A zoologist's top five bug encounters: from South America to Africa

As someone who has studied both zoology and entomology, I have a weird problem. I get excited (like really, nerd-levels excited) about strange insects in a way that leaves most other people scratching their heads in bewilderment. I can't help it, it's built in. Since I was a tiny tot and old enough to lift a rock actually. Out of my many arthropod encounters however, some have really stood out. From jungle toilet stalls in Colombia to rainy nights in the Kalahari desert, this is my weirdest bug encounter top five!

Let's start with a doozy

This little beauty is a Parabuthus species scorpion (likely P. granulatus), seen here on a windy, rainy night in the Kalahari desert

Besides just having a general soft spot for anything with too many legs, I have (for reasons unknown even to me) a particular affection for very venomous ones... During my time wandering the Kalahari desert I was given many opportunities to indulge this fascination as very often, particularly on windy nights, literally dozens of these potently neurotoxic scorpions would be running around. This makes for great entertainment when you need to do things like.... Go to the bathroom block which is halfway across a pitch dark camp. Fortunately, torches are a thing and then, if you're quick enough, you get to snap off a shot of something like this.

Speaking of too many legs

This is a tailless whip scorpion. Glorious, isn't it?

Alright, so perhaps glorious is a strong term, however this was a bug I'd been dying to see a live specimen of for years! Tailless whip-scorpions (which are not true scorpions but rather a related arachnid order called amblypygi) are decently-sized, nocturnal inhabitants of moister parts of the world. Indeed, it was in the rainforests of Ecuador that I finally encountered one during a guided night walk through the forest. What's super cool about these guys is that incredibly elongate first pair of legs which serve as sensory organs. The raptorial pedipalps held close to the front are used in capturing and subduing prey.

Personally, seeing one of these (and getting to touch it) was one of the high-lights of my jungle trip!

Oh lord why is that in the bathroom?

A Scutigera centipede

People who have the misfortune of traveling with me through the wilderness usually figure out I like bugs pretty quickly. I'll be the one holding up the hike by flipping rocks. Or hanging around the nearest source of light at night to see what pitches up.

The benefit of this for me, of course, is that it means they tell me when they find something weird (often because it wants extracting from a shoe or bed). So recently, as I wandered the jungles of Colombia on a four day long group hike that had me bleeding from the heels, I had a young man of British origin approach me at the evening camp table. After looming a bit he asked:
'You're that bird wot likes bugs right?'
I confirmed that I was indeed said bird.
'Well, you should go have a look in the bathroom then,' he said gloomily, 'Cause you're going to bloody-well love this thing.'
'The bathroom' of course was a compost toilet shack, and perched whimsically on the back wall was one of these centipedes. Now I have a confession here. Centipedes actually give me the heebies. They have too many legs and in the desert the larger ones would always try to join me in bed. Not cool, guys. So whilst I had somewhat mixed feelings about seeing this one (particularly as the legs were even longer than the one pictured here), it was still a very interesting find and a great reminder of what was likely to be in my sleeping bag later that night.

All that glitters is... green?

This stunning green beastie is a Eumorpha hawkmoth

Perhaps my favourite insect from the Galápagos. Yet what I loved even more than these hawkmoths (moths in the family Sphingidae) was their caterpillars. These larvae are also bright green and possess both eyespots and a single curling seta (like a thick hair) emerging from the abdomen which they wiggle at you when you disturb them. Because cute is the new fierce. Or some such. I've included a little YouTube clip below (with a rather disturbing soundtrack) of another species doing something similar to illustrate it (one day when I get my jungle-munched iPhone fixed I'll be able to show you a video direct from Galápagos). In the mean time:

The rarest of the rare

A rarely seen schizomid

Perhaps the observation which most entranced me however, was finally seeing one of these primitive and rare arachnids in the flesh. Schizomids are a precursor to spiders, utterly blind, with a primitive, segmented abdomen and a division of the cephalothorax that gives them their name (schizo = divided, mida = middle). Honestly, I never expected to see one on these in my lifetime but was fortunate enough to encounter them, working in the Galápagos. At first, as specimens from a pitfall trap under the microscope, but eventually as a living, moving specimen as well. To say these things are alien, is an understatement. Their world and how they perceive it is so utterly different, the most I could do was watch in awe as this creature moved about. Tapping the substrate with his forelegs and walking as slowly and deliberately as any blind man with a cane. It may not seem much, but the tiny rare creatures are the ones I especially treasure seeing. They are a perfect reminder of how very little we still know of the depth and complexities of the natural world.

Thanks for stopping by,
The Wise Fox

Sources:
All facts presented are from my own knowledge of the species discussed.
Images:
Scorpion shot = My own
Other images are from Wikimedia commons except four and five which are at:
http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/courses/genomics_course/roanoke/bio101ch18.htm
https://www.writeopinions.com/schizomida