Arachnocampa is a genus of four fungus gnat species which are, in their larval stage, glowworms. They are found mostly in New Zealand and Australia in caves and grottos, or sheltered places in forests.

The genus was called Bolitiphila, meaning mushroom lover, in the past. The name was changed in 1924 to Arachnocampa, meaning spider-grub, for the way the larvae hang silk threads to trap prey. The genus Arachnocampa belongs in the family Keroplatidae.

species

• Arachnocampa luminosa is found in New Zealand, in both the North and South islands. Its Māori name is titiwai, meaning “projected over water”. The Waitomo Caves in the North Island near Pirongia is one well-known habitat, the caves having become a popular tourist attraction. It was first known to science in 1871 when collected from a gold mine in the Thames region. At first it was thought to be related to the European glowworm beetle, but in 1886 a Christchurch teacher showed it was a larva of a gnat, not a beetle. The species was called Bolitiphila luminosa in 1891, before being renamed Arachnocampa in 1924. A species of harvestman preys on the luminosa eggs, larvae and pupae, and even the adult flies. A fungus also affects A. luminosa; it gradually kills the larva. Fungus spores are spread by air movement, but since the larvae live out of the wind the spread of spores is limited. Arachnocampa luminosa is found only in New Zealand.

• Arachnocampa richardsae is found in New South Wales. The Newnes glow worm tunnel in the Blue Mountains is one well-known habitat.

• Arachnocampa tasmaniensis is found in Tasmania (as the name suggests). One habitat is the Marakoopa Cave, Mole Creek near Cradle Mountain.

• Arachnocampa flava is found in Queensland. The Natural Bridge in the Gold Coast hinterland is one well-known habitat.

• Arachnocampa Sp.Mount Buffalo. A colony of Arachnocampa has been found in an alpine cave on Mount Buffalo in Victoria. Early research suggests it is a new species, but related to the tasmaniensis and the New Zealand luminosa. Its presence suggests rainforest may have extended up the mountain in the past.^[4] The Victorian Government presently has it listed (called the Mount Buffalo Glow-Worm) as a threatened species.^[5]

(read more:Wikipedia)     (video: BBC’s Planet Earth)

 Fruit flies use sunlight to stay on course

(by Mark Brown)

How does an insect keep its bearings while migrating for thousands of miles? “If you go out in a field, lie on your back and look up at the sky, that’s pretty much what an insect sees,” says Michael Dickinson, a biology professor at University of Washington.

Tiny animals like monarch butterflies and locusts maintain a constant heading while migrating across entire continents, while bees and ants always find their way hundreds of metres back to the nest without a problem.

Realising that insect must have some type of internal compass, Dickinson and Peter Weir, a doctoral student at the California Institute of Technology, decided to test how insects orient themselves by tethering fruit flies to metal pins, and suspending them in a magnetic field.

This allows the flies to move and rotate naturally while being held in place. The fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) were taken to an arena atop a building that’s taller than visual landmarks like treetops. Digital cameras tracked the insect’s flight headings.

During the hour before and the hour after sunset, the headings of these flies — relative to the position of the arena — were recorded for 12 minutes. The entire arena was rotated 90 degrees every three minutes, to see what the flies did.

Under natural light, some of the flies compensated for the rotations and maintained a consistent heading. But when the arena was covered with a circular polarising filter — which eliminates the natural light patterns of the Sun — the flies did not shift their heading significantly in response to arena rotations.

This indicates that the fruit fly has the ability to coordinate its compound eye and brain functions for navigation by using the using light polarisation patterns of natural sunlight. Other insects with similar eyes and similar flight patterns likely have the same capability.

Next up, the team wants to determine why the flies select a particular heading. “A lot of our research is focusing on how the fruit fly brain is multitasking in space and time to achieve remarkable effects,” Dickinson said. Fruit flies have just 300,000  neurons in their brain, while the average adult human has 100,000,000,000.

source: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/18/fruit-flies-stay-on-course

Pitcher Plant Mosquito (Wyeomyia smithii)  is a multivoltine mosquito thatcompletes its entire life cycle in the immediate vicinity of its carnivorous host plant (Sarracenia purpurea) . The females deposit their eggs directly on the water within the plant or just above the waterline in older leaves. The larvae live in the liquid of the plant and feed on the carcasses of insects and spiders being digested by the plant enzymes.