This is a carolina mantis about to jump into a flight. And what you're seeing was filmed at
6,000 frames per second and the playback you're watching is nearly 200 times slower than real life.
I think mantises are some of the most intimidating insect predators.
from the way they can turn their heads to stare down their prey, to how they throw
their tibial spurs or claws into the air first when they raise up off the ground.
Mantisflies, though, another insect that has raptorial prey grabbing front legs,
are another story. They're predators but these little guys keep their predator arms folded up
while they flutter themselves into the air.
Though they look like it, they're actually not at all related to mantises.
They're neuropterans or net winged insects. They're more closely related to this, a tiny insect called
the dusty wing. It's also a neuropteran or net winged insect but it doesn't look like the
others in that order. It's coated head to tarsy and a layer of white waxy secretions. Like all
the other neuropterans i've filmed though it uses its middle and hind legs to jump start its flight.
Recording these insect flight videos has become a hobby of mine.
At night, I hang up a sheet on my back patio and turn on a black light.
Nearly everything you'll see in this video came to a light setup just like this.
What I get the most out of making videos like this is a feeling of astonishment. There are just
so many insects out there and what you see here is just a tiny little sliver. So, let me show you some
of the coolest insects i've caught and filmed over the past five months. If there's one thing
I've learned about making these it's that weevils might be the best flying contraptions on earth.
This one is a plum curculio. It's a major pest on fruit crops
and every other video on the internet that mentions it will tell you how to get rid of it.
But here I just want to show you how amazing it looks when it flies.
One thing every weevil i've filmed does is put itself into a three-point stance
right before takeoff. Middle legs up, back legs down,
one front leg raised. This myrmex or ant-like weevil demonstrates this in perfect form.
It's either doing an impression of a lineman or the karate kid, I can't tell which.
And here are two other weevils with their versions of the tripod takeoff stance.
It seems to be a posture shared across this whole group, but there are over 80 thousand
weevil species so I bet at least a few of them do something different.
This is an ambrosia beetle known as a pinhole borer. It's related to the weevils you just saw.
In fact, it's classified within the same insect family. But these small beetles are
pretty different. They bore into wood and cultivate a fungus to feed to their larvae.
They also have their own way of getting off the ground.
Like weevils, their middle legs are held up and out of the way while their wings unfold.
They stand still on four legs and bob up and down with every wing beat
until their wings finally lift them off the ground.
In comparison to other insects sometimes it seems like their
flight trajectories can go a little haywire.
This one if you take a close look appears to be wearing a little backpack.
That's actually a mite hitching a ride on the beetle.
Mites do this a lot. They're not feeding on the insect, they're just riding it using it
as a way to disperse to a new environment. And sometimes you can find them in the weirdest spots.
When this pleasing fungus beetle lifts its elytra to unfold its hind wings take a look underneath
the hood and you'll see a group of mites just hiding out waiting for the beetle to fly away.
Amazingly, they do really well holding on to the beetle while it flaps its wings
and they don't seem to prevent it from getting airborne.
One famous example of an insect often covered with hitchhiking mites is this a carrion beetle.
These beetles specialize in the corpses of small dead animals like rodents and birds
they find the dead thing bury it then lay their eggs on it the mites ride the adults to new,
freshly dead food sources then they climb off and feed on other things there like fly maggots.
I'm just impressed that so many of them can hold onto the beetle as it takes flight.
Okay, there's no mites or dead animals associated with this one.
These are called fire colored beetles which is a common name for that insect family.
There's a scientific term for the comb-like antennae which is pectinate,
but I think fabulous or extra fancy could work as pretty good descriptors of those things too.
One comment I get a lot of on these types of videos is people wishing I would film how
these insects land. Well, this net winged beetle helped me out with that request.
Here are two complete flight sequences from take off to touchdown.
I don't think most insects land belly and face first, but this one sure does.
I'll end with two flies. The one on the left is a syrphid or a hoverfly,
and on the right is a tiger bee fly. The hoverfly is a pollinator and the bee fly is a parasitoid.
The hoverfly visits flowers while the bee fly destroys the lives of carpenter bees.
What's especially cool about these segments is this you can watch the
notum of the thorax move up and down with every wing beat.
This happens because the muscles that move the wings aren't directly attached to them.
Instead they flex and distort the thorax of the fly's body indirectly powering the wings.
If you like this video you should check out the others i've made about insect flight,
this is the fifth one. Okay, i'll leave you with one more insect over the credits this is an alderfly.