@ShaulaEvans

Strictly “bugs”!

One of, if not THE smallest butterfly in the world is the Sinai Baton Blue (Pseudophilotes sinaicus). The smallest recorded wingspan is 6.25 mm, but the average for the species is 9.5 mm.

It lives in a metapopulation (where there are a few population groups dotted around, but many are ephemeral) in the Saint Katherine Protectorate in Egypt. The total area it lives in is less than 7 km square.

These butterflies have only one host plant, Sinai Thyme. Both butterfly and hostplant are endangered. One of the things that puzzles scientists is how the Sinai thyme hostplant reproduces. Many experiments have been done to try to grow more to help support the butterflies, but they haven’t been successful (yet). The existing plants in the valleys (called wadis) are thought to be extremely old.

@ShaulaEvans

Not strictly “bugs”, but if broader entomology is their thing…

CW: spiders

Jumping spiders are some of the most intelligent of all spiders, but sadly their lifespans are shorter than their less intelligent relatives. It is thought that it might be due to the energetic demands of not only jumping but their evolution in developing this intelligence.

Bold jumping spiders (Phidippus audax) are named because of how they will happily (and peacefully) investigate a human if the human offers out a hand or something to explore. Other species are usually more cautious. They also have absolutely stunning iridescent chelicerae. And the white marks on the upper side of some individuals’ abdomens can look like a happy face, like this:

These spiders can also be trained and learn quickly. This is probably due to their style of attacking prey by jumping being very risky, so they use all their eyes, each pair being adapted to take in different information like distance or movement, and calculate how, where and when to jump… and whether it is safe! Some of their prey species use Batesian mimicry - where a harmless species evolved to look like another species that has dangerous defences, without actually evolving the dangerous defences.

These spiders are adorable (this is coming from me, a lifelong arachnophobe), especially when they make hilariously bad errors in their jumps, or turn to look at you when you’re around and talk to them. They’re not always “bold” as their name suggests, but just curious, and can often be very cautious and even get scared by their prey!

Lucas the Spider is a cartoon spider based on jumping spiders and goes a long way to show the cuteness and the trials and tribulations of these smol but impressive spoods.