Hey, Fedi.
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@ShaulaEvans woodlice/pillbugs are crustaceans.
They are more closely related to lobsters than anything else you might find in the garden. This is where they get their segmented exoskeleton and 14 legs.@jetlagjen @ShaulaEvans Do y'all have lawn crayfish in the UK? https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/crawfish-in-your-lawn-hope-youre-ok-with-that/
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Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you. 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
*Reads
*Gets excited
*Get to the insects hashtag-Oh 🥲
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Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you. 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 accept my photos of the bedazzling Golden Tortoise Beetle. Revel in the splendour
#photo #photography #insects #wildlife
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@annehargreaves @jetlagjen @ShaulaEvans there are so many names for pill bugs in the English-speaking world (cannot speak to other languages on this)
Monkeypeas was the one where I grew up (SE England)
They also come in orangey/ginger variants!
@noodlemaz @annehargreaves @jetlagjen @ShaulaEvans link to the map of names here so I don't have to do the alt text again: https://social.coop/@afewbugs/115179785360374734
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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. I have a favour to ask you. 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 date2
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@sillyCoelophysis
You wish you secreted a sugary nectar out your ass.
@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans -
Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you. 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. I have a favour to ask you. 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
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Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you. 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!
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Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you. 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
Horsehair worms turn crickets into zombies that drown themselves so the parasitic worm can complete its aquatic stages of its life cycle. In modern folklore, the horsehair worms are the capitalists and the crickets are the citizens. -
@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. I have a favour to ask you. 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. I have a favour to ask you. 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
