Jolty the Joltik - July 6th, 2012

06 July 2012 @ 05:51 pm

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Technically the last one for request week, but I've had a few more so I'm just carrying this over to fill days into next week, then will just do randoms until the week after.

In any case, I hope everyone's been having good summers so far! And speaking of summers, they often herald the arrival of bugs and insects. Some might even be quite cute- which is what we're featuring today.

Go beetles of all sorts!

( What's this? Everything looks like a beetle today! Even the spider... )

GOLDEN TORTOISE BEETLES

These curious little things can actually change colour and look like tiny little gems. They do this by changing how reflective their shell is. Only the live beetles have such colours- if they're captured for a collection or dead, they loose that shine and just go back to brown. Some even have colouring similar to ladybirds. Fascinating, aren't they?

<img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2616/3902213612_2431a21042.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/schaut/3902213612/">source</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3107/5705376365_1a17ccfd88.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/milbot79/5705376365/">source</a>

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6588092885_de6b9d1ffd.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaikumarmohan/6588092885/">source</a>

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/btBqG.png">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/liewwk/3652792386/">source</a>

OTHERS (MISC.)

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4866104094_947ac21d34.jpg">
<a href="http://orionmystery.blogspot.sg/2010/08/shield-bugs-pycanum-rubens-and-host.html">source</a>

This is the shield bug Pycanum rubens- and yes, both of those are the same thing! The one on the right is P. rubens as a nymph, and on the left is its adult form. What they're doing in that picture is sucking sap from leaves. The adults are usually about an inch and a half long, but the nymphs are just eeny.

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/8MRWA.png">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/doc44/4536863323/">source</a>

The feather horned or fan horned beetle here belongs to the family Rhipiceridae and can be found in Australia. Sadly, not much is known about them. They're usually very tiny, no more than about half an inch to an inch long at the most.

<img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5047/5334941067_4046b2372a.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fishnrobo/5334941067/">source</a>

Whoa! Those are some crazy colours. These sparkly guys are Tectocoris diophthalmus, but they're far more commonly known as Hibuscus Harlequins or Cotton Harlequins. They mostly live around the Oceanic region, and feed on... you guessed it, the sap of hibuscus plants. As pretty as they are, though, touching them would be a bad idea- they're also really smelly bugs, and agitating one of them sets of the others to release a symphony of stink all at once.

<img src="http://farm1.staticflickr.com/77/185020246_ec3730cb74.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadmike/185020246/">source</a>

This litle Chrysobothris chryseola belongs to the family of Buprestidae, or Jewel beetles. It's one of the most diverse and pretty beetle families, and many of its members are metallic, shiny, and really impressively colourful. This is just one of them- <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/47725257@N02/5698785818">here</a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eurythyrea/4915703108/">are</a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38709689@N00/3186786955">some</a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/77175355@N07/7307233728">others</a> for you to check out, just to see the variety! I've been lucky enough to have seen a few of these in real life, and let me assure you, they're every bit as bright as they appear in the photographs, if not brighter.

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3425/3697227394_6759ee4204.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38449720@N04/3696419089">source</a>

Here's a Japanese beetle for you! More properly called Popillia japonica. While it's just another beetle in its home country, it's more of an invasive foreign species in America. Funnily enough, it's a pretty bad flyer and tends to bump into things and get flounder a bit when it's in the air.

<img src="http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/photogallery_image/articles/beetles_0.jpg">
<a href="http://www.popsci.com/science/gallery/2009-12/gallery-years-most-amazing-scientific-images?image=41">source</a>

Unfortunately a picture can't capture how brilliantly white this tiny beetle is. It's known as Cyphochilus, and it's really really white- <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brilliant-whiteness-of-st">this</a> article compares its brightness to whiter than a child's baby tooth, and coming from such a thin, thiny creature, studying it might help us find out about how to improve the brightness and colour on our electronic displays.

<img src="http://bugguide.net/images/raw/TK8KAKHKAK8KNKGQPKMKTKIKF09QRSXKCKBQBKXK6KKKUKHKPK0KDK0KB05QA06QPKGQ304KCK.jpg">
<a href="http://bugguide.net/node/view/8871">source</a>

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/nng2O.png">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ticopuppy1/4452261703/">source</a>

And last but not least, the Ashy Gray Ladybird, or Olla v-nigrum. Believe it or not, those last two photographs are of the same species of beetle! They're rather impressively different, aren't they? There's no in-between for this bug.

Beetles are definitely interesting things, aren't they? The spider in our next picture would certainly think so, at least...

Here we go!

<img src="http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_spiders/images/a0wpe25.jpg">
<a href="http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_spiders/BugMimickingSwiftSpider.htm">source</a>

This is Supunna picta. It's certainly holding itself a little oddly for a spider, though, isn't it? And with its colouring, it's almost as if its front two legs are like feelers...

Which is exactly what they're meant to look like. This spider is actually more commonly known as the Bug Mimicking Swift Spider, and here's the bug it's meant to be mimicking.

This fellow's the nymph of the Gum Tree Shield Bug. The spider shares the same body colour, white markings, and bright orange legs in front. Believe it or not, they even walk with only three pairs of their eight legs, and wave about their front two legs when they do to add to the illusion. Here's another look at the Swift Spider for good measure.

<img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2513/4227320091_a348b6f302.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31914013@N05/4227320091/">source</a>

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