One of the first key pieces of information I learned from my Entomology professor was: "beware of insects, they always bite." At first I was thinking to myself, "um, whatever", I've only been bitten by mosquitos and that doesn't really hurt, they are only sucking my blood. Well, if you hate looking at ugly bugs, beware! This blog post is all about ugly bugs that are awesome predators! The Robber Fly: They have extremely sharp eyesight and can fly at high speed, catching other insects in mid air. This species is equipped with stabbing mouthparts (proboscis) which inject a powerful neurotoxic venom and digestive juices into the victim, liquefying its innards, which the fly sucks afterwards. The Water Scorpion: These little scorpions are insects and truly harmless to humans, but in the insect world they are the insect equivalent of a crocodile; they are slow moving ambush predators that snatch any small animal that comes close; mostly, they feed on other aquatic insects such as mosquito larvae and diving beetles, but they have been known to dine on small fish and frogs once in a while. Arachnocampa is a kind of gnat from New Zealand (thank goodness!). The adults are completely harmless and don't even eat anything before they die, it's their ugly larval stage that gives one the heebie-jeebies. The larvae are accomplished predators with a most unusual hunting method, which gives the animal its name (Arachnocampa means “spider worm”). They usually live in the ceiling of dark, secluded caves, away from wind currents and sunlight. The larvae spin a nest of silk (produced by themselves) and hang several silk threads from the cave ceiling, around the nest. Each one of these threads is covered with sticky droplets of mucus, sometimes loaded with venom. The Arachnocampa larva can glow like a firefly, which attracts flying insects such as moths to the sticky threads and to a horrible end. Once the unfortunate insect is caught, the larva tones down its glow, pulls the silk thread up and starts feeding voraciously on the entangled prey, whether it is alive or dead. The Tiger Beetle: If we could run as fast as the tiger beetle, proportionally to our size, we could reach speeds of almost 311 mph per hour! This speed is so extreme that a running Tiger Beetle must stop constantly to locate prey, since its eyes are unable to process what it sees at such high speed. Their sharp mandibles can easily sever the limbs and body parts of other insects, sometimes bigger than the Tiger Beetle itself. There are many species of Tiger Beetle and they are among the most abundant insect predators, being extremely useful to humans (so don't kill them!) as they help control pests. The Antlion: Antlion larvae are deadly insect predators, and just like Arachnocampa, they have developed a most amazing trick to capture prey. They live in sandy places, where they dig a funnel-shaped pit, cleverly designed so that no insect can climb its steep walls. The antlion then buries itself in the bottom of the pit. Whenever an unfortunate insect (usually an ant) steps on the edge of the pit, the sand collapses and the victim falls to the bottom, and into the antlion larva's deadly jaws. The Assassin Bug: These lethal killers are armed with needle-like mouthparts, which they use to inject poisonous saliva into their prey; this saliva liquifies the victim’s innards. (Like many other insects, assassin bugs are unable to feed on solid matter). However, most assassin bugs aren’t fast flyers or runners, so they use trickery to hunt. Some of them cover their bodies with bark, dust, or even dead insects to disguise their appearance and scent, and sneak up on unsuspecting prey. The Dragonfly: It is among the fastest flying insects, reaching almost 56 miles per hour (which is even more amazing if we consider its small size and how delicate they look). It can dive-bomb, hover like a helicopter, and even fly backwards, and its enormous eyes, which cover almost all of its head, give it near-360 degree vision, so that no insect escapes its attention. My personal all time favorite insect The Praying Mantis: They are perfect ambush hunters, armed with long, modified forelegs armed with sharp hooks to capture prey. These insects usually stand still, camouflaged, until a smaller insect or animal gets close; then they capture with a lightning fast movement, and start feeding whether the victim is alive or dead. Mantids have been known to capture and devour spiders (including the deadly black widow spider), lizards, small snakes and even birds. They are also infamously prone to cannibalism. Baby mantids are also known to feed on their siblings when food is scarce. The Japanese Hornet, or Tiger Hornet: These humongous wasps are relentless hunters that kill any insect they can capture, including other predators such as the praying mantis. They are armed with an incredibly potent venom, and inject great amounts of it; like other hornets, they can sting repeatedly. This venom is strong enough to cause serious illness, and even death, to humans. The Japanese hornet uses its sting as a defensive weapon only; to kill prey, it uses its sharp jaws to decapitate the victim, and cut its body in small pieces. It then carries the carcass back to the nest, where it chews the dead insect into a soft paste to feed the larvae. The larvae then produce a sugary fluid which is the adult hornet’s main food. If you have a tiny bit more time to read...read this! To give you an idea of the destructive power of Japanese hornets, let me only say that a few of them can completely devastate a honey bee colony in a couple of hours, decapitating every single bee in the nest (up to 30,000) one by one. When all the bees are dead, the hornets feed on the honey and then carry the bee larvae, and parts of the adult bee bodies, back to their own nest to feed their larvae. You might say, poor honey bees! But they have lived with these horrid wasps all their lives too and know how to fight back! They have developed an incredible trick to kill the hornet scouts as soon as they find their hive. Up to 500 bees form a tight ball that engulfs the scout hornet(s) and start vibrating their wing muscles until their body temperature increases up to 116°F! Honey bees can survive this temperature, but hornets cannot; they are basically fried alive by the bees. With the scouts dead, the hornet colony never finds out about the location of the honey bee nest! Simply amazing! Okay, I know that was kind of long and you've been good holding it in. I'm done... Well, I did warn you....
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |