CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Insects that explode or start fires are a great plot device in a horror film, but they also have (almost) real-life counterparts.
“Exploding Arthropods” is the theme for the 2016 Insect Fear Film Festival on Feb. 27 at the University of Illinois. Festival founder and entomology professor and department head May Berenbaum was inspired to show films of exploding bugs by a Syfy channel showing last summer of the movie “Lavalantula,” in which a volcanic eruption in Los Angeles unleashes gigantic, lava-breathing tarantulas.
“It just seemed too thematically good to miss,” Berenbaum said. “There are all kinds of opportunities to set the record straight about arthropods, volcanoes and spontaneous combustion.”
The first feature film to be shown at this year’s festival will be “Bug” (1975), in which an earthquake releases subterranean cockroaches with the ability to eat carbon and start fires through spontaneous combustion. The second film will be “Lavalantula,” from Syfy and Cinetel, made in 2015.
The two feature films will be preceded by an eight-minute animated short from 2015, “Palm Rot.” It tells the story of a Florida fumigator who discovers a mysterious crate in the Everglades. Its contents ruin his day. The filmmaker, Ryan Gillis, will appear at the festival along with his film.
There are real-life arthropods with unique defense mechanisms that actually involve explosions, Berenbaum said.
“That behavior is very characteristic of many of the social insects, including some termites and ants. It’s sometimes called ‘suicidal altruism.’ The workers basically kill themselves in spectacular ways to protect the colony,” she said.
Several species of termites have soldiers, whose job is to defend the colony against intruders. “They have enormously enlarged glands that are packed full of acrid or sticky substances. When they encounter an enemy, these soldiers can force the contents of the gland through special weak sections of exoskeleton and they can literally blow off body parts along with the secretions,” Berenbaum said. The process is called autothysis.
Termites with a gland associated with the head rupture their body between the head and thorax. Another termite species discharges the glandular contents through its abdominal wall.
“These termites blow their butts off,” Berenbaum said, adding the insects are sometimes called “walking bombs.” “The secretions become sticky and entangle the antennae of their enemy.”
She noted that volcanoes, featured as the source of lava-spewing giant tarantulas in “Lavalantula,” in reality do house arthropods (albeit much smaller and more innocuous ones). At least one species of cockroach lives in lava tubes, and University of Illinois entomology graduate student Aron Katz has recently discovered three new species of springtails – six-legged insect relatives – in lava tubes in shield volcanoes in the Galapagos Islands.
The closest a real insect comes to spitting fire like its big-screen counterparts is the bombardier beetle. When it is threatened, two chemical compounds stored separately in different glands in its abdomen are combined. The reaction produces heat and oxygen, which force the liquid product out through the anus at boiling-hot temperatures.
“It gets forced out of the rectum with a popping sound,” Berenbaum said. “How could we miss telling these stories? They are absolutely true, and they are almost as impressive as what arthropods in the movies can do.”
The 33rd Insect Fear Film Festival is Feb. 27 at Foellinger Auditorium, and is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m. for an insect petting zoo, face painting, insect balloon twisting, and a display of entries in the Insect Art Contest, for students in area schools. The insect petting zoo will include for the first time a talking cockroach, courtesy of ventriloquist Hannah Leskosky from Los Angeles.
Opening remarks and presentation of the art contest winners begin at 7 p.m. “Palm Rot” will be shown at 7:30, followed by “Bug” at 7:45 and “Lavalantula” at 9:30.
Editor’s notes: For information about the festival, contact the Department of Entomology office at 217-333-2910. To reach May Berenbaum, email maybe@illinois.edu.
