Insects for Fun!

The North American moon moth! (Actias Luna)

This week we look at a very special giant silkmoth that comes from North America (Luna moths). The species is incredibly iconic, and there are many different meanings for it across various cultures. The best part is you can also raise them relatively easily as a pet! 
 
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Music provided by Lofi Girl with featured artist: Brillion. 
 
Transcription: 
 
Welcome back to episode 60 of Insects for fun! I wonder what we should do for episode 100… I’ve also been thinking of adding other arthropods into the mix. What do y'all think? Let me know in the comments section either on IG, FB or in your podcast player. Also when this episode is released I’ll be on a flight back to Japan from the states, so I’m currently writing this weeks in advance. Recently we have had some moon viewing stuff going on in Japan, and I figure what better time than to talk about one of my favorite moths, the Luna moth. 
 
Lunas are in the giant silkmoth family Saturniidae and the genus is Actias. There are actually quite a few species of moon moths in this genus, but not all of them are green like the well known luna. Fortunately in Japan the two different species we have are quite similar to the luna, and I’ll be trying my hand at raising one of them next summer. 
 
Actias luna have large and gorgeous pastel green wings with big fluffy white bodies, and one eye mark per wing. The wingspan can reach 5 inches across and also have long tails which only further adds to their celestial appearance. The name Luna is actually in reference to the roman moon goddess Luna, but this was not always their name! The initial name for these was actually plumata caudata which translates to feather tail, and these moths were the first American giant silk moths to be documented in literature. The name was later changed by Linnaeus in 1758. There are actually quite a few giant silk moths with mythological names like Polyphemus, Prometheus and Atlas for example, but the majority of them are brown or a variation of it. The Luna moth can only be found in North America, and not even the entire continent either. These moths chose a side and thankfully for me it was the east! You can find lunas from Canada down to Florida but they stay east of the great plains, and in Canada they’re found from southern Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia. I’ll never forget the first time I saw one, and thankfully finding them doesn’t seem to be all that difficult if you know where to go. 
 
Luna moths are quite partial to forested areas but what kind of plants they eat is dependent on their geographical location. For example the caterpillars we have in Vermont love eating Birch, but I’ve also been successful at raising them on black walnut as well. Other common hosts include Butternut, Sumac, Sweetgum in the south, Alder, Beech, wild cherry and even persimmon. The time of year to find adult moths also varies heavily by location as well and this is because warmer weather allows them to have multiple breeding seasons unlike the northern populations. In Northern Vermont we have one generation a year and our Lunas start coming out of their cocoons in late May. In the south it’s not uncommon to have 2 or three generations in a year depending on the state. Massachusetts for example is right under VT but can have a partial 2nd generation. 
 
The caterpillars are also an incredible green, and they can get pretty big. The 5th and last molt reaches a size up to 3inches or 7.5 cm and has red dots sprinkled over its back. What’s unique to these compared to other giant silkmoths is that the entire caterpillar actually turns red right before it begins making a cocoon. At least that’s been my experience but I’ve also read that some of them turn brown or orange as well. But it's not the color or the ability to change colors that makes Luna moths interesting or the moths in the genus Actias. It’s actually the tails on their wings that have attracted a lot of attention. Some species in the genus actias have tails on their wings that reach 12cm in length, and that’s just the tail section! I can’t tell you these are the only moths with long tails on their wings but I can definitely say they are one of a handful, and the reason they have these tails is to protect them from bat attacks! Bat’s rely on echolocation to find their prey, and it's one of the reasons why they fly in close quarters to people fishing in the evening. The sounds bouncing off the water from lures being whipped draws them in which can be intimidating I gotta say, and the tails on moon moths disrupt the air waves in a way that confuses bats into missing the body of the moths entirely. In fact studies found that Brown bats are near 50% more successful at hunting lunas when their tails are missing. The tails on these moths are never straight either. At the very base of these tails the wing has a slight curve which catches air in a way that changes the source location of their sounds. For example a moth with no tails is essentially a flying target because the sound originates from the body, but a moth with the tails has its sound point from further below the main body. 
 
Some people had previously questioned whether the tails were used for attracting a mate but uh ima be real with you. These moths could not care less about what their partner looks like. Some of them are so blind that they try to mate with anything. And that brings me to my second point. The female luna moths like all saturniidae release a pheromone to lure males, and half the time aren’t even looking in the direction of where males are flying in from. The males have to initiate everything after the female starts calling, so whether or not she lays fertile eggs is dependent on the health or age of the male as well as how closely related they are. Generally speaking the moths have different times of day when they start flying based on gender which is a form of control against inbreeding. Some males won’t even recognize their siblings' pheromones. 
 
Now because luna moths are relatively famous as far as insects go, there are cultural and spiritual meanings tied to the moth. One super simple one is transformation and rebirth but that’s like a copout meaning given to any insect with relevance that has multiple life stages so we aren’t gonna focus on that. The other meanings though have more to do specifically with the luna moth like inner guidance and intuition. I don’t know much about chakras but I guess a soft green color is supposed to represent the heart chakra and is connected to our ability to connect to our inner wisdom, and instincts. The other meaning which I really like connected to these moths is divine femininity. Its gentle temperament and grace links to compassion and intuition often associated with a woman’s instincts. 
 
In some native american folklore the luna moth is associated with rebirth and spiritual guidance. Similarly in celtic mythology the luna moth is associated with the fae, and is seen as a symbol of rebirth and magic. It really does seem that throughout the world and history these moths have held a special place in the eye of those who see it. 
If you would like to raise luna moths it is totally possible to get eggs or cocoons. Especially if you live in the United States, but people can order eggs and cocoons from the US in other countries as well. You just have to be mindful of the host plants you have around. If you simply google luna moth eggs or cocoons for sale you find many different people willing to sell and ship you these insects. They’re also sometimes used in elementary schools as a fun classroom pet to showcase metamorphosis. If you want the cocoons to stay dormant during the winter it’s important that you make sure the insects came from natural conditions. The amount of light they received as a caterpillar dictates whether or not they are going to diapause or sleep during the colder months, and it’s also important that you leave the cocoons outside. They need to stay synced to the natural temperatures and humidity of their environment. Some people put them in the fridge but if you do this the container needs to be air tight because they will 100% dry out and die otherwise. They don’t require much oxygen at all while they are in this state of sleep, but if you’re concerned you can open the container and give them a slight misting before putting them back in the fridge. Too much water and they will suffocate or get moldy. Also if you live in a colder climate I definitely recommend finding a vendor who lives in a similar place. You don’t want souther cocoons coming out early on you. 
 
This concludes today’s episode on Luna moths! I may come to this topic again in the future when I have more time on my hands, but for now hopefully this is enough, thank you as always for listening and if you want to support the show you can rate it and leave a review! Or if you need more insects for fun content or want to further support me and the podcast you can head over to Patreon.com/insects for fun to get bonus episodes, ad free episodes, vlogs, and some new things I’ll be working on as well. 

Secrets of the sand trap (Antlions)

This week is a listener request for Antlions! We look into how sand traps are made and what unique tactics antlions use to keep their prey from getting away. 
 
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Music from lofi girl with featured artists: HM Surf and S N U G, 
 
Transcript: 
Welcome to episode 59 of Insects for fun! The entomology podcast hosted by me is your not so local entomologist, and today we have a new listener request from a listener named Joseph out in Hungary! So without further ado let’s dig into it (animal crossing shovel noise)
 
Antlions are a group of insects in the order Neuroptera which are net winged insects like lacewings and mantidflies and we will definitely be getting to those ones at another time. But today is all about the antlion which are a group of really interesting insects in the family myrmeleontidae of which there are around 2,000! The name antlion appears to have come from the classical era which started in the 8th century before common era, as for why they got this name the most widely believed reason is simply that they prey upon ants like a lion, at least during their larval stage. The insects can be found throughout the world but prefer living in warmer climate areas, especially dry areas like dunes, sandy pine soil barrens like the beach towns in Cape Cod, barren parking lots, basically anywhere that’s got dry or sandy soil. This is not to say they can’t tolerate rain because they can, it’s just that a very rainy area doesn’t exactly pair well with the strategies many of these guys have, and if they are in a rainy place then they choose to make their tunnels underneath cover like fallen debris, trees or or man made structures. 
 
Antlions like all lacewings go through complete metamorphosis, and the larvae are predatory unlike the adults, feeding on ants as well as other small insects, but unlike a lion they don’t chase down their prey. They instead wait for their food to come to them and then take advantage of the moment. Most actually build a funnel-like sand trap and lay in wait at the very bottom. You know the giant sand monster in Star Wars? The one that jabba the hutt would throw prisoners into for fun? I think its name is sarlacc, well that crazy thing is modeled after the larva of an Antlion. OR maybe you’re a star trek fan, in that case think of ceti eel which apparently made its debut in star trek 2 the wrath of khan. 
 
The larvae burrow into the ground butt first and use their arms to fling sand and debri up and out as they form a funnel. Once the trap is made they sit and wait for ants and other insects to walk, slip or fall into their trap. They can tell something is there by feeling the vibrations in the sand using sensory hairs on their bodies which I talked about in a recent episode. These sensory hairs are pretty good and can detect movement of nearby insects that haven’t even entered the funnel trap. Once something has entered the den, the antlion larvae begin flicking sand at the target to create a small landslide, and they are very precise about this, and know exactly how much sand to flick to push their prey to the bottom. If you see videos of these online they absolutely look like sand dune monsters from a sci-fi film. But some species don’t go this far in trap creation, and prefer to stay in premade holes of trees or rocks waiting for something to walk by. Either way these insects are opportunistic feeders, and don’t go chasing down their food. To be honest I don’t think they could even if they tried based on how crazy their bodies are. Of course waiting for your food to come walking by isn’t exactly reliable, and there may be times when little to nothing comes by at all and it's for these reasons that the antlions have very slow metabolisms. They can actually go months without food which actually prolongs their lifespan. That being said, if a location really isn’t providing then the insects will move to a new location. Joseph mentions seeing this happen at the local playground he takes his son to. What’s really interesting and funny is that the larvae move backwards! They could go forward if they wanted, but it’s much easier for them to move this way because of how their body is built. In parts of the US people actually call them doodle bugs because the paths they make in soft soil look like little doodles or drawings made by someone dragging their finger around.
 
Antlions spend the most time as a larva and only pupate once they’ve reached maximum size. This will of course depend on the species but many antlion larvae max out at around ½ an inch or 1.3cm for our listeners that use the metric system. They stay in this pupa for a month's time before emerging as an adult, but the adults don’t live very long. It’s for these reasons that their lives are extended when little food is present, but the goal of an antlion is not a long life. The adults usually last less than a month with 45 days being very long lived. They do have mouths though! In fact adult antlions are another pollinator, feeding on the nectar from various flowers at night keeping our world green while the butterflies and bees are sleeping. The adults resemble a damselfly, but they have long clubbed antennae and their wings have more of a patchwork pattern which is where the order gets the name, lacewings. You probably wouldn’t encounter one though unless you have lights outside your place at night or you decide to raise one from its larval stage. 
 
But you know who has encountered them? Our friend Joseph who has managed to also raise these in captivity. He actually has a lot of experience with rearing antlions as well as studying them as a fellow insect enthusiast. Fortunately for us he has shared a lot of his knowledge with me to give to all of you listeners! Joseph used to collect antlions by first finding their trails and funnels. He mentioned that it's pretty easy to find them in areas that are covered by shade, like under slides or other structures on playgrounds. To get them out of the sand takes some careful work on the part of us, because simply digging them out with your hands is not only difficult but it could also damage them. Joseph recommends using a filter, or a small thin twig to expose them. I’ve also read online that you can use a straw to gently blow air into the funnel which can show you exactly where they are. Afterwards simply place them in a jar filled with sand. These insects are not picky about what you place them in so long as it's roomy enough. Joseph used 700ml jars, and the cool thing is these larvae will simply go about making a new funnel once moved. They really aren’t bothered by glass walls because they’re not trying to move. As for the food, he told me that these insects will in fact eat anything they possibly can, but bulkier prey items like flies etc are more packed with nutrients and make them grow faster. You can tell the larvae have created a pupae when the sand funnel loses its clean and tidy appearance. 
 
The pupae are buried within their sand pits, and are protected by a cocoon made from silk and sand mixed together. If you have one in a container at this point you will need to make sure it has something to crawl on and enough space to spread its wings. Joseph mentions that the cocoons are almost perfect spheres and are super cool to look at. He actually used a separate container specifically for these, and mentioned that if you raise more than one antlion in a jar it's very important to move the pupa out if the other is still a larva, because the larva will try to eat it… 
 
Now speaking of eating, the mouths of antlions aren’t much of a mouth at all, they’re basically slits that can’t open and close the way we eat food, so the insect must first make their prey edible. To do this the antlions inject a digestive enzyme through their large pincers, and then drink the fluids. Yum. When they finish their food it gets tossed out of the pit, and this can result in a pile of corpses. 
 
Apparently it’s not uncommon for antlions to make dense near each other, and the piles of corpses from one pit might actually help a nearby antlion that hasn’t gotten so lucky because studies show that incoming ants usually don’t fall into traps with corpses and it’s not because they aren’t interested. It’s actually the opposite! Ants will come to investigate but then wander away from the crime scene as opposed to haphazardly walking right into a den. It’s kinda cool to think that in the end the life cycles of antlions could be determined by their neighbors. 
 
Now when it comes to predators, there are different ones depending on the lifestage. Adult antlions will get eaten by birds and bats while the larvae tend to be susceptible to parasitoids, and based on findings from researchers it would appear that 3rd instar antlions are the most at risk for parasitization. It totally makes too because the larger the host is the better. Joseph also mentioned that from wild collected antlions the rate of parasitization was pretty high, basically it comes down to how young the antlion larva is when you find it. The younger the better if you want the best chance of avoiding an unwanted wasp. 
 
Thanks for listening to this episode of Insects for Fun! As always if you’re enjoying the podcast it is incredibly helpful to rate it and leave a review! If you would like to further support the show, get bonus episodes and other side content be sure to check out the show on patreon.com/insects for fun. 
Links to the IG, FB and Patreon are in the episode notes, and if you would like to send me a listener submission let me know on any of the socials or at insects for dummies@gmail.com

Natural born divers! (Predacious Diving Beetles)

This week we look at Predacious diving beetles which are some of the largest aquatic beetles in the world and uncover their methods for staying underwater, as well as what they're diving for. 
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Music supported by Lofi Girl with featured artists: cxlt, HM Surf, sleepermane, and Lofi study music. 
 
Transcript: 
 
Welcome to episode 58 of insects for fun! The weekly podcast on all things entomology hosted by me Mitchel Logan. I actually just realized recently that it’s been over a year already since starting this podcast. I genuinely can’t believe it went by that fast, but here we are! And before we get into the topic I want to thank this month's patrons Caden, Kirsty, Tina and Todd as well as all the people choosing to rate and review this podcast! 
 
If you’re a weekly listener and have not yet hit the star on spotify or dropped a review and rating on Apple it is one the best ways you can show your support for the show and helps the algorithm push it to more insect fans!
Okay, today we’re quite literally diving into a topic (badum chuck) sorry. But yeah let’s just jump into it! (splash)
 
There are quite a few different kinds of diving beetles, but today we will focus on just one family, and those would be the predaceous diving beetles in the family Dytiscidae. The family name comes from the greek word dytikos which means able to dive. With over 4000 species the diversity in this group is quite vast and they can be found in every part of the world, well, every place but one… 
 
At any rate, these beetles all have a relatively similar shape being oval or football shaped with long legs built for pushing water. The legs are usually all crammed close together as well which is different from terrestrial beetles. Oftentime they have very fine hairs on their legs too, specifically the hind ones which make them appear like long brushes or feathers underwater. It’s not easy to see these when they’re out of the water though, and yes they do fly! (wow) I actually found a really nice diving beetle in a closely related family while black lighting with a friend the other night. The vlog is available for viewing at Patreon.com/insects for fun. 
 
Predaceous diving beetles are also referred to as true diving beetles because they are indeed professionals when it comes to diving. Their body is built for it, and they can stay submerged underwater for hours at a time. It’s hard to say what their average time underwater is because each one is different. Some last 30 minutes, some last 3 hours, and apparently the longest recorded dive was 36 hours. I tried getting an exact species for this claim but was unable which makes me wonder what they actually meant by 36 hours… because the thing is these beetles store air under their elytra or outer shell, and a diving beetle can easily replenish this air by simply floating up to the surface and poking the back end of its body out. I did however find a research article stating that they can spend up to 24 hours fully submerged so who knows. 
 
One really incredible evolutionary mechanism for these would be the ability to use this air bubble as a crude gill. The bubble itself can actually replenish some oxygen from the water in the same way fish gills filter the oxygen. If you’re wondering how a bubble can do that it comes down to the size, the larger an air bubble is the more oxygen it can naturally pull from the environment, and some diving beetles are nearly 1.5 inches long and 1inch wide which for our metric listeners would be 4cm by  2.5cm.
 
So we got these beetles that are natural born divers, but what are they diving for anyway and why do we call them predacious? Beetles in the family Dytiscidae are carnivores, and they hunt anything from frogs to fish and of course other insects. They’re also scavengers which feed on sick and or dead animals at the bottom of water beds. They really are quite handy to have around! Even the larvae are predaceous and are actually referred to as water tigers! These larvae are not your traditional larvae at all and kind of look like a mix between the nymphs of other insects and ladybug larvae. They spend their days preying upon anything from tiny fish and tadpoles to other insect larvae including other water tigers. They are top predators within their niche and are known to be quite beneficial at keeping mosquito populations down! What I think is really cool about them is that they can catch prey passively by floating still near the surface and then grabbing on to anything that gets close enough. The larvae, unlike the adults, do not have elytra to store their oxygen in, and instead must rely on their elastic trachea to store the air they take in from their abdomen. 
Some species though do stay on the bottom or hunt while hiding on rocks. 
 
Predaceous diving beetles can live in many different bodies of water including brackish water which means its got some salt in it, but many of them prefer to stay on the edges or where water is still, because let's face it, trying to dive in a current doesn’t sound like a good time at all, and there’s no way a water tiger can passively catch anything if the currents are too fast. There is one species though which has evolved to live in faster bodies of water, and that would be deronectes aubei which has actually evolved tracheal gills on its elytra to pull oxygen from currents and can stay completely submerged for 6 weeks! This beetle doesn’t really look like a diving beetle either. It actually looks more like a terrestrial beetle that walked into a river and just kept going. 
 
The life of a diving beetle usually begins in the water as a female will deposit eggs either on or inside submerged plants, but sometimes eggs are laid on the surface as well. The larvae hatch and develop through the summer until they are ready to pupate, but before they do the beetles make their way to land and bury themselves in the soil. It makes sense when you think about it because as a pupa these insects have no way at all of getting the oxygen they need if they’re in the water. Even being on the water's edge is dangerous because they could be swept away. In Canada various water beetles hibernate in the winter as eggs, larvae or adults but none of them overwinter as a pupa.
 
Now let’s get into some odd facts regarding the use of these beetles in humans and some lore because thankfully we’ve actually got some this time around. Similar to the giant water bug, predaceous diving beetles are used as a food source in different cultures from Asia to Mexico! In fact species in the genus Cybister were used in tacos both pre settlement and even today! They’re also a source of fried food in China, and other Asian countries. This genus of diving beetles is also used for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Traditional Korean Medicine specifically to help with blood circulation and the treatment of polyuria which means you pee way more than normal. It's also used to help with bed wetting. I guess the beetles contain steroids, and if you didn’t know steroids are used to treat a lot of various conditions that aren’t related to building muscle mass. 
 
As for folklore, the Cherokee native americans have a story about the earth's creation that says  a water beetle came from the sky realm and when he arrived on the surface he had no place to rest because the earth was covered in water. To fix this he started bringing mud and soil up from the depths to create land. 
 
Now for my favorite fun fact, in parts of Asia they have an aquatic form of roulette that uses a dytiscid beetle as the ball. Your money literally wages on the whims of a diving beetle. 
 
If you’re left at the end of this episode thinking these beetles are really cool and wish to have one as a pet then fear not! It is absolutely possible to get yourself one of these diving beetles. Not from a pet store, but from nature or an insect vendor. In fact the University of Florida has a handy pdf dedicated to teaching you all you need to know about keeping adult diving beetles in the family dytiscidae! The TLDR is to have a tank at least 10 inches deep, de chlorinated tap water and lots of aquatic plants. You want this tank to mimic what the insects could use in nature including a large piece of wood or stone that comes out of the water for the beetle to rest on when needing to air out. Having a gravel base is highly recommended to provide more nutrients to the plants and tank. No filtration is required for these nor any specific ph parameters. They’re quite hardy animals, even more so than shrimp. They’ll happily feed on frozen blood worms which you can buy from the pet store or any wild insects you find or catch including flies etc. The tank I currently have is perfect for one of these guys, and now I’m regretting not taking home the diving beetle I found while black lighting. I would not recommend keeping fish and predaceous diving beetles together though. You never know who might kill who, and you also want a lid on your tank because as I mentioned earlier these guys can fly and this usually happens at night. 

I can’t believe they’re not wasps! (sesiidae clearwing moths)

This week I wanted to showcase an incredible family of moths that are known to mimic a variety of bees and wasps depending on the genera and species. It's not just their looks that are incredibly accurate though. It's the behaviors as well! 
 
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Music supported by Lofi Girl with featured artists: Brillion, HM Surf, Tom Doolie, and Dimensions 32 
Transcript:
Welcome everyone to episode 57 of Insects for Fun! The weekly entomology podcast covering all kinds of interesting things in the world of entomology. Today we are doing a deep dive into clear wing moths, which are quite possibly the best wasp mimics I have ever seen. 
 
Let’s start with the basics, as we always do. Clearwing moths belong to the family sesiidae, of which there are around 165 genera, and over 1,525 species in the world. There are other families, but we’re just gonna focus on this one today and to be honest it has way more species than I was expecting. That being said it's time for a quick disclaimer! I just wanna quickly remind everyone that when we dive into families that are this size, it becomes increasingly difficult to say that any one characteristic can be found within each individual. So just remember, every species is gonna be a bit different! 
 
Alright so we have this family of moths called clearwings, but what’s so special about them? Well! These moths are daytime fliers for one, and are known for their incredible wasp mimicry. And let’s not forget those clear wings for which they’re named. You see these incredible creatures have evolved to mimic a variety of different wasp species. I'm talking about everything from yellow jackets to parasitoids, and the mimicry doesn’t stop at their looks. Even the flight and sounds they produce can resemble wasps, making them scary to many people who don’t even know they exist. This kind of mimicry is called batesian mimicry which is when animals that don’t have any special defenses of their own mimic ones that do in an effort to protect themselves. I suppose you could say that the ability to mimic something scary is a special defense although once you see through the bluff they’re in trouble. This is again one of those times when I strongly suggest you check out the instagram or fb pages because I’ll be posting images of different species, and they really are incredible. 
 
For starters the wings aren’t just clear but also shaped to look like wasps with most being more slender and triangular in appearance, and as I mentioned earlier there are species which evolved to sound like the wasps and bees they mimic. This is particularly known to be the case for southeast asian species of which two were tested acoustically and found to produce sounds very similar to the bees they mimic, but different from other bees. I just can’t get over how these moths have evolved to strictly mimic individual bee and wasp species as opposed to being more general. Here’s an audio clip of their buzzing: 
 
In 2020 Thailand a new genus and species was discovered which mimics a type of parasitoid called a braconidae. Unlike other mimics which rely on colors and body shapes, this one has marks on its wings which in flight make the body appear curved in the same way as a braconid wasp. Pretty crafty I gotta say. I’ll put a picture on the IG and FB pages. 
 
Now on the other side of the spectrum there is a wasp mimic moth found in central and south america which does such an insanely detailed job that it left me staring for longer than I should have. The species is called Pseudosphex laticincta and I’m gonna put the image up of this one next to the wasp it mimics as well because man or man it is incredible. 
 
Moving along to other incredible things, the caterpillars for sesiidae moths do not feed on the leaves of plants in the same way other caterpillars do. They don’t even look like caterpillars (huh) the moths lay their eggs on host plants but the caterpillars then burrow directly into the plants, and are never seen again… until they come out of course. But yeah seriously the caterpillars don’t have color, and barely have any legs either. Some of them honestly look like wasp larvae which again is truly wild. How can something in a separate order of insects evolve to look so similar! It’s not like these moths had a conference one day (conference noises) and said you know what? Things aren’t working out for us, but those wasps? They seem to have it good, so let’s just cosplay as those guys from now on. 
 
Actually in the most recent bonus episodes available on Patreon I do dive into something which could very well explain this phenomenon, and my patrons might actually know exactly what I’m talking about if they’re up to date, but enough about that, let’s see just how similar these moths take their mimicry… 
 
So we have these caterpillars that don’t really look like caterpillars, and they seem to feed on wood, roots, and other internal plant structures which again is not what your average caterpillar does, but this type of behavior is known within wasp and bee species so that’s another point for towards professional mimicry. As for how long it takes to complete a life cycle, that varies on the species, but most of them take 1 year to fully develop.
 
The larvae are actually well known pests to gardeners and people who work in landscaping, as well as forest management. The reason is simply that the larvae often damage the plants that they infest by weakening them to the point of losing branches or even death. Although any plant which has been heavily infested by clearwing caterpillars must have been weakened already by other factors because the caterpillars alone shouldn’t be enough to kill a tree. People in integrated pest management commonly abbreviated as IPM refer to these caterpillars as clearwing borers, and the standard protocols are to first make sure the problem is actually clearwing borers. Many insects will bore into trees, especially beetles, and the treatments differ depending on the insect. Common host trees include but are not limited to Alders, Poplars, Pine, Fir, Oak, Sycamore, Willow and stone fruit trees like apricot, cherry, peach and plum. Signs of borers inside a tree are gnarled or rough looking bark patches, swelling on branches, piles of dust and waste outside a tree, and pupal cases poking out of the bark. The hallmark for clearwing borers specifically would be the pupal cases. 
 
There are other moths with clearwings by the way which cannot be mistaken for wasps, like hummingbird moths for example, and I will definitely do an entire episode on those in the future. 
 
Before we wrap up the episode I want to quickly go into one particular species which got my attention and started this entire episode. That would be the hornet moth sesia apiformis which can be found across Europe and in Britain. It’s not often we find ourselves in Europe or the UK on this podcast, but that doesn’t mean I don’t notice what’s there! (notice me senpai). Anyway this large hornet looking moth can be found in parks, meadows, golf courses, marshes, basically anywhere really, and they prefer laying eggs on trees surrounded by vegetation. 
 
This moth is really cute despite being a mimic to the European hornet, and the females act pretty similar to a giant silkmoth meaning they’re pretty docile and won’t fly until after they’ve mated. I’ll of course post a picture of this one too. 
 
The larvae for these moths feed in the roots of trees unlike the others we’ve mentioned so far, and can spend up to 2 years before pupating. Our UK listeners can probably testify that the weather isn’t exactly ideal over there most of the time, with summers historically being pretty short, and as a result the larva have been known to grow slower than others. 
 
When the caterpillars do finally make their pupae it is within the tree and these ones are one of few within the family to create a cocoon. Inside this cocoon holds the pupa which for this species are lined with rings of small spines. The spines on these pupae cling to walls of the hole they bore in the tree’s trunk and create a grip which the pupae use to wriggle their way out in mid June or July. 
 
The moth was introduced into New England before 1880 and can be found in the northeastern parts of North America with detailed records around Ontario, Canada. 
 
And with that, this wraps up today’s episode on the clearwings moths in the family sesiidae. As always I hope you enjoyed it and learned something interesting! If you are enjoying the podcast it is highly appreciated if you drop a review and rating on whatever platform you listen. It helps me know if I’m doing a good job and is social proof to people who aren’t sure if they wanna press play or not. 
 
If you would like to support the show you can find it on patreon.com/insects for fun! I’m currently editing some more video footage from some nighttime expeditions.  
 
 
 

These beetles can blast boiling acid! (Bombardier beetles)

This week we look at a group of beetles that are well known for their abilities to produce and shoot boiling acid from their abdomen! 
 
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Music supported by Lofi Girl with featured artists: HM Surf, Another silent weekend, S N U G, and Sátyr
 
Transcription: 
 
Welcome to Episode 56 of Insects for Fun! The weekly podcast covering all things entomology, and creepy crawlies. Today we are taking a look into a beetle that packs some crazy firepower in the form of boiling acid. 
 
Bombardier beetles are a group of ground dwelling beetles in the family carabidae. There are over 500 species known and can be found on every continent except for that one dark, and cold special place… Antarctica. I had to say it this time cause I have no idea if there are new listeners on this episode. But yeah these beetles are pretty much everywhere on earth and inhabit woodlands, grasslands, and even deserts! Don’t expect them to be all over arid climates though. The fact is these guys need moisture for their eggs, and they prefer an area that can provide cover during the day and water. Many are commonly found near lakes, ponds, and rivers. 
 
As for their appearance, the beetles come in a variety of colors and sizes, but the body shape is relatively similar. For example I can be pretty sure a beetle is a bombardier if the head and thorax are narrow compared to the abdomen, and the shape is similar to an upside down maraca (maraca noise). The abdomens have to be larger than everything else because this is where they store their special chemicals, but we’ll get into that jazz later.
 
In the United States there are 40 species and these all surprisingly look pretty similar. Orange/reddish bodies with their elytra being greenish blue or navy. Elytra is the term we use for the hard shells beetles have over their wings by the way. Honestly, some of the US species are incredibly stunning and I’ll have the photos as usual on the Instagram page. The average size for these guys is quite small with many people often referring to them as the size of a fingernail given you don’t have hulk hands or something. (insert angry hulk noise) 
 
Bombardier beetles begin their life as an egg in the soil, and chow down on smaller insect larvae until they reach adulthood. Some bombardier beetles will actually lay their eggs in the carcass of a dead animal because it serves as protection and a food magnet for other smaller insect larvae like maggots. The beetles go through a series of molts during the summer months until fall and then emerge from the ground in spring as an adult. Most of us would never know whether or not there are bombardier larvae around because they spend all their life buried in decaying matter feeding on other ground-dwelling animals like grubs and worms or even the decaying matter itself depending on what it is. The adult beetles are also carnivorous, but they don’t actually seek out lively prey. Instead, they patrol at night looking for weakened insects for young larvae to feed on, and once the sun begins to rise they seek shelter somewhere away from the heat and away from the eyes of potential predators like frogs and toads. The beetles prefer a solitary life during the night, but what’s interesting is that during the day they’ll hide with others, and it's been found that they don’t discriminate. Bombardier beetles actively seek out places with other bombardier beetles, regardless of the species and stay huddled together during the day. 
 
Something else which is interesting to note is that these beetles don’t use their acid spray to hunt. It’s a defense mechanism used only when encountered with a threat like a toad or frog, and yeah it does kinda seem like the only things crazy enough to try and eat one of these are toads and frogs. They also aren’t very successful at it either with around 40% of the beetles getting thrown up and walking away after the whole ordeal. 
 
So how exactly do bombardier beetles manage to create such a powerful weapon, and why aren’t they getting boiled from the inside out? As I mentioned earlier these guys have a large abdomen, and the reason is because they store two separate liquid compounds which cannot come in contact with each other until the moment of release. These compounds would be Hydrogen peroxide, and Hydroquinone. When the beetle is threatened or under attack these two liquids get released through opened valves into a special chamber at the very back of their abdomen. This special chamber holds the third ingredient required for such an explosion, a special enzyme which creates the reaction allowing the bombardier beetles to shoot out near boiling acid at incredible speeds. This acid is known as benzoquinone, and upon release reaches 100 degrees C. The beetles are known to release up to 500 micro explosions in a second, and can fire their acid canons up to 20 times before depletions. Afterwards, it can take up to 24 hours to fully recharge and the beetles caught by frogs during this recharge time have no chance of escape. This is of course where they get the name Bombardier as well, because if you didn’t know a bombardier is a person who is responsible for aiming and releasing bombs from an aerial craft. And just like the people, some bombardier beetles can aim their weapons with incredible accuracy. For example one species in Africa known as Stenaptinus insignus can rotate its abdomen 270 degrees in a swivel-like motion. 
 
Many of you are probably wondering now what happens if we get hit by this crazy spray, and the answer is a painful and memorable experience (insert sound). You won’t be severely injured or anything like that. In fact Charles Darwin actually wrote about an experience when a bombardier beetle sprayed him in the mouth! He was in the UK collecting beetles during undergrad, and got a bit too greedy. You see Darwin already had his hands full of two different carabidae beetles when he came across an incredibly rare beetle in the UK known as Panagaeus cruxmajor. Darwin did not want to lose any of his captures so he put one of the carabidae in between his teeth to free a hand. This of course was a massive mistake which resulted in him losing all three, but as we know Darwin survived this ordeal and didn’t lose anything other than what he was trying to collect that day. I have no idea why he chose his mouth of all places, did he not have pockets? What was he even doing collecting insects without a jar? Unfortunately, we’ll never get to ask him these questions. But at least he left a written tale. 
 
This concludes today’s episode! As always I hope you enjoyed it and if you are enjoying the podcast it would help me and the show a huge amount if you gave it a rating and review! These really do go a long way in boosting the show's visibility. If you want more insects for fun you can support the show on Patreon.com/insects for fun where you can get bonus episodes and vlogs as well as polls for future episodes! Links to everything will be available in the episode notes. Also! I’ve been working on the merch, and I would like your input for what kinds of items you want! So far I’ve designed a T-shirt and a Hoodie which will be available in multiple colors. If you’re a Spotify listener you can directly send me a message at the bottom of this episode on your listening app. For everyone else, you can DM me on Instagram, FB, or send me an email. Links to all the socials as always are in the show notes.  

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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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.