Gallery: Insect Extravaganza! Poo-Eating Beetles, Transparent Butterflies, and More
Josh Valcarcel/WIRED01GG3A6155
The truly bizarre peanut-head bug. That enormous noodle is in fact hollow, and is thought to mimic a lizard’s head, thus deterring predators that prefer not messing with reptiles. If that doesn’t work, those big, beautiful eyespots on its wings [just might](https://www.msu.edu/user/urquhart/tour/fulgorid.html). And if *that* doesn’t work, the peanut-head releases a foul-smelling spray. Hey, better safe and weird-looking than sorry.
Josh Valcarcel/WIRED02GG3A6165-Edit
A close-up of that goofy noodle.
Josh Valcarcel/WIRED03GG3A6068-Edit
The ancient Egyptians [worshiped the dung beetle](https://www.wired.com/2014/07/fantastically-wrong-dung-beetle-worship/), which they reckoned rolled the sun across the sky like it does balls of poo in nature. The 6,000 species of dung beetle don’t all roll their quarry into balls, though. Some tunnel underneath a pile of the stuff and tunnel back up every so often for a snack. And in case you were curious, creatures that eat doo-doo are known as coprophagous. So now that's something you know.
Josh Valcarcel/WIRED04-MG-9420
The brilliant jewel scarabs have a shine like you wouldn't believe. Some are even a metallic silver that looks and shines just like the metal, and there's even a gold variety that collectors [pay as much as $500 for](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0102/feature3/index.html). The jewel scarabs can not only produce circularly polarized light, [but detect it](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20302426), an extreme rarity in nature. This probably helps them communicate. Or show off for other animals. Maybe both.
Josh Valcarcel/WIRED05darwins-moth
The famous Darwin’s moth, with its ridiculously elongated proboscis. Charles Darwin actually predicted it existed before it was even discovered, having examined an orchid with an ultra-long nectary, the tube where insects suck up nectar. In order for it to be pollinated, Darwin reasoned, there must be a moth with an equally long proboscis. And sure enough, [40 years later it was discovered](https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/dcp_documents/darwinsmoth_optimised.pdf). Here it is in all its schnozy glory.
Josh Valcarcel/WIRED06GG3A6151-Edit
Look familiar? It’s the death’s-head hawkmoth, of [*Silence of the Lambs* fame](http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ2NzkzMDI4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDA0NzE1NA@@._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg). And the creepiness doesn’t end with the skull on its back: When disturbed it emits a [weird high-pitched call](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITh0TgJ8a6Y). While most moths feed on nectar, the death’s-head instead raids honeybee hives for their honey. Indeed, [some have suggested](http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/acherontia-atropos/) that its famous pattern mimics the shape of a bee, though they’re raiding the hives in the darkness of night, so...
Josh Valcarcel/WIRED07albino-monarch
The iconic monarch butterfly also comes in a little-known white variety (not technically albino, on account of the black striping) from Hawaii. Monarchs in the continental US are alone among butterflies in the epicness of their migration: [some 3,000 miles](http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/monarch-butterfly/) to and from Mexico every year. Sadly, climate change may be taking its toll on the monarchs. [According to the WWF](http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/monarch-butterfly), the 2013 population in Mexico was the lowest in 20 years.
Josh Valcarcel/WIRED08GG3A6184-Edit
*Cithaerias aurorina* is a darn near perfectly transparent butterfly, save for that blush and those always-handy-in-a-pinch eyespots. It’s a stunning reminder that evolution knows few bounds in its quest to equip creatures to outwit their predators. There are all kinds of animals out there that look just like leaves and thorns and even other creatures, but it’s hard to top the beauty of these...beauties.
