Hosler, Jay. Last of the Sandwalkers. First Second Books (Macmillan), April 2015. 320pg. $16.99. 9781626720244.
Affiliate Links: Amazon | Indiebound
Affiliate Links: Amazon | Indiebound
Genre: Science Fiction, Graphic Novel
Cover Appeal: Bug on a skeleton? All the middle school kids will want this!
(from the publisher) Nestled in the grass under the big palm tree by the edge of the desert there is an entire civilization—a civilization of beetles. In this bug's paradise, beetles write books, run restaurants, and even do scientific research. One such scientist is Lucy, who leads a team of researchers out into the desert. Their mission is to discover something about the greater world...but what lies in wait for them is going to change everything Lucy thought she knew.
Beetles are not the only living creatures in the world.
Character Name: Bugs
Species: Atemeles pubicollis Length: 4 - 5 mm
Color: golden brown.
Habitat: ant colonies
Superpower: Olfactory deception
No one likes a freeloader, but you have to admire the evolutionary adaptations of the rove beetle Atemeles pubicollis. This small beetle has cracked the top secret communication codes of various ant species and uses the information to infiltrate their nests.
Ants communicate with each other using odors. Their eyes aren’t so hot, but they have great sniffers, capable of detecting the difference between family and foes. At least, most of the time they can. The problem with relying on a highly specific code for communication is that if someone else cracks the code, they can really take advantage of the system. Over evolutionary time, Atemeles has evolved the ability to mimic not one, but two of the chemical cues used by certain ants. It can release odors from its appeasement gland to calm guard ants. Most ants are pretty aggressive, so the beetle’s appeasement gland makes it possible for it to approach the colony. Once it has made nice with the guard, it releases another odor that smells just like a baby ant. Since the ant can’t see very well, it trusts its sense of smell and carries the beetle into the colony. Once in, Atemeles can much away on baby ants and enjoy the full protection of the colony.
In addition to being a master of olfactory disguise, Atemeles and other rove beetles are pretty good at origami. Kinda, sorta. Most beetles have long wing covers (called elytra) that extend the length of their bodies and cover their abdomens. A rove beetle has very short elytra. This makes if possible to have a much more maneuverable abdomen (good for waving deceptive odors in the face of ants), but it means you have less space to pack your wings. To that end, rove beetles have become quite good at folding their long wings under their little elytra. You can watch the process in slow motion in these videos (provided as supplementary material for an article in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
In Last of the Sandwalkers, our beetle heroes learn the hard way that even though the beetle Atemeles smells fishy to them, ants have a hard time sniffing out the truth.
DON'T MISS ANY STOPS ON THE BLOG TOUR! EACH STOP REVEALS A DIFFERENT BEETLE!
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Looks good! I will check it out :-)
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