Cyprus Nature and Wildlife (2011)
 
Other insects

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According to Wikipedia, there are estimated to be between 6 to 10 million insect species on earth. I don't suppose anyone knows how many there are in Cyprus, but I would guess at more than 100,000, many of which have not been catalogued and some undoubtedly new to science. It is clear that a website devoted to just the island's insects would require more space on the Internet than could be made available (and the services of numerous entomologists). In the interests of readability, some of the larger groupings, such as social insects and flies, have their own pages while we mention here a sampling of the more common insects that fall outside these categories.

All insects have common features, such as an exoskeleton, 6 true legs in the imago and a specific life cycle of either egg, larva, pupa and imago (holometabolous, e.g., butterflies) or egg, nymph and imago (hemimetabolous, e.g., dragonflies). In some cases, the intermediate stages may appear non-existent; for example, a newly hatched mantid nymph appears like a miniature version of the adult imago.

For this essay, I shall ignore the subclass Monocondylia (Archaeognatha), to concentrate on the Dicondylia which includes most of the commonest insects we are likely to come across. With the exception of Silverfish, we are also less likely to encounter the Apterygota (wingless) subclass during casual observations, the Pterygota.(winged) being, by far, the largest suborder..

The taxonomy of the Pterygota is apparently in a state of flux with further subdivisions into Infraclasses and Superorders before reaching the Order level. This is not surprising in view of the number of species; without this, some catalogues would become impossibly large. however, this has not yet been universally adopted,

Again from Wikipedia, the proposed taxonomy is:

Orders
Superorder: Exopterygota
Superorder: Endopterygota
 

Blattaria (cockroaches)American Cockroach

If there is an insect that creates a feeling of revolt, among many, it is the cockroach, especially in large infestations. This feeling means that there are many myths and misconceptions about some of the species in the order. This is not to say that the insect is not a pest and a dangerous one, at that. There are three species in Cyprus associated with human habitations. The commonest and a true cockroach, which can cause large infestations in commercial kitchens and areas where food is served or prepared, is the German Cockroach, Blattella germanica. This species is a warm climate insect.

More often seen around private habitations is the American Cockroach, Periplaneta americana,  (photo, from Wikipedia by Wm Jas, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)) often as individuals and very  rarely as infestations. Its large size (up to 45 mm long) and fast running movement are factors which give housewives the "heebie-jeebies". It is a tropical species that may have come to Cyprus in relatively recent times.

The oriental cockroach, Blatta orientalis, is the prototype with a propensity for sewer-living and likely to appear in drains. It is intermediate in size between the German and American species, typically 25 mm long and can carry foodborne disease pathogens. 

All three species produce egg-cases or oothecas which the female carries behind its abdomen until it finds a propitious warm and humid place to deposit it. The nymphs look like a small wingless version of their parents.

MantodeaOotheca

The antodea comprise a large order of insects, popularly known as the 'praying mantis' because of the way it holds its forelegs, often with a swaying motion. There is some confusion in the use of the terminology 'mantis' and 'mantid', some using either term as meaning one thing and others the complete opposite. There are at least 4 species in Cyprus:

.Its life cycle starts as one egg, amongst many, in an ootheca (an egg case). These are commonly seen and look like a mass of pale brown matter adhering to a branch or a wall. The female adult expels a foamy mass with the eggs and this soon hardens into the ootheca.. When the eggs hatch, the nymphs eat their way out of the ootheca, often producing a silk thread which they can use for dispersal, away from its cannibalistic siblings and mother. The nymphs, even in the first instar, look like tiny versions of the adults, although they do not have wings. Like their parents, themantis nymphs have a voracious appetite for any creature they can capture by stretching their forelegs and hooking their prey.. Large adults will capture tree frogs and mice. Their mouth parts can tear their prey apart while it is held in their legs.

The head, as well as the mouth, is well adapted for its predatory habits. Its compound eyes differ from those of most insects and consist of bundles of minute tubes, each at a unique angle. This is why photographs of the head will almost inevitably have a black dot in each eye, as being the opening of the tube directed towards the camera lens. The capture of the prey depends on stereoscopic vision to judge the distance needed to shoot its legs forward. However, the intraocular distance may be too small to give it sufficient accuracy, which is why it is often seen swaying to left and right. This effectively about triples the intraocular distamantis headnce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos:
Top: Ootheca attached to a wooden beam
Middle: Sphodromantis viridis on a fig leaf.
Bottom: Detail of head of Sphodromantis viridis
Copyright © Brian Ellis 2009, 2010.

 

 

Odonata (Dragonflies, Damselflies, Mayflies)

Dragonflies, suborder Epiprocta, and Damselflies, suborder Zygoptera, are often confused. The following modified extract from Wikipedia (licence under Creative Commons) explains the difference:

Damselflies are often confused with newly moulted dragonflies but once a dragonfly moults, it is fully grown. There are other distinctions that set them apart: most damselflies hold their wings at rest together above the torso or held slightly open above (such as in the family Lestidae), whereas most dragonflies at rest hold their wings perpendicular to their body, horizontally or occasionally slightly down and forward. Also, the back wing of the dragonfly broadens near the base, caudal to the connecting point at the body, while the back wing of the damselfly is similar to the front wing. The eyes on a damselfly are apart; in most dragonflies the eyes touch. Notable exceptions are the Petaluridae (Petaltails) and the Gomphidae (Clubtails).

As far as is known, there are 36 species of dragonfly recorded in Cyprus. This may include some species which are extinct on the island due to habitat changes, such as drainage of wetlands, or the inordinate use of pesticides. It is probable that there are no endemic species.

Mayflies belong to the order Ephemeroptera which means 'temporary wings'. In the adult form, a mayfly may live just a few hours, mostly less than a day, just long enough to mate and for the female to lay its eggs on exposed water. The nymphs, known as naiads, may live one or more years at the bottom of the watercourse or pond etc., feeding on algae and other vegetable and animal micro-organisms. As they grow, they moult many times. They obtain oxygen through a form of intersegmental gills, usually along the side of the body. Information on mayfly species in Cyprus is not easy to find, but it is possible that the majority of species belong to the Baetidae family, which contains over one hundred species in several genera. Another possible family is the Heptageniidae, also with a large number of species. As Mayflies need water for their development, they will be found only where there is perennial water, such as in the vicinity of dams and constantly flowing mountain streams. It therefore seems probable that human activities have influenced the distribution of the species; for this reason, it may be that the sparse literature on the subject is out-of-date and inaccurate.

Orthoptera

This order includes grasshoppers, crickets and locusts. It is probable that there are over 500 species in Cyprus, divided into many suborders and families. In the popular imagination, it is the locust that creates the most interest as being the source of the Biblical plagues. Here, in Cyprus, we occasionally are touched by such plagues, windblown in vast numbers from North Africa. The last major one was in 2004, when parts of the Paphos District were badly affected. Strictly speaking, there is no such insect as a locust. Sir Boris Uvarov, in the 1920s and 1930s, even through to the 1960s, devoted much time to research on this subject and he found that the causal insects were a number of species of grasshoppers adapted for desert life. Amongst other species, Schistocerca gregaria is one causing intermittent widespread damage. Normally, this grasshopper lives a more-or-less solitary life, as any other species might. The female lays its eggs, about 60 or so at a time, 3 or 4 times per year, about 10 cm down in the desert sand, choosing sites where it can detect some moisture. The eggs require moisture to hatch and, if there is hard rain, not only do the nymphs emerge, but seeds on the surface may germinate, providing food for them, to continue the life cycle. However, if there is overcrowding of the nymphs to the extent that their hind legs touch, they emit a pheromone that triggers a form of metamorphosis, turning them into the precursor of the swarming locust. Adults also emit an analogic pheromone and they change colour, turning from "grasshopper" into "locust". Once a swarm develops, the wind carries it over vast distances and the voracious insects devastate the vegetation overlocust which they are taken. When the food supply is exhausted, the locusts mostly die off, the few survivors restarting the cycle back to the grasshopper. It may be a year or two or decades before they swarm again. This extraordinary tale has been graphically described in a National Geographic article, 'Locusts: "Teeth of the Wind"', (August 1969, pp 202-227). There is still considerable scientific research being conducted on the subject.

The 2004 swarm in Cyprus has been described by the Department of Agriculture as the Red Locust, but there is some doubt about this, as this species is endemic to the south of the Sahara. On the other hand, the Desert Locust, Schistocerca gregaria, swarmed over large areas of N. Africa that year and it seems likely to have been part of this, blown by the wind. Nevertheless, the coloration, described as "pink" but really a red stripe on the wings is not normal for this species. The photograph (Copyright © Brian Ellis, 2006) illustrates a grasshopper about 75 mm long whose identification is doubtful. It is possibly a Moroccan Locust, Dociostaurus maroccanus, a species which causes much damage throughout North Africa, the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East. However, some features are atypical of this species and other common grasshoppers, but there is a great variability in most of these creatures.

Other than the myriad smaller green and brown grasshopper species, there are several crickets, usually dark brown or black. These include, inter alia, the Field Cricket, Gryllus campestris, and the Mediterranean Field Cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus, as well as the redoubtable-looking Mole Cricket, Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa. The males of most species of grasshopper and cricket chirp by rubbing their legs or wings, as a mating call. In the case of grasshoppers, the stridulation is produced by a series of comb-like projections on the "femur" part of the legs being rubbed against the stiff forewings which act as an acoustic diaphragm. On the other hands, crickets use both sets of wings, one set of which is notched, rather than its legs.

Phasmatodea

This Order is not well represented in the Mediterranean Basin and Europe and data are lacking. It is possible that only the Genus Bacillus is present, notably B. rossius. There is one rare endemic subspecies in Cyprus, Bacillus atticus cyprius, Uvarov, 1936, feeding on the Lentisc or mastic tree,: Pistacia lentiscus. It can grow to 80 mm in length. Like many such insects, it is parthenogenetic and it is probable that true males do not exist, although there may be occasional hermaphrodites. It has been observed in the Governor's Beach region but the extent of its habitat is unknown.

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