Beautiful Insects

To many, the concept may seem like an oxymoron, but those who study and appreciate insects know that beauty can be found in the most unlikely places. Insects are the largest group of animals on Earth, representing over half of all known organisms. Over a million different species have been described, but the true number of species is estimated to be between six and ten million. With the sheer volume of insect species that exist on our planet, it’s no wonder that the diverse group is home to so much beauty. As with anything else in this world, the more you can learn about the complexities of the insect world the more fascinating they become.

Madagascan Sunset Moth
Chrysiridia rhipheus

Butterflies and moths are typically the first thing people think of with regards to beauty in the insect world. The vibrant colors and large, delicate wings are easy to admire. This particular species is a favorite of collectors. Interestingly, it's spectacular coloration is due to optical interference, rather than to pigmentation in the wings. 

Orchid Mantis
Hymenopus coronatus

The orchid mantis closely resembles the flower for which it is named. Native to the rain forests of southeast Asia, this mantis is carnivorous, just like its less vibrant relatives. Here, an orchid mantis uses its camouflaged appearance to its advantage, catching and eating another insect.

Western Honey Bee
Apis mellifera

The western honey bee may not be brightly colored  or easily resemble a rare and delicate flower, but its importance to our ecosystems easily makes it one of the most interesting and beloved insect species. Not only are honey bees useful, pollinating multitudes of flowering plants including our crops, they are capable of forming a complicated society and even show signs of democracy. They display fascinating behaviors, such as the complex 'waggle dance' that tells other bees where to locate a food source, and, contrary to many people's fears, honey bees are unlikely to sting you unless threatened. They are in danger due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), so take the pledge to help save them today!

Jewel Caterpillar
Acraga coa

The jewel caterpillar is actually the larval stage of the Acraga coa moth. It's translucence and geometric features make it seem more like a jewel-encrusted brooch than a living creature. However, those gummy spines all along its back easily break off in a predator's mouth, allowing the caterpillar a chance to escape. Here, you can see the subtle coloration of the caterpillar, which appears to shift as the caterpillar moves.

Peacock Spider
Maratus volans

While technically not an insect, the peacock spider is nonetheless a fascinating example of a typically unappealing animal that can show unexpected beauty. Named for the birds with similarly ostentatious coloring, peacock spiders display sexual dimorphism; the females and juveniles are brown, while the males display colorful patterns to attract females. Males also clap their legs together, vibrate their abdomen, and perform dances in order to attract mates. They are also non-venomous, posing no threat to humans.

Hunter Phillips

The Green Drake “trout candy”: A Magnificent Insect

To speak to the magnitude of importance and appreciation of this stream born insect I will quote Hatches II

“"To many afflicted Eastern fishermen, the 'Green Drake Hatch' is as irresistable and habit-forming as black jack, whiskey, or easy women."

In late May or early June the Green Drake nymph(Ephemera guttulata)  makes his way to the surface of the water and in comparison to other mayflies emerges from his shuck very quickly. But they tend to be clumsy when they try to dry their wings and fly from the water. This fluttering around and their large size are the reason they are so well known among fishermen. They are also pretty well distributed and only require small segments of silt in their cool clean streams to reproduce. Dry river, west of Harrisonburg has a phenomenal hatch.

These large green mayflies often hatch after a warm day on a spring afternoon synchronously where the males swarm above the streams and the females, which tend to be larger fly through the swarm and the males will grab onto them with their long front legs to mate. After mating the females fly down to the surface of the water and lay their eggs  under the water. They have then completed their mission and fall onto the surface and die. This stage is also imitated by fly fisherman.

Their nymphs live mostly in slower moving water in comparison to other mayflies as they are burrowers and live in silt and muddy stream beds. They can live for multiple years under the water and the adult life stage is only about 1% of their overall lives. Colder temperatures as the warm day trigger them to emerge and during these hatches trout will specifically target these insects and fishermen who are not “matching the hatch” will not have many takes.

http://www.flyfishusa.com/flies/02-green-drake.htm

If you want to watch some fishing videos with the green drake or see more imitation flies that’s a good link

Prehistoric Ant Imposter Discovered

Prehistoric Ant Imposter

Researchers from the American Museum of Natural history have recently published a report on a 52 million year old insect fossil. The insect, found encased in amber in India, was named Protoclaviger trichodens, and  appears to be the oldest known species to exhibit  a unique survival strategy known as “myrmecophily”. Myrmecophily is a form of parasitism, in which an insect parasitizes an entire colony, rather than an individual.

Today, there are 370 known species belonging to Clavigeritae, a group of myrmecophilous beetles , who like this fossilized specimen, infiltrate and subsist in ant colonies. Normally, ants have a complex system of pheromones that are used to differentiate intruders from colony members. Once singled out, intruders are quickly and violently dispatched of. The Clavigeritae beetles have evolved methods to circumvent this recognition system, and walk amongst the ants as if they are a member of the colony.

Living within the ant colony offers many advantages to the beetles, as they enjoy the prime shelter and real-estate built by the ants, without having to assist the colony. The beetles feed on the ants eggs and young hatchlings. In some instances, the ants will feed the beetles directly via trophallaxis. 

To survive in this unique way, the Clavigeritae have evolved very unique body morphologies. The body segments of the beetles are fused together to provide protection from the ant’s jaws, as they are commonly lifted and carried around the colony (as seen above, look at those lazy things). Additionally, the beetles are covered in oil secreting glands and hairs, which act to disguise their true identity from the ants.  Additionally, the beetles mouthparts are recessed and adapted to better accept trophallactic gifts from the ants. These insects have evolved to literally be the animal kingdom’s biggest mooches. 

Insect Pinning and Preservation

    About half my collection from Dr. Cooper's Insect Ecology Class, 2014

BEFORE YOU START:
       As a child I was much more concerned with a) catching insects and b) keeping them alive and dragging them through my poor mother's house than I ever was 'collecting' them in the weird-Victorian-hobby sense of the word. To some degree I'm still this way; back in 2010 I got my first good point-and-shoot digital camera and for the most part I still enjoy taking pictures of insects far more than I do...well...killing them. There's no nice way to put it; to make an omelet, you need to crack some eggs, and to make a complete insect collection you need kill some insects. Unless you are very dedicated to pinning only fresh, already-dead insects (see: vulture culture, the practice of preserving and crafting with the body parts animals that died of natural causes), you will have to kill the insects before you pin them.

     To accomplish this, you're going to need a killing jar. This is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a jar that holds a killing agent and has an air-tight lid that allows the insect to suffocate on the killing agent's fumes. For adult collectors, glass works best because it stands up to most of the chemicals used to kill the insects; for children, the risk of dropping a glass jar pretty well outweighs whatever advantages of using glass, so plastic is more suitable in that case. Our class used jars ordered from an entomological company, but any jam jar or possibly even peanut butter jar will do. Once you've selected your jar, you're going to need some sort of absorbant material to collect and release the killing agent. Our class used quick setting plaster poured directly into the bottom of the jar (though be aware that this can backfire; several students have had their plasters detach from the bottom and flip over, crushing insects and making them difficult to get out of the jar) though any absorbent material, from paper towels to corrugated cardboard cut to fit the bottom of the jar  to cotton balls will do in a pinch. Just make sure the top layer of whatever you choose is mostly dry; hairy or scaly insects, such a butterflies, can damage themselves on damp surfaces.

     Next, you'll need to decide on a killing agent. Historically, a number of dangerous and ill-advised chemicals have been used such as ether, chloroform and potassium cyanide; a bit overkill, if you ask me. The best and safest bet for pinning insects is acetone-free nail polish remover, which contains ethyl acetate and kill insects within a few minutes. Similarly,you could purchase pure ethyl acetate which kills insects a little quicker; this can be expensive, however, depending upon who you're buying from. Be aware that ethyl acetate will damage plastic jars in the long-term, so it may be best to go with rubbing alcohol if you're using a plastic jar. Rubbing alcohol is also less dangerous to use with small children and has the advantage of being available almost world-wide, in case you're collecting in remote areas with nothing but a simple general store to get supplies from.
     Now we get to the actual pinning. Pin as soon as the insect is dead whenever possible (just make SURE it's dead; I've had a couple incidents with insects re-awakening on the pinning board, and it's a whole different kind of guilt trip). The insect will never be as flexible as it is when it's freshly killed. If you're starting with a 'dry' insect, one that has stiffened up and whose joints are no longer pose-able, you'll want to relax it for some time before trying to get it into the position to pin it. Relaxation can be accomplished by filling a small tupperware container with a wet sponge and several layers of paper towels. Placing the insect inside a plastic bottle cap or watchglass will allow the body to loosen up with the high humidity inside the container. A word of caution, however: these are also favorable conditions for mold growth. I once lost about a dozen bees, wasps and hornets to mold this way. Relax in small batches, no more than two or three at a time, and be especially wary of insects that you take from standing water (my wasps and bees were from a swimming pool filter, for example. Lesson learned.). Ethyl acetate in the relaxation chamber may help keep mold down and gets the insects nice and 'floppy'.


PINNING AND POSING:
     You can certainly buy display boxes from entomological companies and use that as your primary pinning surface, but to prepare the specimen for mounting it helps to have a thick (1 to 2 inches is ideal) piece of Styrofoam board so that you can push the pin far down into the Styrofoam and pin the insect high on the pin's length, near the head if at all possible, while the specimen's legs and ventral surface can still touch the Styrofoam board's surface. This makes for easier labeling and less damage when the time comes for transferring the specimen from one box to another.

Notice how dragonfly that was pinned close to the bottom of the box has all of its feet on the ground. This make posing easy, but also leaves it vulnerable to having its legs snap off. The other dragonfly was pinned with the reverse pinning method:

 I inserted the pin through the thorax and put the pinhead in the Styrofoam. I post the legs the way I wanted them using a bit of note card and then laid the wings out flat. I gave this one about three days to dry. 

Much prettier than that low-mount!

Tah-dah!

   Before you begin pinning, I find it helps to take the insect's appendages through their full range of motion. Figure out where the stiff points in each joint are and try to avoid pushing past them. Then, once you're confident with your specimen, you can put your first pin into the insect. Most institutions and private collectors still use the tried and true method of putting the single 'permanent' pin through thorax or high on the abdomen, allowing for a horizontal presentation of the specimen. When insects are being prepared for 3D imaging, Micro Ct reconstruction or 2D high-resolution photo stitching,  however, it makes way more sense to pin them through the rectal opening to display as much body surface to the camera as possible (if you have a moment, this article explains this in more detail and is definitely worth the read).  However, these systems aren't common yet in a lot of institutions, so we'll proceed with horizontal instructions. Once you've gotten your first pin though the thorax, you'll want to get the legs into position. Many institutions try to save space in large collections by folding the legs under the body, but I've always felt that this is aesthetically unattractive and does not allow people using the preserved specimen to see what the insect looked like when it was alive. My usual choice, especially for orders like Othopera and Coleoptera, is to pin the insect dorsal side up, adjust the legs, mouth parts and antennae into a natural pose, secure the pose with with as many pins as necessary (this can be mean dozens per insect, so have plenty on hand before you start) and then allow them to air dry and harden up for a few days. You'll know it's ready to have the extra supporting pins removed when you try to bend a leg and there is no give in the joints. Be aware that some insects take much longer to dry than others; something like a leafhopper can take less than 24 hours, but the one wheel bug I've tried to pin has been on the Styrofoam for nearly a week and it still hasn't hardened up enough to remove its support pins yet. Size has a great deal to do with this; large, hard-bodied insects seem to take a very long time to harden up, while smaller and softer-bodied insects will desiccate fairly quickly. Large insects that have a lot of soft tissue, such as praying mantids, grasshoppers and walking sticks, can be punctured a few times in discrete locations (between scutes of the exoskeleton or underneath the thorax where no one is likely to look)  with a pin to allow fluids to drain and to encourage drying instead of rotting.
     Pins are not the only way to give your insect the support it needs to maintain the pose you'd like as it dries. Mantids are very difficult to preserve in their 'praying' pose, but one trick is to cut a small piece of cardboard or note card paper to fit under the 'armpits', allowing the head and neck to be supported while the front appendages are pushed outwards. Don't be afraid to get creative.

I was having some trouble getting this mantis to keep 'praying', but a piece of note card did the trick. But what about his drooping abdomen?

There we go. Much better. 

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS:

The first insect I ever pinned was a large sphinx moth I found freshly dead in my garage. Pictures of the pinning process and the finished product are below:

When it comes to butterflies, bigger is usually easier to deal with. 

    Butterflies and moths are a little more difficult to pin, but are extremely rewarding when they come out well. My personal method differs from what most institutions teach, but it's easier for beginners to follow and gives good results. Before I touch the butterfly, I cover the styrofoam board with a sheet of plastic. Saran-Wrap or 1 gallon plastic bags cut open work fairly well, though I've heard of people getting good results with wax paper too.  I start opening the wings slightly with tweezers and inserting the first pin between the wings and through the thorax, usually so that the pin's point comes out between the first set of legs on the ventral surface. Once I get the thoracic pin correct, I push the body down the pin until the dorsal surface is almost flush with the pin head.Then, I open the wings back towards the ventral surface, flip the pin head-down and push the pinhead into the Styrofoam just enough to keep the pinhead fully inside the board. I position the wings on the board the way I want them and then secure them with either a strip of plastic pinned tight to the board or just directly with pins (this is dependent upon size and wing shape). For the legs, I try to put them into the position they'd likely occupy when the insect is flying (either flush against the body or with the feet slightly turned out and away). The legs can be kept in place with a piece of cardboard or plastic; usually, if you're doing a reverse-pinning like I did on the sphinx moth above, the weight of the plastic will keep the legs pressed into the right position as they dry.  Larger butterflies and moth are much easier to pin than smaller ones; some smaller moths, especially, have wings that tear like tissue paper when pinned. I've yet to find a way to get these specimens presentable enough to keep.

DISPLAY:
     Displaying the insects is a matter of purpose and personal taste; most institutions label their specimens with capture location, captor and year, and keep them in glass cases in climate-controlled containers with moth balls to avoid dermestid beetle damage. For my personal collection, I use baseball cases for large insects and soon I'll be looking to get a few shadow boxes to display specimens by order. Like any other work of art, try to keep them out of the sun to avoid loss of color.

So this is just about everything I know about insect preservation. Remember the basics and you'll have your collection growing soon.
     Happy Hunting,
       -Rebecca Dickey
   

The "Fire" in the Fly

            Call them fireflies, lightening bugs, glow flies or moon bugs, everyone seems to love those bioluminescent bugs you find on any good summer's night. While many of us enjoy watching and catching these bugs, most people don't fully understand how these insect produce the light that so eagerly attracts us to them. Most commonly known by the name of fireflies, these insects belong to a family of beetle known as Lampyridae, meaning "glowworm" or "to shine". This family of beetles holds all 2,000 species of fireflies worldwide. Most of these species are found around moist environments in Asia, Europe and the America's. While not all species of fireflies emit light, those that do are almost exclusively nocturnal. The fireflies active hours during the night allow it to use their light and is the reason we can find them! Most fireflies use their light to attract mates of the same species and some even use them to attract prey for a midnight snack!

            The light made by fireflies is due to two special bioluminescent compounds found within the abdomen of the insect. The first, luciferin, is an organic, multi-ring structured compound created within the insect. A second compound, called luciferase, is an oxidative enzyme also created by the insect. When these two compounds, luciferin and lucifrase mix in the presence of oxygen and magnesium, an instant chemical reaction occurs. The lucifrase enzyme breaks down parts of the luciferin compound releasing energy. This energy following the reaction is then emitted as light. This light emitted is the blinking we can see through the firefly's translucent abdomen! The length and brightness of the blink is determinate on the amount of the compounds released in the insect's body and how fast they release this amount.

            To take this even one step further, different firefly species can produce different colors of light based on how they form their light emitting chemicals. Small variations in luciferin's chemical composition change the color of the light emitted. Their are 3 known variations in luciferin which result in green, yellow or a pale red light! Some fireflies can also use a combination of these variations in the compound to make more of a yellow-green or orange blink. The colors of variations are shown below:

            Another interesting factor about the light created by fireflies is that it's known as a "cold light". As with most bioluminescent animals, the light emitted by the organism is so energy efficient that all the energy is emitted only within the visible light spectrum. Since the energy expenditure in creating the light is so energy efficient, the reaction produces no heat or other byproduct and is aptly named "cold light". Releasing light in only the visible spectrum also eliminates the risk of the organism overheating or wasting energy in inefficient methods. To put this into perspective lets compare a firefly's light to our man made light bulbs. Using an incandescent light bulb over 90% of the energy you use to run the light bulb is emitted as heat, not light! Even when using a florescent light bulb, about 10% of the energy used to run the light is still lost as heat. Compare this to the firefly and you'll find that 0% of the energy is lost as heat.

For more information on Fireflies visit these sites:

- http://www.firefly.org/

- http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/firefly/

(Time lapse photo of fireflies "blinking" in a meadow.)

Edible Entomology

Entomophagy (n) - The practice of eating insects

Eating insects is not a new idea that popular TV shows such as Fear Factor or Survivor have propagated to be a popular 'challenge' for people to consume.  In most western audiences, it is a large 'gross out' challenge, insects usually having a taboo placed on them by these societies as being inedible and creepy.

  

But in the historical record, there are a number of trace fossils that show evidence of our early ancestors eating a wide variety of insects.  This helps to support the Evolutionary Expensive Tissue Hypothesis that we developed a larger brain once we started eating more nutrient efficient sources (1).  The ETH reasons that hominids evolved to have a larger brain by eating a better quality of foods that gave their bodies the resources to develop more specialized portions of the brain to allow for higher thinking functions.  In today's world, many places with more traditional cultures,such as Brazil and Columbia, are places where insects are still a popular part of everyday diet.  Recently there has been a push for insect cuisine in western cultures such as places like Vancouver, BC, Canada, there are restaurants being opened that sell insects as food as their main dishes (2).

Insects are a great resource to switch our ever growing world population to for a source of high protein while putting little effort into actually growing them.  Insects are considered a minilivestock, one that does not take up much space or resources to raise in large quantities, and could provide many areas that are experiencing food shortages with high quality protein to eat.  Compared with other large mammal livestock that most people in western cultures consume, it is a much more economic and ecologic answer to the human population crisis and subsequent issue of feeding everyone without harming the environment irrevocably.  Becoming more insect dependent for food not only provides people who would otherwise go without a high protein diet a rich source of amino acids, but it also voids creating nearly as much green house gas emissions (Livestock is reported to account for 18% of the net green house gas emissions), it has a low water pollution impact, and takes up much less land to cultivate than traditional mammals do (3) (4).

But what sorts of recipes could we make that would ease a predominantly close minded western culture into a more insect dependent diet?  Some easy, and perhaps very tasty, recipes to try out would be Grasshopper Kabobs and Mealworm (or cricket) Fried Rice.

Grasshopper Kabobs



Ingredients:
12 large grasshoppers or similar edible insect
1 large red bell pepper cut into chunks
1 white onion cut into wedges
(For the marinade)
½ cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1tsp honey
½ tsp fresh ginger (grated)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2tbsp mixed garden herbs of your choice (eg rosemary, mint or thyme for a fresh summer feeling or oregano and basil for a more Mediterranean flavour)
¼ tsp salt
Pinch ground pepper 

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a glass bowl or baking dish. Add the insects, cover and leave in the fridge over night. When ready to cook remove the insects and gently pat them dry. Skewer the ingredients alternating between pepper, onion and insects so skewers are nicely arranged. Finally drizzle some olive oil over the kebabs and cook a few inches above a fire for just under 10 minutes, or alternatively under the grill turning regularly until allt he ingredients are a golden brown and crispy. 

Source: George Gordon on the Business Insider

Mealworm (or cricket) Fried Rice


Ingredients:
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp. oil
¾ cup of water
¼ cup white onions (chopped)
4 tsp. soy sauce
1 pinch garlic powder
1 cup rice
1 cup baked mealworms or crickets 

Bake the bugs on a lightly oiled tray until golden brown. Then whilst the rice is boiling scramble the egg and ensure it is thouroughly broken up. Add the rest of the ingredients other than the bugs and bring to the boil. Simply drain the rice and stir it into the mixture with the bugs, remove from the heat and leave to stand for 5 minutes before serving to ensure the flavours are at their best. 

Source: Iowa State University Entomology Club

There is a good list on this webpage of online vendors that sell insects for human consumption if you're interested in trying these two recipes, or look up more to try on your own!


References:
(1)  Insect diet helped early humans build bigger brains, study suggests.  By Gerry Everding

(2) Open your mind and pass the insects. By mstainsby@png.canwest.com

(3) Insects could be the key to meeting food needs of growing global population By Damian Carrington

(4) Insects as the food of the future: Locusts, grasshoppers, crickets, silk moth pupae, and beetle and moth larvae.  By the Institute of Food Technologists

Bees in the Arctic!

Bees in the Arctic!

Megan Budnik

Insects have illustrated their amazing adaptability by effectively diversifying throughout the world and occupying a crazy number of different niches (the role an insect has in a given habitat).  Virtually any environment you can name will probably have many resident creepy crawlies.  Even far north, where the temperatures can reach well below zero, there will still be bugs buzzing about their business. 

Seen below, the arctic bumblebee (Bombus strobus) is one great example of this phenomenon.  This bumblebee is found in Arctic Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Arctic Eurasia, where the temperatures will oftentimes dip well down below the freezing temperature.  Whereas a temperate bumblebee might only be able to fly in temperatures above 20ºC (varies by speices), arctic bumblebees can keep right on buzzing in temperatures close to 0ºC.  This species is able to survive in such a harsh environment due to a couple adaptations that help them keep warm even though bees and other insects are cold-blooded species, meaning that their body temperatures will fluctuate based on the ambient temperature around them. 

The first adaptation is physiological.  All bees of the genus Bombus are covered in hairs (see picture below) that give them their fuzzy-looking appearance and also aid with pollination since pollen tends to stick to these hairs when the bee lands on a flower.  Bombus strobus has a higher density of these hairs, which help retain heat and thus keep the bee from wasting energy because of excess heat loss.  Having thicker/denser hair is a common adaptation of mammals to keep warm in cold climates, and it is interesting that multiple species that are so different evolved the same type of adaptation to cope with this same environmental stressor.  

The second is a behavioral adaptation to keep warm that is also shared by mammals: shivering!  Bees shiver so effectively that a hive but in a freezer won’t die directly due to the temperature because all the bees crowd around their queen and shiver together, creating enough shared body heat to keep themselves warm.  This tactic is both used individually and to keep the entire hive warm throughout the long winters up north. 

Insect Collecting at Smith Creek

Smith Creek, located northeast of Harrisonburg, is a familiar field site for many biology students at JMU.  The majority of the stream flows through forested and agricultural lands along the western slope of Massanutten Mountain, before its confluence with the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.

  

Several professors, graduate and undergraduate students have conducted research or participated in class activities along the stream and its tributaries.  Our Insect Ecology class has made several lucrative collecting expeditions to Smith Creek this fall.  It’s likely that a visit to the same site just over 10 years ago would have yielded very different results.

In 2004, water quality monitoring revealed bacterial contamination, nutrient, and sedimentation levels above the maximum amounts allowed by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.  Since then, stream has been undergoing restoration.  The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service established the project as a Showcase Watershed in 2010, which provided funding for farmers and residential landowners to implement conservation practices to improve the quality of the stream.  Although more improvements are needed, the program has been considered quite successful.

One aspect of the project has been to restore riparian areas along the banks of the stream.  These buffers between the land and water are essential for healthy ecosystems, as they provide habitats and food for wildlife, filter nutrient and pollution runoff, slow the pace of erosion, and reduce flooding. Much of Smith Creek has now had livestock fencing installed, which prevents animals from destroying the riparian zone.  

Trees and other vegetation are now growing in abundance in many areas, creating an ideal habitat for a diverse array of both terrestrial and aquatic insects.  The class has collected multiple species from several insect orders, including Odonata (dragonflies, damselflies), Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants), Diptera (flies), Megaloptera (Dobsonflies), Trichoptera (caddisflies), Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths), Hemiptera (true bugs), Mantodea (mantids), and Coleoptera (beetles).

Sources:

http://smithcreekwatershed.com/smith-creek-watershed-factsheet/

http://lfswcd.org/SmithCreekImplimentationPlan.pdf

All photos were taken by Suzanne Allison

An Insect Inspired Art Exhibit I Wish I Had Seen and Bilateral Gynandromorphism!

An Insect Inspired Art Exhibit I Wish I Had Seen….

Carlos Amaroles’ Black Cloud, 2009, Espacio AV

Black Cloud, 2007, Yvon Lambert Gallery

Black Cloud is an installation involving 10,000 black paper moths.  The piece was first installed at Yvon Lambert in 2007, then again in 2009 at Espacio AV.  Yvon Lambert is a gallery in Paris, and Espacio AV is an old church in Spain.  The latest installation of the Black Cloud was at the Phoneix Art Museum in 2013.

Carlos Amaroles’ Black Cloud is inspired by the monarch migration.  As a young boy he would travel to Mexico, and see the monarchs’ migrations.  Amaroles remembers the monarchs swarming and covering the trees.  He distinctly remembers the noise of the thousands of the butterflies.  Amaroles states “What turns a beautiful butterfly into maybe something more disquieting.”  Amaroles goes on to state that one can think of the monarchs as one big animal.  Watch the interviewhttp://vimeo.com/60606734…. I think it is very interesting.

Moving to Science...

Bilateral gynandromorphism (half male half female butterflies, literally!)

Bilateral gyandromorphism is a rare condition when an animal or insect contains both male and female characteristics.  The condition is seen in birds, crustaceans, and insects.  Butterflies have some very impressive displays of bilateral gynandromorphism. 

What causes this? Scientists believe bilateral gynandromorphism occurs when two sperm enter an egg.  One of the sperm fuses with the nucleus of the egg, which then develops into a female insect.  The other sperm develops alone without another set of chromosomes creating a male insect.