The African continent is rich in rare and dangerous representatives of the animal world. A separate niche is occupied by insects, some of which live exclusively here. Going on a trip to Africa, many people mistakenly believe that extremely large predators can cause serious harm to life and health, completely forgetting about small and seemingly harmless insects. We offer you a list of insects in Africa.
Goliath beetle
The beetle got its name in honor of the mythical hero Goliath, since it is the largest and heaviest insect that lives on the planet. Its length varies from 6 to 11 cm, with a body width of 4-6 cm. The May beetle is considered the closest relative of the goliath beetle.
A total of five species of this insect, each of them has its own characteristics, including color and size. Some prefer to settle in the humid tropical jungle, others in the hot sands of the desert.
As a rule, the goliath beetle is distinguished by black and white stripes on its surface, elytra of red-brown color or with a predominance of spots. In general, its color depends on the habitat. So, African insects living in the humidity of the tropical jungle are mostly painted black. Black areas of the body have a velvety surface, which contributes to the heating of the body. Goliath beetle, living in a dry climate and open area, on the contrary, has a light color with black spots and stripes.
The insect leads a daily life, eats ripe fruits, pollen, tree sap. Often they try to breed a bug at home. In captivity, its life expectancy is twice as long as in the wild, and is 12 months. After mating, the female goliath beetle buries itself in the ground and lays eggs there. Larvae hatch from them, which feed on roots and small invertebrates. After the complete formation of the larva, it passes into the pupal stage and only then becomes an adult.
For humans, a beetle is dangerous only because of its size and weight. For example, in a collision with a motorcyclist, it can provoke a person to fall.
Palm weevils
These insects have a body length of 2-5 cm, it is oblong, slightly flattened from above. In nature, you can find bugs of such colors: red-brown, brown or black.
Insects live in tropical and equatorial regions of Africa. At the end of the 20th century, thanks to human activities, the beetle population spread throughout the Middle East and northern Africa. In 2014, the beetle was brought to the territory of Russia.
The insect eats living leaves of plants. After larvae are laid, they continue to develop drying or decaying trees in the cortex. The length of the cycle is 3-4 months.
Beetle spoils palm trees. Larvae can eat the palm from the inside throughout the year.
Namibian beetle
This species of beetle lives in one of the driest places on the planet - in the Namib desert in South Africa. The insect survives largely due to its ability to collect water.
To do this, it climbs the sand ridge with the help of its long and thin paws. Turning at a certain angle, the Namibian beetle with its strong wings catches the smallest drops of fog. They are held on the wings due to the hydrophilic surface surrounded by a wax coating. This ability of his is of great interest to scientists who are trying to implement it in modern technology.
The Namibian beetle itself is small in size, painted in dark color, contrasting sharply against the background of sand. Has a rough surface of the body.
Not dangerous for humans.
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are insects that can carry dangerous diseases. One of the representatives is Anopheles, better known as a malaria mosquito. The insect itself does not pose any danger until the moment of a human bite, which causes the death of millions of people every year. In addition to malaria, these mosquitoes can also carry other serious diseases: Dengue fever, Zika virus, West Nile virus, yellow fever.
Malaria mosquitoes are common on almost all continents, but not everywhere they are so dangerous. In developed countries, medicine is up to standard, and there are no patients with malaria.
It is noteworthy that the males do not sting and do not feed on blood, this is done exclusively by the female. It is very difficult to distinguish a malaria mosquito from an ordinary mosquito, the most obvious sign is its large size, about twice as much. Females lay eggs near various water bodies and after three weeks mosquitoes appear from them. After completion of all stages of development, the insect lives about a month.
Emerald Cockroach Wasp
This insect grows up to 2 cm in size. It has a narrow body and a characteristic color - bright green or blue-green with a metallic sheen.
For the breeding of wasps, cockroaches are used, which are injected with paralytic poison. When the prey ceases to move, the female carries it into the hole and lays the larvae. After some time, new individuals appear.
This species practically does not come into contact with humans and, as a rule, does not bite.
Ants Dorylus
The most numerous species of nomadic insects in Africa are the ants Dorylus. Despite the fact that they are not carriers of infectious diseases, they are classified as dangerous insects due to aggressiveness.
Dorylus ants mainly live in the Central African region. The number of one group of these insects sometimes reaches over 20 million individuals. They move through the hills, overcome trees and shrubs in search of food. Their movement in columns is largely due to effective protection against possible attacks.
Dorylus ants are able to attack any living creatures in their path: mammals, birds, invertebrates, and even humans. All thanks to powerful, well-developed jaws. For one sortie, these ants are able to kill more than one thousand animals. Moreover, they attack the nests of other species of insects, completely destroying them. Dorylus ants are attracted to moist and soft parts of the body (lips and nostrils), through them they penetrate the body of a mammal and move to vital organs, which causes death. There were cases when a large column of insects in just a few hours turned the body of the victim into a skeleton.
Triatom bugs
African insects of this species are blood-sucking. Bedbugs inhabit North America, but some of their species are found in Africa, Asia and on the Australian mainland.
Triatom bugs attract the body heat and smell of the victim, as well as light. As a rule, they settle near the habitats of potential victims. This type of bedbug is often called "kiss" for the habit of digging into the skin of the lips of a sleeping person. Sometimes bitten in the morning does not even understand that he became a victim of a bug.
The body, in turn, reacts with severe irritation of the skin, nausea, diarrhea, swelling, difficulty breathing, and a drop in blood pressure.
Triatomous bugs carry a serious Chagas disease, which kills up to 12 thousand people every year. This disease becomes chronic. It manifests itself as an increase in the ventricles of the heart, esophagus and colon. During an exacerbation of the disease, an increase in lymph nodes, shortness of breath, breathing problems are observed. Untimely assistance leads to heart problems, and subsequently to death.
Flies
In the countries of equatorial Africa, on the river banks and in humid tropical forests, the parasite insect lives - the Tsetse fly. According to scientists, it was she who prevented a person from developing the lands of the southern mainland, thereby preventing cattle from grazing.
This creature provokes in humans and animals the occurrence of sleeping sickness, which is characterized by attacks of fever and joint pain at the initial stage. The next stage is characterized by numbness and sleep disturbance.
Unlike ordinary African flies, Tsetse is large in size, it has a rather large head and a powerful chest. In the lower part of the head is a large and elongated proboscis. The food for the insect is the blood of animals and humans. After a bite through the subcutaneous tissue, the injected toxin moves into the lymphatic system, followed by into the blood vessels and central nervous system. Tsetse fly attacks any moving object that exudes heat, it can even be a car. However, the insect does not attack the zebra; black and white stripes confuse the insect.
The olive fly is a small insect whose body length reaches 5 mm. The color of the individual is reddish yellow. The species can be found not only in Africa, but also in the southern part of Europe, Asia. Insects are considered pests because they destroy the crops of olives.
Gourd
This gourd pest inhabits the territory of Asia, Africa, Southern Europe and some countries of the former Union republics.
The mature individual reaches a length of 7-9 mm, with a wide oval body of a red-brown hue. The abdomen is black, the upper part is covered with a pile. Both elytra have six black dots with an orange border. The larvae of the gourds are very small - no more than 2 mm; as they mature, they acquire a greenish tint and reach 10 mm in length. The insect can survive up to four generations, while the ability to reproduce is only in the first two.
The gourd wintering in the reed thickets or under the remains of plants overwinter along with hundreds of other bugs. Only 20% are able to survive the winter, the vast majority die. The insect can tolerate a drop in temperature to -14 ° C for a short time. A ladybird awakens during the early sowing of gourds, the exit from the hibernation lasts about 2-3 weeks.
The optimum temperature for the development and reproduction of the insect is 27-32 ° C heat. For a person is not dangerous.
Scarab beetle
Not every insect is a hero of myths and legends, and certainly not a symbol of a whole country. The ancient Egyptians believed that the insect protects the human soul. A photo of the scarab beetle can be seen below.
The insect has a rounded body with a black, smooth and matte surface. Its length is 2.5-3.5 cm. Adult individuals acquire a glossy surface over time. On the head of the scarab beetle (photo of the insect can be seen in this section) there is a small ledge and eyes, divided into upper and lower parts. Spurs are located on the legs.
Sexual characteristics of the beetle are practically not expressed. The lower part is covered with dark brown hairs. The insect is distributed on the Mediterranean coast, the Black Sea, in Southeast Europe, Crimea, Egypt, Turkey and the Arabian Peninsula.
Scarabs are dung beetles; as a rule, they feed on the excrement of cattle, sheep, and horses. From formless manure they roll up perfectly even balls and bury them in soil, where they subsequently use them for food. Scarab beetles live for about two years and spend most of this time underground, rising to the surface at night. In winter, an insect is buried deep in the ground.
Pairs of beetles form in the process of preparing food and together continue to work. Then they dig a mink up to 30 cm deep and mate. Then the female rolls balls into which she lays eggs. When the work is finished, she falls asleep mink. After a couple of weeks, the larvae hatch, during the ripening period, they feed on the food prepared for them, after which they pupate.
Bloody flower
This is an insect from the genus Mantis. It got this name because of a species similar to a plant. This body shape serves as a disguise.
Females of the insect reach 14 cm in length, males - 11 cm. The wingspan in size is 16 cm. The color of an individual can vary from light brown to green.
The bloody flower hunts from an ambush, waiting for prey. It feeds on small insects: butterflies, wasps, flies, bumblebees.
African locust
A desert or African locust, the photo of which is presented below, lives in the deserts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Outwardly, it is in many ways similar to the common locust. The length of the body varies from 4 to 6 cm. There are short, dense antennae on the head. The eyes are dark. The body of the swamp shade with a brown tint allows locusts to hide among plants.
The rattling sound that an insect makes when rubbing its hind legs on its wings can mean a call from a partner, warning relatives of danger or have a threatening character. The African locust, the photo of which is presented in the section, is very voracious; raids by packs are capable of destroying the entire crop. Their speed with a fair wind reaches 40 km per hour, turning hordes into a desert hurricane.
Desert locust female breeds up to five times a year. The eggs, coated with a secret, are laid by an insect in a hole dug in the ground. Over time, it dries, forming a hard shell. In one clutch there can be up to 150 eggs. After about a month, larvae appear from them. After reaching the surface within a month, the insect is exposed to molt up to five times, then it turns into a mature locust that can produce offspring.
