Scale margin insect settles again it Color scales seems to disappear, The overlapping scales on butterfly Outer thus confusing a wings are really flattened, ridged margin would-be predator. hairs. These often form beautiful This grasshopper patterns. In some species the scales (Ornithacris pictula may be further modified to contain special magnifica) probably scents. uses€its beautiful lilac wings for this purpose. The arrangement and number of the chief veins in an insect’s wing are important in its identification. Vein Halteres help fly balance in the air Balancing Wing cases 4We have lift-off Designing a large help give the With a spring from glider is easier than beetle lift the legs, the cockchafer designing a small throws itself into the air. fighter plane. Insects Fully opened wings begin to beat The hind wings provide have similar design Hind legs outstretched the driving force, but problems – they must make the beetle more the€curve of the rigid be able to fly in gusty streamlined in the air winds close to moving front wings almost leaves and branches. certainly provides Flies have overcome aerodynamic lift such problems by as€the speed reducing one pair of increases. wings to special knoblike balancing Wing cases spread wide to Wing organs, called halteres; allow the thin membranous these are probably wings to unfold Vertical muscle contracts, important for landing and wings move up upside down on Joint in wing ceilings. unfolds Thorax Large hind wings Joint Horizontal muscle contracts, unfold and wings move down Wing membrane 3Reach for the sky The wing cases are Moving the wings Segmented abdomen spread, and the thin Most of the power for flapping the wings is membranous hind wings, which provide the provided by large horizontal and vertical driving force, muscles housed in the thorax (pp. 6–7). As automatically unfold as these contract alternately, the upper and lower they are raised. In this surfaces of the thorax are rapidly pulled closer vulnerable position the together, then driven apart, causing the wings to beetle cannot afford move up and down. Other muscles at the base to€hesitate. of the wings adjust the angle of each stroke and 13 thus determine the direction of flight.

Through an insect’s eyes It is very difficult to explain what is meant by color to someone who has never been able to see. But it is far more difficult to understand what color, or even sight, means to an insect. Insects have acute senses that humans do not share. Many insects can smell particular odors over great distances. Others can detect vibrations and hear sounds Light attraction that are inaudible to people. But we cannot know Three simple eyes, or At night, bright lights attract what sort of image insects have of the world ocelli, are probably many insects. It seems that sensitive to light night-flying insects navigate by keeping the natural light of the moon at a constant through their eyes. We know that a large angle to their eyes. An bee sitting on a post can see a person artificial light is treated in the same way; the insects fly move several yards away – but does it toward the light in a straight just see a moving shape, or can it line but when they reach it perceive that the moving object is they circle around it a human and not a horse? We continuously. know some bugs can see, or are particularly attracted to, ultraviolet light and the color yellow, but are not attracted to blue or red. But do they see colors, or shades of black and white? Different insects have evolved solutions to different problems. Dragonflies can catch mosquitos in flight at dusk, when it is too dark for these small flies to be seen by humans; but does the dragonfly see them, or does it respond to their sound and movement? The subject of insect senses is full of such questions. Natural light Ultraviolet light Sense hairs all over the head give BEAUTY LIES IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER the wasp extra Powerful jaws are The eyes of many insects register things that information about used for digging, humans cannot see. These two brimstone its surroundings butterflies have been photographed in natural Segmented antennae detect cutting up food, and light (left) and in ultraviolet light (right). odors and measure the size of laying down new Insects possibly do not see a yellow the cells during nest building nest material butterfly with four orange spots, but a gray A WASPISH FACE insect with two large dark gray areas. The head of a typical insect has a pair of large Many insect-pollinated flowers rely on compound eyes as well as three simple eyes on top. ultraviolet vision to attract pollinating The compound eyes of this wasp (Vespula vulgaris) bees (pp. 42–43); the position of the extend low down on the cheeks toward the jaws but nectar within the flower is indicated are not developed on the part of the face across by lines called honey guides, which which the antennae usually lie. The segmented are visible only in ultraviolet light. antennae are important not just to detect odors but also to measure the size and shape of each new cell in the nest as it is built (pp. 50–51). The powerful jaws are the hands and tools of a wasp and are used to cut up food, to dig with, and to lay down new nest material. The brilliant yellow and black pattern warns other animals that this insect has a dangerous sting. 14

INSIDE AN INSECT’S EYE Facet Compound Each compound eye is made up of eye hundreds of facets, often fitting together hexagonally. Each facet Lens consists of the lens at the surface with Conical lens a second conical lens inside. These focus the light down a central Cuticle structure, the rhabdome, which is sensitive to light and is connected directly to the optic nerve and brain. Optic nerve fibers along which information is passed to the brain Rhabdome FLESH FLY The hundreds of Compound eye individual eye facets glow red in this flesh fly’s head (Sarcophaga species). We do not know exactly what it really sees, but we do know that it can accurately detect even the tiniest movements, making it very difficult to catch. Compound Mosaic Sense hairs are eye It used to be accepted that the probably hexagonal eye facets of an sensitive to insect must produce an image vibrations made up of a series of spots, like this mosaic picture of a Between the claws of flower. But the image an insect a fly’s foot is a suckerÂ

Touch, smell, and hearing For many insects the world is probably a pattern of smells and tastes. Most insects have eyes, but sight is not as important to them as it is to humans in understanding the world around them. Ants lay down a chemical trail and constantly touch each other to pass on their nest odor. Alarm chemicals are produced by many insects, so that the other members of a colony quickly respond. Female moths produce chemicals capable of attracting males from great distances. Dung beetles can locate fresh dung within 60 seconds of its being produced. Some insects, such as bark beetles, produce chemicals that attract members of the same species; this causes them to group together on Feathery feelers a suitable tree. Other species, such as the common apple maggot, produce This feather-like chemicals to prevent a second female from laying eggs on a fruit that is structure is the highly sensitive antenna of a male already occupied. This insect world of smells and tastes also includes moth. The central vibrations and sounds undetected by humans. Such vibrations may be rod has many side, or lateral, branches, detected by insects through well-formed “ears” as on the front legs of crickets and on the abdomen of grasshoppers and cicadas, or they may be each of which is picked up through the legs and antennae. covered in tiny sensory hairs. Biting jaws Weevil’s head (Cyrtotrachelus species) Antenna at about seven times€life size Clubbed tip is Rostrum used for covered in drilling into plant seeds and stems sensory hairs Simianellus cyaneicollis at Elbowed about five times life size antenna Beetle antlers Nosy weevil Eye It is not known for The biting jaws of a weevil Head swivels certain why both male are at the end of the long inside thorax and female of this Indian snout, or rostrum, in front of the beetle have these remarkable eyes (p. 30). On either side of antler-like antennae. In life, the rostrum is an “elbowed” the antennae are usually antenna. The flattened held back along the body surface of the club at the with the branches closed. end of the antennae is covered with sensory Each hair is ridged hairs, which the weevil uses to explore the surface it is Ball and feeding on or into which it is drilling with its rostrum. socket joint Magnified hairs Butterfly The hairs on an insect’s body antenna are often not just simple and “hairlike,” which becomes Butterfly apparent when they are antenna, magnified 1,000 times. These magnified hairs, from around the mouth of a carpet beetle larva, each Simply 2,000 times have their own “ball and socket” joint at the base and ridged sides. Each hair is probably sensitive to vibrations. antennae? This is part of the antenna of a butterfly, with one of the segments magnified 2,000 times. The surface is covered with intricate patterns of tiny sensitive pegs, or tubercles, and there are thin areas of cuticle (pp. 6–7) with tiny scent-sensitive hairs. 16

Feeling fine Long palps for This cricket was found in a cave in Nigeria manipulating (West Africa). It has the longest antennae for its body size ever seen. These “feelers” food in dark Fine, very are probably more important for sensitive detecting vibrations and air currents antenna help than for detecting smells. They cricket find its may also be used like a blind way in the dark person’s cane for finding the way in the dark. Underside of wing Pair of long showing perfume “cerci” at tip of brushes abdomen are Perfume brushes covered in This male South American forest sensory hairs butterfly (Antirrhea philoctetes) has a curious whorl of long hairs on the Cave cricket European chafer lower side of the front wing. These (Phaeophilacris species), beetle (Melolontha hairs brush against a patch of actual size melolontha) at about specialized “scent scales” on the upper five times life size side of the hind wing. The socket at Antenna fan blades Eye the base of each hair is shaped like the figure 8, so that the hair can stand up – as in a brush – or lie flat. The brush picks up the scent scales and scatters the scent to attract females. Lateral branch of antenna Eye Antenna is divided Chafer fans into many segments All scarab beetles (pp. 30–31) have fan-shaped antennae like this chafer. When the beetle is walking around, the fan blades are usually closed, but when the beetle starts to fly (pp.€12–13), they are fanned out to detect the direction of the wind and any smells it may be carrying. Cricket’s leg (Oxyecous Joint lesnei) at about eight Femur times life size Longhorn beetle Ear Ears on knees (Cynopalus wallacei) Tibia The front legs of crickets at about four times and weta (pp. 40–41) have life size a small swelling just below the knee. This is their “ear” and Longhorn antlers consists of a drumlike membrane Longhorn beetles are so-called because of their long called a tympanum on either side of antennae (p. 31). The antennae of most species are the leg. Like the human eardrum, this tympanum is extremely simple and unbranched, or have a few small side sensitive to sound vibrations. In many branches. But this male longhorn from Malaysia species these tympana are internal. (Southeast Asia) is remarkable for having long side The leg of this species is curiously branches, each of which is covered in tiny sense hairs, swollen around the ears. making the antennae doubly sensitive. 17

Legwork Cleaning legs Legs are important to most creatures Propeller-like feet can bury this cricket for walking, running, and jumping, as well in seconds as for generally keeping the body off the ground. Insects have found even more uses Cleaning legs for their legs. Bees (pp. 58–59) have little Flies are covered in hairs, brushes and baskets on their legs for which must be cleaned and collecting and storing pollen (pp. 42–43). groomed regularly if the insect is to fly effectively. The feet of houseflies have special pads between the claws that work like plastic wrap, enabling the insect to walk upside Grasshoppers can “sing” with their legs by down on smooth surfaces. rubbing a small file on their hind legs against their front wings. Crickets have Wings coiled ears on their knees, and many insects’ legs are modified for fighting or like a spring for holding on to the opposite sex when mating. Some water insects (pp. 48–49) have flattened legs with long hairs that work like paddles or oars; others have long, delicate, stilt-like legs for walking on the surface without sinking. All insects have six jointed legs, and each leg has four main parts. At the top is the coxa, which joins the leg to the thorax; then comes the thigh, or femur; and the lower leg, or tibia. At the tip of the leg is the tarsus, which usually has two claws and sometimes has a pad in between, Going down enabling the insect to climb on almost any surface, The strange, propellerÂ

Strong, flattened front legs Spiny front legs used as shovels for burrowing grasp and hold prey while it is eaten Mouthparts adapted as scissors for cutting through roots Mini moles Moles Grasping legs Mole crickets (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa), Although moles are totally unrelated to Many insects have grasping, or raptorial, legs. like moles, have unusually strong and mole crickets, which are insects, they have Sometimes, as with this mantid (Sibylla pretiosa), similarly adapted shovel-like front legs for the legs are used to grab and hold prey while it is flattened front legs which serve as burrowing in soil. This is an example of shovels for burrowing into the soil. As “convergent evolution,” in which plants or being eaten. But often such legs are more important for holding on to the they tunnel underground, they eat animals with similar lifestyles evolve opposite sex during mating, roots, which they cut through with similar structures. or for fighting off rivals. specially adapted mouthparts that work like a pair of scissors. When very Front and hind active, they may become pests in wings open wide grassy lawns. Antenna Thorax Legs streamlined Wings streamlined so locust can gather height Legs tuck 4In midleap under body Once the locust has got as high as it can, it 3Gathering height opens both pairs of wings as In order to get as high as possible, the wide as possible and begins to locust makes its body streamlined. The flap them rapidly, to propel it even wings remain closed, and the legs farther forward. The hind legs are still straighten and tuck under the body. streamlined, but the front legs are stretched Although small, the leg muscles of locusts out as the locust prepares to land again. are about 1,000 times more powerful than an equal weight of human muscle. The Hiding behind your own legs longest jump by a locust is about 20 in The color and shape of the extensions (50 cm), which is equal to ten times its on the legs of this leaf insect (Phyllium body length. pulchrifolium) serve to break up the outline of the legs. This makes the Leafy extensions to legs legs look less leglike and are more break up leglike outline difficult for a predator to recognize as€food. Antenna Eye Pseudofeet Greens and browns The “legs’’ on the abdomen of caterpillars are not real legs. They are blend in with leafy muscular extensions of the body wall, called prolegs, each with a circle surroundings of hairs at the tip. The prolegs are important for locomotion, and the three pairs of real legs on the thorax are used to hold the food. 19

Bush cricket Mouthparts and feeding Flea bites This bush cricket is feeding on This old engraving part of a flower. It is holding The ancestors of insects had three pairs of jaws is not accurate, but the plant with its front legs while the large and powerful on their head. In modern insects the first pair, it shows that sawlike mandibles chew it up. the mandibles, remain well developed in all fleas have Crickets also eat other insects chewing species. The second pair, the maxillae, a€strong – even their own young. are smaller and modified to help push or suck food into the mouth. And the third pair are sucking tube joined together to form the lower lip, or labium. surrounded But in many insects these three pairs of jaws are by two pairs modified according to diet into piercing needles, long, of palps, or sucking tubes, and absorbent sponges. sensory organs. 1The meal begins 2Steady progress Large caterpillars, like this In addition to the three pairs of legs common mormon (Papilio polytes), which all insects have on the thorax, always chew the edges of leaves. caterpillars have four pairs of prolegs on the They grasp the leaf between their abdomen and a pair of anal legs, stretch out their head in claspers.€Despite the long soft front, and then chew down body, which is supported by toward the body with these extra legs, a their mandibles. This caterpillar has an action often proÂ

Compound eye BLOODSUCKING FLY This tabanid fly (Fidena castanea) has long sharp mouthparts, like very fine needles, for piercing the skin. The rest of the mouthparts form a tube for sucking up blood. This insect can feed on humans, but probably usually feeds on the blood of monkeys. These flies are not delicate feeders like mosquitos and produce a very painful, open wound. Ants and aphids Piercing, After eight Small plant-sucking bugs, such as aphids, are often sucking hours – on to looked after by ants, who may even build a small mouthparts the next leaf shelter over the bugs to keep off rain and other insects. The ants feed on honeydew, a sugary After 4The end is in sight substance excreted by the aphids that would six hours Caterpillars usually feed at otherwise build up, grow a sooty mold, and kill the night to avoid predators. They molt aphid colony. One way of controlling aphid populations on trees is to keep the ants from about five times from climbing up and protecting them. egg to pupa. 3Halfway there The caterpillar works its way up and down the leaf, eating the softer, juicier parts first. Proleg Head 5Dinner is over After eight hours the leaf has gone, and the caterpillar is ready to look for the next one. A few more leaves like that and it will be ready for its final molt to produce the pupa from which the adult moth will emerge (pp. 24–25). Black and yellow Caterpillar markings ward breathes through off predators spiracles on each segment (p. 7) When the jaws close, True legs the teeth overlap to on€the thorax cut grubs and other Compound beetles in half eye After four hours Compound SpongeÂ

Battling beetles In warm weather, if its host plant is healthy, an aphid can produce 50 offspring in a week, each of which will be mature one week later. At this rate of breeding the world could be knee-deep in aphids within a few weeks – but this does not happen. The number of plants Digging deep necessary to feed large Grasshoppers lay their eggs in groups insect populations is around the roots of grasses. In contrast, locusts and also this bush cricket (Decticus albifrons) drill into the soil with limited, and this lack of a long straight ovipositor and lay their resources together with eggs underground. They then fill in the hole and rake over the surface to conceal it from parasites. hungry predators limits the number of insects. Despite this, a large swarm of locusts will include many thousands of millions of individuals. Some insects, such as those that feed on dead Femur wood, compete for food and breeding sites. In many such insects, the males may have large horns or big jaws to fight off rival males and lay claim to a dead branch on which to mate and breed. Tibia Let’s see who’s Tarsus boss around here! Antenna outstretched to pick Antlerlike up as much information as jaws possible about the other beetle Thorax 1Eyeing up the opposition Stag beetles, like these two from Europe (Lucanus cervus), get their name from the large branched “horns” of the male. These are really greatly enlarged jaws that are used for fighting, much like the antlers of a real stag. A male defends his territory, usually at dusk, by adopting a threatening position. Hard, black, protective wing case

Claws Female cockroach with egg purse Ootheca, or egg purse Antenna Segmented Spiny legs to Eggs in one basket tarsus deter predators Cockroaches lay their eggs in groups, like grasshoppers. Hard wing case, or Antenna But whereas the egg pods of elytron, protects Very grasshoppers are made of soil particles, a more delicate small€horns female cockroach produces a hard, purselike structure called an ootheca, with two rows of hind wings and eggs standing neatly upright inside. abdomen underneath Jaws encircle Power Female rival beetle struggle stag beetle No horns Fighting Unlike most male stag beetles, the females do not have large between two fighting jaws. This is because the females play different roles males is very from the males and are not concerned with defending feeding and breeding sites. Such a marked difference between male and common in female is known as sexual dimorphism. Curiously, very small many animal male stag beetles also do not have large fighting jaws. It seems species as a way of proving male small, non-fighting males are successful at times when there is dominance and defending territory. not enough food to produce large males. Ritualized fighting, in which no one is really hurt, is one way of reducing aggressive male instincts. Eye Antenna Vanquished beetle lands The fight in upside down full swing Front right Palp for 2The fight leg missing sensing food When threats prove insufficient, the defending male will grapple with its 3Vanquished Hard, rival and each beetle will attempt to lift If the defeated beetle lands on its back, it antlerlike the other off its feet by grasping it may be unable to get to its feet before being around the middle with its horns. Once eaten by ants, particularly if, like this one, it has jaws this is done, it is a simple matter to been injured. Sometimes the teeth on the drop the rival off the branch or log encircling jaws of the winner may punch a hole onto the ground. in the rival’s armor and it will die. Tarsus Claws on tarsus help beetle take a firm grip on the branch it is defending Tibia 23

Complete metamorphosis Metamorphosis means “change of body form and appearance.” The most advanced insects Larva emerges have a complex life cycle involving “complete” metamorphosis. The eggs hatch to produce larvae (caterpillars, grubs, or maggots) that are quite unlike adult insects in both form and appearance. The larvae grow and molt several times (pp. 6–7), finally producing a pupa (chrysalis). Inside the pupa the whole body is reorganized, and a winged adult is produced. This type of life cycle enables the larvae to specialize in feeding, and the adults to specialize in breeding and looking for new sites. Wasps, bees, ants, flies, beetles, butterflies and moths, caddis flies, fleas, lacewings, and scorpion flies all undergo complete metamorphosis. But not all insects obey the rules: the adults of some species of beetle look like larvae; some female mountain moths are wingless; and some flies have no adults because each larva can produce many more larvae inside its body. Mating Old larval skin Eggs Cap Mexican bean beetles (Epilachna varivestis) Female Mexican bean beetles lay are a species of plant-feeding ladybird their eggs in groups of about 50 1Egg hatches beetle. The adult males and females look on the underside of leaves where Even eggs have to breathe. very similar and mate frequently. they are well protected. Each egg Around the top of each egg is a ring stands on end and takes about a of pores which allow air to reach the New pupal skin week to hatch. developing larva inside. About a Old larval skin week after the egg has been laid, the with long spines cap at the top is broken or chewed off, and the larva emerges. New pupal Larval skin with skin short spines 4About to change When the larva has eaten enough food, it attaches itself to the under- side of a damaged, netted leaf, ready to pupate. The larval skin is shed, and soft new pupal skin Larva forms beneath feeding on it. This quickly plant shoot hardens. Eating Dead, lacy leaves on Larval leaves which larvae have fed. skin Mexican splits bean 5Resting beetles feed A pupa is often called a Head on leaves “resting stage.” But there will be emerges first both as larvae no rest for all the cells in the body. and as adults. All the muscles, nerves, and other 6Ready to feed Because they eat structures are dissolved, and new The thin, spiny pupal skin only the fleshy parts limbs, with new muscles and splits along the underside, and the smooth young in between the nerves, are formed. In this picture, the smooth adult slowly draws itself free, head first. It takes veins, the leaf ends yellow of the adult beetle’s wing cases and the the young beetle about one hour from the up netted and lacy. first segment of the thorax can be seen through splitting of the pupal skin to free itself fully. the thin, spiny skin of the pupa. 24

Eggs Young larva Stag beetle development Mature The larvae of stag beetles and larva other scarab beetles always adopt a C-shaped posture. The Male pupa A man transformed male pupa with its large jaws is This painting by Barbara easy to tell apart from the Scorpion flies Lofthouse depicts a scene female pupa. Like ant lions (p. 41), scorpion flies from Kafka’s Metamorphosis, also have a complete metamorphosis. in€which a man is Female pupa This drawing shows a larva, and a pupa transformed into an insect. with well-developed wing buds. Red spots are associated with simple eyes 2Larva emerges 3A first meal PROTECTION FROM PARASITES As the soft-spined larva crawls out In many insect The spines on the surface of the larvae are branched, of its egg, three red pigment spots species, as soon as a young larva is free with hard, pointed tips. Spines like this are found on can be seen on either side of the from its egg, it turns around and eats the larvae of all plant-feeding ladybirds, but not on head. Larvae do not have compound the shell, which is thought to contain any of the more common predatory species. The eyes, like adults, and these spots are valuable nutrients. The soft spines on spines make the larvae unpleasant to birds and may associated with simple eyes. the surface of the larva quickly harden. prevent parasites from laying eggs. Old larval skin remains attached to leaf 7No spots 8One more pest Immediately After about 24 hours the after emerging, the young adult spots will appear on beetle is yellow and has no the wing cases, but the copper spots, although the wing cases color takes seven to ten days to quickly harden. Before the beetle can fly, there then Young adult develop fully. About 100 years ago this follows a crucial stage lasting two to three hours, where the young beetle holds its wing cases up and expands the species spread slowly northward from wings below to allow them to dry. Mexico on plots of phaseolus beans. Then in 1918 it was accidentally imported to the eastern United States and spread rapidly toward Canada. Today it is a serious pest of bean crops in North and Central America, but it€cannot live in central areas because of the harsher winters. 25

Male Incomplete metamorphosis Sperm The most advanced insects undergo complete metamorphosis deposited (pp. 24–25), in which the body form is relatively quickly here transformed from larva to adult during a pupal stage. But a gradual transformation through LOVE HEARTS a series of stages, in which the nymphs Male damselflies look progressively more like adults, must transfer their sperm to a Female have been the life cycle of the original structure on the lower surface of the abdomen, near primitive insects. This “incomplete” metamorphosis is found in their back legs. They clasp the grasshoppers, cockroaches, termites, mayflies, dragonflies, and female’s neck using the tip of true bugs. Very young nymphs show no signs of wings, but older their abdomen, and the female then nymphs have shorter or longer “buds” on the thorax, inside which raises her own abdomen to collect the the adult wings are developing. At each molt (pp. 6–7) these wing sperm. They may fly together in this buds get longer, until finally a nymph molts and an adult tandem position for some time, often forming a heart shape with the male’s head down at the tip and the female’s head at the top of the heart. emerges.€The nymphs of some insects, like the damselfly shown over the next four pages, live underwater, surfacing only Eye when it is time for the winged adult to emerge. Water flea Young nymph This young nymph Nymph feeding The time from egg to has lost one of its The mask (p. 49), adult may take a few gills – it should which is shot out to months or as long as have three capture prey, can be three years depending on Mask seen here holding a water the species. The nymphs flea on which the damselfly usually molt (p. 6) about nymph is 12 times, and the youngest feeding. stages show no signs of wing Gills buds. The young nymphs are often transparent to help them hide from predators. Wing buds Mature nymph Earwigs Mature nymph Female earwigs are known to show a primitive type of When fully grown, a nymph is often colored in a way that enables social behavior. They sometimes dig a small hole in which it to hide both from its prey and from predatory fish. The wing to lay their eggs and then remain with the eggs and protect buds can be seen extending from the thorax over the first three them. If the eggs are deliberately scattered, the female segments of the abdomen. earwig will gather them up again. Even when the young nymphs emerge, the female remains with them until they Breathing under water Dragonfly and damselfly are ready to go off and fend for themselves. nymphs absorb oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide in the same way that fish do – by means of gills. But, unlike a fish, the gills of a damselfly nymph are not on the head, but in the form of three fan- shaped structures on the tail. Just how necessary these are for breathing is not quite certain because they are often bitten off by predators, although they do grow back again. Perhaps the gills have an important decoy function in diverting the attack of a predator away from the head of a nymph. 26

The mature nymph crawls up a stem out of The adult emerges the water, where the adult will emerge Although the damselfly nymph lives under water, and the adult is able to fly, the structure of the adult can clearly be seen in the mature nymph. The flight muscles and deep thorax are there, but the body and wings must become longer, and the nymphal mask must be shed from the head. These changes have all been prepared within the nymph underwater. Once it has crawled up into the air, it must change to an adult and fly quickly, usually in about two hours, or it will be eaten by some other animal. Legs hold on Adult head starts Mask is Adult’s tightly to the to separate from left front legs stem the nymphal skin behind Tail gills Adult have all Skin splits head been bitten along back of off by a As blood is pumped thorax Wings are predator into the thorax, it Nymphal gradually begins to swell legs remain pulled out of Wing buds attached to wing-bud cases Abdomen the plant 3Breaking free 1Out of water 2The skin The adult head Above the water splits and thorax have surface, the nymph The€increased now broken free digs its claws into the pressure of the from the nymphal plant stem. Its grip blood in the thorax skin. The front legs must be strong makes it expand of the adult have enough to support the very quickly, and also been emerged adult, which suddenly the skin withdrawn from the will cling to the empty splits along the skin of the nymphal case for several hours back. The adult front legs. These until it is ready to fly. head is clear as it remain firmly This nymph has lost starts to separate attached to the all three gills to a from the plant. The crumpled predator. The wing nymphal€skin. wings begin to be buds are no longer gently pulled from pressed tightly against the wing-bud case. the abdomen, and blood is pumped into the thorax to make it swell. 27 Continued on next page

DRAGONFLIES Dragonfly Adult The life cycle of dragonflies is nymphs dragonfly similar to that of damselflies but longer; dragonflies are larger and may take two to three years from egg to adult. The nymphs do not have fan-shaped gills on their tails. Instead they have complicated gills inside the tip of the abdomen. Water is pumped in and out over these gills, and nymphs use this pumping action to move around by jet propulsion. Adult dragonflies rest with their wings spread wide horizontally and are usually much more active fliers than the gentle damselflies. Antenna Front legs grasp stem Thorax starts to pull young adult up to take the Soft, bending front legs and away from the longer shape nymphal skin of adult Undeveloped thorax There are four Wings still Wings grow wing buds – undeveloped longer as one bud per Nymphal skin blood is wing 5TAKING A GRIP pumped into Nymphal skin remains The young adult them attached to the stem grips higher up the plant stem and pulls 6FARTHER UP 4ALMOST THERE itself upward and THE STEM Most of the upper part away from the The thorax is now much of the body is now free of nymphal skin. This longer. As blood is the nymphal skin. The enables it to free the pumped into the wings, eyes seem to be hard and tip of the abdomen. they start to expand and functional, but the front The thorax is still get longer. The legs of the emerging adult undeveloped and transformation of the are still soft and bending. has not yet taken on wings from crumpled-up The four wing buds – one its adult form. bags to delicate, netÂ

DAMSELFLIES CLOSE-UP Strong, chewing These delicate-looking insects are found near This close-up photograph shows the head of mouthparts water. They have four similarly shaped, netÂ

Beetles There are at least 300,000 different kinds of beetle, living everywhere from snowy mountaintops to scorching deserts and muddy ponds (pp. 48–49). Beetles eat all kinds of plants and animals, dead or alive, and are eaten in vast numbers by birds, lizards, and small mammals. Although they may be SACRED SCARAB pests, attacking crops and devouring stores of The ancient human food, beetles also play an important Egyptians believed role in nature by eating dead plants and animals that the scarab GOLIATH Goliath rolling her ball of The African Goliath beetle beetle dung symbolized and returning them to the soil as valuable (Goliathus cacicus) is the sun god Ra nutrients. All beetles undergo complete the heaviest beetle in rolling the sun and the world and one of the renewing life. metamorphosis (pp. 24–25). Their eggs hatch into largest flying insects. The adults may be as long as 6 in (15 cm) and weigh up to grubs, some of which feed and grow for several years before 3.4 oz (100 g). The grubs live in rotting vegetation. After pupating and becoming adults. Adult beetles are the most heavily the adults emerge, they armored of all insects. They have hardened front wings that meet fly up into the trees to feed on fruit in the middle to cover and protect the and to mate. more delicate hind wings, which they Malayan frog use for flying (pp. 12–13). Beetles beetle (male) come in all sizes, from tiny Doryphorella fungus beetles smaller than a langsdorfi pinhead, to the giant Goliath, up to 6 in (15 cm) long. LEAF LIFE Hairs deter STAG BEETLE Leaf beetles, like the two predators The powerful-looking jaws shown above, are often brightly of this shiny black male stag Froglike colored. The Malayan frog beetle Jewel-like colors Stag beetle hind legs (Sagra buqueti) uses its large hind help conceal beetle (Mesotopus tarandus) legs to clasp the female during from Africa are probably used mating. The South American weevils on shiny species (Doryphorella langsdorfi) green leaves for fighting (pp. 22–23). lives and feeds on leaves. Lamprocyphus augustus Ground beetle Long Brachycerus fascicularis running legs Pachyrrhynchus species Rostrum Eupholus Eupholus Tiger beccarii linnei beetle KILLER BEETLES Darwin’s Darwin’s beetle Weevils Ground beetles and the closely related beetle It is said that this male stag Weevils are beetles that tiger beetles usually hunt and kill beetle (Chiasognathus have a snout, or rostrum, with smaller insects for food. This large granti) bit the English small biting jaws at the tip. Most weevils African species (Anthia thoracica) does naturalist Charles Darwin are plant feeders. Some are brilliantly not fly but scurries along the ground when he visited Brazil on colored and patterned, and others are after its prey. The green tiger beetle the voyage of HMS Beagle. hairy, possibly to deter predators. The (Megacephala australis) from Australia The beetle probably uses its middle three, from the Philippines, runs and flies in sunny places. long spiny jaws to threaten possibly mimic spiders (p. 46). or fight other males. 30

Bottle brushes may Cosmisomo scopipes LONG-HORNED LONGHORNS Plusiotis attract females Adult longhorn beetles are recognized by their long antennae. resplendens Jewel The grubs of all species feed on dead wood. This giant longhorn beetle Phosphorus from Fiji is probably extinct, because of a shortage of dead trees jansoni to feed the huge grubs. The yellow species is a pest of cola trees in Africa; females strip a ring of bark off the base of a twig so it dies and can be eaten by the grubs. No one really knows the purpose of the “bottle brushes” on the legs and antennae of the little Brazilian longhorn – perhaps they are waved to attract a mate. Heterorrhina Hoplia macleayi coerulea Lamprosoma Eumolpus species species HAIRY JEWELS! Onymacris Most jewel beetles are bright candidipennis and shiny, like jewels – but not all. This strange, hairy All longhorns have Giant longhorn OF EVERY HUE long, jointed beetle Not all beetles are black – many species (Julodis klugi) from antennae (Xixuthrus€heros) Africa probably gathers are as colorful as birds and pollen on its back, so flowers. White, blue, and gold predators cannot see it when are unusual, but metallic greens it is sitting on a flower. and reds are common. DUNG ROLLERS Head Brentid Helped by her mate, beetle this green scarab beetle Eye SEED MIMIC Eye This ground-living is rolling her ball of Neck tenebrionid beetle (Helaeus buffalo dung to a subserratus) from Western Australia burrow she has hides from predators by looking like a seed. dug nearby. Here she will knead Violin it before laying an egg beetle in the center. Giraffe beetle Wingless female lycid beetle VIOLIN European Lycid Beetle STICKING HIS BEETLE glowworm This female beetle, NECK OUT This beetle (Demosis species) is (Mormolyce LIGHT WORK Only the male Madagascan giraffe phyllodes) is flat Glowworms are not worms, but beetles. called a “trilobite beetle (Tachelophorus giraffa) has a because it lives The wingless females of some species can larva”, because it long neck. In contrast, the front of between the layers of bracket looks like the now the head of both the male and the fungi on Indonesian trees. flash their tails to attract a mate. extinct sea-dwelling female of this large Malaysian trilobites. brentid (Eutrachelus temmincki) looks as though it has been stretched. 31

Flies WINGLESS This tiny bat fly A fly is an insect with two wings. Many (Penicillidia fulvida) has other insects are called flies, like butterflies no wings at all. It lives and dragonflies, but they have four wings in the fur of bats and and€are not true flies. Instead of hind wings, feeds on blood. The flies have a pair of small drumstick-like female gives birth to a structures called halteres, which are fully grown grub that important€for balancing in flight. Flies falls to the ground and have large compound eyes (pp.€14–15) and pupates (pp. 24–25). claws and pads on the feet so they can walk on any surface. They can perform amazing European NO FLIES ON ME! crane fly This character in the film acrobatics in the air, walking on the ceiling, Return of the Fly is gradually flying backward, and hovering on the spot. True turning into a fly. flies are found all over the world from the icy polar regions to the equatorial rain forest. Some kinds of flies help humans by pollinating crops, but many, like mosquitos, are dangerous pests. They spread diseases, such as malaria and sleeping sickness, and carry germs. All flies undergo complete metamorphosis (pp. 24–25). The grubs, or maggots, live mainly in water or in moist, rotting plant and animal tissue. A few species feed Eye only on living plants or animals. Stalk-eyed AN EYE FOR AN EYE LONG-LEGGED CRANE FLIES Halteres used fly The stalked eyes of this male fly There are around 10,000 known for balancing (Achias rothschildi) from New species of crane fly in the world, and Soldier Guinea are used to threaten this species of Holorusia, from China, The world’s fly other males with shorter eye is one of the largest. The smaller biggest crane fly stalks. The fly with the longest species (Ctenophora ornata) is from eye stalks wins. Europe. Crane fly maggots have such a tough covering that they are often Celyphus BEETLE MIMIC called “leatherjackets.” They usually hyacinthus This small fly (Celyphus live in wet ground or muddy streams hyacinthus) from Malaysia and feed on plant roots. Some species GREEN SKIN looks remarkably like a The green color of this are pests on grass roots. South American soldier beetle. fly (Hedriodiscus pulcher) is caused by an unusual green pigment in the cuticle (p. 6) rather than by iridescence (a trick of the light). FATTEST FLY DUNG FEEDERS The grubs of this South Dung flies, like this European species American fly (Pantophthalmus (Scathophaga stercoraria), are commonly bellardii) bore into living wood. Little is known about the habits Dung fly seen on wet cow dung. Houseflies (Musca domestica) also breed on of these large adults, and it Housefly animal dung, as well as on may be that they do not decaying meat and vegetables. If even feed. food is left uncovered, houseflies will soon begin feeding, and in this way they spread many diseases. NO EYE STALKS FLESH EATERS Human This African fly (Clitodoca The female of this human warble fly fenestralis) is related to the warble fly (Dermatobia hominis) Bluebottle stalk-eyed fly from New lays her eggs on a mosquito. When Guinea shown above, but the mosquito feeds on a human, the nothing is known about eggs hatch and the fly larva begins to bore its life-style. The patterned under the human’s skin, where it lives and wings and red head may feeds for about six weeks. Like the housefly, be important in courtship. bluebottles (Cynomya mortuorum) are common pests, breeding in rotting meat and dead bodies, and spreading disease. 32

Long tongue FLAT FLOWER-FEEDER for feeding This fly (Trichophthalma philippii) on nectar from Argentina sips nectar. The maggots feed€in live scarab beetle grubs. OUT OF THE STRONG CAME SPIDER EATER Short, biting FLY-FISHING FORTH SWEETNESS The maggots of this fly mouthparts People who fish disguise their hooks According to the Old Testament, Samson (Lasia corvina) feed with fantastic “flies” like this, made from saw a swarm of bees in the dead and in live tarantula rotting body of a lion. In fact, the insects spiders. feathers and twine. Floating on the he saw were almost certainly not bees, but surface, the mock fly fools fish into yellow and black drone flies. These flies look like bees, but their larvae live and thinking it is a drowning insect. pupate in putrid water. This probably fooled ancient writers into believing that bees lived in the bodies of dead animals. A VARIED DIET Long, beelike TACHINID FLIES This horsefly (Philoliche tongue for sipping There are many thousands of species of tachinid fly in longirostris) from Nepal nectar has short, biting mouthparts the world. The maggots are always parasitic; that is, to feed on blood, and a long they feed on other insects while they are still alive. For tongue to sip nectar. this reason they are often important in controlling MEAT-EATING MAGGOTS pests. The yellowish species (Paradejeeria rutiloides) is This African bee fly (Ligyra from America, where it attacks moth caterpillars. The venus) feeds on nectar, but its maggots eat developing brilliant green species (Formosia moneta) from New grubs in wasps’ nests. Guinea feeds on scarab beetle larvae. A SLIM PROFILE BEE-EATING BEE FLIES Syrphus Volucella Like the true bees, this slenderÂ

Butterflies and moths Jemadia BeeÂ

Underside BUTTERFLY WINGS Upper Scent Butterflies rest with their wings side scales folded together above their back. COME IN, NUMBER 89! These two South American 89 butterflies (Diaethria marchalii) are€identical – the left one shows the underside of the right one. A bird chasing the bright, blue spots on the wings will lose sight of them as soon as the butterfly settles and folds its wings. Very few PERFUME FOR THE LADY scales make This colorful South American wings clear butterfly (Agrias claudina sardanapalus) feeds on rotting fruit. The males have bright yellow scent scales on the inside of the hind wings, which help to attract the€females. UNDER THREAT A SEE-THROUGH CHARACTER Pupae The destruction of forests in Some butterflies and moths, like this South American species When a Indonesia means this glass (Cithaerias esmeralda), have see-through wings, making them caterpillar has swallowtail (Papilio karna carnatus) eaten enough, it difficult targets for turns into a may soon die out (p. 63). predators. pupa. As soon as this splits Caterpillars open, the adult The eggs of butterflies emerges. and moths hatch into caterpillars. Tail deflects Male Abdomen predators’ bird-wing attention butterfly from head Swallowtail butterflies The swallowtails, some of the most beautiful butterflies in the world, get their name from their peculiarly extended hind wings, which often look like the forked tail of a swallow. Because of its unusually clubbed hind wings, this common clubtail butterfly (Pachliopta coon coon) flies rather haphazardly and is often difficult to catch. Metallic Bird-wing Female fleck butterflies bird-wing The name of this species, butterfly Metalmarks Better red than dead Ornithoptera croesus, refers to the These butterflies often The deep red of this red glider butterfly golden colors of the male. The have metallic flecks on (Cymothoe coccinata) is probably difficult female is one of the largest butterflies in the world and spends most of her their wings. The six to see in the colorful West African life high in the trees. The future of tails of this species tropical forest where it lives. The many bird-wing species is threatened (Helicopis cupido) help underside is brown like a dead leaf. because the forest in which they live is confuse predators. gradually being cut down (p. 63). 35

Bugs Curved rostrum The word “bug” is used loosely to describe any Hissing assassin crawling insect. But bugs are a special group of insects Assassin bugs, like this with a long, jointed feeding tube specially adapted to species (Rhinocoris alluaudi), can produce hissing sounds by rasping their curved piercing and sucking. Bugs include water boatmen and feeding tube, or rostrum, water striders (pp. 48–49), which suck the juices from against a filelike structure other insects in ponds; plant-sucking aphids, scale insects, under the body. exotic seed bugs, and lantern flies; and bloodsucking bedbugs and assassin bugs, some of which spread dangerous diseases in humans. The front wings of many bugs are hard and Who needs men! horny at the base with thin, overlapping tips that cover and Many aphids, like the protect the delicate, membranous hind wings. Many plant-sucking bugs one shown above, bear have entirely membranous front wings. All bugs undergo incomplete live young and can metamorphosis (pp. 26–29), and the little bugs look very similar to their reproduce by parents, except that they are smaller and have no wings. “parthenogenesis” – without males. Bedbugs Eye (enlarged) It’s frothy, man Locris The froth “cuckoo spit” is Strong, grasping adult produced by young plant- front legs seize small Spitting with feeding froghoppers to protect RAIN above left them from drying out and water creatures This€adult African possibly from being eaten. Bedbug froghopper (Locris (natural size) species) produces Leafhoppers so much froth in This leafhopper NIGHTTIME PESTS Ceratocoris horni the big trees where (Graphocephala The bedbug (Cimex lectularis) belongs it lives that the fennahi) feeds on Spines may froth falls to the rhododendron leaves. to a small family of bloodsucking deter birds ground like rain. Other leafhopper species, bugs, most of which live in the usually green in color, roosts and nests of bats and Ground pearls damage the leaves of birds. They all feed on blood, Many bugs are many plants including and can survive without wingless and barely roses and cotton food for several months. look like insects. plants. They reproduce fastest These “ground pearls” Ground pearls in warm conditions, are the hard skins of a (Margarodes such as houses with group of bugs that formicarum) warm bedrooms. feed on plant roots. Spiny legs may be used for fighting Scale insects Thasus Hemikyptha (Coccus€hesperidum) acutangulus marginata Sap suckers Mealybugs Unusual plant feeders Mealybugs, scale (Planococcus The reason for the strange shapes insects, and ground citri) and variety of sizes of many plant- pearls are all bugs in which the wingless feeding bugs often remains a adult females have complete mystery. Some have become little more unusual legs, like the spiny-legged than sap-sucking bags. bug on the left (Thasus acutangulus), and others have strange shapes (Hemikyptha marginata) or horns (Ceratocoris€horni). Serenading cicadas Cicadas, like this Indian species (Angamiana aetherea), have been famous throughout history for the songs the males use to attract females. The nymphs (pp. 26–27) live underground, sucking sap from plant roots. In North America one species takes 17 years to become adult. Whole populations of adults emerge at the same time, crawl up trees, and sing for a few weeks. 36

Assassin bug Assassin bug Alligator eyes (Centraspis species) (Gardena melanarthrum) True eye Alligator Deadly assassins Lantern bug Flying alligator Assassin bugs are predators. This in flight The front of the head of this lantern bug species (Gardena melanarthrum) (Fulgora servillei) is expanded and looks like is€believed to use its long, slender Eyespots probably an alligator head, complete with teeth, legs to pick food off spiders’ webs. deter predators The stoutly built species nostrils, and eyes. The true eyes and Centraspis probably attacks more antennae are low down at the back of the mobile prey such as millipedes. head. The bug lives in trees and is hard to One group of assassin bugs, the triatoma, includes species that see when sitting on branches. Despite carry Chagas’ disease in rumors, the “lantern’’ at the front of the head South America. does not light up at night. Assassin bug A plant-feeding bug Flags on hind legs are (Platymeris (Corizus hyosciami) probably waved gently, so a biguttata) feeding predator will attack these, from Britain rather than the body on a cockroach Broad legs help bug swim Wings overlap FLYING THE FLAG Shield hides This sap-feeding coreid bug wings (Bitta flavolineata) gently waves the flags on its legs, probably to Runibia decorata Calliphara excellens distract predators from attacking the body. Adult shield bug (Pycanum rubens) Tasty water bugs Tubular feeding Giant waterbugs (Lethocerus grandis), or In life a bug’s feeding tube Young shield toe biters, are common throughout the usually points backward under bugs look like tropics. They live underwater and catch the body, but in this pinned tiny adults Chrysocoris sellatus snails and even small frogs and fish for specimen (Lohita grandis) it is food. They are specially imported into pointing forward, making it Shielding her young California to give a particular flavor to easier to see. This bug feeds on Shield bugs vary in color, shape, and some Chinese food. seeds of cotton and hibiscus. size. In some species the female shields her eggs and young by sitting over or Flash colors Change of diet with them. Many species are brightly Many fulgorid bugs have brightly colored hind wings and Fragile derbid bugs like colored such as the two on the right of curious heads, like this Central American species (Phrictus this mothlike species this group of four, in which the wings quinquepartitus) and the lantern bug shown above. The (Derbe longitudinalis) have are hidden beneath a huge shield that color is probably flashed to startle predators (p. 47). a curious lifestyle; the young bugs feed on covers the hind part of the body. fungus but the adults The patterns and shapes of can be plant pests. shield bugs resemble tribal shields, like this one used by 37 the Masai in Africa

Wasps, bees, and ants Wasp waist In the late 19th Wasps, bees, ants, and their relatives comprise one of the largest groups of insects in the world. Today there are about 200,000 known species, but century tiny “wasp waists” were the height of female fashion. many more are constantly being discovered. Apart from the sawflies, all wasps, bees, and ants are easy to recognize by the narrow “waist.” At the end of the abdomen of many female wasps and bees, the egg-laying apparatus, or Male ovipositor, is modified as a painful sting for use in self- defense (pp. 46–47). Several species of wasps, Tree wasps bees, and ants are “social” insects, meaning that In summer tree many of them live together looking after their wasp workers brood communally in a nest they build (Dolichovespula themselves (pp. 52–55). Since the earliest sylvestris) help farmers by killing caterpillars to feed their grubs. In autumn, when there are no more grubs Queen times, humans have kept bees for honey to feed, they become (pp.€58–59) and been fascinated by the complex household pests searching societies of ants (pp. 56–57), but comparatively little is for sugary known of wasps, despite their importance to foods. us. Many wasps spend their lives killing the Worker grubs and caterpillars of insects that damage and destroy crops. Together with bees they are also important pollinators, ensuring that our fruit and vegetable crops flourish. Sting injects poison into victim causing a painful wound Hornets The hornet (Vespa crabro) is the largest Sting Hornet wasp in Europe, with a Spider killers This is a highly magnified The tarantula hawk (Pepsis heros) is photograph of a sting – a very painful sting. Like the world’s largest wasp. The female modification of the egg-laying the tree wasps the wasp captures a large spider and apparatus of many bees and queen overwinters and paralyzes it with her sting. She then lays wasps. begins her nest in spring. Her first eggs hatch into an egg on its motionless body, while it is female workers, which take over the tasks of still alive, and pushes it into a small expanding the nest and providing food for the grubs burrow. When the egg hatches, the developing and for the queen herself, who goes into full-time grub has a ready supply of fresh spider meat on egg production. Males are produced later along with which to feed. the next season’s queens. Parasitic Parasitic bee bee Most bees are not social and do not build large nests like the honeybee (pp. 58–59). This large Bumblebees blue species (Aglae caerulea) is Like the honeybees, parasitic and lays its eggs in the cells bumblebees are social made by orchid bees (below); the insects and live in groups. developing grub then eats the orchid They are found all in bee grub as well as its food store. temperate areas all over the€north. This mountain Orchid bees Perfume makers bumblebee (Bombus Orchid bees from South monticola) nests in a Euglossa Euglossa America are so-called Biggest bee burrow€in the ground, often assarophora intersecta This Asian carpenter bee (Xylocopa laticeps) close to bilberry bushes. because the males visit orchid is the largest bee in the world. It makes flowers, where they nests in the tunnels it digs in rotting wood. collect a substance that The males often defend their territories by they then convert into a scent to attract females. buzzing around intruders. 38

Male Long abdomen left Female has long This female American wasp abdomen for laying eggs (Pelecinus polyturator) has a long, thin abdomen to reach Consumed from within into rotting wood and lay A new generation of her eggs on beetle grubs. parasitic wasps will soon The male looks quite emerge from different. Amblyteles Chrysalis the cocoons wasp on this hawk Fussy feeders moth caterpillar. Many wasp species are quite specific Boring into trees Cocoons of about where they lay Female ichneumon wasps lay Apanteles their eggs and where their eggs on other insects wasp their grubs will feed. which the developing larvae consume. This female This European European rhyssa wasp ichneumon wasp (Rhyssa persuasoria) uses her Parasitic wasps (Amblyteles armatorius) extraordinarily long egg- Many braconid wasps can laying apparatus, or develop inside a single will only develop ovipositor, to drill through caterpillar. The African inside the chrysalis of Long wood to reach a live, wood- species (Apanteles gratiosus) one particular species ovipositor boring sawfly grub, on which lays its eggs on hairy of moth. she lays her egg. Particularly caterpillars. After the tiny remarkable is this wasp’s grubs have eaten the inside ability to locate the grub of the caterpillar, they form within the wood. cocoons on the surface. The larvae of this African wasp (Chalinus imperialis) feed on beetle grubs in wood This giant wood wasp (Urocerus gigas), from Scandinavia, is a pest The grub of this species of€pine trees (Cimbex femoratus), Butterfly hunter Sawflies from Europe, feeds on This handsome wasp The sawflies differ from other wasps in not birch leaves (Editha magnifica) from South America attacks having a typical “wasp waist.” They owe butterflies as they sit in their name to the sawlike blades of the egg- groups on the ground. The laying apparatus, or ovipositor, which the females use to insert eggs into plant wasp stings the butterflies tissues. The grubs, which often look like moth caterpillars, feed on plants, sometimes one at a time, bites off their forming galls or boring into stems. Unlike most other insect groups, sawflies are wings, and stores the bodies much less common in the tropics than in temperate parts of the world. in a burrow in which it lays its eggs. The developing Ants Driver ant winged grubs feed on the butterflies’ male, or “sausage fly” bodies until they are large Ants live in colonies in which there may be as many as enough to pupate. 100,000 individuals (pp. 56–57). They have remarkably strong jaws and can give a painful nip. When some species bite, they are able to squirt formic acid from the end of their abdomen into the wound – making it doubly painful. Dinoponera Driver ant Driver ant Flying sausages grandis workers queen The winged male Hunting wasps Largest ant Driver ants African driver ants are This brilliant wasp (Chlorion lobatum) from India Dinoponera ants from These African often called “sausage and Borneo catches and stings crickets in their South America have flies” because of their burrows or on the soil surface. The wasp egg driver ants hatches, and the grub feeds on the cricket’s body. the largest known (Dorylus long, fat sausage-like bodies. workers. These live in Ants communicate nigricans) form by touch and smell small colonies but, large colonies unlike many ants, they but they do not are solitary hunters. have permanent nests. They set up temporary camps, or bivouacs, while the queen lays eggs; then they move on, carrying with them the developing grubs. Periodically the ants fan out and eat everything in their path. 39

Other insects Stephens island weta Except for on a few small islands, these large crickets, once common in New Zealand, are now almost extinct. There are five main groups of insects which we can all recognize: beetles, bugs, flies, wasps (including ants and bees), Jiminy cricket and butterflies and moths. These five Walt Disney’s Jiminy Cricket must be the only four-legged include about three quarters of all insect cricket in the world! species. However, there are at least another 15 similar but smaller groups. Several of these are shown here: cockroaches, earwigs, ant lions, dragonflies, mantises, grasshoppers, and stick insects. In addition to these groups of large insects there are also several groups of much smaller species. The most common are book lice, which live in packages of dried food; thrips, which can damage flowers; Stephens Island weta (Deinacrida rugosa) chewing lice, which live on birds; and fleas and sucking lice, which irritate people as well as animals. Eurycantha calcarata Antenna Grasping front legs Strong hind legs enable from Papua New make the insect look fleas to jump great Guinea distances Fleas as though it is Slender, praying jointed leg Living sticks Praying mantis Fleas Stick insects may (Sibylla pretiosa) Adult fleas are bloodsuckers, each kind of flea be green or brown preferring the blood of one kind of animal or and are usually from Africa bird. An animal flea will attack a human only long and thin with if it is very hungry. The tiny white flea larvae slender legs and Praying do not feed on blood, but live on decaying antennae. During the for food material in nests and carpets. The adults can day they avoid attack by Praying mantises often survive without food for a long time, predators by hanging almost are often slender, like stick but as soon as a possible meal passes by, they motionless in shrubs and insects. Many species are quickly jump aboard. trees where they look like camouflaged in bright just another twig (p. 45). At greens or dull browns Colors help conceal night they move around (p. 45). They feed on cricket on lichenÂ

In life, most damselflies hold their wings together over their body when they are resting, unlike dragonflies which rest with their wings open Biggest damselfly Dragonflies This Indonesian species (Nannophya pygmaea) is the smallest dragonfly known. Damselflies Most damselflies are small, delicate insects, often with brightly colored bodies. This Costa Rican species (Megaloprepus coerulatus) is the largest damselfly in the world. Its nymphs (pp. 26–27) live in the water that collects in rotting tree holes. Dragonfly and damselfly nymphs always live in water, where they feed on other insects. Streamer-like hind Thread lacewings wings trail behind and This lacewing (Nemoptera draw predator’s sinuata) is related to the ant attention away from lion. The young live in the the vulnerable parts of dust of cave mouths and rocky the body overhangs in the Palpares Mediterranean. Jaws libelluloides Ant lion An ant lion in its pit Head louse Fringed larvae larva This monster is a human head The adults of this brightly louse, magnified many times. Lice colored western Mediterranean Ant lions feed on dead skin and grip the species (Libelloides coccajus) are Ant lions are the hair with specially strong fliers. The flat, fringed larvae of a delicate adapted claws. larvae are similar to ant lions but four-winged insect, similar to a do not make pits. damselfly. They dig funnel-shaped pits in loose sand and lie in wait at the bottom with Human head louse only their large jaws sticking out. When an ant tumbles into the pit the ant lion seizes it Many kinds of cockroach, like Earwigs in your ear Biggest and sucks it to death. The adults of this this shiny green species This earwig (Titanolabis earwig Mediterranean species (Palpares colossea) from Australia libelluloides) are unusual (Polyzosteria viridissima), from is the largest in the because they fly during the day. Australia, do not develop wings world. People once Megaloblatta longipennis wrongly believed that earwigs entered people’s is the largest flying ears and killed them. cockroach Earwigs eat living and dead plants and animals and have Cockroaches short, dark front wings, under These ancient insects live just which the longer, see-through about everywhere and eat hind wings are folded. almost anything. Some species can become pests in the home where their flattened bodies enable them to hide in narrow crevices, making them difficult to get rid of. 41

Living with plants Female gall Male galls In the coal forests that covered the Earth over 300 Nail galls million years ago, there were very few kinds of insects. In Australia, Dragonflies flew around the swampy areas (pp. 48–49), eucalyptus trees but butterflies, bugs, and beetles had scarcely evolved. Nor often produce galls had the flowering plants and trees that are now so common when they are fed throughout the world. The evolution of flowers and the on by a group of increased variety of plants produced new opportunities that unusual mealybugs encouraged the evolution of many new species of insect. (p. 36). This gall is Some of these insects evolved as pollinators, others short and round specialized in feeding on the rich food in buds and seeds; with four very long yet others fed on the many different types of leaves and horns on top. When fruit that gradually became available. The increase in the mature, the wingless female numbers of plant and insect species seems to have gone inside is fertilized by a winged hand in hand. Equally important was the evolution of all male through a tiny hole between the insects that live on dead plants and so restore nutrients the horns. Males develop in nail-like to the soil – not to mention the wide range of predatory galls that often grow on a female gall. insects that feed on the plant eaters. Beetle Flowers Tunnel Leaf miners Young Many flowers caused by The pale, twisting trails on adult rely on insects fly grub this leaf are caused by the beetle for pollination. tiny grubs of a species of small fly (Phytomyza Beetle gall Beetle gall Black lines are the cut open These beetles droppings that the grub vitalbiae). Each grub produces as it eats its way feeds on the living tissue (Sagra femorata) along between the upper between the upper and developed inside and lower surface of the leaf lower surface of the leaf. As the swollen stem of a climbing plant. it eats, it tunnels out its own shallow mine, leaving a trail of The swelling started when an adult droppings behind it. These female beetle laid her eggs in the stem. 1A CLEAN BUMBLEBEE insects cause noticeable As the beetle grubs grew, so did the Bees are essential to plants for carrying damage to green leaves pollen from one flower to another, so ensuring that seeds are produced. For this reason, many and can eventually kill flowers are brightly colored and scented in a healthy plant. order to attract bees and other pollinating insects. The bumblebee, attracted by the sweet swelling, until the grubs were ready to scent of the dog rose, lands to feed on pollen metamorphose (pp. 23-24) into adults. and sugary nectar. Healthy green leaf 2DUSTED WITH GOLDEN POLLEN attacked by As the bee sucks the nectar from leaf miners the center of the dog rose using its long tongue, its hairy coat picks up grains of pollen from the stamens. Pollen grains on Yellow specks are stamens of flower pollen grains 42

YEW TREE GALLS Normal The tiny flies known as gall midges yew shoot feed on many types of plant. On yew trees they cause the buds to stop Marbles Cherries on oak trees Young growing and produce a ball of many on oak trees When a small gall wasp (Cynips gall is small leaves. Each gall contains a single Oak marble galls are quercusfolii) lays an egg in the vein white fly grub (Taxomyia taxi), and the small often common on oak trees in of€an oak leaf, a cherry gall is formed. Europe. They are produced by Oak Each gall grows around the developing leaves turn brown as the parthenogenetic females of a marble gall grub, supplying it with food and the fly matures. small gall wasp (Andricus kollari). protection. The complete life-cycle, Yew involving males and females, is gall Yew still not fully understood. gall Rose galls Rose galls, or bedeguars (meaning “wind rose”), are caused Pistachio galls when a tiny gall wasp (Diplolepis These tubular galls are produced by pistachio rosae) lays her eggs on rosebuds in trees around colonies of a spring. Each gall contains many particular aphid (Baizongia wasp grubs in separate chambers. pistaciae) in the Mediterranean region. Like many other aphids, this species has two separate life- cycles, each on different plants. Pistachio Wind roses gall Hundreds of years ago in Persia, where modern roses came from, people believed that these pinkish, mosslike Leaf galls came on the Gall Grub inside wind and called gall them “wind roses.” Currant gall cut in half Cherry Cherry gall galls on Only female gall wasps (Cynips oak leaf quercusfolii) are produced in cherry galls. In winter these Young females lay eggs on oak tree grub buds, and in spring the grubs from these eggs give rise to Mature males and females. These Silk grub mate, and the females lay strands eggs on oak tree leaves to 3FILL YOUR BASKETS produce cherry galls again. Oak currants As the bumblebee collects more and more Female gall wasps pollen grains, it combs them from its body, packs Safe and sound (Neuroterus quercusbaccarum) them into the hairy pollen baskets on its hind Some caterpillars roll lay eggs on oak tree catkins legs, and then flies off to its nest. In domesticated in spring, to produce a currant honeybees (pp. 58–59), this pollen and nectar is up a leaf, fix it with gall around each single wasp grub. These quickly stored in the hive as honey. silk, then pupate safely develop to produce adult males and females. In summer, after mating, the females lay eggs on oak leaves. The oak hidden inside. tree produces a small, flat, reddish cushion called a spangle gall around each developing egg. The spangle gall falls to the ground, and in spring females emerge from this to lay eggs that develop parthenogenetically (p. 36). Oak apple Oak apples Oak apple galls are produced when a wingless female gall wasp (Biorhiza pallida) lays her eggs on an oak leaf bud. The group of small gall wasp grubs that develop by parthenogenesis (p. 36) give rise to winged males and females, in separate galls; these Pollen mate and the females lay eggs on the roots of the packed into trees. Females produced on the roots are wingless tiny baskets and have to climb all the way up the oak trees to lay their on hind legs eggs on the buds and so produce next year’s oak apples. 43

Hide-and-seek Flatid bug on bark Insects are eaten by many other animals. Without them, bats would not be able to live, and half the species of birds in the world would probably starve. Frogs, lizards, and alligators include insects in their diet, as do shrews, foxes, and monkeys. Many insects LEAF ME ALONE! themselves hunt and kill other insects for food, and in Some stick insects protect some parts of the world even people eat insects. themselves against predators by looking like leaves. The wings are leaflike, and the legs have flattened plates along them to With€this range of predators it is not surprising break up their outline. that€many insect species have developed unusual colors, patterns, and shapes as ways of pretending they are something they are not. Some insects have oddly patterned or mottled wings to match the color of the bark on which they live. Other insects, like the leaf and stick insects, are so well disguised as leaves and twigs that Flatid bug they are ignored by would-be predators. Birds and lizards BARK BUGS see€such a protectively colored insect Although there are many hundreds of species not as an insect but as of flatid bug in the tropics, surprisingly little is the leaf it is known about the lifestyle of any of them. This imitating and Central American species (Flatoides dealbatus) apparently sits on the bark of trees, where its light brown coloring makes it difficult to see. Some species are see-through, or translucent, leave it alone. and others have mottled brown and gray patches to conceal them on lichen-covered trees where they rest. PLAYING DEAD Antennae CLICK BEETLE ON BARK Old leaves often remain held flat The whitish patches on the body of this click attached to trees and bushes against bark beetle (Alaus species) help it blend in with the long after they have dried to patch of lichen on the bark of the tree where it a crisp brown. This bush Wings was photographed in Nigeria (West Africa). cricket (Ommatoptera blend in BREAK UP THE BORDERS pictifolia) from Brazil takes with bark An important aspect of camouflage advantage of this by is to disrupt the outline of a standing quite still on a familiar object so that it is more twig.€Even the most brightÂ

Lichen is a kind of plant Mottled gray and Lichen that grows on tree white patches break Bark trunks and on twigs outline of insect LICHEN LONGHORNS Beetle Longhorn beetles often mimic their surroundings or other Beetle Moth’s insects (p. 46). This Madagascan folded species (Lithinus nigrocristatus) is wings are remarkable for its ability to hide the same on lichen-covered twigs. It is color as the almost impossible to see the four lichen on beetles hidden above. the bark Beetle Beetle Merveille du CAMOUFLAGED STICKS jour moth out of Live stick insects can be easy to overlook because camouflage when sitting quite still on leaves and twigs they are almost invisible. Occasionally some stick and MERVEILLE DU JOUR MOTH leaf insects will gently sway from side to side, so Many night-flying moths that spend all a predator sees is just another leaf or twig caught by the breeze. Even the eggs produced their days resting on bark are well by female stick insects are similar in camouflaged against birds and appearance to plant seeds. Winged male of lizards. Like the lichen longhorns, Macleay’s specter this merveille du jour moth (Extatosoma tiaratum) from Australia (Dichonia aprilina) disappears from Spiny green nymph view in its natural habitat of lichenÂ

How to avoid being eaten Avoiding being eaten by other animals is the key to survival for€many insect species. Some insects do this by camouflage, blending in perfectly with their surroundings (pp. 44–45). Others Front wing with white patch have developed different ways of protecting themselves from their many enemies. After a nasty experience, hungry predators soon learn to leave poisonous or unpleasant-tasting Wasp Short front wing (elytron) insects alone, and will keep well out of the way of anything they know can give them a painful Hind wing with sting or bite. Some quite harmless insects white patch BEETLES THAT take advantage of this by looking and MIMIC WASPS The longhorns are a behaving like poisonous or stinging group of beetles creatures so that predators will whose grubs bore into tree trunks. The adults mate and lay their eggs on the mistake them for the real thing and will trunk surface. At such times they are very likely to not even attempt to eat them. In some cases be caught and eaten by predators, such as birds. Possibly because of this, many longhorn beetles mimic this mimicry is so good that it is difficult to see poisonous or stinging insects, or develop remarkable which insect is mimicking which. Other insects camouflage (pp. 44–45). It is almost impossible, at a protect themselves in different ways – with first glance, to tell the difference between this Borneo clearly visible spines; bright, flashing colors to longhorn (Nothopeus fasciatapennis) and the wasp it is shock and surprise; strong, biting jaws; and mimicking (Hemipepsis speculifer). Beetle powerful, kicking legs. Patterned front wing Spider-like legs Patterned hind wing Antlike Three parts of Wasp waist insect’s body joined Long front to look like two parts Beetle wing (elytron) ANT MIMIC of spider’s body Many small insects benefit from looking WASP MIMIC like and Beetle This African running around Ant longhorn SPIDER MIMIC like ants. This harmless African Some insects mimic spiders. This Patterned beetle (Nitocris patricia) ground beetle (Eccoptoptera cupricollis) avoids being curious New Guinea weevil hind wing imitates a wasp in a different way attacked by predators by looking remarkably like a (Arachnopus gazella) runs around velvet ant, which has a powerful, painful sting. on the bark of trees looking just from the one above. The wing like a small spider. Unlike a real cases are long and thin and, when spider (p. 9), it has six rather than closed, they make the beetle look eight legs. like it has a “wasp waist.” The Furry Unusually small wings wasp it mimics (Paracollyria legs make this moth look like species) attacks beetle grubs a hornet in plant stems. The wasp and the longhorn probably fly together and rest on the same tree trunks. BEE-WARE! Black and Eyespot Eyespots look like the One group of moths, yellow€wasp- WARNING EYES large staring eyes of a the aegerids, often like markings bird, like this eagle owl look like wasps, but HORNET MIMIC Various insects, like this fulgorid bug (Fulgora laternaria), when this species Many insects, such as the have curious eyelike patterns on their hind wings. These (Melittia gloriosa) flower-feeding hoverflies are usually concealed when the bug is at rest. But when holds its furry legs (p.€33), look like wasps. But this disturbed, the large “eyes’’ are flashed, giving the insect against its abdomen it aegerid moth (Sesia apiformis) is looks like a large a most remarkable mimic of the an opportunity to escape from its surprised predator. hairy bee. Predators common hornet, or yellow- The bird possibly mistakes them for the eyes of one of leave it alone for fear jacket (p. 38), recognized€by of being stung. predators for its painful sting. its own enemies, such as a cat or a bird. 46

Small postman SNAKE IN THE GRASS butterfly (Heliconius Rather than mimicking insects, erato) from southern some caterpillars have unusually large heads to trick predators into Ecuador thinking they are small but very poisonous snakes. When alarmed, this hawkmoth CHEMICAL GUN caterpillar (Leucorhampha ornatus) from Inflated When a bombardier beetle (Brachinus crepitans) thorax is disturbed, it can mix two harmless chemicals Brazil rears its head and at the tip of its abdomen to produce a sudden inflates its thorax to look explosion that frightens away predators. like a snake’s head. False snake eye Small postman butterfly (Heliconius erato) from Small postman butterfly (Heliconius western Brazil erato) from southern Brazil RINGS OF MIMICS Some groups of butterflies, such as the heliconiids, feed, particularly as larvae, on rather poisonous plants. As a result the adult butterflies often taste unpleasant and are avoided by insect-eating birds. Different species may take advantage of this by mimicking each other’s color patterns. These species may also vary in color from place to place. These six butterflies represent two species from three different parts of South America. Postman butterfly (Heliconius melpomene) from western Brazil Postman butterfly (Heliconius melpomene) from southern Brazil FEEDING, NOT FIGHTING Postman butterfly (Heliconius Spiny hind legs raised to The formidable spines and large jaws melpomene) from southern frighten or injure predator shown in this engraving of a South Ecuador American cricket are for holding and eating prey – but Long, slender they would also deter antenna predators. Egg-laying apparatus, or ovipositor Spiny 2STICK ‘EM UP! hind legs When disturbed, this species (Hemideina thoracica) raises its hind legs into a threatening posture. The 1wARNING WETA spines on the legs can cause a nasty wound when the Because the wildlife in New Zealand developed without any insect kicks. mammals, one group of large crickets called weta (p. 40) filled the role of the ground-living predators, eating a diet similar to that of shrews. These enormous insects are now almost extinct except on small islands, since humans introduced rats into their habitat. 47

Mayfly A watery life adult Insects evolved on land. This is clear from their breathing system (pp. 6–7), which takes in air from the atmosphere. Water insects have therefore had to adapt and must either swim to the surface for air, or develop ways of extracting air from the water, like fish. Some insects, such as dragonflies and many true flies, take advantage of the food supplies in water for their feeding and growing phase – the larva or nymph – and become winged and independent of water in the adult phase. Other insects have adapted wholly to water and spend their entire life cycle there. The adults leave the water only when SKATING Pond skaters (Gerris lacustris) they€need to fly to new areas. skim over the surface, feeding on drowning insects. Prey is held in Oarlike hind legs Silvery film of air four front legs around body Sucking mouthparts Hairs help bug swim SURFACE HUNTERS Eye Pincer-like legs Water boatmen (Notonecta glauca) SAUCER BUG are predatory bugs that swim upside down just beneath the The silvery underside of a surface, attacking and eating other saucer bug is caused insects that have fallen in. Water by a film of air, or boatmen come to the surface to SWIMMING SAUCERS plastron, trapped breathe. They push the tip of their Saucer bugs (Ilyocoris beneath tiny hairs. abdomen above the surface, and cimicoides) have strong Oxygen diffuses store air under their wings, from front legs for grasping directly into the where it can gradually be taken in their prey and can give a plastron through the spiracles (p. 7). painful “bite” if handled. from the water. Strong pincer-like front legs Fringes on legs propel beetle GIANT WATER BUG Air is stored beneath through water This giant water bug, the wings shown smaller than life size, was drawn by Maria Merian (1700) in Surinam. Gills DIVING BEETLES Strong, grasping extract The great diving front legs oxygen beetles (Dytiscus Segmented Sucker-like pads from marginalis) are antenna used in mating water PREDATORY DAMSEL fierce predators of Damselfly nymphs (p. 26) small fish and insects. They store air under breathe by means of three their wings, like water boatmen, and external gills at the tip of occasionally fly from one pond to another. the abdomen. CADDIS FLY LARVAE WATER BEETLE PUPA The larvae of many caddis flies (Limnephilus species) spin a The larva of the great tube of silk onto which they stick small stones, sand, or diving beetle crawls out of pieces of plant to act as camouflage and protection. the pond and burrows into damp soil, where it pupates Pieces of Caddis fly Sticks and stones (pp. 24–25). After emerging, plant larvae the young adult stays in the pupal cell for a few hours while the wing cases harden. 48

ADULT DRAGONFLY DRAGONFLIES EMERGING Dragonflies are well worth When they are big enough, the watching. With their bright colors wingless dragonfly nymphs crawl flashing in the sun, they hover up stems and out of the water above water, ready to dart away (pp.€26–29). They then split their after the insects on which they feed. nymphal skin to emerge as majestic winged adults (p. 41). Siphons take in air A MEASURED PACE WATER SIPHONS The water measurer (Hydrometra stagnorum) is Mosquito larvae (Culex species) a long-legged, slow-moving predatory bug. It have no legs but can swim by walks on the surface of the water and feeds on wriggling sharply. They breathe by€coming up to the surface and dead and dying insects. drawing in air through a special Long siphon at the tip of the abdomen. antenna Vibrating brushes waft food particles into the mouth WATER BEETLE LARVA The larva of the great diving beetle has pointed tubular jaws through which digestive juices are pumped into its prey. The digested body contents are later sucked back into the larva. It breathes by drawing air into the large breathing tubes at the tail. Fringed oarÂ