Insect Defense essays

Insect Defense essays Above the countless number of species on our planet, insects stand among the most successful animals on Earth in regards to sheer variety and abundance. About one million species of insects have been identified so far (some estimates reach three million), which is about half of all the animals known to the scientific world. Insects inhabit nearly every nook on Earth. Rock crawlers survive in the peaks of the Himalayas by producing a kind of antifreeze, and worker ants forage for food in the Sahara Desert at temperatures above 47oC. Insects can be aquatic, air-borne, land-dwelling, tree-dwelling and anything in between. Some insects, such as the silverfish have even adapted to living indoors and surviving on a diet of paper and glue. Because insects are nutritious, abundant, diverse, and found everywhere, they are eaten by humans, animals and plants alike. So how is it that these tiny creatures have managed to subsist so successfully for millions of years in the face of such adv ersity? Evolution has endowed them with a remarkable ability to adapt and defend. A great variety of moths spend their days resting safely upon tree trunks, so perfectly matching the mottled bark that their very invisibility forms their defense. To repel honey thieves, some stingless social bees erect walls of sticky resin in front of or around the nest entrance, while other species will smear a repugnant liquid. Some insects, such as the puss moth caterpillar, can be so elaborate in their defenses that an attack is almost impossible. When resting upon a branch, the puss moth caterpillar resembles a curled poplar leaf with a blackened margin; it holds the two prongs of its tail together resembling a leaf stalk. When a threat appears however, the caterpillar quickly throws off its passive protection, rearing its head to display the startling crimson front of its prothorax with its two eye spots. Simultaneously, the caterpillar spreads its forked t...