Organisms lie, exaggerate, and scam their way to food, to territory and to sex. In one species of firefly, females can dine on the males of another species if they send a phony mating signal. The duped male becomes dinner rather than a date. Because of this threat, males will approach females with caution. SometimesContinue reading “Dinner and a Date with a Twist”
Tag Archives: A totally unabashedly incomplete book about bugs.
The Braggart Goldenrod
Golden Rod and Vespid wasps (Ptera Hunter, Salem IL, 2006). Yellow attracts many pollinating insects, including these vespid wasps. Bees and wasps have trichromatic vision (three pigments), but they are not the same visual pigments (opsins) that we have. They can see farther into the ultraviolet but less well in the reds. Their clue toContinue reading “The Braggart Goldenrod”
An Intelligent Spider?
When we think about animal geniuses, arthropods don’t usually top the list of usual suspects. However, one genus of jumping spiders, Portia, includes spiders who have a gift: they can devise hunting strategies and make decisions. Portia makes their livings by hunting other spiders. These eight-legged geniuses do not simply attack; they appear to makeContinue reading “An Intelligent Spider?”
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