Page 17 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #02

WILD NEWS

Q INVERTEBRATES Q CRUSTACEANS
Strictly crab dancing: The
Perisesarma eumolpe
DIVING intimidates rivals with EXPLAINERR
a victory display.
FLIES 6FLHQWLĶF WHUPV SXW LQWR SODLQ

(QJOLVK IRU WKH UHVW RI XV
Marine insects are a striking
rarity. But one species is COPROPHAGY
perfectly at home in water far The world would be a pretty
saltier than any ocean. unappealing place were it
Mark Twain wrote about not for the flies, beetles and
California’s Mono Lake flies other animals that specialise
in 1872: “You can hold them in eating dung. Few
under water as long as you coprophagous species eat
please – they do not mind the poo of their own species,
it – they are only proud of it. as it risks transmitting
When you let them go, they disease, but there are
pop up to the surface as dry as exceptions. Elephant
a patent office report.” calves, for example, eat
It’s no mystery why the flies PUTTING ON A SHOW the faeces of adults – it’s
enter the water – there are a way of seeding the gut
no predators and a bountiful It might be undignified, vigorous display of colour, with essential bacteria. And
supply of algae and bacteria but gloating works in motion and sound, in which rabbits and hares eat their
to graze on. But how do the long term. Biologists he rubs his ridged claws own faeces, because certain
they keep the caustic, salty have been studying the together. Experiments nutrients are only released
Fly: Floris van Breugel/Caltech; crab: Marut Sayannikroth/Shutterstock; hare: Daniel T rim/Getty; bush cricket: Andrew Baker in hydrophobic waxes. This little crab from Singapore’s their place, should they
water off? Researchers have
suggest that these
when food passes through
rather unsporting contests
t
the gut twice.
between the males of
“browbeatings” intimidate

t
found that the fly’s cuticle is
e
.
wic
particularly hairy and covered
Perisesarma eumolpe, a
rivals, keeping them in
mangrove forests. They have
allows them to dive almost
meet again.
entirely enclosed within a
found that, by rubbing a
“Losers are less likely to
bubble of air. Only the fly’s
enter into another contest
defeated opponent’s face
in it with an ostentatious
with winners after victory
eyes are not encased, allowing
displays,” write the scientists
dance of victory, a winner
unimpaired underwater
vision. Meanwhile, the
can keep him out of his own
behind the research.
buoyancy of the bubble
face in the future.
Ultimately, this may save
is resisted by large claws
the victor precious time,
Following a fight between
that help anchor the flies
rival males, the victor is
energy and reduce the risk
to the lake-bed.
prone to launching into a
of injury or death.
There are benefits to
SOURCE Ethology LINK http://bit.ly/2AEeb5T
Mono Lake saltwater eating poo - honest!
can’t burst the bubble
of this foraging fly.
NEW SPECIES
SPOTLIGHT
TYPOPHYLLUM SPURIOCULIS
WHAT IS IT? The splendid WHERE IS IT? Hailing from
wings of this new bush cricket Ecuador and Colombia, the
are multifunctional: they insect is named after the paired
have flight, camouflage and orange eye-spots at the base of
communication covered. A file- their front four legs (eight in all).
Leaf or bush
like structure on the left wing These are deployed with a wing- cricket? This
and a plectrum on the right flick to startle predators. “When katydid is
combine to produce its call. viewed from behind, the spots and a master
of mimicry.
This is further amplified by a abdomen resemble a bird’s eyes
resonating right forewing. and beak,” write the scientists.
SOURCE PNAS SOURCE Journal of Comparative Zoology
LINK http://bit.ly/2B8pqCm LINK http://bit.ly/2zVykmP
February 2018 17