Wow it’s hot, and as someone who has been broiled for the last few days while hunting for amphibians you can believe…er well that it’s hot. That said a little heat wouldn't have bothered Leach’s Giant Gecko and its sticky relatives. This week’s animals also come from a tropical climate so chances are they would be thriving in the mini British heat wave. Hope you guys enjoy (and stay cool in the heat)…

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Issue #76 - Leaproach

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Arthropoda

Class – Insecta

Order – Blattodea

Family – Blattelidae

Genus – Saltoblattella

Species –montistabularis

Related Species - The Leaproach (also called the Roach Hopper) is one of the wood cockroaches, a large family that includes the pest species that occasionally invade human residences (1)

Range - At current the Leaproach is only found on Table Mountain in South Africa

Leaproach Springs into Action #1

The leaproach is a small cockroach that reaches a length of only a centimetre, and is a dull brown colour. While most cockroaches are flattened to aid in slipping through the leaf litter, the leaproach has a radically different body plan, with enlarged hind limbs, narrower body and enlarged eyes, giving the species an appearance more in common with grasshoppers and crickets. Even the antennae are engineered to aid in streamlining, with a joint midway along their length allowing the leaproach to flatten them against its body. The hind legs are so large in fact, that they account for ten percent of the insects weight, and allow the insect to cover up to a foot in a single leap (2).

All the power for the leap comes from the knee joint, which when at rest stores energy under tension ready for release in an explosive leap, one that sends the leaproach through 23G at a speed of 22mph. This leaping skill is used, not only for travelling from grass steam to grass steam but also in defence. Predators include lizards, preying mantises and jumping spiders not to mention the predatory Gladiator Crickets which also only live on Table Mountain. While it remains unknown from what the modern leaproach evolved from, similar species have been found in rocks dating back 150 million years, although it’s unlikely the extant species is directly related to these fossilised species (3).

And just as you were ready to hop off to another topic I bring you the second animals of this week’s issue…

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Issue #76 - Spoonwing

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Arthropoda

Class – Insecta

Order – Neuroptera

Family – Nemoptidae

Genus – Nemoptera

Species – bipennis

Related Species - The Spoonwing is one of three species found in the genus Nemoptera (1)

Range - Spoonwings are found throughout Southern France, Spain and Portugal in calcareous meadows

A touch of elegance…

The Spoonwing, also called Duende (which translates to Wood Fairy) across Spain, is a slow flying insect with mottled fore wings and a trailing pair of vestigial hind wings. Such structures are used by the males to attract females, although both genders possess long hind wings. The adults are nectavores, and are often seen flitting from flower to flower in their short adult lifespan. Like a lot of insects the Spoonwing spends most of its life as a larva.

In sharp contrast to the adults, the larvas have bulky bodies a large pair of recurved jaws, to aid them in their carnivorous diet. Like their relatives the Ant Lions, the larval spoonwing feeds on ants, but it doesn’t make a pit to aid in capturing prey. There is even some hypothesis that suggests larval spoonwings are kleptoparasites, with the adult laying the eggs on the ground, where the ants carry them back to their nests (4). Once there the larvae feed on ant grubs until they metamorphosis and emerge as adults.

Bibliography

1 - www.arkive.org

2 - http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/06/leaproach-leaps-is-roach/#.VZlCXRtVhBc

3 - http://news.discovery.com/animals/jumping-cockroach-111206.htm

4 - http://gilwizen.com/spoonwings/

Picture References

1 - http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/blogs/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0162fd72ed33970d-640wi.jpg

2 - http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nnuExrjOjfM/hqdefault.jpg

3 - https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7275/7428243056_11cfd5e345_b.jpg

4 - http://cienciaes.com/images/641.jpg

Huh, well hopefully these two cool insects have lowered the heat ready for next weeks bubbly episode. But until then critic, comment and suggest future issues as well as making sure you check past issues in Impurest’s Bestiary

Many Thanks

Impurest Cheese