"workers are not simply scaled-down versions of queens that have lost their wings."
"Instead workers have a distinct thorax architecture with an enlarged muscle system to strengthen the neck and increase the range of motion of the head ... appears to be a key adaptation to allow ants to lift and carry objects or prey that are many times their own weight"
Arthropod Photo of the Week: May 22, 2024
Long-snouted weevil
Hammatostylus sp.
Coleoptera: Curculionidae
By Steve Long, Florida, USA #arthropodPOTW #entomology#insects#photography
How cockroaches spread around the globe to become the pest we know today.
From AP: "A new study uses genetics to chart cockroaches’ spread across the globe, from humble beginnings in southeast Asia to Europe and beyond. The findings span thousands of years of cockroach history and suggest the pests may have scuttled across the globe by hitching a ride with another species: people."
Ok, here's an update on the Verbena bonariensis situation from my post yesterday. Less than 12 hours later and the two plants have been almost totally skeletonized by something I cannot see. There is a healthy Verbena less than 6 inches to the left of the picture that is totally untouched. Any thoughts? #gardening #allotment #zone6b #NewEngland #insects #entomology @gardening
Another unusual insect: Tenthredo baetica (ssp. dominiquei), with only 118 observations world wide, of which 29 for this particular subspecies. It's a wasp – sort of: a sawfly.
The rear limbs are rather large, and I wonder why. For carrying prey?
Wikipedia points out an interesting reversal: in the Tenthredo genus, the larvae eat plants while the adults prey on other insects. Whereas many typical wasps do the opposite: the adults sip nectar but hunt insects to feed their young. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenthredo One wonders then what is this adult doing on a flower, engaging in motion patterns characteristic of foraging on nectar and pollen.
An unusual fly: red-belted hoverfly, Brachypalpoides lentus – a sawfly mimic. The larva is yet to be described. About 20 observations in the whole UK; 172 globally.
From Hyde Park, London (June 2023). Standing right next to Peter Pan's statue.
I was taking (poor) photos of a fairly large hoverfly (not pictured) when I noticed a loud and very low-pitched buzzing in the tree under which I was standing. Sure enough, a queen European hornet alighted on the trunk. Beautiful insect, and as she'd settled at about head-height it was easy to get a good look at her and take lots of photos. Really nice to see more hornets in semi-rural areas like this! #Hornet#Entomology
"Stranger than science fiction." That's how an ecologist describes a strange fungus that hijacks cicadas’ bodies and behavior, turning them into "zombies."
CNN reports on the the fungus Massospora cicadina and how it's impacting some of the cicadas emerging this year: https://flip.it/cxfw5K
Ooof. Never argue with an ant colony. Cleaning out a storage box in the garden. One corner has an ant colony in it, partially destroyed by my clearing. Also present: Two 3cm-ish false widow spiders, shiny black. Can't escape the box now the contents have been removed, sides are too smooth.
Left the job and went to have lunch, expecting to need to re-home the spiders. Figured they had plenty of ants to eat. On return, no sign of the smaller spider. The larger has had a disagreement with the ants. It has not ended at all well for the spider.