Hey, Fedi. Help me help a friend.
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Oh man I am an Insect Professional.
I don't know their level, though. Do they know that insects don't have lungs? They don't use their "blood" for gas exchange (which is why it's not technically referred to as blood but we say "hemolymph"), but instead the tracheal system completely penetrates the body, bringing oxygen directly to all the tissues with a system of microscopic air-filled tubes. The main branches are a couple cells around, the finer branches just one cell around …
… and then the very tips are formed from little membrane sacs inside the cells (the technical term is "vesicles") that line up and fuse together to make incredibly fine tubes that fill with air. Oxygen-starved tissues send out a signal that nearby tracheal cells respond to by growing more of these tube-tips in their direction.
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… and then the very tips are formed from little membrane sacs inside the cells (the technical term is "vesicles") that line up and fuse together to make incredibly fine tubes that fill with air. Oxygen-starved tissues send out a signal that nearby tracheal cells respond to by growing more of these tube-tips in their direction.
More? I got lots of these.
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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 requesting the help of ant aficionado @futurebird
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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
The Palo Verde beetle aka Dragon Lady emerges from underground just before the monsoon rains begin. An awesome and frightening sight, it is rather harmless despite its size. Once it emerges, it eats nothing and drinks nothing, but only searches for love. Having mated, it lays eggs beneath trees and bushes and while the grubs feed on the roots, the beetles become a tasty treat for scavengers. -
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 how about these:
- domestic honeybees have specialized roles at the hive entrance, easiest to see with a slow motion camera. The entrance operates a bit like an airport. There's a bee who frisks incoming bees to confirm that they belong, a bee who sniffs incoming bees like one of those drug dogs to verify pheramone signature, an air traffic control bee who watches inbound and outbound bees, a security bee who leaps into action upon signal from the other bees to kick out intruders and imposters.
- bees have also been shown in studies to possibly be able to: do math, recognize faces, experience ptsd, and play
- the spongy moth was introduced to the US by a guy who was hoping to corner a new silk market, but he lost control of the caterpillars and they became an extremely invasive species there, oops
- not bugs obviously but they might still find this cool: spiders have been found to communicate with each other via drumming
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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 don't have any cool facts but will a picture of some baby praying mantises do?
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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 by bug facts are you being taxonomically strict or is any invertebrate fact ok?
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@ShaulaEvans not a specific bug fact but i love that nz can vote on bug of the year (closes 16 feb this year). https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2026/
@ShaulaEvans oh wait! I do have a fav fact. Cicadas are associated with the atua Rehua. His particular sphere of interest is kindness, enjoyment, entertainment. He is the star Antares, and he has two wives who are the stars Alniyat and Tau Scorpii. In the sky they are at the points of a v- shape. Antares rises in the morning during summer. Cicadas appear in summer. One of the cicadas has three dots on its head in the shape of Rehua and his wives.
Okay, so perhaps more indigenous knowledge than a bug fact.
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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 This might be a well known fact among bug people, given the popularity of jumping spiders, but they seem to get REM sleep, which would mean that they dream. Little cute jumping spider dreams.
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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
Follow @markmccaughrean , besides his outstanding career (all over the universe, literally
), I've learnt a lot about many different bugs through him.
He tells us so many details, sharing at the same time his awesome bugs photos.
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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 The Scorpion fly has a tail that looks exactly like the stinger of a scorpion but there is no sting in this tail - only two claspers for use when mating.
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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 Maybe ZeFrank on youtube (fun facts about ...)
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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 Follow @futurebird (if you don´t already do that)
(do ants count as bugs?) -
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 have a bunch of "true bee facts" in my game Hive Time's in-game Beepedia that cite real-world research.
I think my favourite ones are stuff like Loukola, et al observing possible cooperative behaviour in Bumblebees https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.0055
Or Howard, et al's research looking at numeracy in honeybees
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aav0961 -
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 this is a task for @futurebird
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@ShaulaEvans how about these:
- domestic honeybees have specialized roles at the hive entrance, easiest to see with a slow motion camera. The entrance operates a bit like an airport. There's a bee who frisks incoming bees to confirm that they belong, a bee who sniffs incoming bees like one of those drug dogs to verify pheramone signature, an air traffic control bee who watches inbound and outbound bees, a security bee who leaps into action upon signal from the other bees to kick out intruders and imposters.
- bees have also been shown in studies to possibly be able to: do math, recognize faces, experience ptsd, and play
- the spongy moth was introduced to the US by a guy who was hoping to corner a new silk market, but he lost control of the caterpillars and they became an extremely invasive species there, oops
- not bugs obviously but they might still find this cool: spiders have been found to communicate with each other via drumming
spiders have been found to communicate with each other via drumming
Huntsman spiders (the famously large ones in Australia) do this by holding on with their front two pairs of legs and waving their body to flail the rear two pairs against the ground - or whatever surface they're on. IIUC, this is done as a mating call.
This produces a disconcerting sensation when they're doing that on the inside surface of the plastic bowl you're carrying them outside in.
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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 in New Zealand where we have 27 species of native bees and 1 indigenous bee species, as well as the regular imported variety. I love occasionally finding solitary burrowing bees either coming out of holes in the ground or leaving behind old molts, a bit like snake skins.
More details
https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2021/02/01/new-zealands-native-bees-quiet-lives-of-desperation/ -
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 not directly a bug fact, but there's a "Bug Lake" in New York and I drew Bugman Mike* in it... https://wplace.live/?lat=43.772553771896&lng=-74.73049837822268&zoom=13.784198648491882
*by @bestiaexmachina
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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
Earwigs use their pincers for a variety of actions, among those: unfolding their wings. Yes, earwigs can fly.
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@ShaulaEvans Stalk-eyed flies extend their eye stalks by pushing air bubbles inside their heads during molt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph_yMnYB3Co
@forse Amazing!
