Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend.
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@afewbugs
Aphids are born pregnant. They are some of the most rapidly multiplying animals. If lady bugs (their primary predator) were to go extinct, we'd be up to our literal asses in aphids in a few months.Also aphids are one of the only animals to have been domesticated by non-human animals, as far as we know. Leaf-cutter ants raise them for food. They don't eat them, but lick their butts, where they secrete a sugary nectar.
@ShaulaEvans -
Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans That House Pseudoscorpions are aracnids, tiny, venomous, and possibly in their house eating other bugs.
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@sillyCoelophysis
You wish you secreted a sugary nectar out your ass.
@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans -
@sillyCoelophysis
You wish you secreted a sugary nectar out your ass.
@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans@Mux @sillyCoelophysis @ShaulaEvans congratulations you win "best out of context toot of 2026 to date"
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@sillyCoelophysis
You wish you secreted a sugary nectar out your ass.
@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans @Mux um...
Second profile quote!
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Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans
Jumping spiders are some of the cleverest animals on earth. Despite their tiny brains they are capable of tool use and complex problem solving. -
Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans
Honey bees have been observed to engage in play behavior. When left with little plastic balls they enjoy rolling them around from place to place. -
@ShaulaEvans
Honey bees have been observed to engage in play behavior. When left with little plastic balls they enjoy rolling them around from place to place.@ShaulaEvans
Also, they use electrostatic attraction to gather pollen. -
@ShaulaEvans Honey bee larvae grow in closed cells in the hive, and because they don't want to get that dirty by pooping all over it they have no anuses. After metamorphosis into their adult form they fly out of the hive, see the sun and the world for the first time and respond by taking a massive dump
@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans Kind of like meconium?
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Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans@zirk.us bug fact: bees are cool
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@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans @Mux um...
Second profile quote!
@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans @Mux I assume this is to be read with emphasis on the word wish, rather than how one reads a fortune cookie fortune for the first time. Either way works for me, really. Just checking.
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@ShaulaEvans Male bees (and wasps, and ants) are _haploid_ and do not have fathers. They are not just the only animals, but the only _eukaryotes_ to evolve reproduction that differs from the normal alternation of haploid/diploid generations. (Reproduction is usually very strongly evolutionarily conserved, for obvious reasons: if a mutation messes it up somehow, there's no chance for it to get sorted out again in future generations, because there won't _be_ any future generations.) So euphemising sex ed as "the birds and the bees" is unhelpful, as "the bees" are literally _the_ worst available model organism for human reproduction.
@TalesFromTheArmchair @ShaulaEvans
It gets better! Last year it was shown that Iberian ant queens clone another species males. (They do need the males because their own males sperm gives only queens!)
'Almost like science fiction': European ant is the first known animal to clone members of another species
A species of ant found scurrying across southern Europe is the first animal found that clones males of another species.
Live Science (www.livescience.com)
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@ShaulaEvans Probably already knows about this, but it's always good for chuckle:
The Tarantula Hawk is neither a tarantula, nor a hawk. It's a wasp. It's the only wasp who's venom does no tissue damage. It's attacks the nervous system and paralyzes it's prey: the tarantula. The venom's action is so specific that it does not kill the spider, but renders it helpless. The wasp drags the spider to a prepared nest where she lays eggs inside the spiders body. When the the eggs hatch, the larvae use the living spider for food, being careful to avoid vital organs, keeping the spider alive as long as possible.The sting is harmless to humans, although it's known as the most painful sting of any insect. According Matt Simon, of Absurd Creature of the Week: "There are some vivid descriptions of people getting stung by these things,” says invertebrate biologist Ben Hutchins of Texas Parks and Wildlife, “and their recommendation was to just lie down and start screaming, because few if any people could maintain verbal and physical coordination after getting stung by one of these things. You're likely to just run off and hurt yourself. So just lie down and start yelling."
Oh, and these lovely ladies are big!
@ShaulaEvans @SteveJB okay, but it says "the sting is harmless to humans" and then claims it hurts so bad that if you don't immediately lie down and just scream you might hurt yourself trying to cope with the pain. What does harmless mean again?
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Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans Although insects are the most common type of animal, only five species (all varieties of Halobates) live on the open ocean.
They skate on the surface and lay eggs on flotsam where they develop until they hatch. One species (H. micans) can be found in every tropical and subtropical ocean
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Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans @futurebird has a ton of cool ant facts
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@AnAutieAtUni @ShaulaEvans As it happens, I was pointing to a tiny, delicate green-and-white jumping spider (most likely Epeus sp.) on a wooden railing just a few hours ago, and before I finished saying "look at this spider", it had hopped up on my finger, cool as you like. And after several seconds, I tapped lightly on the railing, and it hopped off again. Lovely.
@amenonsen @ShaulaEvans
Aww so sweet! 🥰 -
Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans it’s not “exactly” a bug… but the wonderful bizarre world of the “sea sheep” is something VERY fascinating! They “repurpose” chloroplasts from their food to make food in their tentacles (and it’s a bizarre system too) they also “self decapitate” their heads from their bodies if they need to preserve themselves from disease etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costasiella_kuroshimae
https://www.livescience.com/decapitated-sea-slugs-regrow-entire-body.html -
Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans There are some butterflies that give off pheromones that mimic Queen ant larvae and the ants will find them and keep them in their nests…
Some “pantry bugs” (a beetle larvae) can survive on arsenic and eat through lead.
We have a millipede in the northern states (us) that gives off cyanide gas when disturbed… I remember picking one up (with gloves and keeping it away from my face) but even at arms length my eyes were stinging! -
Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans cicada cocoons are dormant for a prime number of years before the insects emerge. Different broods have seven, eleven, or thirteen year cycles.
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Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans I'm into insects in general but I saw a new thing recently, In the tropical jungles at night, moths drink salty tears from the eyes of sleeping birds in the same way you see butterflies drink the salt from alligators/crocodiles tears.
