Insects and Arachnids and the like

Hello all. If you've seen my introduction post, then you may have saw that I have a huge interest in all things arthropods. I sort of like to make this thread on forums I hope to be actively visiting to indulge this interest of mine. What happens is that I do periodic factual "highlights" where I'll talk about a certain bug, listing off various information about them like how big they are or where they can be found to more interesting facts that set them apart from other buggies or any other animal for that matter.

The point of this thread is to have fun learning interesting things about these creatures, so if this is a touchy subject for you (It is for a lot of people as I'm sure most of us are aware of) proceed with caution and please refrain from talking about how you hate all things that have more that 4 legs. I will say though that if you are iffy with this kind of thing but are willing to try and read further, there's a very good chance that you may end up more comfortable with the topic as a whole. Education is one of the best ways to overcome fears.

One other think I should mention is to please keep videos of forced bug fighting off here as well, thanks. I'll write the first highlight sometime tonight, so feel free to check back later if your interested. Thank you, and a have a nice day!

 

Conveniently, i have caught an insect a while ago (actually i ran away from it as it chased me, until i got a tarp and threw it on it) that was waiting for me in ambush behind the door to my bedroom, and started buzzing so hard i actually thought someone was driving their bike outside.

 

I will admit that I'm not very good at identifying bugs from pictures. I love reading and learning about them but I don't think I'll ever be able to spot them very well. For our first highlight, I didn't want to start with anything that was really exotic. This could be a good example how even common place bugs can still have very interesting things to learned about them. Let's take a look at the Argentine Ant.



The biggest thing that sets Argentine ants apart from other ant species is there incredibly nonviolent behavior towards other Argentine ants of a different colony. You see, if any other species of ant came across another ant of a different colony, regardless its species, they would most likely fight to the death if one thought the other would be a threat to her colony. Argentine ants however, can peacefully coexist and mingle with Argentines from a different colony, and will often communicate with one another to actually combine both of their colonies into one. Because of this they are extremely successful as a species. In fact, it was discovered that 3 super colonies of Argentine Ants from America, Europe, and Japan were genetically related! Speaking of which, Argentine ants can be found in almost any part of the world. This is because they often stow away on boats or other large vehicles, which is the main reason why they have become so wide spread in the first place. Argentine ants are small, roughly 3 millimeters. But what they lack in size, they make up for with strength in numbers and teamwork, much more so than other ants. Another trait that makes them so successful is that they don't have just one queen. Argentine nests can usually have up to a dozen queens or more. A queen can be recognized by having a notable dot their back.

It really says something about a species's success and efficiency when they start to drive other native species of ants into being endangered sheerly by out-competing them for resources alone. This in turn affects other parts of the ecosystem. Their success as a species also makes them difficult to deal with as pests in the home and agriculture. These are not good things, surely, though I feel that it really distracts people from what makes them so fascinating and instead only allows them to be seen in a negative light. What a shame.

So that's my first highlight. Please feel free to let me know what you thought of it as I'd very much like to hear your thoughts!

 

that's actually really interesting id love to hear more from you
but I remember once at an allotment was doing stuff at finding a white and black spider which was pretty cool and all except it had antennas which is something I thought didn't exist in spiders full stop and ive yet to ever see an spider of that kind again
your thoughts on that? is that actually super common and im just crazy or something far more interesting?.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it. As far as I know, no spider has actual antennae. Perhaps you mistook the spider's pedipalp for an antenna? The pedipalps are a pair of appendages located near the mouth parts made for helping to manipulate objects, such as holding food. It's not uncommon for people to mistake them for a 5th pair of legs or such.

 

nope these were antennas coming out of (his/hers) forehead and I am very confident although time does weird shit to you memory im very confident they weren't pedipalp I would have noticed I thought it was bizarre at the time and im glad to see I wasn't wrong in thinking that I even went on to googs and did research and found ditto I wish id had the sense to take a photo of it at the time would have come in handy now.

 

Could it have been a sun spider? I'm not sure if they're actually arachnids, but they do look like spiders.

 

nope absolutely not im afraid
also I wonder what happened to the ts I was looking for ward to hearing more from him and then he just disappeared.

 

Don't worry I'm still here, just a little busy playing my games is all. I don't think I can solve the antennae spider mystery though. Perhaps it wasn't actually a spider at all? Moving on, let's take a loot at another insect. This is the Ironclad Beetle.





Ironclad beetles are mostly found in the western parts of the United States. They range in size from about half to a full inch in length. They usually posses a coloration meant to camouflage them among tree trunks or fool potential predators into thinking they're merely bird feces. Ironclad Beetles aren't very active insects, moving at a slow steady pace from place to place, preferably at night. Further more, Ironclads don't even have wings and their elytra (That's the outer shell-like front wings that open up wing when a beetle flys) are actually fused together. Ironclad Beetles feed mostly on lichens and fungus and are not dangerous in the slightest. They're actually pretty docile and are fond of playing dead when bothered.

They certainly aren't action movie hero stars, but they're not called Ironclad Beetles for nothing. These little guys have the strongest exoskeleton of all arthropods. Remember, that's not just insects and spiders, that includes crustaceans as well. Crabs and Lobsters? Both of these are animals people like to eat and have developed tools for cracking their hard claws at the dinner table. Ironclad Beetles? Tougher than both of them.

It'd probably be hard for most people to imagine a beetle being tougher than crabs and lobsters, right? Well don't get up because we're not done yet. That comparison doesn't come close to giving people an idea of exactly how durable these little guys are. That would be this next comparison, Ironclad Beetles can be stepped on by actual people and walk away just fine. No I'm serious it will most likely do jack zilch. It gets even more absurd though. They have even been observed to be ran over by god damn cars and still survive. It sounds like a bunch of BS I know, but a little bit of research from everyone's best friend google will tell you otherwise. Now let's end this on a funny note. Insect collectors and bug museums usually push a pin through specimens so that they can display them. That won't fly with Ironclads though. They need to use a drill, literal power tools, in order create a hole for a pin to slide through.

 

I came to the forums check out info the the release and saw this thread and was like hot damn I'm gonna sign up. Yeah those ants are awesome with how they interact with each other. It's truly amazing, but if you like this sort of stuff and other things. I'll post a link for ya if that's cool. https://www.flickr.com/photos/22560347@N05/

I have spiders *got a video of two common house spiders mating right under her stomach and he's touching his dabbers right against her almost as close as I can get*, ants *got some ants interacting with some aphids tonight. Got to put them on my pc to see how they turned out*, snowflakes, sunset shots I shoot with a 100mm macro and a 1.4 tele lens and ext tubes if you wonder how I get that close. I also have, which is my fav shot and it's kind of my calling card, a shot of a bull frog eating a bird that was just getting it's colours.... so basically a full size robin. I hope you enjoy I got almost 3800 photos on there and I got waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more that have never seen the light of day.

 

This thread really bugs me. All jokes aside mantidae 4 lyfe.

 

Funny that you mention mantidae... look what I found today!

 

That's some pretty cool footage Zimbaly, I don't know a ton about photography but I think insects and such have always been a pretty cool thing to take pictures of. And since we're talking about mantidae, here's a highlight on Praying Mantises in general that I wrote a while ago.



The Praying Mantis can be found world wide in any temperate or tropical habitat par arctic regions of course. Its name is derived from the stance of its two forearms, which appear as if it were in prayer. It is sometimes mistakenly spelled Preying with an "e" because they are efficient hunters. Praying Mantis's sport large compound eyes and with it, superior vision, being able to see up to 50 feet away. That's not much too us but most insects are lucky if they can see a mere five or ten feet from where they stand. The only problem with the Mantis's eyes are that since they are so close together, they may offer problems with depth perception. To compensate for this, the Mantis will sway from side to side in order to measure whatever it's looking at, to the background behind it. If you look at a Mantis closely and see it rocking back and forth, be ready, as it may about to jump on your face. Praying Mantises also own a pair of wings that function not unlike many other insects. Though it varies from species to species, most Mantis's ability of flight are mediocre at best due to their unusual body shape.

However, the Praying Mantis's most distinguishing and eye catching feature are their elongated spine ridden forearms. Praying Mantises are strictly carnivorous predators as mentioned above and unnervingly deadly ones at that. First off, almost all species of Mantis boost excellent camouflage suited to their environment. Mantises that live close to the ground are usually a brownish color to blend in with the dirt and fallen leaves. Mantises that live on plants or trees will have an expected shade of green. A tree dwelling Mantis may even further this disguise by swaying back and forth in time as to mimic the leaves around it blowing in the wind. (What do ya know, I suppose they have two reasons for swaying back in forth) Their are even Mantises that are adapted to hunting on flowers that can sport elegant spots or bright shades of a color, like this.



These various forms of camouflage are a great aid in their hunting in addition to staying undetected by other, bigger predators. It's only a matter of time until a suitable meal comes in range of the mantis. Once the time to strike arises, they lash out to grab its prey with their two forearms with lightning speed (1/20th the speed of a blink of an eye to be exact) each of which has hundreds of spines attached to impale the victim. Once in the grip of a Praying Mantis, there is little one can do but hope that by some miracle the Mantis may lose its grip. Here's a video showing exactly just how strong a mantis's hold can be.



As you might of seen from the video, Mantises are patient when hunting, but not when eating as they began to chow down as soon as they hold their catch in their forearms, almost always as the prey is still alive. Their table manors aren't all bad though, as they will carefully groom each forearm when finished, most likely to keep chunks of food from impairing their grip on its next victim. When snack time is done, they retreat back to the same spot or find another and begin the process all over again.

The Praying Mantises hunting methods are so effective, that an entire form of martial arts has been invented and stylized after them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Praying_Mantis

Now I'm sure all of you have heard the Mantises methods of "coupling" and the certain consequences it has for the male mantis. To my knowledge, the female may attempt to devour the male if she hasn't recently eaten. However this is a tad exaggerated at times and more often than not, the male will walk away head and all. In fact Mantis courtship has sometimes been observed to involve a number of dances and rituals that would rival other animals known for their romantic mating methods.

Even through their fierce predatory skills and sometimes fatal relationships, Praying Mantises make surprisingly superb pets! Pet stores don't usually stock them so most Mantis pets are found outside. They may shy away from their owners or try to fake you out with their forearms as they (and almost every other animal with any sort of survival instinct) know that big things eat little things. They get used to humans as well as living in captivity fast though. After awhile, they are able to recognize their owners face. They can even be trained to eat pieces of meat off of tweezers. They don't need much space, enough to be able to move about and hunt. I find that plastic containers like this are perfect.



Just drill multiple air holes in the lid and fill the container about 1/8th of the way with dirt. It's also highly recommended that you put some foliage in their to help the Mantis feel a bit more at home and not as vulnerable as he would in just an empty tank. Sadly the only drawback for the Mantis as a pet is their relatively short life spans being about three months, so if you do find yourself owning a Mantis, try not to get too attached to him or her.

Now this was written a while ago and as I was recycling it to post here I didn't check a ton for clunkyness so forgive me if the writing is a little off at times. I hope you enjoy it all the same though.

 

Maybe your next featured insect could be one which makes it home in wood?

 

I think you had a derp you've posted the same thing twice

 

How even did i do that

 

POSTING SO THAT I CAN PLAY IN THIS THREAD TOMORROW

 

I'm a very strange person. I like to pick up snails, insects, spiders and any other small animals I can find and let me wander around on my hand before I put them back where I found them.

 

same here although Im usually doing that when I find snails on the pavement and im moving them to some lovely grass.

 

www.whatsthatbug.com this is my favourite bug-related website and i browse it obsessively and also there's a facebook page called Spidder that you should all follow because it's adorable and once my friend gave me a moult from my favourite of her tarantulas and it's my prized possession. also once in egypt i owned a mantis and i had to built it a terrarium and catch it bugs to eat and that little bastard was an mvp. it laid an egg thingie and some of them hatched 8D
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ALSO there's a game called flutter for phones where you collect real world butterflies and it's gr8 and there's another one by the same company called starlight where you collect real world moths and yall should get them both