Crumple Bugs

Basic Information

Anatomy

Crumple bugs are 5-15 cm stinging insects with three segments, each with a pair of legs, and a head with four eyes, two pinchers, a mouth, and antenna. They hatch from eggs in the underground hive curled up and pink. As they age and feast on sicklevine jelly over the winter, they become increasingly purple. By their third year, they are nearly black and their bodies begin to cave in on themselves. Most live to see the beginning of their fifth winter, but not the end of it.

Ecology and Habitats

These insects build subterranean hives in subtropical regions. Insects with common ancestry live in tropical, equatorial regions. Crumple bugs dig their hives near the tap root of an old Sicklevine plant, the entrance covered in crisscrossed vines.

Crumple bugs are eaten by black toads and rock runners when they are above ground to scavenge for materials.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Crumple bugs’ primary sense is touch. Though the crumple bugs have four eyes, they lose their sight around age three. Tremor-sense, the sensing of vibrations, replaces sight as their secondary sense.