We spent some time in Guatemala this past week filming a new episode and teaching farmers for the Borlaug Institute. We’ll tell you all about the project there for next week’s post. But until then, check out some of the beautiful footage we filmed of a katydid (family Tettigoniidae) and a grasshopper (family Acrididae) cleaning themselves! It reminded us of one of our Bug Bytes podcasts, Scrub-A-Dub Bug. It’s all about the interesting ways insects groom themselves.

Scrub-A-Dub Bug - Listen now:

Photos and Cool Links:

Alex Wild's Blog: http://myrmecos.net/2010/08/03/grooming-your-insects-for-that-glamour-bug-look/

Hoverfly Cleaning Itself
http://www.mattcolephotography.co.uk/macro/Hoverfly%20cleaning%20itself.jpg

Fleshfly Cleaning Itself Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn3j9SxGGck&feature=related
 

References:

Andersen, A & Weir, T. Australian Water Bugs, Their Biology and Identification (Hemiptera-Heteroptera, Gerromorpha & Nepomorpha). Entomonograph, 14.

Kovac, D, Maschwitz, U. 1991. The function of the metathoracic scent gland in corixid bugs (Hemiptera, Corixidae): secretion-grooming on the water surface. Journal of Natural History 25(2): 331 – 340.

Walker, E. & Archer, W. 1988. Sequential organization of grooming behaviors of the mosquito, Aedes triseriatus. Journal of Insect Behavior 1(1): 97 – 109

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Kristie Reddick and Jessica Honaker are The Bug Chicks. They each have Masters Degrees in Entomology and love to teach people about insects and spiders. They also run Solpugid Productions where they are involved in all sorts of entomological endeavors including the popular Bug Bytes podcast, produced in collaboration with the Texas A&M University Department of Entomology. For more from The Bug Chicks, check out their website at http://www.thebugchicks.com!