After a long morning of traveling, our first stop was to the
notorious Everglades National Park. As soon as we arrived I noticed a large grasshopper
like bug dead on the ground and Mike informed me that it was called a Lubber. Although
throughout the day I called it a lobber, loober, and lover. It is east to mix
the names up, especially since there were mass amounts of them trying to mate
constantly.
There were hundreds of these organisms all
around the park trail we were on. These
organisms mate like crazy!! You can hear these things in the bushes from far
away.
The Lubber can reach to be 3-4 inches and have bright orange, red, and yellow colors. These colors protect the insect from predators, the colors warns predators that the organism contains toxins that make it unpalatable. While at the Everglades today we did observe a black lubber, this lubber was assumed to be juvenile because of the mostly black body with yellow marks. This insect is not poisonous to humans but it is to its predators. It is not advised to touch one of these insects because it will make a loud hissing noise and can secrete a foamy spray and will bit! . Their colors are differentiated by sexual dimorphism. which means the females appear bigger, brighter, and more colorful. When they decide to mate, the larger females jump on the backs of the males to begin mating process. They move there back legs and make a loud buzzing noise. Their back legs also allowed them to jump really far distances and they also allow them to swim. There were so many of these creatures you could see them all crossing the path ways and you could find hundreds of them just walking in the grass or on trees. These creatures were harmless to humans, but I have been told that they have a nasty bite. I would not want to be bitten by one of those!
The Lubber can reach to be 3-4 inches and have bright orange, red, and yellow colors. These colors protect the insect from predators, the colors warns predators that the organism contains toxins that make it unpalatable. While at the Everglades today we did observe a black lubber, this lubber was assumed to be juvenile because of the mostly black body with yellow marks. This insect is not poisonous to humans but it is to its predators. It is not advised to touch one of these insects because it will make a loud hissing noise and can secrete a foamy spray and will bit! . Their colors are differentiated by sexual dimorphism. which means the females appear bigger, brighter, and more colorful. When they decide to mate, the larger females jump on the backs of the males to begin mating process. They move there back legs and make a loud buzzing noise. Their back legs also allowed them to jump really far distances and they also allow them to swim. There were so many of these creatures you could see them all crossing the path ways and you could find hundreds of them just walking in the grass or on trees. These creatures were harmless to humans, but I have been told that they have a nasty bite. I would not want to be bitten by one of those!
https://www.news-press.com/story/life/outdoors/2016/05/14/eastern-lubber-grasshopper-toxin-wild-file-stetson/84127598/
https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/kidsyouth/insects.htm
#lubbers #thanksharrison #lovers #mating # insect
I love the title of this blog. I also like the information about this insect since all we saw all day was seen the lubber mate. I did not realize that lubbers can be poisonous to other organisms that might prey on them but am glad that I know one way that the lubber protects themselves.
ReplyDeleteBeka,
ReplyDeleteLove this topic! I thought the information you provided gave me a better understanding of the animal and what we saw it doing while walking around the everglades. I find it cool that females are larger and more colorful then males just like how female horseshoe crabs are larger than males.
Good idea to link the sexual di-morphism of these organisms to Horseshoe crabs. I didn't think they could swim at first when we sighted them but later in the day I saw one jumping from the water to the lily-pad.
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