Insects for Fun!

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! 
 
Support the show -> patreon.com/user?u=46499107
IG: https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825
Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com
Music supported by Lofi Girl
 
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. 
Support the Show :) -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEQm507W0wBXaRL8tvT9aLg
 
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. 
Support the show :) -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107
IG:https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825
Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com
 
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.  

Insects in Medicine! (Entomotherapy)

This week we are looking at the origins and fascinating uses of insects in Medicine from an ethnic and modern approach. There are some incredibly powerful uses for insects and I think we are only getting started.
Support the show :) -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107
IG:https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825
Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com
 
Featured Artists: Ghostrifter Official, Purrplecat, and Tokyo Music Walker.
 
Transcript
 
Welcome back to another episode of Insects for Fun where every Tuesday we dive into something new and interesting in the world of Entomology. Today we’re touching upon something many of us might know very little about.. Entomotherapy… 
 
Okay so I think everyone here understands what therapy is, and if you add entomo into the mix then it of course must involve insects and I don’t know if you know but, using insects and insect extracts for medicinal purposes has been a long tradition for humankind, much like the practice of eating insects which we covered way back in Episode 2. 
 
When did it all begin? Well, according to records in Egypt the use of insects for healing was established back in 1600 BCE which is the middle of the Bronze age which is not that far from the stone age meaning civilization was incredibly simple at the time. There are also records of people in China using the Chinese silkmoth Bombyx Mori for medicinal purposes that date back at least 3,000 years. Ancient Romans and Greeks were also using insects to treat medical issues. For example, Pliny the Elder who was a roman Author and Naturalist in the first century of the common era wrote about the usage of insects for severe illness and to treat wounded soldiers in the roman empire. One such remedy was the application of honey on wool for sores and wounds. This actually makes sense because honey has antibacterial properties. 
 
On the other hand, there was also a mentality at the time that likes would cure likes. For example, to cure baldness you would use something that has little to no hair, like a fly for example and sure enough people had various fly remedies for someone that was bald or balding including but not limited to rubbing crushed flies on your head to rubbing the ashes of burnt flies or even flies with honey and this was supposed to be done for around 10 days… Another great example would be to use crickets for sore throats or earaches because crickets sing on repeat and must have properties to help restore someone's throat or even their ears because all that stuff is connected right?  
 
But aside from the old usages based on flawed logic we do have proper uses for insects in medical practices both from a traditional and modern approach so let's start taking a look at those now. 
 
First on our list would be the use of Honeybees. These insects have been used for thousands of years for treating various ailments (as we saw earlier in an example from pliny the elder) , and there is an entire subcategory for bee related therapies called apitherapy. 
 
Some of the common remedies used by bee related products include: Arthritis pain, wounds, general pain from bruises, reduce gingivitis and plaque etc. There are even some studies revealing that the chemical makeup of bee venom can actually help suppress HIV. 
 
That’s a lot to unpack and I’m gonna do my best to break it down for you starting with the use of Bee venom for arthritis pain. Bee venom therapy, abbreviated as BVT, has been around for a long long time, we’re talking ancient Greece kind of time, and for a good reason. Bee venom contains a very very long list of beneficial peptides, amines, enzymes and other good stuff which promote blood circulation, decrease inflammation and even reduce pain. In fact, one study found that the use of Bee Venom for arthritis pain can not only help reduce the need for other more traditional medications, but it also reduces the risk for relapse! But before you go outside and try to get stung you should know there are other methods for administration, like an FDA-approved shot from a medical professional. 
 
Bee venom along with its main component mellitin actually has inhibiting effects on cancer cell growth for prostate cancer as well as anti-tumor growth properties for breast cancer cells, cells in the liver, lung, melanoma, and even cancerous cells in the blood. But we still have a ways to go before we see bee venom in the treatment for cancers because these properties have yet to be harnessed for targeting specific cancer cells. 
 
Now let’s look at some other insects from a medical perspective. On the topic of cancer (yikes) we have another insect that actually acts like a drug dog but specifically for finding cancerous cells! This would be the Fruit fly. Yup, these tiny annoying flies can actually sense cancer cells with their antennae and they’re kind of really good at it, being able to detect cancer cells in very early onset and they’ve even been found to differentiate between 5 different types of breast cancer cells. It’s even more wild though, because as it turns out these flies are very easy to modify genetically, and people have actually engineered these flies to glow different colors upon sensing cancer cells! That’s insane. 
 
Moving along on the fly train let's now look at what maggots can do for us, and just so we are all on the same page, a maggot is the term used for fly larvae.
Okay, let's get into it.
Maggots have been used in the medical world for a long time, and there is actually a term specifically for this kind of treatment called maggot debridement therapy or MDT. This kind of therapy was found to be extremely beneficial during WW1 when having open wounds and rotting flesh was not uncommon on the battlefront. In fact, they are still approved for use to this day in many countries around the world and here’s why! 
 
Maggots feed on decaying matter, and in this case that would be necrotic skin tissue, and they have no interest in feeding on anything else when it comes to the human body. They also can eat and kill bacteria like E. coli and have other antimicrobial properties which ward off bacterial infections. They are also proven to reduce inflammation of wounds and even improve wound healing by promoting the production of special cells in our bodies called microvascular endothelial cells! Maggots actually have multiple secretions which are antibacterial and antifungal, and the use of maggots for the treatment in antibiotic-resistant wounds is making a comeback as we enter a time when people are beginning to become resistant to certain antibiotic medicines. 
 
Last on our list today will be ants! Similar to bees, these insects have a lot of beneficial properties and they have been used in treatments for Asthma, Cancer, Arthritis, and other infections in both modern and ethnic medicine! 
This is because ant venom is similar to bee venom, and contains a bunch of handy antimicrobial agents and peptides. 
 
Not all ants have what it takes to be a form of treatment or aid in the medical world, but there are many ant species out there and we are only just really starting to dive into discovering what is available to us. Many people have been using ants as treatment purely from passed down knowledge, especially in ethnopharmacology and some examples for that would be the use of leaf cutter ants in Brazil to treat sore throats, ease asthma, help tuberculosis, and help ease tendinitis. 
 
Other examples would be the use of giant black ants and leaf cutter ants as biodegradable and antibacterial sutures for internal surgeries in India. It’s pretty smart actually and I know wilderness explorers also use this tactic for stitching wounds when medical facilities aren’t available. This might sound archaic and questionable to some or all of you but the fact remains these ants have extraordinary healing properties and scientists and medical professionals today are now really looking into and using extracts from various ant species in the remedies for modern medical issues. 

The American born Chinese Mantis! (Tenodera sinensis)

This week we look at the Chinese mantis, how they got to America, what they do in the wild, and facts on how to care for one yourself! 
Support the show :) -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107
IG:https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825
Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com
 
Featured Artists: HM Surf, Sátyr, Phlocalyst, towerz, and brillion. 
 
Transcript:
 
Welcome back guys to episode 44 of Insects for Fun! This week I realized we had another listener submission that was hidden in an apple podcast review! So today we will be talking about a well known insect for a family in the Heartland! 
 
Intro: 
 
The Chinese mantis scientifically known as Tenodera sinensis is a very large mantid native to Asia, but! This one can also be found within the United States which I briefly mentioned in episode 3 of this podcast. Today we’re gonna really look at and learn all about this specific species including how it got into the US.
It all started back in 1896 when a plant nursery worker in Mt. Airy Pennsylvania accidentally released the Chinese mantids into the nursery. Now how exactly they even got the Chinese mantis I’m not sure, but it’s believed that they came in a shipment of plants from China. Some sources online say this was actually purposeful but I genuinely believe this one was not intentional because not long after the European mantis was introduced to help control pest insect populations. 
This chinese mantis is actually the largest mantis species within the US  reaching a max length up to 5 inches, but most commonly are seen around 11 cm or 4 inches. They are often a mix of brown and green, but individuals can be entirely green or light brown as well. These similar to others are sexually dimorphic with the males being incredibly slim and the females having a wider body. Some people actually confuse the males with stick insects, but you guys wouldn’t do that… right?    
 
Life Cycle, and food source: 
 
The life cycle for a chinese mantis begins like all mantises with something referred to as an ootheca. This is a large egg case which females can spend between 1 to 5 hours laying depending on the size. 
Some of you might be thinking the process is similar to chickens laying an egg, but that giant mass is not pushed out like childbirth or the eggs of birds and reptiles. This mass is produced carefully the way a skilled employee fills a cone with a soft serve ice cream machine... Did I just ruin ice cream? Moving on! 
 
So we now have this hardened yet soft and fluffy looking egg case called an ootheca, and yes the chinese mantis ootheca does look strangely soft and fluffy compared to other species. Once the process is complete the eggs remain safe inside this casing for the duration of winter (if you live in a place with cold winters) and the young mantises hatch in spring. If the ootheca was laid in a warmer climate than you can expect eggs to hatch in around 10 to 15 days provided the weather is warm and relatively humid. 
 
It usually takes a full summer for these to reach adulthood but the growth rate is dependent on temperature and food availability. In the more southern ranges of its habitat the nymphs can reach adulthood by the end of July. 
 
A really interesting trait that's been documented in this specific species is the ability to lay fertile eggs without breeding. I’m not sure how common this is, but I do know it's been published, and some people on Reddit have also talked about this happening with their pet Chinese mantids. I also know as long as the female is well fed she can produce up to 7 ootheca in her life, and if she does mate with a male then his contribution will last for the rest of her life.
 
The Chinese mantis will feed on just about anything much like other mantids, and this of course includes hummingbirds. Actually, because this mantis is the largest in North America (for now)™ they are the most capable of hunting down larger vertebrate animals like lizards and birds. 
 
Behaviors: 
 
In general these insects are docile. Some sources might tell you they are aggressive, but aggression usually occurs in the females during mating season, and they are pretty content hanging out wherever there’s food. They won’t move around much unless they have to. That being said, they will eat each other if they are overcrowded or if limited food is available, so if you keep them as pets you should not have them together in one enclosure. 
The females are also pretty notorious for eating the males during or after mating, so if you have pet Chinese mantids and want to breed them it is highly recommended you keep the female very well fed prior to pairing them, and then immediately separate the male once they finish. 
 
Defenses and Predators: 
 
Okay let’s talk about predators because of course these insects have them just like anything else, and actually the predators include some larger sized animals of their prey, like birds for example! But there is one predator I did not discuss in my first episode on mantids, and that would be the Giant Asian Hornet. Yes, in the native range for the Chinese mantis these do indeed get killed by giant hornets, and here’s how. In late summer and early fall, the giant hornets begin searching for high-protein food sources. This usually results in coordinated attacks on honey bee hives as mentioned in episode 14 of this podcast, but! The wasps will also target other large and solitary insects like the Chinese mantis, and all it takes is one giant hornet to get the job done. She stings the mantis injecting a heavy dose of toxins and then proceeds to decapitate the mantis the same way they do for honeybees. Giant hornets use the bodies of these insects as food sources for their young. There was a video in 2020 showing a mantis killing a giant asian hornet, but the hornet was actually hit with an anesthetic before filming so uh… not exactly a fair fight. 
Lore: 
 
And speaking of fighting,
Did you know that there are actually two different styles of martial arts dedicated to the movements of the Chinese mantis? 
They are both referred to as praying mantis kung fu but have different origins. The first is Northern originating from the Shandong province, and the second is Southern coming from the Hakka people of southern China. Since their creations, there have been many branch-off styles commonly referred to as mantis boxing.  
 
Pet information:  
 
Before we end the episode if you would like to try raising a Chinese mantis for yourself it is totally possible to purchase these from online vendors or even find them for sale at plant nurseries. These mantids are commonly used as a natural form of biocontrol to keep unwanted insects out of your gardens, but it's kind of a double-edged sword because they’ll kill off both the good and the bad. 
 
If you choose to keep one in your home, some good practices would be to keep the temperature around 70 to 85F or 21 to 29C, but having the temp drop to 17C or around 60F at night isn’t a big deal. It’s only if the temperature stays within the low 60s or lower throughout the day that this becomes an issue. The enclosure also needs a light misting periodically so the mantis can drink from water droplets. The enclosure ideally would be 3 times the height and 2 times the length of the mantis with a ventilated/screen top or some other form of ventilation.
 

The wild world of Velvet Worms!

On this week's episode we look at the animal that bridges the gap between worms and insects. Velvet worms are incredibly unique for a number of reasons and in this episode we cover everything you'd want to know about why these worms are so cool. 
Support the show :) -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107
IG:https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825
Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com
 
Featured Artists: Jordy Chandra, S N U G, Purrple cat
 
Transcript: 
 
Welcome back everyone to another Tuesday where we dive into something Entomological, except today is a little different (insert sound effect). We have a listener submission from Owen out in England wanting to learn more about the Velvet Worm, and after seeing them I wanted to learn more too. 
 
Velvet worms are in the class called udeonychophora which are worm-like and caterpillar-like animals from an ancient time that still exist today! Their appearance has changed very little over the past 500  million years, and they are considered to be a link between arthropods and annelids. For those that need a recap, annelids are worms. 
 
Anyway, there are about 230 known species for these fellas and those are divided by two families. Unfortunately for many of us, finding these animals is not an easy feat. because they’re only found in sporadic geographic locations. For example the family Peripatidae can be found from Central America to the bottom of Brazil, and select countries in the east like one island of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and one country in Africa, and the other family known as Peripatopsidae can only be found in New Zealand, Papa New Guinea, select parts of Australia, one location in Chile and Lesotho South Africa. If you’ve ever seen one in real life and have a cool story about it, definitely hit me up on IG or FB cause I wanna know about it. 
 
So these not-quite worms and not-quite arthropods are super cute, and they have some interesting features as well. So let's jump into the description but pictures of course will be available on the IG and FB page (links to those in the description). 
 
Velvet worms have a segmented body, but it's long and cylindrical with stubby appendages called oncopods or lobopods which they use to traverse their environment. 
Think of these worms as like a cross between a soft caterpillar and a centipede but with max cuteness. The average length for these is around 5cm or 2inch but they can be as long as 20cm or 8inch and as short as 0.5cm or 0.2 inches, and they come in a variety of crazy colors like blue, red, orange, gold, blue AND orange, I mean seriously what more could you want.  
 
The heads have two antennae and two simple eyes (unless a blind species), and a circular mouth that sits belly side of the head and as a result you would never know they had a mouth unless it lifts its head.
The amount of feet these worms have is dependent on the species, 
 
but a really unique feature for all of them would be the hard chitin claws they hide within these soft stubby feet. 
 
This is actually where the name Onychophora comes from because the ancient Greek means claws. Don’t worry though! These claws have one purpose only and that’s to help them stand their ground while crawling around. These claws actually have 3 layers to them and fit inside each other like Russian nesting dolls, and the outermost layer can be shed.
 
They also have two pairs of claw-like mandibles hidden in their mouths. One is more external and the other is further back. The external ones move purely through muscle usage but the internal ones move through hydrostatic pressure. In fact, the whole body gets its locomotion from hydrostatic pressure changes. Now for us non engineer people, hydrostatic pressure refers to the pressure a liquid creates on the outer edges of a confined space. This is where blood pressure gets its name from. 
 
As for why these worms are called velvet worms has to do with the soft and velvety texture of their bodies. The skin of these worms is covered in small bristles known as papillae which are sensitive to both touch and smell. We have papillae too, on our tongues, which for us are used to taste, and grip food. The papillae on velvet worms are actually covered in small scales of chitin and this is actually water-repellent as well. Despite the skin being water-repellent and very elastic it does have a problem, and that would be the inability to control when water escapes the body, and as a result, these worms need to live in areas that have high levels of moisture which explains their very sporadic geographic range. 
 
Now I wanna backtrack a bit about the claw-like mandible, because as it turns out these cute worms are not very cuddly. In fact, they are quite ferocious, and prey upon smaller invertebrates like spiders, woodlice, beetles, and termites. One species even hunts in a group like a pack of wolves. As for how they can even catch the prey, that comes down to their special slime glands on either side of the head. You see, kinda like spider-man, these worms can eject threads of sticky slime and they use this to trap prey and halt predators.
 
The worms can’t directly aim the strands of slime though, and instead rely on the fact that the speed of ejection causes the glands to inflate and rotate creating a spiral of sticky goo that can ensnare prey and predators from up to 2 feet away. It gets even crazier though because the slime itself is fast drying, and hardens causing the targets to freeze in their tracks. The entire process is also extremely fast happening under a second. 
 
The worms are not very well equipped at sight though and it really doesn’t do them any favors that they primarily feed at night too. Because of these reasons they rely on vibrations in the air, and once a prey item is located they actually sneak up and poke it repeatedly for extremely brief moments to try and analyze the size and whether it's worth it or not. The worms start their hunts around dusk and continue until dawn, at which point they need to retreat and find a moist shady place to hide. That being said, if its a rainy day then it is possible for them to do their thing during the day. 
 
Earlier I mentioned that one species hunts in packs and I wanna dive into that a bit, because the specifics on it are kinda wild. The species is called Euperipatoides rowelli and it's found in Australia! This species holds a matriarchy lead by the most dominant female. Essentially hierarchy is formed by females annoying each other by poking and prodding with their antennae. The female who can tolerate the most. This species lives together in groups up to 15 individuals, and the larger the group the faster the foraging is completed. Feeding is prioritized by rank, so the head female gets first dibs and feeds alone followed by the other females, males and the young in that order. 
 
When it comes to reproduction, almost all the species reproduce sexually, which means there is a need for males and females. They are also sexually dimorphic with females usually being larger than males. By far the most interesting details about their reproduction are in the methods that different genera use. For example in the genus peripatus, males will actually leave a package of sperm known as a spermatophore on the back or sides of a female and then Amoebocytes from the female's blood actually collect at that location and break down the skin wall and sperm package allowing its contents to be absorbed into the body. That’s insane! Another wacky method would be the use of head structures to deposit spermatophores into females which can be seen with Australian species. Traditional copulation doesn’t seem to be a commonality for these worms, but then again, these velvet worms are far from normal. 
 
When it comes to giving birth the females have three different strategies. 
 
The first is your standard egg laying which actually only occurs in the family Peripatopsidae and this also happens to be the more primitive family as well. 
 
The second and most widely used strategy is known as ovoviviparous and this refers to the process of incubating eggs within the body until they are ready to hatch! 
 
And last but not least some velvet worms do indeed give live birth! This occurs in both families but seems to be more restricted to areas that provide a stable climate and food source year round. 
 
The amount of offspring a velvet worm can produce in their lifetime caps at around 23, and they only mate once! In fact, because they only mate once for the entirety of their life, they have special organs dedicated to storing sperm, and some females can mate before sexual maturity and just store the sperm until they’re ready to reproduce. 
 
Now before we end today’s episode there is some hope to those of us who would like to see one in the flesh, because as it turns out these worms can be purchased as pets online or even in certain pet stores. If you wanna try your hands at keeping one of these wild worms I’d certainly recommend it as they are very cute, and easy to care for. The lifespan for these can last up to 6 years, and based on the size of the food and worm they only need food once per week or per every four weeks. 

This stick is walking without me! (Australian Spiny Stick Insect)

This week we are looking into one of the most popular stick insects around the globe! The Australian spiny stick insect happens to make a great pet and teaching tool, and it's got quite a few tricks up its sleeve. 
Support the show :) -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107
IG:https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825
Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com
 
This week's featured artists: Mitchel Logan and Blue Wednesday.
 
Transcript: 
 
It’s Tuesday! Or Monday for some of you and that means it’s time to talk about a cool insect with me as your host. We have another listener request episode this week from Chantelle out in Australia, and with that let's begin episode 42.
 
Australia's spiny stick insect is scientifically known as Extatosoma tiaratum, which translates to Ecstatic-bodied tiara! Quite the dainty name for something that looks monstrous to many. This big stick insect is native to Queensland and New South Wales which are both on the east coast of Australia, but because they happen to be easy to raise, and docile, these insects have been shipped around the world and used in various museums and educational facilities. I’m not saying they can be found in the wild around the world, but escaped populations might exist in Australia’s neighboring islands like New Guinea for example. 
 
These insects go by many names like Australian Walking Stick, Spinies, Macleay’s Spectre after the naturalist William Macleay who described them, Spiny stick insects, and spiny leaf insects. Now you might be confused about why it goes by both leaf and stick insects and I’m gonna clear that up right now.
Stick insects and leaf insects are terms for two different body shapes of insects in the order Phasmatodea, and as such are also divided by their family name. Leaf insects in the family Phylliidae are typically very flat and look like leaves while stick insects in the family Phasmatidae are usually more twig-like. Today’s spiny stick insect is indeed a stick insect within the family Phasmatidae, BUT! The females have a pretty ambiguous body shape that makes them look as if they could be a leaf insect too. And yeah I’m specifically talking about the girls here because this insect is sexually dimorphic which means males and females are pretty different. The females for this species are longer and a bit more thicc. They also have leaf-shaped arms with very small wings. The males on the other hand are thin with very long wings, and their legs do not widen out to the same leafy extent as their counterparts. 
I think the females are actually the most commonly photographed as well, but I’ll put pictures of both sexes up on the socials. 
 
So as I mentioned earlier these insects are very popular as both pets and exhibit insects for museums, and as such there is a wealth of knowledge about how to raise them and what they eat. Wild populations are known to feed on Eucalyptus, but they can also eat brambles like raspberry bushes, oak, and rose bushes as well. In fact, most domestic populations are raised on rose or berry bushes, because Eucalyptus isn’t exactly easy to get outside of Australia. 
 
The life cycle begins as an egg 2mm in length which is like the tip of a lightly used crayon, how do I know that? Because that’s what Google sensei told me. Anyway, here's where things get crazy. The eggs look like calico brown seeds, and not just to humans. 
 
Female spiny stick insects actually flick their eggs on the ground so that ants from the genus Leptomyrmex will take them home and keep them safe until they hatch! It gets even wilder because the seeds actually have a small plug called a capitulum that’s edible for the ants with no consequence to the stick insect. This is mimicry to the extreme to the point where the eggs even smell like ant food. I have no idea what that would be exactly but what I do know is that the ants keep these eggs in their homes until they hatch, which is a long time by the way. Like over 6 months of time and sometimes two years. The time it takes is dependent on the conditions of its environment. For example, dry and unsuitable weather might cause the egg to remain in this state for longer as opposed to a warm and relatively humid environment. Upon hatching these first instars actually resemble red-headed spider ants which also happen to be the ants which housed them.
 
After the stick insects hatch they begin their ascent into trees of host plants. In most wild cases that would be Eucalyptus. These small nymphs go through 5 molts if they are males and 6 molts if they are female with each one looking very much like a stick or dried leaves. Something really cool is that if a stick insect loses a leg while it is still a nymph, that leg will actually grow back in the next molt, just not as long as the original. That being said, if it's already an adult and loses a limb then it’s gone for good. In regards to their molting, these insects actually need to hang upside down on something for the best chance of having a clean molt. Their bodies are pretty big with females reaching a length of 20cm and as a result they rely on gravity to help them slip out. 
 
In the wild, these insects are preyed upon by birds, but they do a pretty good job at mimicking their surroundings. They even go as far as to sway their bodies like branches or leaves in a tree. One study actually looked at whether or not wind triggers stick insect body sways, and the answer was yes it does! 
 
Aside from blending into their surroundings, these stick insects do have some other methods of warding off predators. Both males and females if threatened will strike a pose that mimics scorpions by curling their abdomen up and elevating it by standing only on their front four legs. Males can also flare out their wings and both are able to release a defense odor that to us has a kind of toffee smell, but to other animals is gross, unless you don't like toffee. They also cross their hind legs in a defensive position to protect their backs. These insects are all bark and no bite though which is another reason they make great pets and educational tools for learning about insects. 
 
If you are interested in raising some of these yourself it's really not that complicated. You simply need a large enclosure with adequate air flow, and a heating source if you live in places where it gets colder than 16C or 60 degrees F in your home during the year. When it comes to food most people will take cuttings from raspberry, blackberry, rose or other known host plants and place them in a vase or jar with water. 
 
You need to be careful though, just because they can eat any of these plants does not mean the insects you receive will. Just like people, they have their individual preferences, so using what the parents were raised on is a good place to start since that is what they are genetically predisposed to wanting. 
 
These insects have a lifespan of 1 year in the wild but up to 2 in captivity. They are also a gift that keeps on giving because the females can lay up to 1000 eggs in their lifetime and they do not need a male for fertilization. The Australian spiny stick insects are parthenogenic which means that the females can produce viable eggs that are clones of herself! This is something I went into detail on in episode 26 with the web spinners so I’m not gonna say much more other than If you take good care of your sticks then you’ll never not have any. 

Toe Biters! The beasty bugs of our fresh waters (Giant Water Bugs)

This week we are diving into giant water bug territory! Literally and figuratively... this bug has many names like toe biter, water scorpion, water cockroach etc and you will learn all about why that is and just what kind of bug this is. 
Support the show :) -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825
Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com 
 
Featured Artists: HM Surf, Sleepermane, Sátyr and Phlocalyst
 
Transcript: 
 
Welcome to episode 41 of Insects for Fun! I shouldn’t be surprised that I’ve been able to keep this up for so long but I am. Anyway, summer is officially in the air for many of us around the world and I thought what better way to ring in the season than with something crazy. So… here we are! 
 
This week we are talking about Giant Water Bugs, also known as water scorpions, water roaches, Toe Biters, electric light bugs, and to Floridians, Alligator ticks or Alligator fleas. We’ll get into some of the names later, but right now I want to get into some basics. 
 
Giant water bugs are a freshwater Hemipteran in the family Belostomatidae. In other words, they are indeed true bugs as the name suggests and include the largest true bug period. The species which holds the Guinness world record for the largest water bug and therefore largest true bug goes to a South American species known as Lethocerus maximus. This giant water bug has a maximum length of around 4.5 inches or 11.5 centimeters and can be found in Venezuela and Brazil, but to be honest I think there are larger individuals out there. Water bugs are found throughout the world minus Europe and the Poles but as it turns out, most are found in the Neotropics which explains why the largest comes from South America. 
 
These bugs like other bugs are hemimetabolous which means they do not have a larval stage, and they are also predators upon hatching, targeting anything they can get their raptorial arms on. In fact, waterbugs can target prey that is 50 times their size! Yes, that includes fish, frogs, snakes, small birds, turtles and even muskrats! They’re basically an aquatic mantis. 
 
I actually have a personal story regarding this one. When I was a kid I was collecting tadpoles one time to raise into frogs, and I had them in this big glass bowl with pond water, pond dirt as sediment and plants etc, but over time I felt like the number of tadpoles was decreasing but I knew there’s no way they would eat each other. Then one day I saw the arms of a water scorpion come up out of the pond muck and grab a tadpole! After I saw that I realized that I had to remove it fast or the rest of my frogs would be goners. Once I removed it everything was fine, so make sure to check what you collect thoroughly if you’re netting stuff from a pond! 
 
How these bugs feed is by piercing prey with their stylet mouth and then sedating them with poisonous saliva which turns the prey's insides into goop. They really are swamp monsters or in this case vampires… I’m very glad we don’t have anything like that capable of getting us because I don’t think I could go swimming in reservoirs again… 
 
Some people have had the unfortunate experience of getting bit by these from stepping on one and the bite is definitely unforgettable. I fortunately have avoided them so far so I can only speak for others, but it seems that the pain is extreme, and will cause swelling and this is where some of the names like toe biter, and alligator tick come in.
 
These bugs also have some crazy methods for staying underwater. One is to breathe air from a straw-like appendage on their abdomen. Think of looney tunes or something where the character is hiding underwater and breathing out of a straw, but this bug does it from its butt. (Mkay). This is actually why sometimes you’ll see them at an angle with the tip of their abdomen at the surface. That’s not their only technique though. Giant water bugs will also store air bubbles under their wings and have that oxygen slowly diffuse into their body. And yeah I did say wings! 
Which brings us to where they get the name electric light bug. 
 
Giant water bugs happen to be attracted to light, and because they are capable of flying, people can find them near light fixtures that you would otherwise never expect to find one at. Water bugs will actually fly in search of new ponds or water sources when spawning and this happens from spring through fall. In colder wintering places these bugs bury themselves deep into the mud to escape freezing temperatures and stay dormant until spring comes back again. 
The parental strategies for giant water bugs actually vary depending on the genus, but in both cases the males are always the one left with all the parental duties.
Female giant water bugs in the genus Belostoma lay their eggs on the backs of males, and Females in the genus Lethocerus lay eggs on aquatic plants. Females of both genera actually sabotage each other's eggs though by removing them off whatever they’re on and replacing them with their own eggs. Talk about petty behavior. Meanwhile, the males continue to do what they do best which is making sure the eggs survive and hatch. They even go as far as to fan the eggs using their legs to make sure they get adequate oxygen and water flow. 
 
So Giant Water Bugs might not be the cutest things to exist or the most loved, but they do have a purpose, and that is to keep freshwater ecosystems in check. These big bugs are doing hard work in ponds, and creaks by controlling populations of mosquitoes, snails, mollusks, midges and other critters that might have massive population booms if left untouched. 
 
They are also a relatively commonplace food source for people in Southeast Asia where they can be eaten, raw, fried, or cooked/boiled. In Thailand they’re referred to as ma-lang-da-na and they are caught using nets and light traps. It’s also apparently a lot more common to get bit or attacked by these if you’re wading in rice paddies… 
 
The common predators for giant water bugs are actually larger animals of their prey like birds, bass, and bullfrogs for example. One of their best defenses is their natural ability to camouflage and quickly hide in mud or plants. The body of these bugs looks like a leaf that’s been soaking in the water too long so it's not easy for us to find them either. Now if that doesn’t work their second line of defense would be to play dead, but this mostly an out of water tactic. For example, if we see one and pick it up or start messing with it then it just feigns death to get us to move on. Probably works well if a cat finds one.
 

Everythin’s Bettah with a Wētā! (Wētās)

Wētās are the largest crickets on earth and are all native to New Zealand! In fact, most of them are endemic which means they can't be found anywhere else. There are five different kinds of wētās: Giant wētās, Tree wētās, Cave wētās, Ground wētās, and Tusked wētās, and this episode takes a look at all of them. 
Support the show :) -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107
IG: https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825
Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com 
 
Featured Artists: HM Surf, Soundroll, mell-ø, kidcut, and cxlt. 
 
Transcript:
 
Welcome to Episode 40 of Insects for Fun! This week we have another listener request from a listener named Jamie out in New Zealand! Jamie reached out wanting to share a special group of insects found only in New Zealand, and today we are going to dive right into all the wacky facts about insects known as Wetas. 
 
Weta is the common name for a group of giant flightless crickets found only in New Zealand! There are approximately 100 species of Weta and they are split between two different families. The first family is Anostomatidae and the second is Raphidophoridae. I’m not saying crickets within these families can’t be found in other parts of the world, but what I am saying is that the 100 species that are referred to as Wetas cannot with the exception of a few species that made their way to Australia.
Jamie also informed me that Weta without the macrons means filth in Te Reo Maori which is the native language of New Zealand.
 
There are five kinds of Weta in New Zealand and I’m going to talk about all of them! There are the Giant wētas, Tree wētas, Ground wētas, Tusked wētas and Cave wētas. 
 
The first and most famous wetas would be the giant wētas with the largest species known as Wetapunga or Deinacrida heteracantha. The genus Deinacrida actually means terrible grasshopper which I think is funny considering how they really don’t do anything bad, and the name wetapunga translates to god of ugly things. They really just can’t catch a break I guess. This weta can reach a length of 100mm or 4 inches and weigh up to 70 grams! This is not the average weight though, I believe on average these insects weigh around 30 grams which is still a lot! Heavier than most sparrows in fact. Fortunately, this is a gentle giant, and feeds mainly on foliage though it will sometimes feed on smaller insects as well. It’s favorite food seems to be native plants with large leaves like the karaka, karamu, mamangi, mahoe, and kohekohe. Wew feels like I’m back in Hawaii. 
 
There are 11 species of Giant wētas and for the most part they look like really big camel crickets, but with a less arched back. They definitely are not like your average field or house cricket but they are nocturnal and spend their mornings and afternoons hiding under fallen palm fronds, ferns, or other large plant debris. In the night these critters come out from hiding to feed in trees or scavenge the ground. 
 
These crickets used to be found through Northland, Auckland, and the great barrier island, but have only been able to survive on little barrier island due to habitat degradation and exotic animals hunting them. Now many of you probably don’t know exactly what it means on a map so I’m going to do my best to explain it. New Zealand is an island country off the southeast coast of Australia, but it actually has two main islands. The north island and the south island. It’s kind of similar to Japan actually in terms of Hokkaido being the north island and Honshu being the south island of New Zealand. Now on this northern island of New Zealand the very north tip is called Northland, and right below that is Auckland. To the east of Auckland in the Ocean there are two Islands. The great barrier island and the little barrier island. For a long time these giant Weta have only been living on the little barrier island, but now thanks to breeding projects in Auckland, the giant wēta is being reintroduced to the northern island of New Zealand! In 2020 Wētapunga were actually reintroduced to Northland which was the first time they had been there in 180 years!
 
Now that you have an idea as to their distribution let’s get into the life cycle of these chungus crickets. These wēta reach adulthood in around 2 years, they’re a very bulky and large cricket and eggs are laid sporadically for many species between October and December with their life cycles not really reliant on seasons. That being said, the eggs of Wētapunga will stay dormant through winter if laid in the fall. It’s generally agreed upon that giant weta go through at least 10 molts before reaching adulthood. 
 
A really cool fact is that these giant bugs actually filled the role of rodents before land mammals arrived. They have an ancient history with New Zealand that dates back 190 million years which is around 100 million years before mammals appeared here. (WOW)
 
Now let’s get into Tree wētas! These are in the genus Hemideina and as you might expect are mostly arboreal which simply means they live in the trees! They like to occupy holes in trees which in the insect world are referred to as galleries. You might notice a trend with that word and it's safe to say that tunnels created by or used by insects are almost always referred to as galleries. Anyway, these wēta like to hide during the day in their trees and come out at night to feed on leaves, fruits, and other smaller insects. These ones can be found throughout New Zealand except for southland and lowland Otago. 
 
There are 7 species of tree weta and these insects are social with males often having a harem of up to 10 females. These harems are usually hidden within a hole or crevice of a tree, and males will often fight each other to gain control of them. Male Tree wētas actually have larger heads than females with strong jaws which they use to headbutt and fight each other. You ever see two dogs trying to one up each other by opening their mouths as wide as possible and clashing heads? Well, think of it like that but instead of doggos it's big crickets. 
 
Tree wetas are not as large as the wētapunga, but they are still larger than your average cricket with their size ranging from 4 to 6 cm or 1.5 to 2.3 inches. They also have large spikes on their hind legs which when brushed against the spikes on their abdomen create a loud rasping noise. 
These wēta will lift their hind legs in a menacing way if threatened to make themselves appear larger, and upon lowering they create their warning calls. 
 
Before we move on to the next group of Wetas there is an honorable mention for the tree wetas which goes to the mountain stone weta or Hemideina maori. This tree weta no longer lives in the trees, and has actually evolved to use crevices and other rocky hideouts in their alpine habitat. These weta can be found in the southern alps of New Zealand at elevations of 1100 to 1500 meters. Now because these insects have adapted to a colder environment they can actually survive being frozen solid. They are the world's largest insect capable of this, and maybe unsurprisingly they have a very long lifespan as well, up to 8 years. Sometimes it takes 4 years just to reach sexual maturity because the climate is so rough. 
 
Now if you don’t like the cold and harsh alps but want to see one of these you can also find them at lower elevations on the islands of Mou Waho and Mou Tapu in Lake Wanaka, which is a very large lake in southern New Zealand. 
 
Next up on our list would be the Ground wētas! There are over 30 species of ground weta believed to be in New Zealand, and they are all in the genus Hemiandrus. These wēta live in holes or under rocks and moss and can be found throughout New Zealand on both Northland and Southland as well as some offshore islands and even in Australia.
 
These wēta do not have ears on their legs the same way other wetas do, and as a result, don’t communicate through sounds in the air. They actually drum their bellies on leaves of shrubs and ferns or other substrates which can easily transmit vibratory morse codes. These weta are usually on the smaller side when compared to others with the smallest having an adult length of 7mm and the largest being 30mm or 1 inch in length. These ones really do resemble camel crickets but without the hunched back. 
 
Ground wetas are omnivores which feed at night on fruits or smaller insects. The females usually have long ovipositors but some species don’t which make them difficult to differentiate from the males. This is actually where the genus name Hemiandrus comes from because Hemiandrus translates to half male. 
 
Cave wetas are 60 or species within the family Raphidophoridae. These wēta have very long antennae and long legs built for jumping and they can actually jump 3 meters high.
Cave wētas are nocturnal and feed on plants, but not the leaves! They also feed on fungi, dead insects, and lichens. 
 
The crickets are docile and are actually found most in leaf litter, logs, in between rocks, and tree holes, but there are of course species that live in caves as well. These wēta lack hearing organs similar to the ground wetas and rely on vibrations through the ground to communicate with each other.
 
They are also on the smaller size for a weta as well with many only being a few cm in length, but there is one very large cave wēta which has a total length from the end of its antennae to the feet of its hind legs reaching a whopping 40cm. That’s over a foot long of wēta, but the body itself is small. 
 
Now it’s time to talk about the Tusked wētas of which there are three known species. There are the Northland Tusked wētas scientifically known as Anisoura nicobarica, the Mercury Islands Tusked wētas or Motuweta isolata, and lastly, Motuweta riparia which can be found in the Raukumara range of the north island. These wetas are named for their large tusks which males use to fight each other, similar to how the tree weta males fight using their large mandibles. The female tusked wētas do not have these long tusks and more closely resemble a ground weta.
 
As far as behaviors go it seems a shared trait among these wetas are that male duels using their tusks as well as scraping the tusks together to make warning sounds. Otherwise, the species are pretty different. For example the Northland Tusked weta more closely resembles a tree weta and have similar behavior in terms of living in trees with harems, but these ones actually plug up the galleries they live in using shavings and debris mixed with their saliva as opposed to tree wetas who just leave their doors wide open. 
 
The Mercury island wētas are more close in behavior to ground wētas, and take refuge in the soil. These weta used to be found only on the middle island of the Mercury islands but has since either gone extinct on that island or dropped to such a low population that they can no longer be tracked. The good news though is that a breeding project was started just before they disappeared on this middle island and there are new successful populations on the other islands now after clearing the mammalian predators. 
 
The last species referred to as motuwēta riparia is a moderately sized weta up to 36mm in length or 3.6 cm in length. If you’re a US listener that equates to 1.3 inches or so. Now this one is unique because unlike motuwēta isolata this riparia species is found along the coast of northland new zealand in large numbers despite being a ground weta surrounded by predators. That being said, this weta has a really cool defense mechanism and that would be to dive into streams and remain underwater until the surrounding area becomes safe. 
 
Wetas in general are food for introduced mammals like rodents and cats, but they are also preyed upon by lizards such as the tuatara and native birds like the kiwi and weka. Fortunately, there have been great strides in the protection of these incredible insects and a lot of care is continuing to be put into their conservation. 
 
Now before we wrap up I have a fun story regarding wēta that Jamie gave me. Jamie’s parents used to have a cat named Tawa (Love that name btw) which would actually bring wēta to their front doorstep and leave them there as gifts. I think anyone with an outdoor cat has experienced these kinds of gifts before, but in this case Tawa was always bringing home live weta and dropping them off near their shoes. Now as we mentioned earlier weta can make warning signals with their legs when threatened, so whenever Tawa brought one home they could hear the angry warning calls of a weta. They actually had to check their shoes too to make sure none were in there!
I’ve heard of snakes and scorpions in shoes but having a wēta? That’s a new one for me. 

What a peanut head… wait… that’s actually the name? (Fulgora laternaria)

The Peanut Headed Lanternfly is a crazy cool bug with a lot of legends. It also does not match its name at all aside from being peanut headed. Learn all about this whacky bug in today's episode.
Support the show :) -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107
IG: https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825
Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com 
 
Transcript:
 
This is episode 39 of Insects for Fun! Time really does fly… but today we are not talking about flies at all despite the common name. 
 
Fulgora laternaria often called the Peanut headed lanternfly belongs to the family Fulgoridae and these bugs are very commonly referred to as lanternflies despite not being a fly at all! They don’t even light up, so how is it they got this name in the first place? Well, we will go into that later, but first let’s describe this week's featured bug. 
 
The peanut headed lanternfly is one of the largest lanternflies in the world reaching a length of 3 to 3.5 inches and a wingspan up to 6 inches in length. The most notable feature though is the bulbous peanut shaped extension from their heads. These alone are a little over half an inch, and this big extension also has some conspicuous eye spots on the sides which make it look like it’s capable of swallowing other smaller insects whole, but that’s just a ruse. And in case that wasn’t enough it also has some crazy looking eye spots on its wings too! 
This is another one of those bugs that warrants a good look so go on and give it a google or support the IG and FB page. Other common names for it are actually Alligator bug and snake cicada due to the head resembling that of a reptile. These crazy features are unique to the genus Fulgora and there are only a few species within this genus. 
One other defense mechanism that has been documented for these bugs would be their ability to release a foul smelling odor if heavily disturbed but this is a last resort tactic.
 
These bugs are indeed true bugs and can be found from Mexico down into South America and the adults can be found from June to December. Lanternflies are actually planthoppers and today’s bug does not feed on anything other than plant sap or Phloem. In fact their mouths are specifically designed for piercing plants unlike other bugs who can pierce and feed on insects too. 
 
The life cycle of these cool bugs starts when a male lures a female using vibrations by knocking its hollow peanut shaped head structure against a tree. It’s important to note that the peanut shaped thing is not the true head of the bug and some theories are actually that this fake head is not only used to scare away predators but also trick them into biting or attacking a false head. You might be thinking females don’t look the same but in this case they actually do so the purpose isn’t for mating.
 
These bugs form pairs in the summer months and the female lays a large group of eggs on to the host tree which is often a Guapinol tree scientifically known as Hymenaea courbaril. She also coats the eggs with a waxy substance to protect them from predators and harsh environmental factors. The end result looks like a big mantis egg sac. The nymphs hatch with the same peanut head the adults have but at a much smaller scale because the bugs are of course not big at all at that age. There isn't a lot of information publicly available on breeding and other behaviors so I’m not exactly sure how long it takes to reach adulthood but I do know the adults only live around 1 week despite being able to feed. I know these days we have many listeners from Columbia and Brazil so if any of you have any information regarding things you’ve seen please send me an email and I can post an update! 
 
In the meantime let's look at why they got the name they did and some crazy folktales surrounding these already very interesting bugs. We all know at this point where the peanut part of this whole thing is, but the lanternfly portion is truly strange.
 
The origins of how it got named a lanternfly start in 1705 when a german artist and naturalist named Maria wrote up a book titled metamorphosis insectorum surinamensis. This book is basically a catalog covering all the things she found while traveling in Suriname during 1699, and lantern bugs happen to be described here. The only thing is that in her description she states that these bugs light up their heads at night when both sexes are present, and the light is bright enough to read by. Now I don’t know if any of you have actually seen a lanternfly in person but uh… that’s just simply not true. Today scientists think she might have been confusing them with a big click beetle in the same area capable of lighting up its head. But being able to light up their heads is one of many strange myths these big bugs have accumulated over the years. 
 
There was an entire paper published looking at the folk lore and legends described by people from the village of Pedra Branca in Brazil and a couple of these myths were very popular and widespread.  
 
One of the most prominent beliefs is that the peanut headed lanternfly actually contains poison in its head and is capable of inflicting mortal wounds to people by flying at them and piercing them with their stingers. But this stinger is actually its mouth part referred to as a stylet, and it is purely for feeding on trees. There is no poison at all! What’s really interesting is that around 47% of the people interviewed for this study stated that the bug was a snake. You can’t really blame them though because it really does have a crazy looking reptile head. It should also be noted that this study was done in 2001 so things might be different now.
 
The second popular belief was that the bug kills trees it feeds from by sucking them dry. There is some small truth to the fact that these bugs feed on trees by sucking them, but the bugs are not capable of sucking a tree dry, and there aren’t enough of them to even make it a possibility.
 
In Costa Rica it is believed that this bug is again filled with poison, but if you get stung the only cure is to have sex within the next 24 hours. I can only imagine why and how this legend got started but what I don’t understand is how it’s managed to get so famous and actually stick! It totally reminds me of the movie “It Follows” only instead of a person you know chasing you it's a peanut headed lantern bug. 
 
Featured Artists: Blue Wednesday, Purrple Cat, Sátyr and Phlocalyst.