Insects

United Arab Emirates25 February 1998Draft

Arthropods are animals that possess jointed limbs and body parts and an external skeleton. Insects are arthropods with six jointed legs and arachnids have eight. Twenty orders of insects are found in the U.A.E. and an unknown number of arachnids. The majority of V.A.E. insects are beetles, true flies, wasps, bees and ants and the arachnids include scorpions, spiders, mites and camel spiders. Blepharopsis mendica (Fils 50) Mantises are common insects in the U.A.E. wherever vegetation is found. The species illustrated is one of the largest and most attractively marked. The female insect is shown, but the male is similar except for being more slender and having feathery antennae. This mantis is a true inhabitant of the desert where it lurks in bushes and uses its excellent vision to detect other insects. These are seized between the interlocking spines of the raptorial forelegs and eaten. Because of its excellent camouflage, it is not easily seen during daytime, but like several other praying mantises, it flies to light at night and is then conspicuous. Galeodes sp. (Fils 150) There are ten known families of these fast moving and extraordinary-look- ing arachnids, three of which probably occur in the U.A.E. The specimen illustrated is a male which has much longer legs than the female.