A parasitic nematode hairworm, Spinochordes Tellinii begins its life so small that it can be digested by insects of the order othoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, praying mantis, etc.) It then takes it's time maturing, growing to be 3-4 times as long as it's host. Though the precise method is, as yet, undetermined, it would seem that the parasite somehow causes it's host to create different proteins in its brain, allowing the parasite to slightly manipulate its actions--particularly around bodies of water, as this is where a mature nematode may find a mate. Some othopterans survive the eventual release of their guest, but many drown after jumping into water to release the worm.

Steer (spinochordodes tellinii)

Translated "daring jumper," this common North American jumping spider needs no web. With it's excellent eyesight and extremely powerful hindquarters, it need only wait, watch, and pounce to fill its belly. This makes it a day-walker, since it relies on sunlight to hunt. Bites on humans from this tiny fuzzball are rare and most definitely non-lethal. Check out those iridescent chelicerae...stylin' yo.

Pounce (phiddipus audax)

Commonly known as the Red Spotted Purple, limenitis arthemis astyanax is a bright forest butterfly native to the eastern side of the United States. The blue-tipped flyer is a mimic to the nth degree; it's larva and pupa forms mimic bird droppings and it's final form is a batesian mimic of the poisonous pipevine swallowtail, with which it is sympatric. The larvae of the red spotted purple overwinter in leaf shelters (hibernaculums) nestled in serviceberry, deerberry, or black cherry bushes, or occasionally in willows, poplars, aspens, cottonwoods, hawthorns, birches, and black oaks. The red-spotted purple sometimes breeds with the viceroy butterfly (limenitis archippus), producing a perfectly functional hybrid.

Flutter (limenitis arthemis astyanax)

This is the largest member of the Silphidae, or carrion, beetle family, that resides in North America (sometimes an inch and a half long). It's remarkable sense of smell can detect a dead mouse within an hour of it's demise from distances of up to two miles away. Upon sensing such a creature, the nicrophorus americanus (otherwise known as the American Burying beetle) will travel by cover of night to the unfortunate mass and immediately begin claiming it as it's home and food source for the rest of it's year long life. After a possible battle for dominance (males against males and females against females) the stronger male and female will drag the body to a suitable substrate for burying and begin to dig out under and around the corpse, dropping it underground in order to seal it away from other scavengers. 

The female will lay 10-30 eggs inside the decaying body and both parents will begin processing food for their young. They actually parent their young in a manner rare to insects, feeding the begging larvae momma to baby bird style. Only when their population is too large for the food supply will they cull their young. 

More info on the American Burying Beetle can be found here: http://www.museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/endanger.htm

Check it out. They have been very thoroughly documented, as they are an endangered species.


Dig (nicrophorus americanus)

Also known as the Great Blue Skimmer, this summer dragonfly is the largest of it's family, reaching lengths of 60mm. Unlike other King Skimmers, the Great Blues prefer calmer waters such as lakes or slow moving mountain streams in which to impose their rule. Carnivorous and aerially agile, these Paleopterans (old-wings/exposed wings) are self-assured (even around people), and rarely get into fights over territory and mating rights, like their somewhat vicious cousins.

Shift (libellula vibrans)

Though this large, iridescent black wasp may seem threatening, it's got way too much to do to mess with you. Tripoxylon Politum, also known as the blue devil, organ pipe wasp, or mud dauber, might give you the once over, but aggression is not its main bag...it's preparing for the organ pipe mud dauber devils of tomorrow with it's every buzzing moment. A female mud dauber spends all of it's time building and provisioning it's nest, a mud(c)hewn (she literally chews up mud balls and molds them into the nest with her forehead and mandibles)architecture similar in appearance to organ pipes. Within the pipes are numerous chambers, each of which the mud dauber stuffs with paralyzed spiders(which she first hunts and stings to stun, then transports back to the homestead) and an egg. As long as the chambers are not invaded by parasitic wasps (or cuckoo's) the eggs will eventually hatch into larvae, which will feed on the paralyzed but still living spiders until they reach adulthood and can leave their living crypts to begin the process all over again. 

more info can be found here: http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek020401.html
don't hesitate...it's fascinating

Drone (tripoxylon politum)

This intricately decorated insect is also known as the Virgin Tiger Moth and it has some really unique defense mechanisms, the most obvious being the bright orange warning colors on its under wings. The other has to do with sound. Grammia Virgos, (and many other moths in the Tiger Moth species) possess tiny little ears and have the ability to produce ultrasonic, multi-modal clicking sounds. When first discovered, it was posited that this adaptation played an important role in the mating processes (which it still might) but it really has more to do with escaping bats. When a Virgin Tiger Moth hears a predator's sonar, the little bugger will send a series of clicks back, effectively jamming the radar and providing time to make an escape. 

https://www4.uwm.edu/fieldstation/naturalhistory/bugoftheweek/virgin-tiger-moth.cfm

Echolocate (grammia virgo)

      It's creepy, it's crawly, and it has a thousand legs. Maybe not a thousand. More like a hundred or two actually...but we still refer to it as a millipede, This one in particular, the North American millipede, is the largest of it's home continent, growing to be twice as large as the second largest in North America--roughly 10cm (which isn't very long, but for a millipede...).
          Like all millipedes and unlike all centipedes, the narceus americanus has no fangs and does not bite or prey on the living. Instead, it eats dead and decaying plant, fungus, and animal matter, playing a vital role in the decomposition process of the forests it calls home. To protect itself from predators, it rolls into a tight little ball (the appearance of it's silvery, red lined segments, when curled up, gives it the nickname iron worm)and expels a fecal pellet (playing dead) and, when the predator persists, releases a noxious liquid, capable of killing a nearby insect but harmless to homo sapiens, though it can stain your fingers or, in rare cases, blister your epidermus(other millipedes in the family produce hydrogen cyanide, benzoquinones, and countless other chemicals when threatened...so don't assume that all millipede secretions are harmless).

      #Funfact! Though it's often thought of as a bug, and thus as an insect, the millipede actually belongs to an entirely different subphylum of arthropods, myriapoda, which it shares with other creatures with a 'myriad' of legs, like centipedes.

Crawl (narceus americanus)

Surprise! This is not about bugs! The track is by starspinner, yours truly added the lyrics and vox. Enjoy this something a little different.

Tiger starspinner.goodbyeterror.sisterivy.edit

In keeping with the tradition of a year, I will be continuing my musical-ish experiments inspired by the tiny...however I'll be releasing them every new moon, because that's how it turned out this time, and I'll be aiming at smaller things. 

This first one is inspired by fruit flies...but more specifically a gene that certain fruit flies (drosophila melanogaster) have called a per gene. Per genes, or periodic genes, express themselves in many ways and in many species, working as feedback loops in conjunction with or independently from circadian rhythms to form habits and norms. 

In the fruit fly, the per gene is shown at work in the evening when the flies call out to their mates, causing a regular interval of roughly sixty seconds in between calls. In some cases, the per gene has a mutation that messes up the timing, producing faster or slower intervals (example: every 20 seconds, 80 seconds, 30 etc.). The strange thing is, the shortening or lengthening of the interval of the call correlates to a shortening or lengthening of the day for the fly. For example, the 20 second interval fly will have an 18 hour day that disregards the movement of the sun...it's timing comes from within.




timing

from the i ching: hexagram 51

"When a man has learned within his heart what fear and trembling mean, he is safeguarded against any terror produced by outside influences. Let the thunder roll and spread terror a hundred miles around: he remains so composed and reverent in spirit that the sacrificial rite is not interrupted. This is the spirit that must animate leaders and rulers of men–a profound inner seriousness from which all outer terrors glance off harmlessly."

goodbye, terror

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