This is the most in-depth article I’ve ever read on New Zealand bat flies and the exciting little science-drama of their discovery and research.
These are the first flies discovered to have such an advanced almost colonial social structure, and they’re the only flies known to live in such a deep beneficial symbiosis with a mammal. There are countless other wingless flies that feed on the blood of bats but this variety is genetically unrelated to any of them and only feeds on guano.
My favorite thing about them is that, instead of simply dying like in most other insects, males who can no longer mate will just grow a lot bigger and become specialized watchmen over the eggs and larvae. When they sense a bat flying nearby, the guard males emit a high pitched buzzing (audible to humans!) to drive the bat away before it mistakenly squishes or eats them.
My favorite thing about this story is that when they were trying to collect samples from a recently abandoned bat colony, thousands of the flies climbed under the clothes of the researchers to get out of the cold and even though it felt super freaky they all knew the flies were incapable of biting and just doing what they’d usually do to hitch a ride on bats, so they didn’t fight it and later they successfully raised all the flies they “caught” that way on a diet of mashed up bananas.
My second favorite thing about this story is learning that you could just keep these on a diet of mashed up bananas. WTF. Give me some.
Edit/ I also fucking love that their eggs have long spines on them and are laid all over the colony walls so densely they look like moss. I’ve always been enamored with “encrusting” organisms and “mats” of biota like moss and lichen and mold and the thought of one that’s entirely insect eggs is the coolest possible shit to me.
Chemera and Mosaic Insects Part 2-Butterflies and Moths
A chimera (also spelled chimaera) (from the creature Chimera in Greek mythology) is a single organism composed of cells from different zygotes. This can result in male and female organs, two blood types, or subtle variations in form. Animal chimeras are produced by the merger of multiple fertilized eggs. If the different cells have emerged from the same zygote, the organism is called a mosaic. Chimeras are formed from at least four parent cells (two fertilised eggs or early embryos fused together). Each population of cells keeps its own character and the resulting organism is a mixture of tissues. Chimeras can often breed, but the fertility and type of offspring depends on which cell line gave rise to the ovaries or testes; varying degrees of intersex differences may result if one set of cells is genetically female and another genetically male. A gynandromorph is an organism that contains both male and female characteristics, authorities say. The term gynandromorph, from Greek “gyne” female and “andro” male, is mainly used in the field of entomology, though it has also been observed in arthropods and birds as well. Another way that chimærism can occur in animals is by organ transplantation, giving one individual tissues that developed from two genomes. For example, a bone marrow transplant can change someone’s blood type. Normally, chimærism is not visible on casual inspection; however, it has been detected in the course of proving parentage and may be more common than was believed before the advent of DNA testing.
The nymphal stages of members of this assassin bug genus (referred to generally as “Masked Hunters”) exude a sticky substance that covers their entire body, including the antennae and legs, to which their environment (dirt, frass, plant fragments, etc) adheres to, effectively rendering them invisible. This affords them protection against predation, and allows them to function as ambush predators themselves.
In the top image, the nymph was a resident of a termite and borer infested tree stump, so carries a livery of sawdust and wood fragments. The bottom image shows another individual with a soil- and leaf litter-based coating. With the final moult into adulthood and the addition of wings for mobility, the assassin loses its cryptic capabilities and assumes a more conventional appearance.
An adult insect wing is basically dead. Most of it is dried up, like a dead leaf. Only a little bit — the skinny dark lines called veins — have living, breathing parts inside. Or so Rhainer Guillermo Ferreira thought. So what were those little pipes that looked like breathing tubes doing in the dried parts of dragonfly wings?
Guillermo Ferreira was stunned. The pipes looked like tracheal tubes. They are what carry oxygen to living tissues in insects. So why would tissue that was supposed to be dead need to breathe? That’s what this insect biologist — or entomologist — working at Kiel University in Germany was curious to know.
At last! My tiny fluffy teddy bear moths have arrived!
My first southern flannel moth adult emerged from his cocoon this morning. You may remember my previous posts of them: as caterpillars, they are the most adorable fluffy shy hairballs who are also so venomous their stings are considered the most painful kind you can get in North America.
They were so cute and I wanted to hold them SO BAD but the closest I could get was stroking the side of the tank while I wept over how life was so cruel to deny me the joy of holding these sweet babies.
Well, my first sweet baby is here. A boy: his antennae are feathered to detect the scent females let out to attract mates. I knew they were small, but I was still surprised to see this tiny baby. Every surface is covered in fluffy fur.
His little black boots. His fluffy bum. His orange mustache 😭
I’m not going to lie. I kissed him. He is perfect.
Chemera and Mosaic Insects Part 2-Butterflies and Moths
A chimera (also spelled chimaera) (from the creature Chimera in Greek mythology) is a single organism composed of cells from different zygotes. This can result in male and female organs, two blood types, or subtle variations in form. Animal chimeras are produced by the merger of multiple fertilized eggs. If the different cells have emerged from the same zygote, the organism is called a mosaic. Chimeras are formed from at least four parent cells (two fertilised eggs or early embryos fused together). Each population of cells keeps its own character and the resulting organism is a mixture of tissues. Chimeras can often breed, but the fertility and type of offspring depends on which cell line gave rise to the ovaries or testes; varying degrees of intersex differences may result if one set of cells is genetically female and another genetically male. A gynandromorph is an organism that contains both male and female characteristics, authorities say. The term gynandromorph, from Greek “gyne” female and “andro” male, is mainly used in the field of entomology, though it has also been observed in arthropods and birds as well. Another way that chimærism can occur in animals is by organ transplantation, giving one individual tissues that developed from two genomes. For example, a bone marrow transplant can change someone’s blood type. Normally, chimærism is not visible on casual inspection; however, it has been detected in the course of proving parentage and may be more common than was believed before the advent of DNA testing.
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