2012 Hexapod Haiku Challenge Winners!

The winners have been announced in the 2012 Hexapod Haiku Challenge!
You can see all of them on the NCSU Insect Museum Blog.

I especially liked this one, probably because I am contemplating some big changes in my life right now:

Molting is a must
The vehicle is renewed
Same old heavy soul

Anish Thakkar; Raleigh, NC

They also have some classic haiku and other short poems; this one is profoundly true:

Even with insects—
some can sing,
some can’t.

- Kobayashi Issa, 1763–1828

Check them all out for a nice break.

Check it out!

Hexapod Haiku Contest!

It’s time once again for the NCSU Insect Museum’s Hexapod Haiku Contest!

hexapod haiku -
short poems that celebrate
most Arthropoda

The goal of this contest is to encourage people to think about the myriad ways in which insects and other terrestrial arthropods interact with their environments and other organisms (including humans!) and to express these thoughts through short poems. Despite the name of this contest we actually encourage any short poems you’re inspired to write, including (but not limited to!):

• Haiku (of course): An elegant medium, traditionally focusing on seasonal changes and nature and with a relatively standard format and objective.
• Senryū: Similar in structure to haiku but focused on the foibles of of humans and, in our case, insects, rather than seasons and nature.
• Haiga: A haiku that is accompanied by an illustration. Include a photo or draw a picture!
• Any other short poem you want to write!

We offer four awards with (small) prizes: 1) best in show, 2) runner-up, 3) best entry from poet under the age of 13, 4) runner-up from poet under the age of 13. Poems from any of the categories listed above are eligible to win any of the awards and therefore are judged together.

We also have honorable mention categories that change every year depending on the submissions we get (most traditional, funniest, best IPM-themed poem, etc.)

Visit the NCSU Insect Museum website for details on how to enter.

You can also browse through the past 5 years of winners with the tag “haiku” for inspiration and enjoyment.  A favorite of mine from 2011:

flowers’ bouquet
rousts them from their slumber
— bacon for bees

Winner of the Actual ESA Limerick Contest

We had a lot of fun making naughty limericks up at the Bug Blog, but I thought people might be interested in the actual winner of the REAL Entomological Society of America (Not-At-All-Ribald-Please-Keep-It-Clean) Limerick contest. The winning limerick was not only clever, it illustrates an interesting relationship between two firefly species.

The Official ESA Winner:

Au Naturel Selection: Photinus meets Photuris

A firefly who was benighted
saw a light and became so excited–
he rushed to his fate
while selecting a mate:
lost his head, lost his heart, was de-lighted.

~Martha Lutz

Love it!

In case you aren’t familiar with the two genera of fireflies referenced in the limerick, their clever and deadly system of sexual mimicry was first described by Thomas Eisner.  The flashes that attract males from the genus Photinus could be from female Photinus fireflies that want a hookup. But they could also be from the “Femmes Fatales” of the genus Photuris. They don’t want to have sex–they want to have a snack.

Photinus males aren’t just flashy dudes–they contain defensive chemicals in their blood. These chemicals repel predators like spiders. The Photuris females steal these chemicals from the males…by eating them.  As you can see in the photos above, there isn’t much left when she’s done. Just some wings, like an empty candy bar wrapper.

The graph on the left is from tests of 29 females/group exposed to predator spiders–one group of females that had eaten Photinus males (“Fed”), and another group of females that haven’t had the special love bite (“Unfed”).  Just eating two males is enough to completely protect the Photuris females from spider predators!

So pity the Photinus male; when out cruising for love, he must choose very, very carefully who he flashes.

You can read Eisner’s original paper here.  I’m tempted to call it a “seminal” work.

Eisner T, Goetz MA, Hill DE, Smedley SR, & Meinwald J (1997). Firefly “femmes fatales” acquire defensive steroids (lucibufagins) from their firefly prey. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 94 (18), 9723-8 PMID: 9275191

Sounds of summer

I am dog-tired from the Entomological Meeting, so how about some pretty sounds from the “Dog Days” of summer?  I could use a mini-vacation right now.

This little video introduces you to one of the cicadas of the midwest, Tibicen dorsatus. They have the nickname of “Dog Day Cicada.”  This beautiful (and big!) cicada doesn’t have the elaborate life cycle structure of the 17- or 13-year periodical cicada species.  Periodical cicadas emerge all at once in a few spectacular days of noisy orgy before disappearing again for over a decade.

Annual cicada generations overlap, so every summer you can find them making a racket.  That doesn’t mean their life cycle is just one year though–their emergence is just not synchronized to happen all at once.  After 3 or 4 years sucking on roots, the nymphs will emerge and mate.  Eggs are laid each year, ensuring that we’ll have sounds of summer in the future.

Entomological trivia: some really wonderful cicada mythology from Greece.  Did you know cicadas are mentioned in the Iliad?  That link also contains a translation of this lovely greek poem from 1st Century, BCE:

The Cicada to the Cricket

O cricket, you who soothe my passion and provide the consolation of sleep;
O cricket, shrill-winged rustic Muse;
You natural imitator of the lyre, sing for me some poignant song
As you tap with your charming feet and strum your loquacious wings,
So as to relieve me from toilsome worry that completely deprives me of sleep
As, o cricket, you spin out a song that dispatches Eros.
Then I shall give you as gifts, first thing in the morning, an evergreen leek
Along with dewy droplets that I separate with my mouth.

The Cricket to the Cicada

O resonant cicada, drunk on dewy droplets.
You sing your rustic song that sounds in lonely places.
Perched with your saw-like limbs, high up among the leaves
You shrill forth the lyre’s tune with your sun-darkened body.
But, dear friend, sound forth something new for the woodland nymphs,
A divertissement, chirping a tune for Pan as the song which you sing in your turn,
So that I, escaping from Eros, can catch some noon-time sleep
While reclining there under the shady plane tree.

Winner–2011 Ribald Tales of Entomology

At last! It’s time to reveal our winner!
This was a late entry, but it rocketed to the top of the list by popular acclaim. It’s so rude it even took ME back a bit.  Enjoy!

There once was a pine tip moth from Nantucket 
whose aedeagus was so long he could suck it
He said with a yalp
as he wiped off his palp
“If my tympanum was a gonopore I could fuck it”

Congrats to Tim, our winner of the Ribald Festivities! I owe you a beer

For those of you that don’t recognize the jargon, “aedeagus” is the fancy name for a bug penis, and “gonopore” is…well, a pore where your gonads go.  Loosely defined (very loosely!)

Huzzah!

Ribald Tales of Entomology Limerick Contest: Honorable Mention #1

At last! The first of our winners!

This malacological limerick didn’t follow the “should be an arthropod” rule, but hey, this contest is all about being naughty and transgressive. So screw the rules!

Honorable Mention: Best Non-Arthropod Limerick

Robin Rosetta

Banana Bob was a slug without malice
who fell deeply for slimey young Alice.
Though all foot, and no arms,
he was not without charms.
Won her with his dolichophallus.

I just couldn’t resist the use of the technical term “dolichophallus”.  That translates to “long penis.”

It is also the species name of the Slender Banana Slug (Ariolimax dolichophallus), and you can read more about their rather rough trade sex life here.  That page will explain:

a. You can make a slug have an erection with a sluggy version of viagra
b. If a slug’s penis is chewed off, it doesn’t grow back.  This is important to know, especially for the slug.

So hoist a tankard to our first winner!

I’ll email you an official certificate later this month, Ms. Rosetta.

Entomological Limerick Contest!

The Entomological Society of America has announced a Limerick Contest for the Annual Meeting!

Prizes will be awarded for the top three most creative limericks, as judged by an anonymous panel of entomological punsters. The limerick topic can be anything about arthropods, the Annual Meeting, ESA’s officers or other well-known entomologists, just keep it clean! 

I predict some very entertaining limericks will be submitted.  (And why does this sound like something Tom Turpin dreamed up?)

Alas, the ESA’s admonition to “keep it clean” seems to run directly contradictory to what a limerick is all about.  Nearly all descriptions seem to contain the word “bawdy.” They are described thusly: “The true limerick is always obscene” and “From a folkloric point of view, the form is essentially transgressive; violation of taboo is part of its function.”

I pointed this out on Twitter and a few other social media spots, and was instantly deluged with requests to have an UnClean Entomology Limerick Contest. So here you go.

 

My deadline will be October 1, 2011.  Submit your entries in the comments on this post!

RULES:

1. Limericks should be naughty and transgressive, but not gross or squick-inducing.
2. All taboo violation must be consensual.
3. The basic Limerick form is couplet/triplet, or AABBA (where A and B represent rhyming words, not Swedish pop bands).
4. The Limerick must have an arthropod theme of some sort.
5. Aedeagus and smegma don’t rhyme. Let’s not even go there.
6. Bribes are encouraged and accepted via PayPal.

I’ll get you started with this classic:

A flea and a fly in a flue
Were caught, so what could they do?
Said the fly, “Let us flee.”
“Let us fly,” said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Let the Games Begin!

Hexapod Haiku Winners Announced

If you haven’t already paid a visit to the NCSU Insect Museum Blog, now is the time!
They have announced the winners of their yearly Haiku/poetry challenge in several blog posts over the last week.

Here’s one I thought was especially poignant:

at rest
on the hospice wall
a mayfly

Charles Trumbull

4th Annual Hexapod Haiku Challenge!

Hurray! Once again, the North Carolina State University Insect Museum is sponsoring a Haiku Challenge!  Here’s the specs:

The goal of this contest is to encourage people to think about the myriad ways in which insects and other terrestrial arthropods interact with their environments and other organisms (including humans!) and to express these thoughts through short poems. Despite the name of this contest we actually encourage any short poems you’re inspired to write, including (but not limited to!):

• Haiku (of course): An elegant medium, traditionally focusing on seasonal changes and nature and with a relatively standard format and objective.
• Senryū: Similar in structure to haiku but focused on the foibles of of humans and, in our case, insects, rather than seasons and nature.
• Haiga: A haiku that is accompanied by an illustration. Include a photo or draw a picture!

Any other short poem you want to write!
We offer four awards with (small) prizes: 1) best in show, 2) runner-up, 3) best entry from poet under the age of 13, 4) runner-up from poet under the age of 13. Poems from any of the categories listed above are eligible to win any of the awards and therefore are judged together.

…Your haiku should be submitted by 11:59pm, March 20th (first day of spring!)

See their website for rules and details of how to submit. Get busy!

Last Year’s Winner:

Major, Undeclared

Silverfish, tell me,
Darwin and Dostoevsky,
do they taste the same?

National Pollinator Week: TGIF

And, for a little Friday amusement, a poem that was recently posted on the Entomo-L listserver:

The bee is such a busy soul,
She has no time for birth control.
So that is why at times like these,
There are so many sons of Bs.

Doug Yanega pointed out that a bee that doesn’t mate will, in fact, produce only sons of Bs, since that is how the apian haplodiploidy system works.

LOL!