Category: Insects
Insects
The word “insect” comes from the Latin word insectum, meaning “with a notched or divided body”, or literally “cut into”, because insects appear “cut into” three sections. They are a class in the phylum Arthropoda. They are small terrestrial invertebrates which have a hard exoskeleton. Insects are the largest group of animals on earth by far: about 926,400 different species have been described. They are more than half of all known living species. They may be over 90% of animal species on Earth.New species of insects are continually being found. Estimates of the total number of species range from 2 million to 30 million
Subclasses
Insects can be divided into two groups historically treated as subclasses: wingless insects, known as Apterygota, and winged insects, known as Pterygota. They are further divided into groups called orders. Spiders, scorpions, and similar animals are not insects; they are arachnids. Arachnids are arthropods that have four pairs of legs. Centipedes are also arthropods, but not insects: they are in a subphylum called the Myriapoda.
We’ve all grown up on stories of the Mafia and how most businessmen need to shell out ‘Protection Money’ to carry on with their lives and businesses. In a Kabini, teeming with predatory gangs, there is one set of precocious toddlers who begin this practise early. The Red Pierrot of Kabini is a case in […]
Tags: Indian wildlife, Kabini, Lifescapes, Orange County Resorts
Red Pierrot, Kabini | Posted in Insects, Kabini | 15 Comments »
When you think of flying sticks and tricks, you tend to think of Bruce Lee and his famous split-stick, the Nunchaku, or circus acts where clowns and magicians make simple sticks do their bidding. But have you ever known a stick that has a mind of its own, and can do things beyond the normal? […]
Tags: Coorg, Indian wildlife, Lifescapes, Orange County Resorts
Stick Insect, Coorg | Posted in Coorg, Insects | 11 Comments »
While visitors to the forests of Kabini are always advised to keep an eye out for a tiger lurking in the underbrush, not all tigers in the area are big cats slinking past on a predatory evening prowl. There are also tiny little ones who don’t just eschew the dark, but go out of their […]
Tags: Indian wildlife, Kabini, Lifescapes, Orange County Resorts
Plain Tiger Butterfly, Kabini | Posted in Insects, Kabini | 8 Comments »
For those of us brought up on a literary repast of captions adorning signboards and those quirky lines on the backs of trucks that own our highways, the title of this story will bring about a strong sense of déjà vu. As it will, for our naturalist cousins in Kaziranga, home to the great Indian […]
Tags: Indian wildlife, Kabini, Lifescapes, Orange County Resorts
Rhinoceros Beetle, Kabini | Posted in Insects, Kabini | 9 Comments »
If you’ve ever stopped to smell the flowers in Kabini, chances are that you’d have made the acquaintance of a very pretty female member of the jungle glitterati. Flying at canopy level, this temptress invites you to look up, and gives you flashes of her undergarments that look like they’re straight out of a designer’s […]
Tags: Indian wildlife, Kabini, Lifescapes, Orange County Resorts
Common Jezebel, Kabini | Posted in Insects, Kabini | 8 Comments »
For centuries, a rose has not just been a flower, but also a gallant substitute for words: the term sub-rosa (literally ‘under the rose’) means there’s more to the message than seems evident at first glance. When we receive red roses, we know someone loves us, and when we get a yellow bunch, we know […]
Tags: Indian wildlife, Kabini, Lifescapes, Orange County Resorts
Crimson Rose, Kabini | Posted in Insects, Kabini | 12 Comments »
The cult of the Freemasons and the rituals of the Masonic lodges may remain an eternal mystery to those of us who’re on the outside. But in the lush environs of Kabini, there exists another esoteric group of masons that creates lodges whose construct is predicated to the creation of life, and whose artistry has […]
Tags: Indian wildlife, Kabini, Lifescapes, Orange County Resorts
Potter Wasp, Kabini | Posted in Insects, Kabini | 28 Comments »
Being mugged is every traveller’s nightmare. Being mugged and then consumed as the main course in a mugger’s banquet, is the stuff that makes it to the horror movie hall of fame. But being killed and converted into a Smoothie to be slurped at leisure, takes the (dis)honours and is certainly not something you’d like […]
Tags: Coorg, Indian wildlife, Lifescapes, Orange County Resorts
Robber Fly, Coorg | Posted in Coorg, Insects | 8 Comments »
History is replete with tales of legendary heroes going into exile, and returning after conquering the odds, to reclaim their rightful place. In the Hindu epic, The Ramayana, the young Prince Rama had to undergo a fourteen year exile before he was considered ready to claim his throne. While Rama spent his years in the […]
Tags: Indian wildlife, Kabini, Lifescapes, Orange County Resorts
Cicada, Kabini | Posted in Insects, Kabini | 15 Comments »
It’s said that if you wish to attain any degree of proficiency in a field, you should begin early. Nobody follows this dictum better than the subject of this issue, whose career as a mimicry artist begins from early childhood. What looks to be a bird’s dropping on a leaf, is often a Common Mormon […]
Tags: Coorg, Indian wildlife, Lifescapes, Orange County Resorts
Common Mormon Caterpillar, Coorg | Posted in Coorg, Insects | 10 Comments »
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