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Evil Insects
The Lantern Bug |
It's hard to imagine a more odd-looking head than that of a Lantern Bug.
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Insects with a fantastic appearance are bound to give rise to folkore attributing magical powers to them. The Lantern Bug is a case in point. This insect really looks as if it was created by an evil mind and, as a such, has developed quite a reputation. Its common name is based on the insect's supposed ability to produce light and there is a widely circulated story that persons bitten by this bug will die if they do not have sexual relations within 24 hours.
In reality, the Lantern Bug is a harmless homopteran related to the cicada. It does not produce light, it does not bite and its long beak is never used except to suck sap from host trees.
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Le Callipogon |
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Another rumour from the Amazon rainforest is that callipogons, beetles with amazingly strong mouthparts, can chew through branches and vines like a chain saw. These large beetles are said to attack trees as follows: they sink their powerful mandibles into the bark of a tree and fly around and around the trunk gouging into it as they gnaw away at the wood. Needless to say, no member of the INSECTIA crew has ever witnessed this incredible feat.
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Mandibles of a callipogon.
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Diabolical mantid |
Some likeness to the monster in the film Alien.
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With its mysterious-looking head, the eerie brightness of its eyes and its fierce behaviour, the mantid is one of the most spectacular predators in the animal world. Some mantids, like the ÇDevil's FlowerÈ, are so monstruous-looking that they are automatically linked to the forces of evil. One species from Chile has been dubbed called ÇDevil's HorseÈ and inspires sheer terror in the superstitious.
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