Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The head is round, with a convex face, often holoptic in males. The antennae are of the type aristate composed of three to six segments, with the third segment larger than the others; the stylus is absent (antenna of three segments) or is composed of one to three flagellomeres (antenna of four to six segments).
Both sexes are brachypterous (incapable of flight) and have small reduced wings. The males are a bright electric blue (with greenish tints) and have two rows of reddish orange spines along the edges of the femur. There are also dark colored spines along the sides and underneath the thorax. The forewings are a bright yellow; the hind wings have ...
Fairyflies are very tiny insects, like most chalcidoid wasps, mostly ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 mm (0.020 to 0.039 in) long. They include the world's smallest known insect, with a body length of only 0.139 mm (0.0055 in), and the smallest known flying insect, only 0.15 mm (0.0059 in) long. They usually have nonmetallic black, brown, or yellow bodies.
Cydnidae are a family of pentatomoid bugs, known by common names including burrowing bugs or burrower bugs. [2] As the common name would suggest, many members of the group live a subterranean lifestyle, burrowing into soil using their head and forelegs, only emerging to mate and then laying their eggs in soil.
They line their burrows with silk threads and mud. They use their disk to plug the opening of the burrow. [6] When a small insect would step on its disk (sometimes referred to as a "copper coin"), Cyclocosmia ricketti will then purportedly shrink its abdomen to allow its prey to fall further into its burrow to be devoured. [6]
Blue bottle flies are typically 10–14 mm (3 ⁄ 8 – 9 ⁄ 16 in) long, almost twice the size of a housefly. The head and thorax are dull gray, and the back of the head has long yellow-orange setae. [5] [6] The abdomen is bright metallic blue with black markings. Its body and legs are covered with black bristly hairs.
The species gets its common name from its similarity in appearance to bees. This mimicry likely confers some defense against predation. However, there are several distinguishing features: B. major has only one pair of wings (bees have two), extremely thin legs, and the head is very small, with a long rigid proboscis. [9]
The Acroceridae are a small family of odd-looking flies. They have a hump-backed appearance with a strikingly small head, generally with a long proboscis for accessing nectar. They are rare and not widely known. The most frequently applied common names are small-headed flies or hunch-back flies. [2] Many are bee or wasp mimics.