Creature 309: Mymaridae

Really small insect

Mymaridae is a family of wasps commonly known as fairy wasps.

They are a very old group of tiny wasps. When I say tiny, I mean really small. The smallest species don't even reach 0.15 mm in length. They are parisitoid wasps and lay their eggs inside the eggs of other insects.

Distribution:

Fairy flies can be found in all temperate or tropical regions and are actually very common, but good luck spotting them.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Hymenoptera

Family: Mymaridae

Image Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairyfly

http://www.livescience.com/28990-new-tiny-insect-fringed-wings.html

Creature 274: Acherontia

Acherontia is a genus of moths which are commonly known as the Death's-head Hawkmoth.

The common name has something to do with the skull like marking on the pronotum. This marking varies between species and is more convincing in some species over others. The species Acherontia atropos is the fastest moth in the world, reaching speeds of nearly 50 kilometers per hour. Death's-Head Hawkmoths have an unusual habit of lodging themselves in bee hives and gorging themselves on honey. They achieve this by mimicking worker bee pheromones. The markings on their back are also suspected to be mimicking a bee's face. They also make a squeaking noise which is believed to mimic the noise worker bees make:

The caterpillar also looks pretty cool:

Distribution:
The genus is found across Europe and Asia.

Classification:
There are three species in the genus.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Acherontia

Image Links:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acherontia_lachesis_f.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%27s-head_Hawkmoth

Video Links:
https://youtu.be/ITh0TgJ8a6Y

Creature 267: Adetomyrma venatrix

Ants that drink the blood of their own babies

Adetomyrma venatrix is an ant:

It is commonly called the Dracula ant because of an unusual behavior it displays. They are hunters and orther arthropods make up the basis of their food, however adult workers can't eat solid food. If the workers get hungary they have something else to keep them going. They will take small amounts of the Haemolymph of the juvenile ants maturing in their colony. Haemolymph is not actually blood, but it is the nearest equivalent in insects. The workers won't take enough to kill them, just to keep themselves going. The juveniles do seem to mind this as they try to avoid workers when they enter the nest chambers.

This species belongs to an unusual group of ants with many characteristics which are primitive in the ant family. Their abdomen resembles a wasp. Their queens are also wingless throughout their life which is unusual in ants.

Distribution:
Dracula ants are endemic to Madagascar.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Adetomyrma
Species: Adetomyrma venatrix

Image Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adetomyrma_venatrix
http://muravej.mojznak.ru/muravej-kannibal/

Creature 249: Glyptapanteles

Caterpillar brainwashing

Glyptapanteles is a genus of parisitoid wasps, and we all know how much fun they can be.

Female wasps lay their eggs inside certain caterpillar species. The juvenile wasps grow inside the caterpillar feeding off it but not damaging it too severely. The caterpillar behaves normally as the wasps develop. Once they are ready to enter their cocoon phase the wasps burrow out of the caterpillar and build their cocoons.

But one or two juvenile wasps sacrifice themselves and stay behind to take care of things. Once the others have left  altering the brain of the caterpillar making it stand guard over the cocoons of the other wasps. The caterpillar will even cover the cocoons in protective silk, but mostly it just stays still over the top of the cocoons. If anything touches the caterpillar it springs into action doing everything it can to scare or fight off the potential predator. The caterpillar will eventually die of starvation as in its new brainwashed state it has no desire to eat. Watch it happen here.

Distribution:
Glyptapanteles are endemic to the Americas

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Braconidae
Genus: Glyptapanteles

Image Links:

http://www.waspweb.org/Ichneumonoidea/Braconidae/Microgastrinae/Glyptapanteles/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptapanteles

Video Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7UkDMrG6tog

Creature 241: Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga

A wasp which uses a spiders web.

Description:
Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga is another of those parasitoid wasps which controls the minds of their victims in order to feed their young.

Its specializes in  feeding the spider Leucauge argyra to its young. This parasitoid wasp is relatively merciful to its hosts in comparison to others like Ampulex Compressa, Ichneumon eumerus  or Pepsini. Their sting only temporarily paralyzes their host, giving the female enough time to attach their eggs on the abdomen of the spider. When the egg hatches the juvenile latches on to the spider. It feeds of the body fluids of the spider while it grows and matures.

Once it has grown large enough it injects chemicals into the spider's brain which cause it to alter its normal web building behavior. Instead of weaving their sticky thread they will build multiple structural threads and anchor thread. The web is then strong enough to support the cocooned wasp for days in good or bad weather, giving the wasp enough time to mature into an adult. Just before entering the cocoon, the wasp will kill and eat the spider for the nourishment.

Distribution:
Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga is endemic to Costa Rica.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Ichneumonidae
Genus: Hymenoepimecis
Species: Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga

Image Links:
http://observationsofanerd.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/this-weeks-sci-fi-worthy-parasite_18.html
http://mentalfloss.com/article/51970/meet-wasp-turns-spiders-zombie-construction-workers
http://mentalfloss.com/article/21716/7-more-zombie-animals

Creature 237: Paraponera clavata

The most painful ant sting

Description: 
Paraponera clavata is known as a bullet ant, as its sting feels like you have been shot.

It has the highest pain ranking in the Schmidt index, which is designed for Hymenopteran bites and stings. Their sting contain a paralytic toxins known as Poneratoxins. Some tribes in Brazil use them in an initial rite as young men are required to stick their hand in a glove full of bullet hands and leave it on for 10 minutes. Their hand becomes paralysed and they might be shaking for days afterwards.

Distribution:
Paraponera clavata is endemic to Central America.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Paraponera 
Species: Paraponera clavata 

Image Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraponera_clavata
http://www.myrmecos.net/2011/02/28/paraponera-clavata-the-bullet-ant/

Creature 188: Euspinolia militaris

Not a Panda or an ant.

Euspinolia militaris is commonly known as a Panda ant, because it looks like a Panda. And an ant. Actually it isn't either.

They are a type of velvet ant (see Classification). The dense layer of fuzzy setae is a common feature in the velvet ant family. In this species the color pattern happens to resemble the color patterns in a Panda.

Distribution:
The Panda ant is endemic to Chile.

Classification:
Panda ants are not true ants but belong to a family called Velvet ants (Multillidae). They are in the same Order, Suborder and Superfamily as true ants (Formicidae), but are not the closest relatives to them. There are many winged wasps which are closer relatives of the true ants. You can call them a wingless wasp, although technically true ants are also a type of wasp.

The common name Panda ant is sometimes used to refer to other members of thr family  Multillidae.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Mutillidae
Genus: Euspinolia
Species: Euspinolia militaris

Image Links:

http://astronomy-to-zoology.tumblr.com/post/56072604284/panda-ant-euspinolia-militaris-is-not-an-ant

http://www.leggilo.net/108661/le-foto-delle-16-specie-animali-che-non-potevate-immaginare-esistessero-ancora.html

Creature 167: Dorylus

Ants that really hold a grudge.

Description:

Dorylus is a genus of army ants which are commonly called driver ants.

They are omnivorous,  highly aggressive and highly territorial. If you ever disturb one of their nests, run. I mean it. They will quickly swarm anything which they percieve to be a threat and will tear it appart and eat it. Driver ant colonies can contain literally millions of individual ants, so don't assume you are safe just because they are tiny. They are also very deternmined and when they bite a percieved threat they can lock their jaws. When they do this they are very hard to remove and their jaw will remain locked even if you tear ther thorax off the head. This bite is so strong that some indigenous peoples use them to suture wounds.

When their colony is running out of food they form large swarms which sometimes contain tens of thousands of ants. Theae swarms slowly move away from the nest devouring everthing in their path before returning. A single driver ant has nothimg on a fire ant or a bullet ant in terms of the pain and damage they can inflict, but their entire colonies are so quick to respond to any threat that they arw probably the most dangerous ants on earth.

Distribution:

Various species of driver ants can be found in Tropical Africa and Asia

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Dorylus

Image Links:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/science/131206/ants-underrated-amazing-animals
http://creepycrawlieslove.tumblr.com/image/53041778319

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorylus

Creature 120: Pepsini

This insects hunts tarantulas

Description:
Many people are scared of spiders, especially large hairy spiders like tarantulas such as the Goliath Bird eater which I posted the other day. Their frightening appearance leads some people to assume that they are the most ferocious predators in the Arthropod world. This is not the case. Spiders are just the helpless prey of the pompilid wasps. Even Tarantulas had better flee for their lives in the presence of members of the pompilid tribe Pepsini, commonly known as tarantula hawk wasps.

Like the Cockroach wasps these flying horrors like to lay their eggs in a nest with their prey stored inside it. Also like the cockroach wasps their victims are still alive while they are being eaten by the juvenile wasps. However these guys don't use the same really cool mind altering zombification as the cockroach wasps. Their sting is a potent paralytic in the tarantulas that they victimize. They then use brute strength to drag the tarantula into the nest and seal it off after laying a single egg inside. You can imagine what happens to the tarantula then, and if you need a hint, it is not pleasant.

In humans their sting is short lived but incredibly painful. It is one of only two groups to achieve the highest category of 4 in the Schmidt pain index, with victims claiming that the pain is so bad that it will cause the victim to temporarily lose control of themselves. They are not particularly aggressive towards humans, but if you play around with them they will not hesitate to sting you. The state of New Mexico has adopted a Tarantula Hawk Wasp as their state insect. I think everyone should have a state insect. Their body is variously colored depending on the species and in some cases they can be quite spectacular.

Watch it all happen here:

Distribution:
Pepsini have a pantropical distribution spilling over into some temperate areas, especially in the Americas where there are plenty of tarantulas to go around..

Classification:
There are only two genera in the tribe Pepsini, Pepsis and Hemipepsis.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Pompilidae
Tribe: Pepsini

Image Links:
http://markcorder.com/home/pepsis-prey-tarantula-hawk/
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wasp_with_Orange-kneed_tarantula.JPG
https://mylandrestorationproject.wordpress.com/tag/tarantula-hawk/

Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqsHVLy9s1M

Creature 107: Formica rufa

Ants that farm other insects

Description:
Formica rufa is a species of ants which are commonly known as red wood ants. Their primary food source is sugary liquids, but they are fairly omnivorous in their food habits.

So far nothing I have told you can be called bizarre, the interesting part of it is the way they collect their primary food source. These ants farm aphids. As aphids exclusively eat plant matter which is high in carbohydrates and low in proteins they need to eat far more sugar than they need in order to get enough proteins in their diet. As a result they excrete a very sugary waste which the red wood ants love.

But these ants go beyond just harvesting sugar from the aphid colonies, they go to such as an extent that their behavior can only be analogized to farming. Ants are very good at keeping insects away from certain areas. On plants near their nest they get rid of the herbivorous insects which would otherwise be competing with the aphids. They defend their aphid colonies from predators as they would their own nests. They have even been known to trim the wings off the aphids in order to prevent them from flying away far from their nest. They have a special trick for coaxing the aphids to excrete their waste by stroking them in a certain way. Aphids which have been exposed to this for a long time have been known to not excrete any waste until the ant farmers come around to harvest their sugary nectar.

Formica rufa is not the only species of ant which farms other insects.

Distribution:
Red wood ants are found in Europe and into Russia as far east as Siberia.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Formica
Species: Formica rufa

Image Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formica_rufa#mediaviewer/File:A_Formica_rufa_sideview.jpg

http://influentialpoints.com/Gallery/Aphis_farinosa_small_willow_aphid.htm

Creature 88: Melophorus

These ants job is to eat

Description:
Melophorus are a genus of ants which are commonly known as honey ants or honeypot ants. These ants have a rather cool adaptation to typical feast/famine environment which occur throughout most of Australia. Most people know that ants have special casts which are specially adapted to perform specific tasks such as fighting off invaders or digging tunnels. This genus have a special cast which acts as food storage. When food and water is plentiful they are fed by the other ants. They do not leave the tunnels and just lie there storing sugars in their abdomen in the form of a sort of honey. They can also store water and fatty acids. When times are bad the other ants can approach the food storage ants and stoke their antennae causing the storage ant to regurgitate the nutritious liquids. When the storage ants run out of food they die and are eaten by the other ants.

There are several other genera of ants which have similar adaptations and they are nearly all found in arid environments, and all of them can be called honeypot ants. In most areas in which they occur they have been used as a food source.

Distribution:
Melophorus are found in arid and semi arid areas of Australia.

Classification:
Melophorus are the only members of the tribe Melophorini. They do not form a monophyletic group with the other honey ants, meaning that this adaptation has probably evolved several times.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum :Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Melophorus

Image Links:

http://enconv.org/docs/index-54151.html?page=2

http://ant.edb.miyakyo-u.ac.jp/AZ/PCD1637/ImageLibrary.html

Creature 85: Ichneumon eumerus

Float like a butterfly, sting like a wasp

This is part 2 of 2 in a weird three way coevolution story. Yesterday's post on the Large Blue Butterfly was part 1.

Description:
Ichneumon is a genus of parisitoid wasps, which means they lay their eggs inside other living thing and the young feed of their host while maturing. The species Ichneumon eumerus specializes in laying its eggs inside the Large Blue Butterfly. This may seem like a rather difficult task given that they live inside ants nests and are protected of hundreds if not thousands of loyal ants willing to give their life to defend what they think is their queen. These wasps have a really cool trick to get past the guards.

Somehow the wasps know which ant nests are infested with butterfly larvae. They land near the nest and enter. Ants don't take too kindly to this behavior but the wasp begins emitting pheromones which confuse the ants and drive them crazy. Instead of ferociously tearing the wasp apart, they turn on each other confusing familiar ants with invaders. The wasp safely passes through the nest. Unlike the ants, the wasp is not fooled by the butterfly larvae, he somehow tracks them down and in a room crawling with ant larvae they easily find the caterpillars they are looking for. They inject their eggs inside the wasp and the juveniles begin eating it from the inside out once they are hatched. They leave the inside intact and when the butterfly spins its cocoon the wasp will eventually just replace the caterpillar and will hatch from the cocoon themselves. The pheromones that the caterpillar excretes linger long enough for the wasp larvae to safely hatch.

The king, David Attenborough describes the whole process in his documentary series Life in the Undergrowth. Here is the clip:

Distribution:
Ichneumon eumerus is found throughout the Palaerctic region.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Ichneumonidae
Genus: Ichneumon 
Species: Ichneumon eumerus 

Image Links:
http://www.wired.com/2008/01/butterfly-and-w/
http://britishwildlife.wikia.com/wiki/Ichneumon_eumerus

Video Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCo2uCLXvhk

Creature 78: Atta

Ants who grow their own food underground.

Description:
Atta are one of two genera of ants which are commonly referred to as leaf cutter ants. They are famous for their long ant lines crawling up the trunks of trees into the leaves which they cut with their mandibles and carry back to their colony. In fact it has been suggested that the Atta genus is responsible for the decomposition of 20% of South American leaves.

What many people don't know is that they cannot eat these leaves. So why are they putting in so much effort into collecting them? Deep within their colonies they carve out enormous chambers in which they deposit these leaves and carefully cultivate leaf eating fungi. These fungi are the primary food source of the leaf cutter ants.

Like other ants Atta are eusocial and have a highly specialized division of labor. There are three main casts, The queen, the soldiers and the workers. Nothing particularly unusual there. Atta also have a number of different types of workers which are determined by their head size. There are some that collect the leaves and bring them back to the nest; some that cut them up into tiny pieces; some that roll the tiny pieces into little balls and some which go around cultivating the fungus on the different balls of leaves placed on them. Leaf cutter ants are careful not to over harvest individual trees as they do not want to kill the trees close to their nests which could be a good source of leaves later.

Distribution:
Atta are found in South and Central America as far North as Texas

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Atta

Image Links:
http://downtoearthquestions.blogspot.com.au/2010/12/leafcutter-ants.html
http://thorinsmut.tumblr.com/post/65535312795/just-designing-goblins-for-my-nanowrimo-project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atta_(genus)#mediaviewer/File:Atta.cephalotes.3.jpg

Creature 46: Ampulex compressa

The wasp with a zombification toxin in its sting

Description: Today's creature, Ampulex compressa, commonly known as the emerald cockroach wasp is one of the freakiest animals in the world. It is a type of parisitoid wasp. Parisitoid wasps are freaky enough due to the fact that they inject their eggs into a living creature so they can have fresh food to eat their way out of when they hatch.

 These guys aren't happy with injecting their eggs into any old insect, they are very fussy. They only target a few species of cockroaches for their victims (luckily enough one of them is the common pest the American cockroach).  They inject their victim with two stings of different venom. The first sting is for temporary paralysis, leaving the cockroach helpless. The wasp then carefully feels for the right location to inject the second sting. It has to be delivered in the right location and is a very precise process. This is the zombification sting. Once the cockroach is under the influence of the wasp's zombie toxin the wasp will lead the cockroach by the antenna back to its nest where it also lays a single egg. 

While under the influence of the wasps toxin, the cockroach can perform certain basic tasks such as moving its legs to walk or swim and in fact the first thing they do is to groom themselves continuously for half an hour. This grooming time gives the wasp an opportunity to find a suitable burrow. They don't control where they are going or what they are doing. The juvenile wasp eats its way into the cockroach, starting with muscle and other tissue which will not kill the wasp, as it wants to keep the cockroach alive for as long as possible so it stays fresh. The cockroach is apparently O.K. with that as it is devoured alive in its little cave. Eventually the wasp takes up residence in the partially hollowed cockroach, and if it is not dead already, it will be soon. The wasp will live in the cockroach until it is an adult.

Distribution:

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Hymenoptera

Family: Ampulicidae

Genus: Ampulex 

Species: Ampulex compressa

Image Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_cockroach_wasp#mediaviewer/File:Ampulex_compressa.jpg

http://69.195.124.141/~extraou5/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/emerald-cockroach-wasp-leading.jpg

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/07/if-youre-going-to-live-inside-a-zombie-keep-it-clean/