weird insects

Bedbugs are terrifying, feeding on sleeping humans in the privacy of our own beds. These little bloodsuckers have been the bane of thousands with their resurgence in the U.S., and their violent mating habits certainly arent going to win them any more fans. A male bedbug stabs the female in the abdomen with his sharpened genitalia and inseminates her directly in her body cavity. The male bedbug

In the case of brawn vs. brains, female scorpion flies dont care much for either. The ladies choose their mates based on salivasecretion ability, wooed by spit and spit alone. In an effort to please, the male scorpion fly will hack up a dripping, nutritious nuptial gift for his sweetheart, with the help of enlarged salivary glands. The dribble draws her in and distracts her

A single soapberry female is a rare find, and the male goes to extremes to lock down his special lady friend. When mating, soapberry bugs resemble twins connected at the rear

The firefly is one of the flashiest bugs around. Each species of firefly has a special flicker code to attract mates of the same species. But male fireflies beware: not all female fireflies deserve glowing reviews. The female of one species of firefly has learned to imitate the moves of another. When a gullible male approaches, the firefly femme fatale captures and devours him. Some entomologists think its the sperm of the male firefly that triggers the urge in the female to eat the males of another species. A delightful snack for an already sexually satisfied female.

Aristotle described a peculiar bloodless animal that emerged from near the Black Sea and perished just a day later. He named the creature the ephemeron, meaning oneday living. Today we have another name for this insect: the mayfly. The great philosopher wasnt quite correct in saying it has a 24hour existence, but he was close. Though mayfly youths can live from several months to several years in streams or decaying matter, their adult lives are indeed short, lasting as little as three hours for some species. As mature adults, they have only one goal

In honeybee populations, males are a dime a dozen. Thousands vie for a shot to be with a virgin queen, but only a lucky few succeed. For every mating flight a queen bee embarks upon, she has sex with an average of 12 drones. Males take turns mounting the queen during her flight, and each one can mate seven to 10 times. The queen stores the semen from every midair tryst for the rest of her life, using only a few sperm at a time to fertilize her eggs. When the drone finally pulls away, his barbed penis and abdominal tissues are ripped from his body. He dies shortly thereafter

Despite their rather striking burntorange shells and their increasing popularity as pets, Madagascar giant hissing cockroaches are a vulgar, brutish kind. Named for the low growling sound they emit when disturbed, males have been known to push female cockroaches (who resist by kicking with their hind legs) into corners and take them by force. These bugeyed bad boys like to play the odds, pursuing everything that moves

Truly the Sad Keanu of the insect world, the male fig wasp never gets to venture beyond his tiny home. Born from eggs laid inside flowers within the fleshy, hollow receptacle of a fig, the male wasps have but one purpose in their short lives: to procreate. While the winged black female wasp matures inside a female flower, the wingless amberbodied male crawls feebly toward her. He bites a small hole through the flowers ovarian barrier that separates him from his chosen lady, and through the opening, he modestly inseminates the unsuspecting female. He does this with every female he can possibly lay his tiny eyes upon. Postcopulation, the sexes separate to perform their individual tasks. While the female scrapes pollen from anthers, our male fig wasp works side by side with his buddies for hours to dig escape tunnels. The female then flies away, leaving her liberators to die, wingless and alone.

The ant Cephalotes atratus is bigger than average, dresses all in black, wears a scary helmet, and appears to have super powers. Its called the Gliding Ant, but it resembles Darth Vader. This ants super power was discovered in 2004 by Stephen P. Yavoniak as he was sitting high up in the rainforest canopy.While hanging around in the canopy waiting for mosquitoes to bite him (for research purposes rather than the fun of it), he brushed several dozen ants from him and noticed something odd.

A photographer was left all shook up after spotting the face of Elvis on the back of a bug. With markings on its back resembling human eyes, nose, mouth, and a pompadour hairdo, the unusual stink bug bears an uncanny resemblance to the King of rock n roll.Photographer Darlyne Murawski from Massachusetts, US spotted the Pentatomoidea bug, also known as a giant shield bug, by chance.Darlyne was on a photographic assignment with National Geographic in the Khao Chong Forest Reserve in southern Thailand when she came across the unusual creature sitting on a leaf.The bug has previously been spotted in the forests of Singapore, where it was likened to the Sesame Street character Bert. (Source)