A dragonfly (illustration) – Pierre Emmanuel Deletree // SIPA
- The Muséo editions publish “The insects of the world”, written by about fifty researchers, who bring together all the knowledge on these little critters.
- The opportunity to learn more about these living beings, who are sometimes real superheroes: some are endowed with superhuman strength, others have a particularly developed vision or sense of smell, and others are still perfect strangers.
It is a real “Bible” of the grass people: Muséo editions publish Insects of the world, a book of 1,848 pages, in two volumes, which brings together all the possible and unimaginable knowledge on these bugs. It was Henri-Pierre Aberlenc, entomologist at CIRAD, in Montpellier (Héraut), who coordinated the production of this book. It called on around fifty researchers from all over the world, all experts in their fields. On the occasion of the release of this book, which took 14 years of work, Henri-Pierre Aberlenc explained to 20 minutes five things we do not necessarily know about insects, which are, for some, real superheroes.
Some have superhuman strength
We know the strength of ants, which can carry up to a thousand times their weight. As if we humans were able to hoist a Boeing 737 on our backs, with its passengers and crew. But, among the grass people, there are many other Hulks. Like Onthophagus taurus, a dung beetle, which delights in excrement, and which manages without problem to pull a load more than 1,140 times heavier than itself.
But there are also, in nature, real little wood drills with impressive muscles. “Oak is a hard, very strong wood, isn’t it?” », Says Henri-Pierre Aberlenc. “Well, there are beetles whose larvae have mandibles and muscles strong enough to tunnel through them. Like a drill bit. And no small galleries! These are galleries that we could step into. It’s still a pretty amazing performance! “
Some have super performing eyes
There are species with extraordinary vision. Their asset is to have more visual opsins than the others. These proteins, which are found in all animals, are “colored substances, which are found in the retina, and which are used for color vision”, explains the Montpellier researcher. Humans have three. “One is sensitive to blue, one to red and one to yellow,” he continues. They make it possible to identify colors, and transmit to the brain what the eye distinguishes.
Birds, better at distinguishing shades than us, have four. But the champions of color vision are dragonflies. Their tiny head, as big as a pea, is an ultra-powerful machine. “They have between 11 and 30 visual opsins, notes the entomologist. At night, they see millions of different colors ”. There, where, we hardly see anything and we walk on a Lego.
And to complete their unique visual armada in nature, these charming critters “see above their heads, below, to the right, to the left, behind”. Dragonflies, older than dinosaurs, are thus the most successful predators known on Earth. When the lion misses its prey three times out of four and the great white shark once in two, dragonflies have a success rate of 75 to 85%, “thanks to their extraordinary eyes and their incredible analytical skills”, s’ astonishes the researcher.
Some have an overdeveloped sense of smell
It is an understatement to say that some insects are sniffing. “Species are able to detect a food source, or a sexual partner, hundreds of meters away, and sometimes even kilometers away,” says the researcher. This is the case, in particular, with certain male butterflies. These critters can thus “in the midst of the incredible crowd of all that can walk in nature, to distinguish a particular scent, and to find a partner,” he continues. Dogs can go get dressed! “
Some have a unique costume
Okay, okay, a fly is a fly. For those who do not observe them with a magnifying glass, they all have the same head. But in some insects, none are really the same. In particular certain butterflies, whose wings distinguish them from their congeners of the same species. “There is nothing more infinitely varied than the wing of a butterfly, by its cutout or its innumerable colored spots,” confides the entomologist. It is totally unheard of aesthetic creativity. In some species of ladybugs, too, finding the same twice is a challenge. “Although individuals of the same species are siblings, not all have the same coloring pattern. “.
Some are still complete strangers
There are, in the not cheerful depths of the oceans, still heaps of species of fish to be discovered. But it is the insects that still keep the biggest part of the mystery on Earth. “Today we know 46,000 species of vertebrates, including 6,180 amphibians, 7,520 reptiles, 10,000 birds and 4,800 mammals,” explains the Montpellier researcher. But for an entomologist, these figures make you laugh! “
In addition to this, you need to know more about it.
About 153,000 species of insects are indeed listed by science, three times more than vertebrates. “But these are known species… Because the majority of species that live on our planet are still mysteries! », Notes Henri-Pierre Aberlenc. Of which, mainly, insects: it is estimated that there are 3 to 5 million small critters to be discovered, including nearly 2 million flies and mosquitoes, more than a million beetles or hundreds of thousands of butterflies. “Regularly, the inventory, which began in the middle of the 18th century, grows,” says the researcher.
More information on “The insects of the world” here.