After chatting to the museum's entomology curator a few days ago I came away a little horrified. I've long known that insects are generally very vulnerable and that it doesn't take much for a species to go extinct but to hear that the number of insects on the planet has plummeted by about 45% since 1973 was quite shocking. Needless to say, all of these animals had an important part to play in the many ecosystems that make life on this planet function.
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The Most 'Metal' of all Lepidoptera....
Few lepidoptera (moths or butterflies) can claim to be as 'edgy' as the Acherontia atropos, more commonly known as the Death's-Head Hawkmoth. For us Generation X-ers this reputation was cemented by its starring role on the poster for the movie, The Silence of the Lambs but it had had a long history in popular culture before that.
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An Anteon Townesi specimen - Image shot with Hasselblad H5D using 120mm macro lens
Just another day in the office
From the terrifying spider wasp that can attack and paralyse spiders many times its size to the delicate, brown-striped paper wasps that are able to build intricate nests out of wood pulp and saliva we have all dealt with wasps before.
But did you know there is something called, The Schmidt Sting Pain Index? It is a list compiled by an American entomologist, Justin O. Schmidt, who has personally been stung and bitten by countless different creatures and has then ranked the pain each caused on a scale of 1 to 4, 4 being the most painful. To the joy of anyone who isn't a total scientist geek he has included very wine nerdishesque descriptions of the accompanying pain. I have included the most colourful ones below:
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