Secret Weapons: Defenses Of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions And Other Many-Legged Creatures

"Defense is at the root of the evolutionary success of arthropods." And what a panoply of defenses they display. The authors—Thomas Eisner is J. G. Schurman Professor of Chemical Ecology at Cornell University; his wife, Maria Eisner, a research associate of biology at Cornell; and Melody Siegler, an associate professor of biology at Emory University—present 69 examples. They range from Mastigoproctus giganteus (the vinegaroon, which ejects a spray with an acetic acid content of 84 percent when it is physically disturbed) to Apis mellifera (the honeybee, whose stinger produces a chemically complex venom made up of about half mellitin, which is largely responsible for the pain associated with a bee sting). Yet with all that is known on this subject, much must remain to be discovered because millions of arthropod species are thought to be undiscovered. "Think of what this means," the authors say, "in terms of biological wonders lying in wait, in terms of new bugs and bug adaptations awaiting discovery."