The Insect Awards: Wired’s Entomological Hall of Fame
1. Highest Jumper The insect world championship title for high jump belongs to the 0.2-inch long froghopper, a common agricultural pest. Some species can jump as high as 28 inches. Image: Kaldari / Wikimedia Commons.
2. Bloodiest The Dracula Prize goes to Glossina palpalis tsetse flies, which were also in the running for the Fewest Kids in a Lifetime Prize.
These bloodsuckers live in African forests and are a tremendous public health concern. They are difficult to manage and are the primary carriers of human African sleeping sickness, a central nervous system infection, prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa.
They feed feed on mammals, reptiles and birds. They don’t bother to identify their hosts by smell, as other insects do. When they see a potential victim, they go right in for the blood draw.
The Hyalomma asiaticium tick won the Blood Glutton Prize. It can suck up three-tenths of an ounce of blood, the equivalent of about a third of a small shot of tequila.
Image: Tsetse have a distinct proboscis, a long thin structure attached to the bottom of the head and pointing forward. They use these to feed. Wikimedia Commons.
3. Loudest The African cicada wins the the William Hung Prize for loudest, and consequently most annoying bugger. Entomologist John Petti, who selected the champion, limited the contenders to insects humans could hear.
Male African cicadas produce alarm calls and calling songs with an intensity of about 110 decibels from 20 inches away. By comparison, a jet flying at about 1,000 feet buzzes at just over 100 decibels and live rock music at about 110 decibels.
Males use their tymbal muscles to sing. When they contract and expand these chitinous structures, the muscles click, and the sound amplifies as it travels through the body. Males usually sing together, producing a very loud, often deafening, chorus. Bigger males tend to have louder calls, giving them a competitive advantage with the ladies and in fending off predators (by annoying them).
Image: Annual cicada, Bruce Marlin / Wikimedia Commons.
4. Least and Most (re)Productive The race was tight among insects vying for the Fewest Kids in a Lifetime prize.
The top honors went to louse flies, which have about five larvae. Each develops inside the uterus until it’s almost ready to pupate, the stage where insects go through metamorphosis. Females produce only one egg at a time because their investment in each baby tsetse is so great.
See all the winners here
