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Huhu Beetle
The huhu beetle (''Prionoplus reticularis'') is a longhorn beetle endemic to New Zealand. It is the heaviest beetle found in New Zealand. Māori name To Māori, the larval form is known as huhu (also tunga haere, tunga rākau) with the adult stage known as pepe-te-muimui. However, the larval and adult forms are commonly referred to as the huhu grub and huhu beetle, respectively. As the huhu larva reaches maturity it ceases to bore in wood and casts its skin. This still edible stage is known in Maori as '. It then develops wings and legs, and while it is still white, it is known as '. Finally, it emerges and flies off to reproduce and is known as '. Life cycle Female adult huhu beetles oviposit their 3mm cigar-shaped eggs in clutches of 10–50, though up to 100 may be found. Eggs are laid in cryptic sites or in cracks in the bark of fallen wood. In laboratory conditions of 20°C ± 2°C and a relative humidity of c. 75%, eggs hatched in 23 ± 2 days. Before hatching, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Des Helmore
Desmond W. Helmore (born 1940) is a New Zealand artist and illustrator, known both for his fine art and for his scientific work depicting insects, not least illustrating the New Zealand Arthropod Collection. One of the country's most noted and prolific biological illustrators, over 1000 of his illustrations of insects were published in research papers from 1976 to 2006. Life and education Helmore was born in Takapau, Hawke's Bay Region, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, and lived there on a farm until age 12. Interested in drawing since childhood, he attended Christ's College, Christchurch, Christ's College in Christchurch, and then the Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury from 1959 to 1962, where he was taught by Rudolf Gopas, Rudi Gopas, Russell Clark (artist), Russell Clark, and Bill Sutton (artist), Bill Sutton. His fellow students at Ilam included Dick Frizzell, Tony Fomison, and John Panting. In his survey of New Zealand art, Frizzell described Helmore as s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frass
Frass refers loosely to the more or less solid excreta of insects, and to certain other related matter. Definition and etymology ''Frass'' is an informal term and accordingly it is variously used and variously defined. It is derived from the German word ''Fraß'', which means the food takeup of an animal.M. Clark and O. Thyen. The Oxford-Duden German Dictionary. Publisher: Oxford University Press 1999. The English usage applies to excreted residues of anything that insects had eaten, and similarly, to other chewed or mined refuse that insects leave behind. It does not generally refer to fluids such as honeydew, but the point does not generally arise, and is largely ignored in this article. Such usage in English originated in the mid-nineteenth century at the latest. Modern technical English sources differ on the precise definition, though there is little actual direct contradiction on the practical realities. One glossary from the early twentieth century speaks of "...excrem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prioninae
The Prioninae are a subfamily of Cerambycidae (long-horned beetles). They are typically large (25–70 mm) and usually brown or black. The males of a few genera sport large mandibles that are used in fights with other males, similar to stag beetles. These beetles are commonly nocturnal and are attracted to light. The majority of the Prioninae whose biology is known are borers whose larvae feed on rotting wood or roots. Genera The following genera are recognised in the subfamily Prioninae: * '' Acalodegma'' * '' Acanthinodera'' * '' Acanthophorus'' * '' Acideres'' * '' Aegolipton'' * '' Aegosoma'' * '' Aerogrammus'' * ''Aesa'' * '' Afraustraloderes'' * '' Agrianome'' * '' Allaiocerus'' * '' Allomallodon'' * '' Anacolus'' * '' Analophus'' * '' Ancistrotus'' * '' Andinotrichoderes'' * '' Anoeme'' * '' Anomophysis'' * '' Anomotoma'' * '' Anoplotoma'' * '' Anthracocentrus'' * '' Aplagiognathus'' * '' Apocaulus'' * '' Apterocaulus'' * '' Arba'' * '' Archetypus'' * '' Archodontes' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witchetty Grub
The witchetty grub (also spelled witchety grub or witjuti grub) is a term used in Australia for the large, white, wood-eating larvae of several moths. In particular, it applies to the larvae of the cossid moth ''Endoxyla leucomochla'', which feeds on the roots of the witchetty bush (after which the grubs are named) that is widespread throughout the Northern Territory and also typically found in parts of Western Australia and South Australia, although it is also found elsewhere throughout Australia. The term may also apply to larvae of other cossid moths, ghost moths (Hepialidae), and longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae). The term is used mainly when the larvae are being considered as food. The grub is the most important insect food of the desert and has historically been a staple in the diets of Aboriginal Australians. Terminology The Arabana term for the grub is (with emphasis on initial syllables); means grub, and refers to the shrub, not the grub itself. Similarly, Ngalea p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tastes Like Chicken
"Tastes like chicken" is a declaration used when trying to describe the flavor of an unusual food. The expression has been used so often in popular culture that it has become a cliché. As a result, the phrase is also sometimes used to provide incongruous humor, by being used to describe foods or situations where it has no real relevance. Possible explanations As an explanation of why unusual meats would taste more like chicken than common alternatives such as beef or pork, different possibilities have been offered. One idea is that chicken is seen as having a bland taste compared to other meats because fat contributes more flavor than muscle (especially in the case of a lean cut such as a skinless chicken breast), making it a generic choice for comparison. Modern poultry, particularly mass-produced chicken and turkey, is particularly bland in taste, as animals are bred for large muscle mass that grows faster than naturally breeding fowl; trace chemicals in the meat that would giv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Entomophagy
Entomophagy (, from Greek ἔντομον ', 'insect', and φαγεῖν ', 'to eat') is the practice of eating insects. An alternative term is insectivory. Terms for organisms that practice entomophagy are ''entomophage'' and ''insectivore''. Entomophagy is sometimes defined to also include the eating of arthropods other than insects, such as arachnids and myriapods; eating arachnids may also be referred to as arachnophagy. In non-humans Entomophagy is widespread among many animals, including non-human primates. Animals that feed primarily on insects are called insectivores. Insects, nematodes and fungi that obtain their nutrition from insects are sometimes termed ''entomophagous'', especially in the context of biological control applications. These may also be more specifically classified into predators, parasites or parasitoids, while viruses, bacteria and fungi that grow on or inside insects may also be termed ''entomopathogenic'' (see also entomopathogenic fungi). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edible Insects
Insects as food or edible insects are insect species used for human consumption. More than 2,000 insects species worldwide are considered edible. However, a much smaller number is discussed for industrialized mass production and partly regionally authorized for use in food. Common forms of consumption are whole insects on the one hand, and pulverized insects that are used as an ingredient in dishes or in processed food products such as burger patties, pasta, or snacks, on the other hand. Edible insects Frequently consumed insect species Estimates of numbers of edible insect species consumed globally range from 1,000 to 2,000. These species include 235 butterflies and moths, 344 beetles, 313 ants, bees and wasps, 239 grasshoppers, crickets and cockroaches, 39 termites, and 20 dragonflies, as well as cicadas. It is estimated that more than 2 billion people eat insects daily. Which species are consumed varies by region due to differences in environment, ecosystems, and clima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandible (insect Mouthpart)
Insect mandibles are a pair of appendages near the insect's mouth, and the most anterior of the three pairs of oral appendages (the labrum is more anterior, but is a single fused structure). Their function is typically to grasp, crush, or cut the insect's food, or to defend against predators or rivals. Insect mandibles, which appear to be evolutionarily derived from legs, move in the horizontal plane unlike those of vertebrates, which appear to be derived from gill arches and move vertically. Grasshoppers, crickets, and other simple insects The mouthparts of orthopteran insects are often used as a basic example of mandibulate (chewing) mouthparts, and the mandibles themselves are likewise generalized in structure. They are large and hardened, shaped like pinchers, with cutting surfaces on the distal portion and chewing or grinding surfaces basally. They are usually lined with teeth and move sideways. Large pieces of leaves can therefore be cut and then pulverized near the mouth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesothorax
The mesothorax is the middle of the three segments of the thorax of hexapods, and bears the second pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the mesonotum (dorsal), the mesosternum (ventral), and the mesopleuron (lateral) on each side. The mesothorax is the segment that bears the forewings in all winged insects, though sometimes these may be reduced or modified, as in beetles (Coleoptera) or Dermaptera, in which they are sclerotized to form the elytra ("wing covers"), and the Strepsiptera, in which they are reduced to form halteres that attach to the mesonotum. All adult insects possess legs on the mesothorax. In some groups of insects, the mesonotum is hypertrophied, such as in Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera), in which the anterior portion of the mesonotum (called the mesoscutum, or simply "scutum") forms most of the dorsal surface of the thorax. In these orders, there is also typically a small sclerite attached to the mesonotum that covers the wing ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frontal Suture
The frontal suture is a fibrous joint that divides the two halves of the frontal bone of the skull in infants and children. Typically, it completely fuses between three and nine months of age, with the two halves of the frontal bone being fused together. It is also called the metopic suture, although this term may also refer specifically to a ''persistent frontal suture''. If the suture is not present at birth because both frontal bones have fused ( craniosynostosis), it will cause a keel-shaped deformity of the skull called trigonocephaly. Its presence in a fetal skull, along with other cranial sutures and fontanelles, provides a malleability to the skull that can facilitate movement of the head through the cervical canal and vagina during delivery. The dense connective tissue found between the frontal bones is replaced with bone tissue as the child grows older. Persistent frontal suture In some individuals, the suture can persist (totally or partly) into adulthood, and is ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eclosion
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages thereof being egg, larva, pupa, and imago. The processes of entering and completing the pupal stage are controlled by the insect's hormones, especially juvenile hormone, prothoracicotropic hormone, and ecdysone. The act of becoming a pupa is called pupation, and the act of emerging from the pupal case is called eclosion or emergence. The pupae of different groups of insects have different names such as ''chrysalis'' for the pupae of butterflies and ''tumbler'' for those of the mosquito family. Pupae may further be enclosed in other structures such as cocoons, nests, or shells. Position in life cycle The pupal stage follows the larval stage and precedes adulthood (''imago'') in insects with complete metamorphosis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
