Sneaky bugs!

Yes, it's that time again. Here I sit at the laptop constructing another update for you. As per usual this will involve sourcing material, writing the text, several interruptions, toilet breaks, caffeine stops, proofreading and heaven knows what else, before I deem it suitable to share.  However, hang in there, it'll be worth the wait (he says with fingers firmly crossed under the table).

Question one: What do you know about Water Cricket?

No, not underwater cricket!

No, not that kind of water cricket!

I am talking about the water cricket bug...

Velia caprai - A Water Cricket

Question two: What do you know about  'Kleptoparasitism'?

Well water crickets are fascinating little creatures and they are subject to Kleptoparasitism. That's all very well you say, but what is Kelptomania or whatever that was you said? 

I shall tell you exactly what it is: not only that, some other strange facts about this creature as well.

Kleptoparasitism (literally, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal takes prey or other food that was caught, collected, or otherwise prepared by another animal, including stored food. Sneaky huh?

Worse still is that this particular bug spits! Yep...spits! 

If its intended prey starts to get away, the cricket can eject a kind of spit from its mouth, which has the effect of lowering the surface tension in front of it, which then allows it to travel at twice its normal speed. This behaviour is known as expansion skating or relaxation swimming. I tried it once at the local Lido, but couldn't get away with the spitting!

Talking of spitting: another strange fact about this bug is that it is distasteful, but then we knew that with the spitting? No...it is distasteful to predatory fish. In fact so distasteful is it to brown trout that they will spit out any crickets ingested without harming them.

A final fact is that they use all of  their six legs at once; like a kind of three man rowing boat. Of course these are not really crickets at all. They belong to the order Hemiptera (True bugs). I found this one by a local stream, which pleased me because they are supposedly indicators of good water quality.

This was actually my first sighting of a true bug this year. A parent bug on hawthorn...

Elasmucha grisea - A Parent Bug

The same day I came across this tiny (possibly 3mm) caterpillar...

It was also on hawthorn but I have no clue as to its identity yet. It could be a Torticidae larva, as they tend to have similar markings, but would probably need it to grow a bit before being able to risk a definite ID.

This on the other hand is a house caterpillar. At least that's where I found it - in the house.

I got quite excited when I also saw this little bug on the hawthorn...

My excitement was short lived though: when I got the photo on to the laptop, I could see it was nothing more than a giant aphid.

Hawthorn was quite productive that day regards finding bugs. It's also where I spotted this ultra-cool weevil...

A Blue Weevil -Possibly Involvulus caeruleus  (Rhynchitidae)

I actually found two on different bushes...

Are you imagining me here writing all this out? I only ask because I am doing so whilst the iPod is currently playing John Lennon's anthem 'Imagine'

Erm...
Do you recall recent posts about beetles I have found that seem to have fungi growing from them? Well Lordy, Lordy, hush my mouth...here's yet another...

Now I have once again tried to research what is going on here and the only thing I have uncovered thus far is an article about Cordyceps. 'Cordyceps are a fungi that infects the host (in this case a beetle) and then instructs the victim to climb as high as possible, where it will die and sprout fruiting bodies. Eventually, the fruiting bodies will erupt and ejecting spores to the wind, which will travel far and wide looking for new hosts.'

Personally I am not convinced this is the same fungi, but possibly. 

Why the laughter JJ? 

Oh because I just checked back on what I wrote about writing while listening to John Lennon, and had quite genuinely made a typo that saw another word made from the word that was supposed to be 'this' (think about it!)

I'll leave you to ponder on that.