Year: 2010 (Page 7 of 70)

Bug of the Week: Desert Headstanding Beetles

After years of living in the Sonoran desert, I finally got a photograph of a clown beetle, Eleodes species, standing on its head.

These shiny black beetles are common in the Southwest. They are called a number of different names, such as desert stink beetles, clown beetles, pinacate beetles, and headstanding beetles.

Why would a beetle stand on its head? Why is it called a stink beetle?

It stands on its head probably for two reasons. Eleodes beetles are the skunks of the insect world. They can spray nasty chemicals from their rear, the tip of their abdomen. By assuming the posture, like a head standing spotted skunk, they are warning predators that they are about to spray. If the predator continues to advance, they are in position to do the most amount of damage with their spray.

The business end of an Eleodes beetle

You might also notice the hard wing covers, or elytra. They are fused shut and the beetles are not able to fly.

What do they eat? The adults scavenge plant and animal debris. The larvae are a type of wireworm. They live mostly underground and feed on plant material. The adults also stay underground during the heat of the day.

In an effort to show you the spotted skunk doing its head stand for comparison, I found this video from the BBC.  It shows a spotted skunk against an urban backdrop, with dancers mimicking its motions. Note:  At one point the one of the actors is spraying graffiti and seems to spray the skunk. It is a statement about spraying chemicals, and the result of film editing, but it might be disturbing to small children. Also, this video has a pop-up ad.

It is pretty amazing how both the beetle and the spotted skunk have similar behaviors.

Have you ever seen a beetle or a spotted skunk standing on their heads? Or maybe I should say hand standing beetles?

Seed of the Week: Cotton

Do you know why not many people have seen the mystery seeds from last week?

It is because they are usually covered with white, fluffy lint. The seeds were from the cotton plant, Gossypium hirsutum.

The cotton plant grows in warm climates throughout the world.

The flower is quite beautiful. I don’t know why it isn’t grown more frequently as a landscape plant.

You can see the relationship to other similar plants, hollyhocks and hibiscus.

After the flower is pollinated, it produces a boll.

The boll opens to expose the cotton,

which if you look closely…

is chock full of seeds! Thank goodness for cotton ginning, or our clothes would be rather lumpy 🙂

People have offered many ideas about why the cotton seeds are so fuzzy. Some ideas are that the lint helps move the seeds, either by wind (seems unlikely because the seeds are heavy) or by water. Others suggest that the lint attracts birds, which carry it and the seeds away to use in their nests. It is also possible the fuzzy lint protects the seeds from insect damage, although there are some insects that can still get through.

In any case, cotton is an interesting plant!

For more information, see:

Cotton Educational Resources includes Cotton: From Field to Fabric. Check the ride sidebar to go step by step through the process of harvesting cotton to making fabric.

Does cotton grow where you live?

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