#mating bugs

[miyrumiyru]

Dance Flies (Family Empididae) : It seems like he caught her while she's preying a fly. Very wild!

[cuttledreams-bugs]

Invertebrate Tarot:

Card 7: The Lovers

Two parasitic Strepsiptera bound by fate to find each-other in the brief and narrow window they have. A relationship as inevitable as it is violent.

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Green Shell Semi-Slug: the researchers who discovered this species originally wanted to name it "Ibycus felis," because it often rests with its tail curled around its body, which reminded them of a sleeping cat

The Latin name of this species is Ibycus rachelae, but it's also known as a green-shelled or long-tailed semi-slug. The species was first described in 2008, and it is found only in the montane forests of Sabah (Borneo) and Peninsular Malaysia.

The term "semi-slug" refers to an intermediate stage of evolution as a snail evolves into a slug. These snails still have shells that are at least partially visible, but they have been reduced to the point where the shell can no longer accommodate the snail's whole body. There are many different species of semi-slug, but most of them have a noticeably reduced, receding, and/or transparent shell that is partially concealed beneath the mantle.

This article describes another peculiar characteristic of semi-slugs (including Ibycus rachelae):

... semi-slugs don’t just look weird, they act weird, too. They employ sharp projectiles called love darts in their courtship rituals, by shooting several of them at a prospective mate. The mate, in turn, shoots several love darts right back.

Researchers have found that if semi-slugs are able to lodge love darts into one another, the subsequent copulation tends to be much more successful. It’s thought that the mucus distributed by the love dart ensures greater survivability of the sperm

This is what the "love darts" look like (when magnified under SEM):

The tiny, harpoon-like structures are made of calcium carbonate, and they transmit certain hormones (via mucus) that help to increase the likelihood of reproductive success. Semi-slugs are not the only gastropods that use "love darts," however; they are also used by some other land snails and slugs.

Sources & More Info:

World Wildlife Fund: Borneo's New World (PDF)

Basteria (Journal): The Slugs and Semislugs of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo (PDF)

Forest Research Institute Malaysia: Introduction to the Land Snails and Slugs of Malaysia (PDF)

Malay Peninsular Terrestrial Molluscs: Ibycus rachelae

Live Science: World's Longest Bug and 'Ninja' Slug Discovered in Borneo

Australian Geographic: Meet the Semi-Slug, a Snail without a Home

[pillowbugs]

a family outing to @quietmakesglark's joltik parade!

(their costumes - the kids' costumes are themed around various other bug types, while the parents are dressed as trainers who have used their species on a team at some point.)

[jenfoundabug]

bow chicka bowow (I totally have a video btw, posting it later)

Seven-spotted lady beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) Northern California, US

[lainalit]

Elain is either headcanon as this soft character or this warrior-esque character but my elain headcanon of her is that she is a weirdo

And who better can handle elain weirdness than Lucien who works with weirdos like Rhysand and the rest of the IC, is friends with weirdos like tamlin & Jurian and grew up surrounded by weirdos alà his brothers

[ratcandy]

bug courtship is always so dumb and that's why it's my favorite thing to learn about. the adult female water mite spends like 90% of her time in a hunting pose so there's no safe way for the male to get near her without getting eaten. so what he does is sneak some sperm under her and then wave his leggies around to make her think he's prey so she lunges and falls on top of the sperm, thus inseminating herself. this behavior from the male is called "trembling."

here's a diagram of it. from (Heather) Proctor 1990. what a world right

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

I HAVE QUESTIONS

😲

(Herpetogramma, 1.25 of them anyway)

[miyrumiyru]

She ran away from that dumbass (rode on her twice but both failed), but got caught by another guy :(

폭탄먼지벌레 (Pheropsophus jessoensis)

[greycatbird]

Some brush pile visitors from last week: what I think is a female Baltimore Oriole collecting fluff for her nest and a pair of Bumble Flower Beetles investigating a dying leaf (the second beetle is the blurry brown blob near the bottom, sorry about my phone camera lol)

[jonnysinsectcatalogue]

Dog-day Cicada - Neotibicen canicularis

To celebrate a (hopefully) wonderful Valentine's Day, today the blog features several magnificent specimens enjoying their summer days. I'm particularly found of the individual in Picture 10 cooling off; droplets just slide right off the shell and it has such a lovely eye. Furthermore, I'm delighted to also share a mating pair caught on the sidewalk; both of them have accomplished their imago (adult) mission after so many (1-3) years of molting and developing underground! It's fairly simple to guess which is the male and which is the female. I was happy for them, but one thing that puzzles me is: why are these Cicadas forming a pair on the sidewalk where they are completely exposed to the elements, insectivores and stomping feet? Wouldn't it be better for these big green Bugs to mate in the treetops where it's safe and where all the males congregate? Perhaps so, but maybe not. The responsive clicks of a female may be heard by many singing males at once. Furthermore, the female won't oviposit her eggs immediately after fertilization. She needs a bit of time and would do better to fly to a different and less crowded tree.

As well, an opportunity to mate in the insect world doesn't come about very often, especially if you live for around a month of so. Since that's the case, if the female Dog-Day Cicada favors a particular male because of his steady, shrill song and chooses them, then there's no time like the present. This is further compounded as male Cicadas invest a lot of energy into singing, which puts a strain on their adult lifespan and the attention they can receive from predators. However, male Cicadas are up to the challenge if it means they pass on their genes. They'll need to give their all, but also hone their song. It's not just about having the loudest song or the longest sustained song; in some species of Cicada, females will listen very carefully and favor males who have the fastest tymbal vibrations, and thusly having higher-pitched songs. For more information here on tymbal vibrations and what a Cicada's song is actually composed of in terms of sound, you can revisit this Insect Song post (Part 2).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Solo Cicada Pictures were were taken on July 5 and August 18, 2021, and the mating pair pictures were taken on August 26, 2021 with a Google Pixel 4.

[sarahmackattack]

Happy Valentines Day

[hana-bobo-finch]

i want so badly to go way too in depth into bug fables biology. so many questions. i must make a PowerPoint presentation immediately

[jenfoundabug]

Yet again, it’s that special time of year - tarantula mating season in California 🎉! Tarantulas are normally nocturnal, but in autumn, males emerge during the day to look for a mate. It’s not uncommon to see them crossing the trail while hiking.

Despite their large size and appearance, tarantulas are actually very docile and would rather flee than attack. They’re also fragile, so picking them up is not recommended (except that one time I rescued one from the road and then it climbed up my arm lol…). You sometimes can get them to walk across your hand, which is a much safer option for the tarantula.

Pro tip if you’re in the Bay Area: a recent rainstorm and cool weather seem to vastly increase the chance of finding one. Grassy foothills with sparse trees and not a lot of people are the best.

Desert tarantula (Aphonopelma iodius)

Northern California, US

[fcaruana]

he said he's got enough yerba mate to survive an apocalypse 😭 of course that'd be his priority

[kedreeva]

To follow up on your answer about human-peafowl relations, how does someone like Bug, who basically demanded to be raised by you, fit in? Will she be just a very Ked-friendly hen, or will she be somehow very different from the other girls?

She'll be a little socially awkward, but she will get along, and the longer she's out there once she's a full-time-outside bird, the easier it will be, especially when her adult hormones arrive. Artemis was also raised by me, and she's a little awkward as well, but she gets along fine with the others and she's not even interested in fitting in the way Bug is. Bug may not have wanted to be left with the other babies when she first hatched, but she is very interested in the other birds now, she plays with her siblings through the fencing and she defers to the bigger birds like she learned to when she was a baby. We spent a LOT of time out in the bird pens when she was very little, so while she was raised by me, she also got to experience Being A Bird from a few days old. And we do still go out into all of the pens together, and she gets to spend time being chased around by the big birds or watching them from beside me, and hanging out near them while I free range a pen. She'll always be a little Different, having been to the realm of the fae so to speak, but it shouldn't inhibit her from fitting in.