Separate names with a comma.
Heyo Peoples! I am back with another blog post for you! Today I'm going to tell you about the Lynx spider from the family Oxyopidae. Now this spider is quite an interesting specimen. It has been named after the Lynx which is quite a beautiful wild cat. Spoiler: Which you can see here Straight from wikipedia! Now you'll notice something about most of the spiders I have spoken about on this blog. That is that all of them, when not in a web, display the same sort of tactics to capture prey. Camouflage and ambush. One might say it is becoming rather predictable. (Come to think about it most of my posts have been on spiders lately) Probably because they are the most fascinating to me. Each ambush method is slightly different between each non web weaving spider. The lynx spider is no exception. It has it's own rather scary ways to trap prey. Hairs. Not short fuzzy cute hairs. Nightmare spiny hairs of doom. If this spider were as big as me, it would be the one I would be most afraid of. Granted that if all spiders were the size of me they could probably all kill me anyway. "Why?" you ask? Because this spider utilises long sharp spiny hairs on its legs to get a better hold on prey and to easier subdue struggling prey. Imagine you are stuck in a cage that you need to get out of. Now imagine you are in a cage that had 30 cm spikes protruding from every bar. I think you get the picture. This spider comes in a range of colours and some species are even social. That means they sometimes hunt together or can tolerate the presence of a large number of them in a small area. That means, for insects, that they are not at the mercy of only one moving camouflaged spiny cage of death but many of them at once. It's times like these where I am glad I am not a bug. The colour of the specimen I found for you is a brilliant mixture of yellow and orange which matches some of the flowers in my garden perfectly. Aand Pictures time. I really need to move on to something not deadly and a little more peaceful towards other insects. But I'll sort that out in my next post. Until then I'll see you later!
Hey guys! I promised you bugs a few days ago...I BRING YOU BUGS! Today's bug entry is on a little nippy piece of nightmare fuel called the tailless whip scorpion, or sometimes called the whip spider. Now I know what you are thinking. "Did you just name something that gets called a spider AND a scorpion?????" I bet you can't even begin to imagine the sheer evilness of this creatures existence! Does it have the tail of a scorpion and the fangs and silk of a spider??? It couldn't! It's name says it's tailless! But does it carry a whip around? Lord save us all!! This is where nature steps in and tells us to chill. I can thankfully say that no such creature exists. The tailless whip scorpion, I swear, must have been given its name by entomologists as a practical joke. Because the only thing this creature has in common with a spider and a scorpion is 8 legs. That's right, no stinging tail, no fangs, no spinnerets and no whips included. These guys belong to the Arachnid class, same as Spiders and scorpions. But they are a completely separate family to spiders and scorpions. These guys are generally a mottled grey colour to blend in with the ground. They have 4 pairs of long, thin, spiny legs and two large pincers with which they grab and eat prey with. Speaking of prey. They will eat any insect they can get their pincers on. Mainly crickets. Two things which they excel at are hiding and moving really really quickly. Their long legs sort of defy physics the way they are able to move so quickly. When they move they keep their body flat on the ground and use their legs so sort of glide across the ground. Generally they don't have to move because they spend their time living under a rock. And by that I don't mean they are behind in the news and social norms of society either. Their size ranges from not too terrifyingly small and oh-god-kill-it-with-fire large. (Those are technical terms) So basically they range from between 2 cm to about 6 cm. There are some that get larger too, but only rarely. Now I'm sure you must be curious at to what these buggers look like considering the fact that I gave them an interesting description of nightmare fuel worthy. Well don't worry! All your fears shall soon be realised! You'll notice that earlier in my blog post I said that these things do not have whips. Well I may have lied. While not typical whips you and I think of, these guys do have a pair of whip like legs. Why? I don't actually know, maybe nature just wanted to creep the hell out of us. Spoiler: Pictures It really is an ugly little monster. I love it! Yes okay? I put it on my face, I just had to. Well I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post and I hope it doesn't give you nightmares. Sweet dreams -Simon out!
Hi everyone! It has certainly been a while. As you can guess I was very busy. I wrote my final year exams over the past few months and was obviously too busy to even think of coming anywhere near the internet. But anyway, here I am. A heck of a lot of stuff happened to me. I passed (Thankfully xD) I got voted as head boy for my school which is a huge honour for me. I became a part of two orchestras and got turned down by two girls that I asked out! XD. So things have been pretty cool for me. I am currently on Summer break (Because I live in the Southern Hemisphere where everything is upside down and people have to wear Velcro to keep from falling off the earth.) So I have a lot of time to kill and gosh darn it you are gonna learn about bugs!!! That is if I get the chance. There is a huge energy crisis in South Africa at the moment so we have rolling blackouts that the government can implement whenever they darn well please. Thankfully the ANC is doing everything in their power to fix the problem (And by that I mean making an even bigger laughing stock of themselves) which you can see from this quote. "There is no crisis at Eskom. I think the way Eskom gets reported on creates the perception of a crisis." CEO Tshediso Matona told reporters in Johannesburg. So as you can see the rolling blackouts are just a figment of the citizens imagination. There is no crisis. But our diligent leader Jacob Zuma is still working hard to fix this crisis even when it isn't there. How you may ask? By sweeping it under the carpet and blaming it on the Apartheid regime. That's right. Something that ended 20 years ago is the reason that there is no electricity in South Africa. Not the fact that our government distributed more power to more areas, and sold coal to Botswana without compensating for the greater demand for energy by building more power stations. Anyway, I am just venting now. But be it as it may. I am still here, alive and breathing. So for that I am happy! So you can expect some bug posts very soon! For now I have 2 more performances to do at the theatre and then I am free! So until then... Simon out!
Heya guys! I'm back baby! I am writing this blog post for a special somepony whom I believe has their birthday on this day...no names mentioned *coughIcySkiescough* I got asked to do a blog post on a really pretty bug...well I had the absolutely perfect bug for that...but then I realised after an hour that I couldn't identify it. Sooo I settled for a blog post on something the exact opposite of prettyDamn ugly nightmare fuel BWAAAAHHHH!!! Meet the Wall Crab spider, or "Flattie" as people commonly refer to it. Wondering why they call it a flattie? Already guessed why they call it a flattie? Well it's most definitely not because it's flat I can tell you that. Nooo sir. Right, now that the sarcasm and other meaningless pleasantries are out of the way, let me give you a little bit of information on this beautifully hideous example of nightmare fuel. The wall crab spider is part of the family Seleniopidae. Wondering where that name comes from? None other than the Greek Moon Goddess, Selene! They get called this because the eyes appear moon like. So, hey. At least there's SOMETHING pretty about them...right? These spiders are sedentary or ground dwelling and don't make any webs at all except when laying eggs. They are often EXTREMELY well camouflaged in the wild owing to their intricate markings that mimic the bark of trees or the sandy ground. These guys sit quietly and patiently for anything to walk into their path, much like most sedentary spiders. If you can remember my blog post on the crab spider, I said that the crab spider has such good camouflage to avoid predators because they are very sluggish spiders and cannot get away very quickly. Well the Wall crab spider is pretty much the exact opposite. This thing is bloody fast. Blink and it's gone. These spiders are quite common here in South Africa but I'm not sure about the rest of the world, they can also be very common house spiders too. I know how fast these spiders are and so quite often when you see one and you try to catch it to get it out of the house it gets very tricky. So I was kind enough to find a video guide on how to keep track of these spiders and not lose sight of them. [video=youtube;V6wPTyUlKAE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6wPTyUlKAE[/video] Blink...and you're dead....just kidding. While these spiders may be fast and ugly and look like they wanna eat you. They are really harmless. The only things they brutally murd- I mean eat are annoying household insects if they are in your house, or pretty much any insect they find in the wild. So, who wants nightmares? If you want nightmares or want to be creeped out....scroll down! If not...well...uhm click away? See that? See those eyes?? They stare into your soul.....Just imagine this hairy bugger racing up your arm onto your neck....mmmmmm > Well I hope you enjoyed this blog post! Especially you Icy! Happy birthday! As for me....I really need to get back to work. Simon Out!
Hey guys, for those of you who actually read my blog posts you may have noticed a steady decline in the frequency of my posts. That is because I am back at school and as usual I am bombarded with tasks and projects that leave me working right up until the time I can go to bed to get enough sleep to keep me sane. My school has given me projects on Diabeetus and essays and I'm sure you all know what I am talking about and fully understand. I'm just notifying those who read my posts that I won't be making any very frequently any more. I may make the odd post here or there but unfortunately we all have to go back to real life sooner or later xD The good news is I won't be gone forever as I will still be on the site, mostly residing in the chat, and the moment I have time I will get back to writing them as I really enjoy writing these. Anyway, if you read up to this far I thank you very much and appreciate the understanding Simon (Unfortunately) out!
Helloooooo everybody It's me, back again for another blog post. I've brought something very weird and special to the table today. It's not an insect...it's not even an arthropod! But I'm pretty sure we can regard it as a bug right? It looks creepy and it looks like it'll make somebody out there scream so therefore it must be a bug I literally found it this morning, about 40 minutes from writing this post. It's called the Shovel Headed Garden Worm! I nearly exploded with excitement when I saw this thing moving across one of the stepping stones in my garden path because I have only seen two of these in my entire life including this one and the first time I saw it I couldn't identify what it was and so this thing has remained a mystery for me for about two years now. So basically this is like an entirely new discovery for me! I managed to identify this thing through one of the most unlikely sources actually. My Grade 11 Biology textbook! We did a section on taxonomy (The classification and sorting of organisms into families, groups, orders etc) and in one of the phyla I found a sketched example of exactly what I had found in my garden. So, let me tell you what little I know about these things from 40 minutes of googling and research and whatnot. When I mentioned the name, and you saw the word 'worm' in it. I'm probably going to guess you instantly thought of an earth worm am I right? They are probably the most common worms out there and you probably thought that this shovel headed garden worm was part of the same family, right? Because I certainly did. I searched google for earth worm species left right and centre to try to find this worm. Well it turns out, from what I found out from my biology text book. This worm is not a segmented worm at all. Earth worms, leeches etc all belong to the phylum Annelida, which is a family of segmented worms. Well this Garden worm I found is not part of this phylum which I originally thought. It is part of a different worm family. This worm family is one of the most widely misspelled phyla in grade 11. xD This phyla is called Platyhelminthes! Or as some of my Grade 11 classmates spell it: Platihilminths, Pletaminthees, Platmints, Platymints....yeah I think you get the point. It's the most confusing word we've come across so far. Platyhelminthes are actually a family of worms known as flatworms. The difference between Platyhelminthes and Annelida are this: Annelida are are worms with a body cavity (A coelom as biologists call it.) They have a through gut (Mouth and Anus) and a blood system. Platyhelminthes lack this body cavity and also do not have a gut or a blood system. Platyhelminthes have thin enough body tissues to be able to rely on diffusion (movement of something from a high concentration to a low concentration) to get nutrients into their bodies. A few organisms which you might know, such as the tape worm are a part of this phylum too. So the Shovel Headed Garden Worm is a type of planarian and is part of the flatworm phylum. Most flatworms are parasitic (I'm sure you figured that out when I mentioned that tapeworms are a part of this phylum.) And the Shovel Headed Garden Worm is no exception to this rule, this worm can also be described as predatory as it basically hunts down its prey. This worm feeds off of Earth Worms and even some molluscs by using it's mucus secretions to stick to them and not let them escape. They then secrete digestive enzymes and insert them inside the body of their prey by...get this...extending their Pharynx out of their small mouth and into the body of their prey. Now to you and me, the pharynx is the tube at the back of the throat that joins our oesophagus and nose, so that probably sounds like a bloody weird thing to do...like...if a human were to do that...they would be pushing a tube from the back of their throat...out of their mouth...and then secreting stomach juice from it. But that's exactly what this worm does! Charming! The worm then sucks the liquefied earth worm, or whatever it caught, into it's mouth and the body then absorbs the nutrients through diffusion. Apparently, these worms are about as much of a mystery to biologists as they are to me. In fact not very much is known about them. Heck we don't even know what that soft shovel shaped head is for. I could take a stab in the dark and guess that it could help with moving through soft mud, but earthworms do fine without that so I really do not know. These worms are actually pests to earthworm breeders in many countries for obvious reasons, and also because they do not have many predators at all. Not many other animals will eat these things because they appear toxic because of the mucus they secrete...in fact their greatest predator is themself...Yup, you heard me. The only way to get rid of these worms is to introduce more of them because these things are also cannibalistic. Now I'm dying to show you what this thing looks like and I'm also sure that you are dying to see what it looks like. So here are some pictures I took hastily before it started to rain. Alrighty! I hope you enjoyed this slightly stranger than normal blog post! As for me. I am going to attempt to have a barbecue with family in the rain! If you have any questions or requests, drop them in the comments and I'll see you next time! Simon out!
Heya fellas! It's me again back for another blog post! Forgive my potentially poorly written blog post, I felt like doing one but I chose a rotten time to do it. I seem to have picked up a bit of the flu. But no matter! I can still write! At least until the meds kick in and knock me out. Right! Today I'm going to write on the Tiger moth! Quite a pretty little thing if you ask me. I just remembered that the only other blog post that I did on a moth was my very very first blog post on the hawk moth, and it reminds me. I've never actually explained the difference between a moth and a butterfly! People often see brightly coloured moths and confuse them with butterflies and dull butterflies and confuse them with moths. Well fear not! I am here to settle the issue once and for all! Right, firstly there are some very distinct differences between a moth and a butterfly, most people can easily tell the differences but when asked to list them out, one might have lots of trouble because they are blatantly obvious, yet subtle differences. Right, the first difference which people might take note of is that moths cannot actually close their wings...ever seen a moth with closed wings? By closed wings I mean like that of a butterfly, the wings in a vertical position and the tops of the wings completely covered by each other. Moths are able to get their wings in a closed or near closed position but only briefly when flapping them while flying. This is mainly due to the thick round bodies most moths have and the fact that their wings join on the tops of the thorax instead of the lower sides. Another pretty obvious yet overlooked fact is that moths are nocturnal and butterflies are diurnal and as a result there is a slight difference in the eyes of the two. Moths are obviously better suited for night vision. But here's something you probably didn't know. You might be wondering why moths are nocturnal or crepuscular (Active during twilight hurr hurr hurr) Yet are attracted to light...now what I am about to say may blow your mind as it did mine when I heard it. Moths's eyes are adapted to navigation by moonlight...yep, moths use the relative position of the moon to tell their position as the moon is a somewhat fixed light source in the sky during the night, save on overcast evenings. Diurnal creatures actually use the sun in that same way! Now the reason moths appear to be "Attracted to light" is because they rely on a fixed light source to navigate, and when they fly past, say, a light bulb they mistakenly think the light bulb is the moon and because as they fly the position of the light source changes, their navigation gets messed up and they simply make an arc and circle around the light bulb. So in actual fact: Moths are not attracted to light, what you are seeing when a moth flies around a light is a confused as hell moth that is flying in circles thinking it is going straight, and most probably thinking it is travelling at light speed seeing as the moon as it sees it is changing position so quickly. Another small difference you might notice, most moths are very furry. Sometimes to a ridiculously cute extreme (We're talking Flufflepuff ridiculous here) One last major difference that is worth pointing out is that moth larvae from cocoons that they spin from silk, where as butterfly larvae form a chrysalis, which is sort of a tough shell. (Good lord so many ponies popping up into this blog post) Regardless of these small differences, as you might have guessed, butterflies and moths are both closely related to each other, both of them being part of the order Lepidoptera, they then split into 30 superfamilies (28 of which are all moths!!!) Naturally, because butterflies and moths are such a large order in the Arthropod phylum, they are the main pollinators in nature. Of course it is worth noting that there are always exceptions to the above facts I have mentioned. Nevertheless! I give you two species of moth that fall under the same name! The Snouted Tiger Moth and the Tiger Moth (Yep, they thought this through, there couldn't possibly be any room for confusion here) What are the differences you ask? Well actually they are very different in appearance. They are however part of the same family which is why it is acceptable to give them such similar names. They are both part of the family Arctiidae, however the Tiger Moth is part of a sub-family Arctiinae and the Snouted Tiger Moth is part of the sub-family Aganaidae. Small taxonomic differences really. Right, here some pictures of the two starting with the Tiger Moth: Aand now the Snouted Tiger Moth: I'm sure you can notice the difference between the two! You might notice a distinct lack of stripes on the Snouted Tiger Moth specimen. That's because this specimen was rather beat up (they aren't common to find in very good shape out here you see.) The top layer of scales obviously rubbed off with age. Here is what a young Snouted Tiger Moth (Psephea speciosa) looks like: And that be it! If you have any questions or requests just pop em in the comments! But otherwise, I'll be off then! I hope you enjoyed this blog post! Wow! I actually managed to make it all the way to the end of this po-*clunk*
Hello everyone! I'm back for another blog post!!! This time I'm going to open up with a question...have I ever told you the definition of insanity? Insanity means doing the same thing over...and over...and over...and expecting a different result each time. Well if you have ever experienced insanity you'll know how I feel when I see a green mantis on the edge of a green bush and run to fetch my camera and come back to the same spot and not seeing anything. I stared carefully for 20 minutes...nothing, when that didn't work I retraced my steps five times in an attempt to find the same branch, then lastly in desperation I decided to carefully move a few branches in the bush to see if I can find it, nothing. I introduce to you...the greatest master of disguise and camouflage: The Mantis! There are very few insects in this world that can evade my eye for bugs like a mantis can. I'm not even joking Mantids are some of the most well camouflaged insects in the entire phylum. Right, lets get on with it! When you see a mantis in the garden, I can bet that if you know what it's called you will probably say "Oh look, a praying mantis!" Am I right? Funnily enough, the name "Praying Mantis" Is a common name given to a specific species of European mantis called Mantis religiosa (Hurr hurr hurr we see what you did there entomologists) but there are in actual fact far far more mantids out there. I'm going to show you two mantids that I found in my garden. First let me tell you some interesting facts about the Mantis/Mantid (You can call it whichever you want) You may be wondering why I pointed out that little incorrect use of names earlier. Let me explain why Praying mantis has become a common name for all species of mantis. The word mantis comes from the Greek word mantikos meaning soothsayer or prophet. It's a suitable name because these insects do look considerably more mysterious than any others. All the species of mantis seem to have a common stance when sitting still, they usually clasp their forelegs together and it looks like they are praying. Now the European praying mantis was named after this strange trait, but seeing as all the mantids share this behaviour, people simply call them all "Praying mantids" despite many other species having different common names. Another odd behaviour which I'm sure most people are aware of is the bizarre mating ritual of Mantids. It is actually shared by a few other species of arthropods, and it's called sexual cannibalism. Yup, female mantids devour their mates after mating. You might find it to be quite brutal but it is something that the male willingly does to provide ample nutrition for the female mantis to lay her eggs. The same goes for Black Widow spiders and even some species of jumping spiders! (I didn't actually know jumping spiders fell into this category up until now so even I'm learning stuff here ) Another thing that is very specific to mantids, they can turn their heads a full 180 degrees...not that may not seem very impressive but if you stop and think about your average insect, most, if not all of them have their heads fixated to their thorax with little to no flexibility. This is due to their thick exoskeletons and large joints, think of it as wearing a large metal suit, you'd be well protected but your flexibility would be very limited due to small hinges in your suit at the joints. Mantids are sort of an exception, think of them as the owls of the insect world, their necks have the greatest flexibility in their phylum. Now, mantids are quite fearsome hunters. you can probably guess by now that they rely on surprise attacks due to their camouflage. These things are extremely fast when they go in for the kill, and they can get a very good hold of their prey with those sharp serrated forelegs. Time to get onto the two species of mantids I have for you, the one is very similair to the plain green European Praying Mantis, it has no common name and its scientific name is Galinthias amoena it is distinguishable from the Praying Mantis in that it has a brilliant yellow and blue colouration on the insides of its forelegs as well as a distinct black dot at the base of each; where as the Praying mantis is simply plain green. Then the other one I have is a very very VERY colourful and absolutely GORGEOUS Eyed flower mantid or Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi. You'll notice a distinct black eye on its abdomen in the pictures, this is actually used to mimic the centre of a flower to draw prey in. Pretty damn clever if you ask me. RIGHT!!! Time for pictures! This is Galinthias amoena Those eyes...they stare into your soul!! Absolutely gorgeous! No prizes for guessing which one this is! The eyed flower mantid photographed here was actually one I watched for 3 months from the time it was still a nymph, I had the joy and honour of being able to watch this thing slowly mature! This is what it looked like when I first found it! Aaaaaand I hope you enjoyed this blog post! If you have any questions or want me to do an entry on a specific bug then drop a request/question in the comments! Otherwise that's all from me!, Simon out!!
Hello and welcome to another episode of What's that Bug?? Today we have a very special guest with us whose name is- *pop* *wakes up* GAH! I had the dream again...that one where I had my own nature television show. Ah well, some day. For now I better get to the blog post. *ahem* today's blog post was a special request by Icy Skies! Woo I hope you enjoy it! She didn't request any specific bug so it's basically a regular blog post with 100 times more love in it Right! Let's get started shall we? Ant Mimicking Spider (Salticidae) Right! Now! This...is a really cool spider. If you read my last blog entry on the crab spider you'll have found our about the unique colour changing ability that it has to adapt to different colour flowers when it camouflages itself. Well this spider has a completely different kind of camouflage which I'll get to now. This spider is part of the Jumping spider family, y'know those bloody fast and acrobatic spiders you sometimes find on the walls of your home? The ones that you see, then look away for a second to get the swatter and look back and it's gone? Those guys! Jumping spiders are sedentary (Ground dwelling, in other words not web living) and totally harmless. They are actually very useful to have in your house if one has taken a liking to your bedroom corner, but anyway, I'll spare the "Spiders are our friends" speech and get right on. Jumping spiders are actually a huge and diverse family of spiders. There are way more than the generic black jumping spider that we commonly see. The ant mimicking spider is one of them. This guy gets his food from (you guessed it) Ants nests! Ant mimicking spiders primarily feed on ant larvae. Now you may be wondering how exactly these spiders mimic ants. How does an arachnid disguise itself as an insect? Well there are a few main tactics that it uses, not only in it's appearance but in its behaviours and even body chemistry as well! These guys are literally adapted to specifically mimic ants, and they are not the only arthropods to do it either. For starters the ant mimicking spider has a long slender body like that of an ant. Now spiders have two body segments where ants have three, so the head has a distinct elongated shape with a hump at the back to mimic the thorax of an ant as well. Next you'll notice and ant has three legs per side where a spider has four. Well the spider cleverly uses it's front pair of legs to mimic the antenna of an ant by raising them in the air occasionally and tenderly feeling the ground in front of them. These guys are clever, they can convincingly mimic the behaviour of that of an ant. But fooling ants is not so easy. Ants, along with many other insects communicate by chemical secretions and emissions and rely heavily on the secretion of hydro-carbons to signal one another. You might be thinking "Ah I see where this is going, the spider mimics the chemical secretions of the ant" Well it actually is the exact opposite. Because spiders actually have their own chemical communication system . This is how wasps and other insects are able to detect spiders, because the chemical secretions of the spiders are different to the secretions of insects of their species. So this spider has adapted to have very few of these specific chemical secreting molecules in its body, so instead of mimicking a specific insect, it simply does not mimic the chemical signatures of anything. That way if an ant probes the spider if does not get any chemical feedback, and therefore it does not regard it as a threat. The same thing happens with a wasp. Truly remarkable. These spiders are able to go undercover, sorta reminds me of a spy movie. But anyway, I think it's time I showed you a picture of what an ant mimicking spider looks like! Truly remarkable! It look exactly like an ant! It even looks like-...oh hang on a minute that really is an ant...my mistake! Here you are! This specimen I found is in fact a male, you can tell by the large "Jaws" as we'll call them. Here you have a distinct view of the large eyes which are exclusive to that of the jumping spider family. Well! There you have it! I hope you enjoyed today's bug entry! If you have any questions or requests! Leave em in the comments! As for me...Simon out!
Heya guys I'm back for another bug entry and this time I'm back in full force baby!~ I was looking through all the photos I have taken over the few months I was gone and I realised how many cool bugs I actually have to show you guys and I cannot wait!! Right...let's begin...shall we? Today's entry will on the Crab spider, not to be confused with the Spider Crab which is an entirely different thing despite being part of the same phylum, Athropoda. The crab spider (Thomisidae Thomisus) is part of the Kingdom Animalia, phylum Athropoda and is classed as an Arachnid. For everyone else it is simply another spider in our garden. BUT I think you'll find that there is a lot more to this spider than meets the eye! For starters this spider is quite unique in many many ways. The first is how it got its name in the first place, it is called a crab spider because, wait for it, it very seldom walks forward! It is, most of the time, walking sideways! Just like a crab. This is due to a special adaptation in the way it's legs are laid out exactly like that of a crab's legs. the front two legs are very large and strong and the back few are much smaller. These guys have the same shape and movement of a crab! This movement is very useful for them because these spiders are not very quick or agile, so should they need to quickly get off the top of a flower and underneath, walking sideways is quicker because they don't have to waste time turning and walking forward. These spiders, unlike your typical spider that spins a web, prefer hunting with the element of surprise. They have a very special camouflage technique which I will explain now. If you ever want to find a crab spider, the first and most likely place you will find one is on an open and brightly coloured flower. These spiders can come in a diverse range of colours from blue, to pink to white to yellow or even green! and often they can come in mixtures of the colours I just mentioned. But you might be wondering...what happens if a bright yellow crab spider finds a lovely flower to hide on but the flower is, say, white? Hehehe here comes the coolest part...these spiders can CHANGE COLOUR. I repeat, CHANGE. COLOUR!! In fact, I'd have called these spiders chameleon spiders but someone else got to name it first :I Anyway, the spiders are able to tell what colour they are surrounded by due to the visual feedback of their awesome eyes. The colour changing process happens by the spider secreting a pigment into the surface cells of their bodies, the process itself takes about a few days maximum. These spiders rely mostly on touch for hunting, they will sit on a flowers and spread their legs out sideways and wait patiently. When a bee lands on the flower and touches the spider in the slightest it pounces, grabs the bee firmly with its two strong front legs, and injects venom into the bee so potent that the bee is dead within seconds. Don't worry though, crab spiders are absolutely harmless to humans and never bite in self defence as they rely on camouflage and standing still. The spider then sucks the bee dry as fast as possible and then discards of the husk quickly as these spiders are even more vulnerable when they are eating. They cannot move very quickly and having a bee stuck to you isn't that good of a camouflage. Also I think it is worth noting that these spiders are not cowards, they will attack insects and other spiders much much larger than themselves, sorta like David and Goliath except David had a lethal dose of poison and he sorta pounced on Goliath and injected him and then...okay so not so much like David and Goliath but you get my point. I think it is time for pictures! My favourite part I was lucky enough to find one WITH a bee in its jaws Okay right there's just one last thing I want to clear up before I close off THIS is a CRAB SPIDER THIS is a SPIDER CRAB KNOW the difference, it COULD save your life Well that's me done for today, I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post! If you have any questions at all about anything I will be glad to answer them as best I can, also, if you would like me to do an entry on a specific bug or even a critter of some kind just pop a request in the comments and I will do it for ya! Otherwise I have some pretty cool entries planned for future and I will see YOU next time! Ciao!!~ Simon out!
Well...it has certainly been a heck of a long time since I've done a bug entry but it's about time I got back to what my blog was for. It is Simon's BUG corner after all! The first entry of this mini reboot will be one of my favourite butterflies of all time. Namely, as the title says, the Garden Commodore/Inspector (Precis archesia archesia) These guys feed off the nectar of flowers and there actually isn't much difference between the males and the females in colouration, they are both equally beautiful! They can be identified by a fairly sturdy looking body and a pointed head. The main give away is the colouration on the wings. They can either be a dark brown going on to black, with a brilliantly bright orange strip going diagonally up their wings with small white dots in the stripe, or they can have a crimson stripe with white spots, as well as a slightly blue tint in the top corners of their wings. These butterflies 4-5 Centimetres long when they are adults and in my opinion, they are the most beautiful butterflies out of the lot simply because they mix practical camouflage with beauty. The brown obviously mimics the forest floor but the red and orange is stunning! Here, have two pictures I managed to take before it flew away! I think you'll understand when you see it. This guy has the second colouration pattern that I mentioned. Stunning don't you think? That's really all I have to say for now, I'll hopefully make these more interesting as I get into them again. Anyway chaps, hope you enjoyed reading this
Yeah as I write this I'm pretty riled up with a mix of emotions. Anger, fear, sadness and relief. I'm just writing this because I think we all need to be reminded how much our friends actually mean to us. I have had 2 grim reminders over the past two weeks of why we should always love our friends to the fullest and never take anything for granted because two of my friends were nearly killed. One was walking back from stock cars on a Saturday night and without warning a taxi stopped next to him and a guy with a shotgun shot him in the arm and then sped off. Luckily it was loaded with bird shot and he managed to get medical attention before he bled out. The second time my best friend whom was my first friend I ever made was stabbed when he was in the car with his dad, two guys tried to rob them and in the fray he got stabbed in the back, luckily he is okay though. Basically guys what I'm trying to say is make the most of the time you have with your friends, please. You never know when they'll leave this life or when you will. I really hate the crime rate here in South Africa....
This is going to go on a tangent to my previous blogs which I haven't done in ages. I just have to share this with you guys. So today at school our concert band had to perform the recital that we performed at eisteddfod for assembly today. Everything was all good and well until we discovered our snare drummer was absent. Now I'm in the percussion section and we alternate between the different instruments. If you played auxiliary percussion for a piece then the next one you will play a drum or perhaps the glockenspiel. Anyway I was put on assorted auxiliary percussion for one of our pieces "Orpheus Overture" We desperately needed a snare drummer and so I had to fill in my absent partner's place and sight read the music as well as play as much of my part that was possible. What was the result? The entire school laughing at me as I put on an amusing display of trying to pick up the triangle and play the snare drum at the same time then fumbling about when I had to alternate quickly between both. It went surprisingly well. All the sounds that had to be made were made, I just looked like an absolute twit while doing them. Later in the day at break time my friends showed me a picture that they drew which was their interpretation of what was going on during the performance. It absolutely made my day.
Ohh! ohh! Ohhhhhh!!!! *Crawls out of a burrow* GUYS!! I have something AWESOME for you!! My dad and I, as well as some friends went on our occasional Snake-hunt. We go on them as often as possible, my dad and I used to do it a lot, where we'd hunt for Snakes, deadly or harmless. And often we'd come across lots of things, like Snakes and Baboon Spiders, as well as scorpions! Well, My dad sent me the photos of one of our expeditions, aaand I thought "This HAS to go on a blog post" Sooo here ya have it!! A double entry on the Skaap Steker (It's a snake, I know it's not a bug, but I couldn't miss out on such an opportunity) And the Common Baboon Spider. Oh wow, I'm vibrating with excitement right now!! The Common Baboon Spider (Harpactira Gigas) Behold!! My most favourite kind of Spider EVER! The Baboon Spider (Called the Tarantula elsewhere) This Spider is part of the order Mygalomorphs which contain some of the biggest spiders in the world! This Spider, was named after he European Wolf Spider (Lycosa Tarantula), which was large and hairy and it lived in burrows. Soon when people moved to other territories, any spider that was large and hairy was called a tarantula. Here In south Africa though, we call em Baboon Spiders, I mean what better name? "Hey Dad look! a BA-BOOON Spider!!" No name describes this Spider better! It's large, hairy and has padding on it's legs with a similar texture to the pads of a baboon's hands. (BA-BOOON Spider is what I shall call it from now on xD) Like I said, these spiders are massive (Some going up to about 15cm if you count the legs!!) They hide often under burrows, and roam around the ground in the grass in search for food. They eat anything they can get their huge pedi-palps on (pedi-palps are a set of feelers at the front of the Spider, they are usually very small, but on this spider they are large and look like an extra set of legs. Just when you thought 8 creepy legs was enough.) These Spiders, like all spiders have a set of Chelicerae (pronounced: Chilaseray) and with those Chelicerae come a set of huge fangs to go with the huge spider. These fangs are quite scary they can go up to about 1cm. Luckily though, while the bite of this spider is painful, there are not many that are venomous. Most BA-BOOON Spiders are harmless, save one species, but it is not found where I am. BA-BOOON Spiders have a trick up their sleeves...hairs.....legs? If ever they are disturbed, they use their hair as a defence mechanism. When disturbed they rub their hairs off of them, and they get lodged into your skin, causing irritation, and a slight allergic reactions (Due to the small amounts of Venom on their hairs.) *takes a deeeeeeeeeeeeeep breath* Ok! Next insect Waint...not an insect, it's another critter I found while with my dad! A Skaap Steker (Sheep Stabber in English, but don't be mislead, it can't actually kill sheep) It's a kind of Snake found here! Specifically the: Spotted Skaap Steker (Psammophylax rhombeatus) To kick this one off I'm going to quote Twilight Sparkle "I wonder which Cute furry little creatures I've awoken! GAH!! SNAKES!! SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKES!!!" Anyway, back on track! This Snake is of the Venomous Variety, NOT the Constrictor kind. While Constrictors (Like House snakes, Pythons, Boa's and Anaconda's) Suffocate their prey, these snakes bite them, inject venom into their bloodstream and wait for their prey to go to sleep...forever. This particular snake has no real dangerous venom, if you are bitten by it, you'll feel a pin prick and possibly get a headache later on. Nothing too bad. Sorta like getting a flu injection. It's super agile, and once it sees you, it's very hard to catch. They are well camouflaged as well. These Snakes are Oviparous (egg laying) and lay from 8 to 30 eggs at a time. (Unlike the Burmese python, which is Viviparous meaning it gives birth to live young) This snake feeds on mainly mice, rats and lizards and they average in size at about 45 cm, the biggest seen is 1.4 meters though. They live in burrows and often do not venture too far from them. (Now you see me, now you don't) Time for PICTURES!! Spoiler: Pictures Here's one of the BA-BOOON Spider. At least now you know why I call it that. I mean LOOK AT THAT THING!! Here's a lekker front view of him, you can see the pedi-palps and Chelicerae nicely here......dat hair.....And I don't mean the hair on my dad's arm either... We actually found two of them, they were both about 70cm You can see the spots on the side of him. -sigh- What can I say? Like father Like son :Trollestia: Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today's blogpost!! I sure did! ImeandoyouknowhowlongIcangoonaboutsnakeslikethatti meihadaneggeateranditateawholefreakingeggandit'she adstretchedsomehowand*collapses* If ya have questions or requests, be sure to leave em in the comments! As for me, Simon Out!!
*flies over gracefully and lands on a leaf* Allo Allo Allo! How are my great friends this morning? Today I have a blog post specifically for Valkyria, as she requested it! TADAAA The Dung beetle! Unfortunately Valkyria, I could not find this insect in my garden, they are found more in game reserves and game parks, where there is a lot of elephant dung to roll around. So, I shall do a blog post on a dung beetle of my choice! Also, I must say you made a great choice Valkyria, the dung beetle is a most fascinating insect! Allrighty! The Dung beetle is a medium sized stout beetle found all over the world, It is part of the Scarabaeidae family, or, Scarab beetle family, there are many other scarabs I could have chosen, but most are not even found near my area, this is the closes version of a typical Scarab that you will get here. As I have mentioned before, Dung beetles roll the dung of herbivores or omnivores, (They prefer the former) into balls of dung, as you can imagine they also feed on the dung as well, because of this they do not need to eat or drink anything else because it is all given to them by the dung. (Delicious!) They live in deserts, grasslands, forests and farmland. (My city is in the thicket biome, hence the lack of them) You may be wondering why they roll their ball of dung around "Food maybe? but why not just eat it at the source?" They do this because, in the ball of dung is where they lay their eggs, the eggs hatch into larvae, and look at this, mommy has prepared for us an all we can eat buffet until we grow up! These insects are incredibly strong as well. They can move up to ten times their body weight in dung! Not to mention they move it bloody fast too, because if they don't, it may get stolen from them by another dung beetle. (Yo ho ho, and a ball of dung!) They move these dung balls in a straight line, and do not deviate from this path unless there is an impossibly large obstacle in their path. There is another VERY VERY VERY interesting fact about these beetles!! They can NAVIGATE using the FREAKING MILKY WAY!!! and are the only animals on this earth to orient themselves using the stars! NOW THAT is AWESOME! There are many different species of this beetle as you can imagine, and I'm sure most of us know, that the scarab beetle is sacred in the Egyptian culture. The specific species, Scarabeus Sacar is the one that is sacred to these people. Allrighty here are some pictures of dung beetles! This one is known as Scarabeus viettei, look at the odd shape of his head! [video=youtube;3NTIHqE4GnU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NTIHqE4GnU[/video] MAH DUNG! Here we see two dung beetles fighting over some dung, one is defending it's dung ball, and the their is trying to steal it! And lastly, here is a picture of the scarab in Egyptian paintings on a wall, the scarab represented their God of the sun "Khepri" I hope you liked today's blog post! Especially ou Valky :3 If you have any questions, feel free to ask em in the comments, requests? No prob! Put em with the questions! As for me, Simon out! *spreads brightly coloured wings and flies away*
