Hey, Fedi.
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Thank you for these cool replies -- I'm so glad I asked!
I'm trying to get to bed so I will reply properly tomorrow.
And my friend is okay -- not in distress, just a full plate at the moment. No cause for alarm. I didn't mean to worry you all! xo 2/n
@ShaulaEvans This thread is a treasure trove. Really great.
My "favorite" beetle is the Bombardier Beetle, who can defend himself by creating a chemical reaction which produces hot (>100°C) and toxic gases. For this purpose he has a dedicated reaction chamber at the back of his body where he brings two chemicals into reaction when threatened. All details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_beetle -
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 Forester moths are red first thing in the morning, but turn green as it warms up: https://entomologize.tumblr.com/post/714237607249379328/fun-fact-green-forester-moths-adscita-statices
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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 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. -
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
Hej @lavievagabonde
I guess this is a call for #CoolBugFacts that you could easily help with. A friend of @ShaulaEvans could be cheered up by telling anything about bugs.
The only thing I could contribute that the term "bug" in computer science is based on an actual bug that had been found by Grace Hopper in the circuitry of one of the first computers ever. But you probably knew that. You'll find a picture on "Bug (engineering)" at wikipedia.
Not a very unknown bug, but the one I knew.
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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 Velvet worms of the genus Euperipatoides have complex social behaviour and hunt in packs! They are also seems to have ancestors in the early Cambrian, so pretty ancient Friends!
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@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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@ShaulaEvans rove beetles (Staphylinidae) are not only (one of) the largest family in the animal kingdom, but they use their abdomen to fold their wings under the shortened elytra.
In fact, their wings have distinct folding lines, but it doesn't matter if the left or the the right wing is on top of the other while folding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhU9NhHIYQcI am so glad I already knew this, because @mossesandbees taught me at the #39c3
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I am so glad I already knew this, because @mossesandbees taught me at the #39c3
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@inj4n @ShaulaEvans guess I’m always excited to tell people about the coolest bugs ever! (Although I love them all :3)
Well, as we have started: What actually is a bug? And how to I distinguish it, let's say, from a fly?
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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
Not probably what you're asking for, but:"Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow."
-- Eric S. Raymond (Linus's law)
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@ShaulaEvans the UK giant willow aphid is the UK's biggest aphid, entirely female and reproduces by parthenogenesis and lives on willow trees in the spring and summer but we still have no idea where they go in winter.
@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans that's a fun one.
Most aphids are unusual in reproducing by both parthenogenesis leading to live births *and* sexual reproduction with egg-laying. Eggs is how they typically overwinter. So clearly these giant willow aphids are especially unusual!
