Insects for Fun!

How do insects smell, taste and hear? Do they feel pain? These questions and more!

This week instead of focusing on a specific insect I wanted to talk about some Physiology, that is how the body works. Not all of it of course, but just some things that I personally find incredibly interesting. 
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Music supported by Lofi Girl with featured artists: HM Surf, Blue Wednesday and S N U G. 
 
Transcript: 
 
Welcome to Episode 55 of insects for fun! The entomology based podcast hosted by me, your not so local entomologist. Today I will go into the topic of Insect Physiology. Basically how the bodies of insects work, and the different ways insects can hear, smell, taste and feel. 
 
Let’s get to the basics, an Insect has three body segments, A head, thorax, and abdomen. I believe I mentioned some of this already as well in my episode about bugs versus insects, but we’ll be going into a lot more detail today! Insects also have six legs which is where the class name Insecta comes from. Now what makes insects and all arthropods really unique is that they have an exoskeleton which simply means they wear their bones on the outside which is the complete opposite of other animals. 
Now because they wear their bones on the outside they also happen to have strange methods of hearing, tasting, and smelling. They also don’t have the same internal structure that mammals or other animals do! 
 
Let’s start with the inside of an insect. They have three guts, the foregut, midgut, and hindgut. Each section serves a specific function for digesting and absorbing different parts of their food. The foregut also known as the crop, is where the food gets broken down into smaller pieces. Of course some insects are fluid feeders like mosquitos for example and in those situations the foregut prepares the liquid into something easier to digest and absorb. The foregut in mosquitoes contain blood thinners which prevent their meals from getting sticky and hard. 
 
The midgut is the area where most of the nutrients get absorbed into the body. Enzymes are released to digest the transported food particles into absorbable nutrients for cells. The food is actually wrapped up in a special membrane which is believed to protect an insect's innards from pathogens that may be present within the food. 
 
Not everything gets absorbed through the midgut though. The hindgut is actually where salts, and water are absorbed from the leftover waste and is incredibly important for maintaining a balance of internal fluids. This is also the landing place for nitrogenous waste which gets evacuated from the insects “blood” through a series of small tubes. 
 
Insects don’t have a closed circulatory system the same way we do, which is to say they don’t have a heart that pumps blood through veins and arteries to their organs. The system of an insect is known as an open system in which the insect’s blood, referred to as hemolymph flows freely through the body, bathing all the organs. They do have something similar to a heart which is called an ostia and this is a long tube that runs from the head down to the abdomen but it actually pumps hemolymph from the back to the front. The reason is because as the hemolymph moves its way down the body it can relay messages from the head region.
 
Insects do have a brain, but they also have multiple bundles of neurons throughout their bodies that can send messages in response to stimuli like touch, smell and taste. The bundles of neurons are called ganglions. That being said the head does contain three very important ganglions that together form what we would think of as a brain which is again why the ostia pumps hemolymph up there to flow back down. 
 
So now we know that insects have a brain, bundles of neurons called ganglia, an esophagus that leads to three different guts, and an open circulatory system, but what about lungs? 
 
These animals do not have lungs but they have holes on the sides of their bodies which are called spiracles. These holes are controlled by muscles, and when open, allows air to freely move through them and carbon dioxide to leave. Once the air is taken into the body it moves through a series of branches trachea directly into all the cells of the body. In most cases these tracheal tubes are connected to a reinforced spiral of tissue that keeps them from collapsing. However! Some insects, like aquatic ones don’t have this and can use the tracheal tubes as air sacs to store extra reserves. 
 
As for other organs, well, I think we all know they have eyes and sex organs by now but what about tasting and hearing organs? 
 
Turns out that insects have small sensory organs all over their bodies in the form of tiny hairs, spines, nubs, etc . These organs are used for smelling, tasting, hearing, feeling and sensing pressure changes in the environment. 
 
Most insects have most of these on their antennae, but these can be found all over an insects body! For example butterflies can taste with their feet which is how they can determine which host plants to lay their eggs on. Crickets and Grasshoppers can taste with their ovipositors which is how they decide which soil is best to lay their eggs in. On the other hand some insects taste with their antennae like many parasitoid wasps. This is not to say they can’t taste with anything else, because in most cases they can also taste with special structures next to their mouths called maxillary palps. 
 
When it comes to hearing and smelling insects also have some crazy places where this takes place. For example, crickets, grasshoppers and katydids all have hearing organs located around their knees with katydid’s actually having theirs directly on the knees. Some moths have their ears on their abdomen which can detect frequencies way beyond a normal range. For example there are families of moths which have evolved to hear ultrasonic sounds in order to escape bats like moths in the families Geometridae, Pyralidae, and Thyatirinae. As for where they smell, that usually happens with their antennae, but it’s not always the case. Some insects can smell with their mouths. What’s even more amazing is that insects can hold onto memories past metamorphosis. For example caterpillars that were trained to avoid a certain smell will remember that smell even as a butterfly or moth.For example scientists trained caterpillars to avoid a smell by giving them a small shock in the presence of it. Once the caterpillars had become butterflies, they still avoided the smell they were trained with. 
To make things more crazy, insects don’t just see with their eyes. A study in Japan found that yellow swallowtail butterflies have light receptors on their genitals which they genuinely need in order to successfully mate and even to lay eggs on a plant's surface. A study found that if these receptors were blinded then success rates for mating dropped from 66% down to 28%, and the success rate of laying eggs went from 80% down to 15%. That's pretty big. 
 
I now want people to think about two questions. Why exactly do insects need to taste things, and what exactly are they tasting? 
 
Insects like us rely on taste to tell us whether something is good or bad. Oftentimes when we find something unpleasant there is a biological reason behind it, at least when it comes to those of us who don’t mind our vegetables. For example in countries with malaria it was found that people have a higher tolerance to bitter foods and cyanide. It’s actually thought that perhaps cyanide at low levels can combat malaria. In Japan many people like the taste of yuzu which is an extremely bitter citrus, but I can’t stand the stuff. Like seriously if I get a mouthful it makes me wanna vomit and maybe that’s because my ancestors came from areas where bitter plants were poisonous. 
 
Now let’s talk about what exactly insects are tasting. Could a grasshopper prefer buffalo wings over BBQ? Insects can differentiate salty, sweet, and bitter flavors just like us, but they prefer sweet over everything else. Perhaps some of our listeners can relate (insert clip from willy wonka or something). They’re actually pretty keen on the different concentrations of salts and sugars as well with honey bees being able to differentiate different types of sugars and their concentrations, and they aren’t a fan of splenda by the way. 
 
As for what insects can feel, given that they have receptors all over their bodies it's no question that insects can feel physical stimuli, but what about pain? For a very long time insects were thought to just reflex on autopilot based on different stimuli, but more and more studies now are showing convincing evidence that insects actually can feel pain, the same way other arthropods can like lobsters for example which have been adopted into the animal welfare act. In fact studies found that bees among other insects will actively avoid stimuli known to be painful, and of course you could argue that it was reflex based like when a doc tests your reflexes with that rubber hammer they always use. But it goes beyond that. When bees were faced with painful food sources that contained more or better quality food than the nonpainful sources, the bees actually chose to endure the experience for the reward. These same bees had previously avoided the same exact food source before when the prizes were the same between the painful and nonpainful food source. These kinds of interactions aren’t just found in bees either. Cockroaches and fruit flies along with wasps, and other insects had similar results. Actually, so far no insect that has been tested like this has shown complete indifference to a painful experience. 
 
I for one fully believe that insects feel pain because I’ve raised caterpillars for years on end handling them in various ways. They get used to touching like anything else, but I’ve pinched a couple before when trying to pull old molts off and man, they do not like that at all. They also lash out at their brothers and sisters if one of them gets bit by accident as opposed to just getting crawled over. 
 
This wraps up today's episode on insect physiology! I hope you enjoyed it and as always if you enjoy the show it’s super helpful to rate it so the podcast can continue to gain reputation and build more listeners. It also helps if you decide to share it with others! Now speaking of sharing, I’ve got some designs ready to go for merchandise so you’ll soon be able to rep the podcast! If you want more insects for fun you can also support the show on Patreon.com/insects for fun where I have exclusive bonus episodes and vlogs for Tier 2 and above. If you would like to reach out to me you can send me a dm on IG or an email message, and links to everything will be in the show notes. 
 

Parasitoids! The rulers of Biological Control

This week is focused on the insects that inspired Ridley Scott's "Alien"! Parasitoids have some of the craziest interactions with other insects, and this episode will feature a few among other details. 
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These wolves are no bark and little bite! (Wolf Spiders)

This week is a listener-request episode covering wolf spiders! We will look at the habits, special traits, behaviors, and some cool sounds of these interesting arachnids. 
 
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Music from Lofi Girl featuring: Alex Productions, Sátyr, HM Surf, Purrple Cat
 
Transcription: 
 
Welcome to Episode 53 of Insects for Fun! The entomology podcast hosted by me, your not so local entomologist. Today we have another listener request from Jamie out in New Zealand wanting to learn more about Wolf Spiders! Now I’m no arachnologist, but I’m not about to turn away a listener request either so I did my best. 
 
Wolf spiders belong to the family Lycosidae of which there are 129 genera and over 2,450 species! That’s a lot of spiders! They also have a very wide distribution being found just about everywhere except for the far north and of course antarctica! 
 
In general wolf spiders are on the larger size, but they don’t compare with tarantulas. That being said the largest wolf spider in the world has a 12cm leg span or close to 5 inches and a thick body similar to that of a tarantula. The species is called Hogna ingens and is a critically endangered species of only 5,000 individuals or so on the Desert Grand Island off the coast of Portugal in the Madeira archipelago. You would be amazed by how many really interesting arthropods live on isolated archipelagos. In fact an entire chapter of my thesis was dedicated to parasitoid wasps found within archipelagos, but that’s another story.  
 
Getting back on track with wolf spiders from island systems there was one special wolf spider that Jamie wanted listeners of this show to know about, and that would be one of the 25 wolf spiders endemic to new zealand called Anoteropsis litoralis. This beautiful wolf spider inhabits beaches and coastal areas which is where the species name litoralis is derived from. In Latin litor refers to the seashore and the spiders body itself actually looks like it's made out of small beach pebbles. Unlike the previous wolf spider I mentioned, this one is very small, and the species itself is only 21 years old! It’s body has evolved to blend in with its seashore surrounding helping it catch small arthropods like the New zealand shore earwigs. 
 
Wolf spiders have long legs and are known for being really fast which makes them great at hunting down prey, and is one of the primary reasons they are called wolf spiders. These spiders do not use webs to catch their prey, and are active hunters just like wolves! That being said they don’t hunt in packs so it would be more accurate to call them lone wolf spiders (mmkay) they are also really fuzzy and have tiny hairs all over their bodies which they use to sense small changes in their environment as well as grip on to a variety of surfaces. 
 
Most of these spiders are actually on the larger side, and are brown, grey, black or tan with dark stripes. Some people mistake them for brown recluse spiders but the brown recluse is almost never seen in nature because true to its name, this spider is very reclusive. Wolf spiders on the other hand tend to be out and about more frequently, especially at night or on overcast days, and they also always have patterns on their bodies.
 
Another thing that’s unique about wolf spiders is their excellent eye-sight! Wolf spiders have two large eyes in the center of their face with a row of four smaller eyes underneath and two small eyes above. In general spiders tend to have pretty poor eyesight which is why so many rely on other means of catching prey, like webs for example. They need to feel the vibrations of insects and their surroundings, but again, today’s special spider is completely different! These spiders also have powerful legs with spring-like joints allowing them to store energy and then release it at once with varying degrees of power. Depending on the distance and prey they’ll apply different degrees of force. 
 
The diet of a wolf spider consists of ground dwelling insects like crickets, earwigs, beetles, other spiders and other small animals. For example some large wolf spider females can actually take down small amphibians and reptiles too. As a result many of them stay in areas that cater to these prey items like grasslands, rocky areas, stream edges and gravel. 
 
Now when it comes to where wolf spiders spend their downtime, these guys have a variety of housing opportunities. Many wolf spiders will make tunnels in the ground, but others live in trees, under rocks, basically anywhere that’s sheltered or cluttered with things to hide under. They’re actually quite skittish in the presence of larger animals and often scramble to the nearest hideaway if noticed by a human for example. 
 
Now even though wolf spiders are solitary there comes a time when finding a mate is necessary, and in these situations males try and attract a female using one of two tactics. They either raise and wave their front legs or they drum on the surface of whatever they’re on in hopes that the vibrations will attract a female. They will also shift the method of attraction depending on the environment. For example the species Schizocosa ocreata (which can be found throughout the eastern half of the U.S.) will use visual cues when placed on a surface that isn’t good for drumming, and when given a choice of environment they always preferred to be on leaf litter which had a much higher success rate overall. The drumming is really interesting to watch because the spiders move around on leaves and beat both their front legs in a rhythmic beat as they walk around. 
 
Unfortunately the mating tactics of wolf spiders don’t just attract females, a study was done at the University of Minnesota which actually trained Blue Jays to push one of two buttons when presented with different videos of spiders. One button indicated the presence of a spider and the other meant the blue jay didn’t see anything. The results show that the spiders were much more easily seen when doing their courtship dances as opposed to doing just about anything else. 
 
But! It doesn’t stop there… you see, mantids are not the only arthropods to partake in cannibalistic mating behavior. In fact many female spiders actually eat their mates and wolf spiders are no different. Apparently the mating signals used by male wolf spiders are actually saying “hey, this is for mating only, please don’t eat me”, and sometimes it works out well and other times it does not… 
 
The females aren’t evil though, they’re actually far from it and show very strong maternal instincts when caring for their young. Once a female has successfully mated she begins laying an egg sac which she will carry around on her back even after the eggs have hatched. It’s only after the spiders are a few days old when they typically leave the mother to fend on their own. It was also found that female wolf spiders if engaged by a predator can sometimes be separated from their egg sac, but when the predator is gone she immediately goes back to where they were separated and grabs the eggs to put them back on her back. Many will even pick up egg sacs that have been lost by another female and care for them as if they were their own. 
 
Males do not hold the same level of parental care, and in most cases flee the female as soon as possible to avoid being eaten. SOMETIMES they’ll stick around and help out for a little while but wolf spiders are not monogamous and do not form pair bonds. 
 
In general the lifespan of wolf spiders lasts around 1 year, but females actually live longer than males and can stay alive up to 2 years or so. As for what preys upon these… that would be a variety of other animals like birds, rodents, reptiles, amphibians etc. Wolf spiders don’t exactly have a lot of great ways for defending themselves either. There is often no protective web to save them and they aren’t poisonous either. They can bite of course, but the bite is designed for subduing prey which would be smaller insects and animals. For example if a human gets bit by one they will probably feel something similar to a bee sting. Some people might not feel much at all. It really depends on the individual. I’ve handled wolf spiders before and never got bit so I can’t say much from my own experiences on this one. I’m pretty sure getting bit by a longhorn beetle is much worse though. 
 
Most wolf spiders rely on running away, feigning death or making low hissing sounds! Wolf spiders can actually make sounds by rubbing their pedipalps together. Pedipalps are the small arm-like extensions next to the mouths of spiders. 
 
That pretty much wraps up this episode, but! I do have a quick reminder that you can get ad free episodes of this show along with bonus episodes and insect related vlogs at Patreon.com link in the show notes! And a big thank you to the new patreon member Caden! And for the listeners that are still with me and haven’t yet rated the program, that is another way to support and help me grow the podcast so maybe in the future I can devote much more time into creating content for you. 
 
Thanks again for listening and you’ll hear from me again next week. 

I can’t believe they aren’t gummies! (Jewel Caterpillars)

This week I'm showcasing a very rare and special family of caterpillars. Jewel Caterpillars belong to the family Dalceridae, and they have some really unique defense mechanisms that go along their incredible body.
 
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Music from Lofi Girl featuring: mønberg
 
Transcription: 
Welcome back everyone to episode 52 of Insects for Fun! The only weekly podcast on entomology by a master in Entomology! Kind of crazy I know, but then again, Entomology isn’t exactly a super popular topic and many people in the field prefer to keep their heads glued on whatever topic of research they are currently involved with as opposed to entertaining the masses! But lucky for you I am an entertainer at heart and the show is starting now
Today I want to share with everyone some crazy caterpillars known as Jewel caterpillars. These alien-like creatures look like they belong in a glass shop. You know those small glass animals that are super colorful and clear? The ones you can purchase in just about any glass store in a touristy area? Imagine those but they’re specifically caterpillars, and they’re alive! The family is called Dalceridae, and it houses around 84 species or so divided into 11 genera. The last article I found said 84 but I’m sure there’s more. These guys are tropical, being found only in the neotropics with only one species found from Southern Arizona and Texas down into Mexico. That being said, climate change is really messing things up so this is most likely going to change. 
 
The caterpillars are on the smaller side with a maximum length of 1 inch or 2.5 centimeter, and have a slug like shape which also coins them the name slug caterpillars, but slug caterpillars are a larger group that extends beyond Jewel Caterpillars, and we’ll cover those on another day. 
 
Jewel caterpillars are the larval stage for moths and unfortunately, the moths themselves are not nearly as beautiful. Pictures will of course be available on the socials, but if you need a quick description think of the moths as fluffy muppets with super long arms. The caterpillars spend their days grazing on leaves from coffee plants and other tropical trees. The interesting thing is that the caterpillars don’t hide at all, and they rarely get preyed upon either. It would seem that most animals have become quite familiar with highly colorful insects being incredibly toxic, but that’s where they’re wrong when it comes to this incredible insect. Jewel caterpillars do not pack poison or venom, and so far scientists have been unable to identify anything toxic about them. That being said they do have a secret weapon, and that would be their sticky body. Jewel caterpillars have gooey spines on the outside of their body which when disturbed fall off, and create a very sticky mess for whoever tried to touch it. I can’t help but look at this caterpillar and think they’re just walking gummies, but I don’t think anyone should actually try eating one. Many experiments were done to look at exactly what happens when other insects actually try to take a bite and the results look quite similar to a kid who put too much taffy in their mouth. The caterpillars are also quite fast and can make an easy getaway once the attacker has been halted. 
 
What’s really interesting though is that this defensive adaptation is not available to the caterpillar right away. They have to work their up in size before unlocking the full potential of their gummy defense  With each new molt they have larger and more pronounced globby knobs, and they actually have none when they first hatch. 
Now speaking of hatching, Female moths contain two special glands specifically for when they lay eggs, and the purpose is to cover the eggs with a fast-drying clear liquid. We don’t know exactly what this is for but it probably has many functions. One is speculated to be keeping the eggs from drying out, while another is to protect them from ants or other small insects trying to eat or use them. Another crazy fact is that female jewel moths have rarely been seen in the wild with only 40 species out of the 84 known to have been seen. 
 
When it comes to predators these funny little guys don’t have many, but they do have to be careful of parasitoids, which we mentioned in the previous episode on Velvet Ants. These caterpillars specifically fall prey to a parasitoid fly in the family tachinidae. This family of flies lays their eggs in the bodies of caterpillars and other insects, and the larva develops inside until it inevitably kills it. The flies that target jewel caterpillars have evolved special bodily functions which allow them to pierce the stomach without getting very close to the caterpillar. 
 
If you want more insects for fun or would like to support the show there is new extra content being added on the patreon from bonus episodes covering all kinds of crazy information like how honeybees have vaccines and how insects can actually create static charges and anomalies in weather to fun videos of my expeditions and life in japan. But you can also support the show by giving it a rating on whatever platform you listen! It really helps out the show a lot, and the insects for fun community is growing everyday thanks to your help. 
 

These Ants are NOT what they seem... (Velvet Ants)

This week we look at a really cool wasp that for the most part resembles an ant! These insects are called Velvet Ants and are considered one of the most invincible wasp species out there!
 
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Today's Music from Lofi Girl features: 
HM Surf, no one's perfect, Sátyr 
 
Transcript: 
 
Welcome to episode 51 of insects for fun! The podcast where every Tuesday we take a look into the crazy world of entomology. This week we are looking at a really cute and painful insect known as a cow killer or Velvet Ant. 
 
Intro: 
Insect names, Family, Distribution, Description 
 
Velvet ants are actually wasps belonging to the family mutillidae but the females don’t have any wings which is why people refer to them as ants. The reality though is that ants actually belong to the same order as wasps, and they aren’t exactly very far from each other genetically speaking. The family mutillidae is home to around 7,000 species, and they have very dense velvety hairs. In most cases this hair is a bright orange, red or even yellow color, but some species are also all black. The bright colors often displayed on these insects is referred to as aposematic coloring which is a warning to predators that they are not worth eating. 
 
The wasps can be found worldwide with 400 species in the southern midwest of the US alone. The United states species actually make up one of the largest networks of mullerian mimicry which is when different poisonous or venomous species copy each other's colors creating a greater defense against predators. 
 
Life Cycle, and food source: 
 
Velvet ants like all other hymenoptera go through complete metamorphosis and have to go through a larval and pupal stage before becoming a wasp, and we briefly mentioned them in last week's episode about cicada killers. Turns out the females actually seek out nests of other ground dwelling wasps like our friends the cicada killers, and then drop an egg by the larvae of that other wasp. This larva then feeds on and kills the other wasp larvae or pupae in an act called ectoparasitism. Ecto refers to the fact that this all occurs outside the body, and parasitism refers to the act of using a different insect as its food source resulting in death. 
 
The most famous velvet ant often called the cow killer bites a hole in the cocoon of its host and then lays its egg within which then eats the host pupa and stays protected in the cocoon until it emerges. Cow killers are scientifically known as Dasymutilla occidentalis and are the largest species known so far. They got the nickname cow killer due to their extremely painful sting which is said to be strong enough to kill a cow, but fortunately for us this is actually not possible, well from a single ant sting anyway. The pain from one of these wasps is indeed extremely painful with an afterburn lasting up to 3 hours or so. I’ve fortunately never experienced it though and I’ve actually never even seen one in the wild before either. But if you have you should totally comment about it on the IG or FB post! 
Behaviors: 
 
When it comes to aggression these wasps are actually nothing at all like yellow jackets or hornets. They’re solitary wasps which means they lack a defensive instinct just like our friends the cicada killers. That being said you are likely to encounter female wasps walking around during the day walking around searching for holes made by other wasps or food. The adult wasps are not carnivorous and they feed on nectar just like other solitary wasps.
 
The lifespan for a velvet ant ranges from months to a year or two depending on the species and location. In areas with four seasons the adults are only around for the warmer months while the pupae stay safe in the chambers made by other wasps until spring comes again. 
 
Defenses and Predators: 
 
Unlike the cicada killers these wasps actually have an impressive amount of defense mechanisms and are not easily preyed upon by other animals. In fact there is no known animal that specifically hunts for velvet ants, and even in trials testing different predators against velvet ants researchers discovered that they are almost invincible. For starters the exoskeleton on these wasps are extremely hard. Being up to 11 times stronger than that of a honey bee making them difficult to crush. They also have a habit of making squeaking noises when captured by a predator which in most cases is enough to shock the attacker into releasing them. The squeaking noises are produced by their abdomen which has a special organ that creates the sound by scraping two plates together. It’s actually pretty loud and I’ll play you some audio for it now 
 
Now if these two things weren’t enough the velvet ant can also produce a foul odor when disturbed, and let's not forget about the incredibly painful sting which by the way comes from one of the longest known stingers which oftentimes is up to half the length of their entire body. That being said not every velvet ant has a sting worse than that of a honey bee, and some species are actually less painful, but I think it’s still not worth messing around with one, especially if you don’t know what the species in, which in the U.S seems like it can be incredibly difficult due to so many having co-evolved to look extremely similar. 
 
 
Pet information:  
 
All that aside If you are brave enough to want one as a pet it is possible! They are actually highly rated as being a really fun insect pet, but of course it is a buy at your own risk situation because they cannot be de-weaponized the same way a pet skunk can. They can survive regular room temperatures but if you want them to be more active it is recommended you get a heat lamp for them, and they’ll feed on honey, sugar water, and insect jelly. 
 
This concludes today’s episode on Velvet ants! If you can’t get enough insects for fun or want more you can find bonus episodes over on the patreon which is where people can best support the show! Speaking of which, I have three shoutouts I need to do for this month! A special thank you to Tina, Todd, and Kirsty which are this month's current donors! If you yourself would like to support the show but maybe can’t commit to a patreon then rating and reviewing the podcast is the next best thing! 
 
Links to the patreon and socials will be in the show notes and as always, thanks for listening. 

This is not a Scorpion or a Fly! (Scorpionflies!)

This week we look at one of the strangest flying insects out there and their behaviors. There are many kinds of scorpionflies and they are all pretty different. 
 
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Music from Lofi Girl: 
Richard Smithson, Cubase, Mondo Loops, Sátyr
Transcript: 
 
Welcome back to episode 50 of Insects for Fun! The weekly podcast covering all things entomology. This week we are looking into a very interesting type of fly which is actually not a fly at all, and kinda seems more like a chimera than anything else!
 
Intro: 
Scorpion flies are a group of insects belonging to the order Mecoptera which means long wings, but the wings are not the most interesting thing about these insects. There is one family in particular called panorpidae, and the males in this family have an abdomen which curves upward and has a large bulb-like structure with a pointed tip at the end. This family has the most species and is the main reason why Mecoptera are often referred to as scorpionflies. That being said, those showy and intimidating tails are only for mating, and can’t harm you or anything else. Another really wacky feature for these insects would be their long mouths.The heads are actually small but the mouth itself is really big. The term for a mouth like this is called a rostrum which I mentioned in the Acorn weevil episode!
 
As for the wings, they are heavily veined and have a more primitive appearance as if they came from a Mayfly. I really can’t stress enough how strange these insects look, it’s like someone just took random parts from different insects and put them together into this monster we call a scorpion fly. 
 
The distribution for these is worldwide but the diversity is strangely separated. For example there is more variety at a species level within Africa, and the European continent, but there is greater variety in families and genera in the Americas and Australasia. 
 
And not all of these scorpionflies look this weird. There are 9 families within the order, and each one looks pretty different. For example one family called Bittacidae look like four winged crane flies and are often referred to as hangflies or hanging scorpions. Another family called Boreidae look more like fleas or even the flightless midge found in antarctica. 
 
Life Cycle, and food source etc: 
In general scorpion flies prefer more humid environments in forests and grasslands surrounded by broadleaf vegetation like oak trees or other shrubbery with flat leaves to rest on. These insects feed on everything from honeydew and nectar to dead or dying organisms. Many of them actually snatch prey out of spider webs which is really cool! 
 
Some though are carnivorous scavengers that prey upon smaller insects and sometimes even spiders. The hanging flies mentioned earlier are in this camp and have a really cool method for catching prey. These flies literally hang on the edges of plants with their legs dangling down and they grab insects mid flight to feed on. 
 
The life cycle for these insects is holometabolous which means that they have a larval and pupal stage. The larvae for scorpionflies actually resemble caterpillars and spend their time in the ground feeding on decaying matter and other small insects except for one special family found  in New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Chile and Argentina. This special family called Nannochoristidae have aquatic larvae that prey on smaller animals in riverbeds. They are also believed to be one of the only larvae that have true compound eyes, which is wild because compound eyes are known to be a special trait in adult insects (insert naruto quote) 
 
I can’t speak for every scorpionfly out there, but in general these have one generation a year with the pupae staying dormant during the winter months. 
 
Females lay their eggs in the soil, and require a certain moisture level in order for eggs to hatch in a timely manner. This is not uncommon with insects that develop in the ground, such as beetles and cicadas etc. And if the moisture levels are off it can delay the hatching of scorpionflies up to months. 
Behaviors: 
 
When it comes to mating, Scorpion flies have some interesting rituals, and they usually involve offering a female some kind of incentive to woo her. For example, common scorpionflies which are the crazy monster looking ones have three separate tactics for luring a mate. The first two are to offer wads of spit or a dead arthropod (super enticing I know). Though sometimes they try to mate without offering anything! (gasp) (those pigs). 
Apparently the practice of giving a female a gift is for distracting the female resulting in longer mating time. I personally think this is hilarious, and it reminds me of the safari zone tactics in pokemon games where you throw a berry or w/e to increase your catching odds and prolong the encounter. 
 
Hanging Flies use pheromones to lure a female, and then offer them a special hostage. But as great as some males are, there’s a lot of competition, and these flies have to get crafty sometimes. Scorpionflies are known to sometimes mimic the behaviors of a female in order to take gifts from other males, sometimes they also just show up for sloppy seconds. They literally wait around for a new female to fly into the area and then present her with whatever is left from the previous male's gift. That’s literally showing up to someone else's date after they left, taking the flowers or whatever chocolate is left and handing it to a new girl (How you doin?). The worst part is this actually works, a lot… 
 
Now of course each family of scorpionflies has their own quarks and gimmicks as well, for example the wingless snow scorpions in the family Boreidae which are the flea looking fellas just jump on a female and stay on them for up to 12 hours, just chillin there. Literally and figuratively these cold climate scorpion flies just go about their usual day after pairing by moving around and feeding while the females do absolutely nothing. 
 
Defenses and Predators: 
 
Scorpionflies aren’t really known for having any special defenses, and as a result I was unable to pull up anything in regards to how they protect themselves from other insects or insect eating animals, but! I was able to find something interesting in regards to their preference for dead animals. Scorpionflies are actually now used by forensic entomologists because they are one of the first responders to a decaying human body, even before the much more famous blowflies which I mentioned in my forensic entomology episode. 

Don’t Kill these Killer Wasps! (Cicada Killers)

This week we are looking into a wasp that is often mistaken for an Asian Giant hornet, but the fact is that these poor creatures are everything an Asian Giant hornet is not! 
 
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Featured Artists: Squeeda, and mell-ø
 
Transcription:
It’s episode 49 time for this podcast where every Tuesday Japan Time I drop an episode on something whacky in the world of Entomology. We had no listener submissions for this week which means I got to choose! But there are polls on the Patreon where you yourself can vote on which insect you wanna hear about along with bonus episodes for an entirely separate series I’m writing and producing talking crazy cool news and discoveries in the world of insects. If that sounds cool to you or you wanna support the show you can hop on over to the Insects for Fun Patreon page. Now on to this week's episode. 
 
Intro: 
Cicada killers are large ground-dwelling wasps in the family Crabronidae, and most of them fall into one genus known as Sphecius. These wasps are found worldwide as you can imagine, with 21 species in the Sphecius genus but not all of them kill cicadas! That being said, the four found in the United States do. The most well known species to people in the states would be the Eastern Cicada killer scientifically Sphecius speciosus, and it got a lot of press when people had the Asian Giant Hornet scare. The reason is because the wasps are similar in size, and to someone who is freaking out, and doesn’t know how to identify wasps, they’ll just immediately think Giant wasp equals Asian giant hornet. I mean lets be honest, if you saw a massive wasp flying around and had no background in entomology you too would probably assume the worst and maybe even dial up your friends and or family for your last words. Now fortunately for listeners of this podcast I will be equipping you with the knowledge to save yourselves any such embarrassing moments. 
 
Cicada killers are large, they’re all large, usually 2 inches in length, with black or maroon bodies with yellow stripes, and reddish wings. They look scary for sure, but they actually want nothing to do with you. Pictures as usual will be available on the instagram and facebook page, but for the hundreds that prefer a verbal description here we go. The main differences between a cicada killer and an asian giant horn are the body shape and coloration. Cicada killers have a black abdomen or some other color with broken or non uniform bands of yellow. Asian giant hornets have many relatively even bands of black and orange/yellow. Also! The heads are vastly different. Cicada killers have small heads and their eyes take up the majority of the space, while asian giant hornets have big yellow or yellow-y orange heads and their eyes are more centered. Also most of the time you will encounter a male cicada killer which has no stinger, and has a longer, more narrowed abdomen when compared to an asian giant hornet. When in doubt, scream and shout, kidding, just don’t get super close and swat it. 
 
Life Cycle, and food source: 
 
The life cycle of a cicada killer begins when a female wasp mates with a male within his territory. She then begins building a nest for egg laying within soft and sandy soil, typically in full sun near trees to get easy food. The holes have to be big enough to fit a few cicadas inside so they aren’t small either. Once an adequate food supply is stored she lays an egg on the body of a cicada and then begins making a new side chamber to repeat the process. She will most likely make up to 15 chambers for eggs within a single hole, and as you can imagine that’s kind of a pain to anyone who cares about their lawn. 
 
A really cool fact about these wasps is that the females can choose the gender of the eggs they lay, which is something I’ve briefly mentioned in older episodes. The reason they do this is because it takes more females than males to create a sustainable population of these wasps, and depending on the gender more or less cicadas are required. For example female eggs need 2 cicadas in the egg chamber as opposed to male eggs which only need one. The reason is because male wasps are smaller than the females and require less to mature.
 
 Anyway, once the eggs are laid it takes a few days for them to hatch and begin feeding away on the food left for them. The cicadas aren’t actually dead either. They’ve simply been paralyzed and this keeps them alive and still, until the larvae can fully develop into a pupa. Just like all wasps, cicada killers have complete metamorphosis, and because all of it happens in the ground you would never see a larva or pupa unless you decided to dig up a nest. 
 
The larvae for a cicada killer usually takes around 10 days to fully develop and in areas with four seasons, the larvae prepare for winter by creating a cocoon underground where they will stay dormant as a pupa until the next summer.
 
Some blogs online might tell you the adults feed on cicadas too but this is actually not true. The adult wasps are pollinators and feed from flowers and on plant sap. 
 
Behaviors: 
 
Cicada killers are solitary which for us is a good thing because it means they live alone and don’t have a defense hive mentality seen with hornets and other wasps. The behaviors are actually similar to carpenter bees which we talked about in episode 37 with males being very territorial, but they’re all bark and no bite. Unequipped with a stinger, these wasps are harmless and only fight other males in aerial combat through tackling each other. The females have stingers in the form of a modified ovipositor which in simple terms is the egg laying tube, but they aren’t territorial like males and chances are you won’t encounter one.  They spend most of their time preparing their nests underground and when they are on the hunt, it’s only for cicadas. If you’re lucky you might find one mid flight carrying a cicada which is really cool to see. 
 
It’s also cool to see them digging out a nest because they can move 100s of times their own weight in soil within a few hours. The females are attracted to sandy soils or soil that is on the edges of sidewalks, concrete slabs, and building foundations. Many people spot them next to driveways or near stone wall gardens. That being said I have never encountered them in Vermont, and I had sandy soil in a portion of yard with plenty of cicadas around so I’m not sure what the deal is. I even checked a map with their sightings and known locations only to find that they avoid VT and Maine but for some reason they’re in New Hampshire? Maybe things will change with the ever changing climate. 
 
Before we move on there is one more interesting behavior seen specifically in female wasps. Sometimes conditions aren’t great for cicadas, and some areas might have less food available. In these situations female cicada killers actually go into dens made by other wasps and lay their eggs on those cicadas. Sometimes they’ll even try to add an extra cicada to the nest before the other female returns, with some taking so long that they actually get caught and evicted.
 
But in those situations the eviction is just a matter of the intruder fleeing the scene. There isn’t really a major fight or anything seriously consequential. 
 
Defenses and Predators: 
 
Now when it comes to what eats a cicada killer, it kind feels more like what doesn’t eat cicada killers. I mean everything from mice to bears, bats to birds, frogs and even other insects all snack on these large wasps. Birds will also go as far as to steal cicadas right out of their hands mid flight and the wasps don’t do anything about it! 
 
In another twist of irony and cruel fate, a different wasp referred to as velvet ants, which we'll talk about in a future episode, actually stalk cicada killers, and will lay eggs in their nests with velvet ant larvae feeding on the larvae and pupae of cicada killers. This type of interaction is referred to as parasitization which I talked about in the Just Bugs Collaboration episode. 
 
The only defenses cicada killer wasps have are their large and scary looking bodies, and a stinger, but again these wasps are not aggressive and will rarely use it which is how they get bullied by other animals so easily. 

It’s all about what you do with the doodoo! (Dung Beetles)

This week we look into all the dirty details on Dung beetles including how they saved Australia! 
 
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Transcript: 
 
Welcome back to episode 48 of Insects for Fun! Technically there are 49 episodes but I didn’t count for some reason a long time ago and I’m just sticking with it, the same way today’s insect sticks itself to dung! Today is a listener request from Donna wanting to learn more about Dung beetles! 
Intro: 
 
It turns out there are a ton of Dung beetles, so much so that they are divided into four different categories and spread out through multiple families of beetles. They all belong to one superfamily though, called Scarabaeoidea which houses around 35,000 species of beetles with a couple hundred being added every year. And yes dung beetles are actually scarab beetles and are depicted in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs but we’ll talk more about that later.
 
The four types of dung beetles are: rollers, tunnelers, dwellers, and stealers, and as you can probably guess it has everything to do with how they use dung. 
 
Roller’s are probably the most well known out of the dung beetles and these ones are your stereotypical dung ball rolling beetles. In scientific literature many people refer to them as telecoprids which derives from the words tele as in distance, like a telephone and then coprid which comes from the genus of true dung beetles known as copris. These beetles can roll dung balls up to 50 times their own size and are willing to go the distance, to find a suitable place to bury it and use it for food or eggs. 
 
Tunnelers bury the dung where it was found, and are referred to as endocoprids with endo meaning within. These beetles set up camp underneath dung patties, and will pull dung from the surface down into their holes where they’ll use it as a food source and place to lay eggs. 
 
Dwellers don’t move the dung at all. They just live in it wherever it is found, and are referred to as paracoprids with the prefix para meaning near or alongside. These dung beetles run the highest risk of getting trampled or eaten by another animal. 
 
Stealers are as you can imagine the thieves in all of this, and they aren’t doing it for justice. These dung beetles are referred to as kleptocoprids with the prefix klepto meaning impulse to steal with no real reason. These beetles wait out for opportune moments to steal dung balls from other rollers, and use it for their own gain. They’re evil nature is even found in the larvae which actually kill other larvae that were already in the dung ball. 
 
As you can tell each type of dung beetle is not limited to a specific genera or family because all the beetles above come from the copris genus 
 
That being said, most dung beetles have a similar shape and that would be a very compact, round and hard looking body with a much smaller head. They come in many sizes though with some being as large as 7cm and the smallest being as small as 3.4mm. Fun fact: The strongest insect is a dung beetle scientifically called Onthophagus taurus, and can pull dung up to 1,114 times its own weight. That’s like having a person pulling 6 double decker buses… 
Life Cycle, and food source: 
 
The life cycle of a dung beetle begins like most beetles going through complete metamorphosis starting as an egg and then going through a larval and pupal stage before emerging as an adult. The only major difference is that dung beetles rely exclusively on Dung to do it. 
 
The true dung beetles within the subfamily scarabaeinae feed on dung only while other dung beetles may actually feed on other decaying matter or even fruits and mushrooms. But all dung beetles use poo for the completion of their life cycles by laying eggs in it and having their larvae develop off of it. The truth is dung beetles can get everything they need in terms of nutrients and even hydration from dung which is kind of insane to think about. This is actually why if dung gets too hard and dry it becomes unusable to beetles. In places like Africa for example the rainy season increases dung beetle populations. 
 
It should also be stated that not all dung is equal and certain species of dung beetles prefer veggie patties over omnivore or beef patties, and! They even go as far as to prefer dung from specific animals. For example in Australia almost all of the 500 species of native dung beetles prefer marsupial poo and won’t touch cow patties or dung produced by other mammals. This actually caused a big problem when cattle were introduced into Australia in 1788. One cow can produce up to 12 cow patties in a day, now imagine thousands of cows, millions of cows, and having their dung just sit on the ground not going anywhere. This was not only a big eyesore, but it was breeding millions and millions of bush and buffalo flies which both feed on mammals for nourishment causing sores and irritation. Eventually a Hungarian entomologist named George came to Australia and proposed introducing dung beetles from other places like Hawaii and Africa which are well versed in cleaning up cow patties. The project started in 1965 and ran until 1985 introducing hundreds of thousands of dung beetles from 4 species. Today at least two of the four species still remain active in Australia and the number of bush flies dropped by 90 percent. (wow)
 
There are actually 29 species of introduced dung beetles currently in Australia which are all helping keep the bush flies and buffalo flies down as well as keeping the land fertile. 
Behaviors: 
 
Earlier we talked about behaviors differentiating each of the four kinds of dung beetles, so now I want to go into some more specialized behaviors. For example dung rollers in Africa have evolved a behavior of sitting on their dung ball and wetting their front legs with a regurgitated liquid to cool themselves down when the sands reach temperatures over 50C. This behavior is repeated more and more with elevated temperatures. 
 
Another cool behavior seen in ball rollers specifically is something called an orientation dance. The beetles will often stand atop their dung balls and do a “dance” but to me it looks more like a ground survey, turning around and looking at their surrounding before hopping off and rolling their load, and turns out this is in fact what its for. They are also known to do this sort of surveying when the ground isn’t flat because bumpy roads can easily derail the direction of a ball and dung beetles like to roll their dung balls in a straight line away from the source so as to not end up in crowded areas.
 
Why avoid the crowds? Well, dung beetles like other beetles have a habit of fighting each other, and it's much safer to avoid other beetles than risk losing your dung ball. In fact rollers actually don’t usually have horns or any large exterior weaponry because it slows them down and makes it more difficult to get away. Rollers want to get the goods and get out as soon as possible. 
 
Now continuing on the topic of navigation there is one very special dung beetle in Africa which is known to use the Milky Way! This beetle scientifically known as Scarabaeus satyrus is able to navigate even on moonless nights by orienting itself along a straight path using the milky way as a guide. It doesn’t rely on other stars or even the moon, and studies have repeatedly shown that this beetle can do it under a variety of conditions. That being said, if the sky is cloudy or there is a lot of light pollution then the beetle gets lost and can’t accurately navigate at night. 
 
Tunnelers on the other hand don’t have any navigational problems, but they do have the struggles of one on one combat, which is often why these beetles do have horns. Even the females of some species are armed with horns because they have to fight too, but for precious resources. This arms race of who has the better horns can lead to some crafty sneak tactics. A classic case of brawn versus brain comes into play with tunneler species in the genus Onthophagus which we mentioned earlier as having the strongest insect.  Males of this genus are often horned and have to fight off invading males who want to mate with a female, but some of these males have evolved to look more like females and they can sneakily enter the females den by making a backdoor while the horned males are on guard or in a battle. It was actually found that the sneaky males have greater testes than those of the horned males, because less genetic resources were placed into making a large clumsy horn.
 
Rollers and Tunnelers often form pairs when it comes to breeding. Rollers will give a dung ball to a female if he sees one and if she accepts then they both will roll it away together to start a den. Tunnelers on the other hand don’t have to travel and males will search out a female's den, and either stake it as their own or sneak in through a back door. 
Defenses and Predators: 
 
Dung beetles are often preyed upon by other larger animals like birds, mammals, reptiles and even other insects sometimes, but they don’t usually have any special techniques for saving themselves. In general their go to defense is to run away or hide, but to be fair living in or smelling like dung is already a pretty solid defence. 
 
Lore: 
 
Now let’s get back into the whole scarab beetle thing, which is to say that dung beetles belong to the scarab beetle family, and they have been viewed with great power by ancient egyptians. In fact one species called scarabaeus sacer was viewed as a sacred beetle and is found in many paintings. The image is linked to the meaning of transformation and has strong ties to the god of the sun known as Khepri. These beetles are often depicted as carrying the sun, and were believed to spawn from nothing.  
 
Before we end the episode I have some quick house-keeping news. I’ve had multiple people reach out asking me about a patreon and I am happy to announce that it is now available! All money goes into growing this podcast so I can spend more time creating new and better content for you! The link will be in the episode notes or you can find it by searching insects for fun into patreon! There are currently 5 bonus episodes for an exclusive side series, as well as a poll for the next insect, and some behind the scenes content. Now if you don’t have the funds or don’t want to commit to a small monthly fee there are other ways you can show your support, like rating and reviewing the show on any platform you listen. You can also tell your friends about the podcast or share it with other insect curious folks! 
 

The Majestic Morpho Dragonfly! (Zenithoptera lanei)

This week we are deep diving into a very special species of dragonfly known as the morpho dragonfly or blue-winged dragonfly which has some amazing abilities to protect itself from both the heat and predators. 
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Today's featured Artists: no one's perfect, sleeperame, and HM Surf
 
Transcript: 
 
Welcome back to episode 47 of Insects for Fun! The podcast where every Tuesday we talk about something Entomological. This week is another listener request from the Heartland for a special kind of dragonfly.
 
Introduction
 
The blue morpho dragonfly or morpho dragonfly scientifically known as Zenithoptera lanei is a beautiful dragonfly found within open marshes of Central America and the northern half of South America. They belong to the family Libellulidae which happens to be the largest family of dragonflies and are commonly referred to as skimmers. As the name suggests, the wings on these incredible creatures are a reflective blue just like the blue morpho butterflies but this is exclusively on the males. These dragonflies also have the same light diffracting properties as morpho butterflies, meaning these wings are not actually blue at all but get their intense color through light moving through a bunch of crystal like structures in the wings, which then bounce off and cancel out the new light hitting its surface. 
The undersides of their wings are also a completely different color similar to morpho butterflies except these insects have a mix of metallic red and Black underwings. For the most part I would say they’re Black which I guess technically is the absence of color, but this isn’t an art lesson or a physics lesson so we’re moving on     
 
Life Cycle, and food source: 
 
The life cycle of a morpho dragonfly begins like all other dragonflies with eggs being oviposited near water and go through a series of molts underwater as predatory nymphs/naiads. The Naiads for dragonflies in the family Libellulidae are more stout than others, and they also have half their face covered by the lower jaw or labium which is shaped like a spoon to capture smaller insects. In general most naiads in this family hunt down prey by camouflaging in with their background either by burying themselves into sediment or clinging on to plants and rocks. 
The adults feed on any small soft-bodied flying insects like moths, mayflies, midges, flies, and sometimes wasps, but in general many neotropic dragonfly species in the family Libellulidae avoid wasps and bees. 
In general dragonflies within this family prefer ovipositing their eggs in still water, but some will do it in streams or moving currents as well. This is not the case however for the morpho dragonfly which do in fact prefer still waters. 
 
Behaviors: 
 
These dragonflies operate during midday which leaves them with high exposure to UV and heat. Fortunately they were built for this, and actually have evolved some special traits to maneuver through the most daunting of days. 
 
The blue reflective wings actually act as heat conductors, pulling heat away from the body and diverging it through their wings. They also have another special skill which is only found in one other genus of dragonflies and that would be the ability to fold their wings vertically like a damselfly. When these dragonflies have their wings spread out it actually pulls heat away from the body, 
 
and once the dragonflies close their wings, they can begin heating their body up again by absorbing light into the deep red/ black undersides. This is why these dragonflies will flap their wings periodically while perched within their territory. Skimmer dragonflies in general have evolved many different methods for keeping themselves cool during the day because in general, most skimmers love perching on plants, twigs or other upright surfaces in or near water so they can focus on observing the open air for prey and threats.
Some behavioral adaptations seen in other skimmers to stay cool would be  
Take an obelisk posture, which literally comes from the word obelisk to mean a tall tapering pillar, and the stance is exactly like that with the dragonflies lifting their abdomen up vertically into the sky to limit the surface area receiving UVs. Another more simple method would be to simply skim over the water and lightly touch the surface to drop their body temperature. I’ve actually seen both of these behaviors many times with skimmer dragonflies. 
Skimmer dragonflies tend to be territorial, and today’s morpho dragon is especially so. Sometimes they’ll  go as far as to bite each other while in aerial combat. 
One behavioral trait noted by a research team was that males will always turn and face the opposing dragonfly with a flash of their open wings before taking off into aerial pursuit. It is believed that this is to throw the target off guard by blending in with the background to get closer without being noticed. The iridescent blue of their wings acts as a form of camouflage against the water's surface, which also helps them evade predators like birds which rely on sight.  In a separate study, scientists found that the blue on their wings actually dictates how aggressive other males will be when in their territory. The study was done in Brazil with wild caught dragonflies, and they were able to test aggression levels by literally tethering dragonflies to wooden stakes using a cotton string and then introducing them to another male. The male dragonflies used in this study were separated into two groups. One was a control group which had 55% of their wings artificially covered using a black marker that could not reflect UV, and the other had only 10% of their wings covered. 
The results found that dragonflies with less reflective blue in the presence of another male were far less likely to be engaged in battle as opposed to dragonflies that had a greater area of blue on their wings. This basically means that males rely on the color of their wings to identify the gender within their own species. 
 
Unfortunately there is not a lot of information available specifically for this species of dragonfly which is why we’re ending the episode here, but if you want more Insects for Fun don’t worry! There is currently a Youtube shorts channel which I recently started titled Insects for Fun (same logo) and I’ll put the link in the description. And! This summer I will be opening up the patreon which offers a collection of monthly bonus episodes for an entirely separate series talking about cool discoveries and noteworthy news in the world of insects among other perks.  
 

Do they actually go in your ears!? (Earwigs)

This week we are talking about Earwigs! We'll cover everything you need to know from life cycle to behaviors and urban legends including how they got their name and if there is any truth to the legends. 
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This week's featured Artists: Blue Wednesday and Purrple Cat. 
 
Transcipt:
 
Welcome to episode 46 of Insects for Fun! This week is a listener submission from my mom (gasp) wanting to learn more about earwigs! So without further ado let's get into it. 
 
Intro: 
 
Earwigs are insects in the order Dermaptera which means skin wings and refers to the leathery short forewings they have, that being said hidden underneath are a pair of beautiful wings that fold out in a spring-like fashion which is actually impossible to replicate through origami folds. I’ll add a picture to the socials so everyone can see. 
 
These insects are pretty common being found throughout the entire world except for the cold scary place in the southern hemisphere… There are around 2,000 species and 12 families of Earwigs and they all have a very distinct look which is the color brown or black with a smooth and relatively flat body, and of course the pincers or cerci that come out of the abdomen. I’m really hoping everyone here has seen one but if not I’ve got you covered on the socials. 
 
As far as these cerci/pincers go, earwigs are actually sexually dimorphic with the females having straightened ones and the males having curved ones. The reason why they have these is actually to fend off predators, help catch prey, pair with a female (in the case of males), and even compete with each other. The competing portion is also reserved for the males though, and that’s actually why they have curved cerci. Another cool fact is that males with asymmetrical cerci actually have an advantage over males with symmetrical cerci. The reason is that the asymmetry makes it easier to grip on to other things. 
 
Life Cycle, and food source: 
 
Earwigs do not have complete metamorphosis which means they go from an egg to an adult through a series of molts and have no larval stage. In general most earwigs have 5 molts before reaching their adult stage but some have 4 or 6, and their lifespan only lasts for 1 year. The time it takes for a Nymph to reach its adult stage varies on factors like food availability and temperature and of course species also play a role in this but some can go from egg to adult in a 70 day period.
 
Females can lay between 20 and 80 eggs, and this usually happens in mid to late winter and early spring with the pairing usually happening in Fall. 
 
Behaviors: 
 
Couple culture in earwigs starts in autumn as males and females begin searching for mates. Once paired the couple builds a small den around 1inch deep in the soil and they remain together until the female is ready to lay her eggs. The courtship begins when a male presents a female with his two cerci. The female has to do a taste and smell check to make sure he’s a good match which could take up to 10 min (Mkay) 
 
Female earwigs actually have maternal care despite not being a social insect, and they will watch after, protect, and care for their young until they reach their 2nd molt. These insects also make sure to feed their young with regurgitated food similar to birds. The fathers on the other hand are never in the picture, and females will actually kick them out of the nest once it's time to lay eggs. 
 
Once the eggs are laid the female then checks all of them to make sure everyone is accounted for, and if she finds anything that resembles an egg but is not she removes it from the nest. They even go as far as to clean all the eggs for the first three days to make sure no mold or fungi develop on them and she also will not leave this den even for food until all the eggs have hatched. 
 
Ecology, Defenses and Predators: 
 
Earwigs are nocturnal, and prefer to stay hidden under rocks and debris like logs and wood during the daytime. This also protects them from their natural predators which include birds, frogs, lizards, small mammals, and even other insects. As far as what earwigs eat, most of them are scavengers which will feed on anything they find edible from plant materials to other insects and even pollen in flowers! And some earwigs actually hitch rides on mammals and live off bodily excretions and dead skin. A couple examples of these earwigs would be earwigs in the family Hemimeridae which are blind, flightless and live on African rodents as well as earwigs in the family Arixeniidae which are also blind and flightless but these live on southeastern bats. 
 
In general earwigs are like antisocial insect janitors. They don’t hang out in large groups unless its to share a common space when going gets rough, like huddling together in winter under a stone or log, and they do a good job of cleaning up dead and or dying debris in your gardens and patios etc. That being said if they clean up everything or you keep things super tidy then they’ll move on to eating live plants and smaller insects like aphids etc. Their favorite fruits and vegetables are actually corn, cucumbers, strawberries, lettuce, peaches, and potatoes. 
 
You might also find these in your home because similar to silverfish these insects enjoy a dark and damp place like a cellar or bathroom maybe. They’re also attracted to lights. 
 
One more thing before we move on is that some earwig species can actually spray out a smelly liquid when threatened. I’ve never seen this, but one species that can do this is Doru taeniatum which can be found in Central and South America. 
 
Lore: 
 
Now let’s get into the good stuff and by that I mean the folklore behind earwigs including why they even have that name, and whether or not there is any weight to them entering our ears. 
 
So a long long time ago, like stone age time ago, earwigs got a reputation of entering human ears, laying eggs in there and boring into your brain causing insanity. You remember Pliny the Elder? One of, if not the first naturalist to publish information on everything, which I talked about last episode? Well, he’s even got a blurb in his natural history book saying that if an earwig enters your ear the best way to get it out is to have someone spit in it. I mean.. He’s not wrong but like, why not just put water down there instead? I think it's safe to say that back in the day people did in fact have the unfortunate experience of having earwigs crawl in their ears. Especially when infrastructure wasn’t nearly what it is today and people were sleeping on the ground or on beds made of hay, but I don’t think it was a common occurrence at all. In fact a separate belief is that earwigs actually got their name from an entomologist who believed the hindwings resembled ears when looked at up close, and then afterwards people started creating horror stories about the insects. 
 
Either way, the fact is that earwigs do not actively seek your ears and don’t even prefer your ears over anything else, and they especially will not use your ear canal as a den for their eggs. So if you’ve been told they’ll enter your ears as I’m sure many of us have at some point or other, fear not! It really is an old wives' tale that makes for a fun story. 
 
Speaking of fun historical stories, I came across another myth regarding these insects but this one is from Japan. Turns out back in the day some prefectures in the Kansai region of Japan would refer to earwigs as chinpo basami or Chinpo kiri which translates to penis pincher/cutter and the reason was because they could often be found near traditional Japanese squat toilets. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, traditional Japanese toilets are essentially urinals built into the floor. In fact some western-style toilets here have signs that say don’t stand and squat on these because the notion of sitting comfortably on a toilet was not always commonplace and still isn’t always guaranteed if you’re living in the boons.