The world under my feet

Once my mind was fixed on learning more about this bug, I was able to spot them everywhere. I found them in groups, big ones, tiny ones, scavenging and carrying food, mating and moving together in tandem formation, clinging on to a leaf.  Unfortunately I found many dead ones too -accidentally crushed by passerby.   A small video clip of red bugs in tandem formation moving together. Another video of the bug clinging on to a leaf bottom as the plant sways in the breeze.

These bright red bug with a distinct black pattern in the back are hard to miss in Chennai.  I first remember spotting them in the grounds of my children’s school campus. There is something very unique about this bug that catches our attention - I could see that two bugs were kind of stuck together and moving in pairs!! On closer look, I could distinctly see that the rear ends of the two bugs are attached. They were mating!! This is the classic tandem formation during their mating period (which apparently lasts from 12 hours to 7 days.) My kids used to fondly call them “Love bugs” and used to be super fascinated by them when they were young. These bugs were found in large numbers in the path leading in to the school campus. We had to literally watch every step in order avoid stepping on them by mistake. But recently I started noticing a lot of them inside the apartment complex where I live. What caught my attention the other day was the resilience of this particular bug trying to c...