NC State University Insect Museum

If I were to create a top 10 list of missed opportunities in 2009 this event would almost certainly make it: Ugly bug contest 2009. And, based on the comments posted at Scientific American's podcast/blog, I am not alone. How does this kind of misinformed outreach effort deliver entomological enlightenment to those people who thirst for knowledge about arthropods? Does the "there's no such thing as bad press" philosophy reign here?

Denigrating insect species, broadly labeled here as bugs (though only one species belongs in Heteroptera - yes, it matters) does a disservice to those of us who fight daily to convince a skeptical public (and even some biologists - ask me off the record) that insects deserve to be respected, researched, and even revered. Let's take a quick look at their "ugly bug" finalists:

1. Macrosiphon (Hemiptera: Aphididae) - an aphid
2. Xylocopa (Hymenoptera: Apidae) - a carpenter bee
3. Periplanta americana [sic! see comments below] (Dictyoptera: Blattidae) - the American cockroach (which is not native to America!)
4. Acanthocephala (Hemiptera: Coreidae) - a leaf-footed bug
5. Tipulidae (Diptera) - a crane fly
6. Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) - the honey bee
7. Harpegnathos (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) - an ant
8. Polistes (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) - a paper wasp
9. Hadrurus (Scorpiones: Iuridae) - a scorpion
10. Agulla (Raphidioptera: Raphidiidae) - a snakefly

Really? Do we really want to list two bee species as candidates for ugliest insect? Many bee species are noted to be declining, and we should be pushing an agenda that highlights this issue and motivates work towards a resolution - not contributing to the attitude that these species can be avoided, sprayed, or ignored. And what about the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) - the perennial easy target? Why can't we finally celebrate all the good that has come from cockroach research, like a deeper understanding of sociality, physiology, symbiosis, morphology (e.g., their service as models for entomologists-in-training), locomotion and biomimetics?

One could also use the fact that an institute dedicated to species exploration cannot even ascribe species names to most of these specimens - which is a real and pervasive problem for insect researchers. The crane fly couldn't even be determined below family! Why not build an outreach project that emphasizes this vast diversity (especially crane flies!) and the chronic problem of taxonomic identification? Inspire some bright-eyed kids to take up the reigns in overcoming this predicament! I can think of at least 10 cool things to say about each of those arthropods listed above, and I bet that with very little effort we could build a fun citizen science project focused on each one, or write a small narrative, or animate a cartoon, ... you name it. Instead these species are cast abominations. Which one is ugliest? The idea itself wins that title.

The winner of the Unusual/Extreme/Close-up of Insect, Arthropod, or other Invertebrate category also won the coveted Best in Show. Congratulations to John Meyer for capturing this beautiful and bewildering shot!

photographer: John Meyer
title: Wheel of Fortune

photographer: Daniel Kronauer
title: I wish I was somebody else. San Carlos de Rio Negro, Venezuela.

Daniel Kronauer's (Cambridge, MA) photo won for best image of an immature insect or arthropod. The photographer's statement about this photograph: Ants are ecologically dominant in tropical ecosystems and generally well defended. Many other arthropods therefore commonly mimic ants. For example, it is not uncommon to find one or more ant-mimicking jumping spiders for each of the most common ant species at any Amazonian site. This picture was taken while I was photographing Camponotus carpenter ants that were foraging on the same plant. It certainly took a second look to notice that this bug was not part of the ant family.

Thanks for sharing your images with us, and congratulations on placing first in this category!

photographer: Dominique DuBois
title: Buck Tooth Fly

Dominique DuBois of Dixon, MO snapped this great shot of what appears to be a curious tachinid fly: I was scared of something flying around and I was not sure what is was. Once it landed I thought it was cool, and it was just sitting there looking at me. I got my mom's camera started taking pictures of it. I was amazed it just sat there for me. Great capture and congratulations on the winning entry for insect image by photographer under 13!

This story made the blog rounds already, but I just can't help but post something about it here. Check out this video of flies being used as hosts for advertisements (the peoples' reactions are fairly amusing, I must admit):

That's right, small advertisements were glued to flies (Diptera: Muscomorpha), so that these insects could then bring clients' messages to patrons at a book convention. The Boston Herald Business and Boston Herald Blogs sections responded to this new breed of advertising with some interesting (if a bit insectophobic and punny for my taste) commentaries:

It’s a delicate balance. Eichborn wanted to convey an image of a cutesy cartoon, an anthropomorphic airplane with bulging eyes. But real houseflies spread disease and tend to congregate around animal corpses, rotten food and doggie doo-doo.

It’s the rare situation where killing the messenger makes a lot of sense.
[...snip...]
For the record, cockroaches also don’t make for an ideal advertising medium. According to Berezin, their skin is very resilient with paint. The solution, the artist suggests, may lie in using only nice and pretty insects in future publicity campaigns.

'Maybe they can start genetically breeding logos into butterfly wings,' she says.

¡Ay, caramba! Check out Emily Berezin's referenced gallery of satirical insect-derived ads. At least the dictyopterans can maintain their dignity...for now.

p.s. Bonus points for anyone who correctly identifies the fly they used:

Hint: it's not a housefly (sic!) Not that the correct determination would necessarily improve their opinions of Diptera...