Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you.
-
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 BUG FACT: at least a few times a year I see a cool beetle, go "wow!!! Cool beetle!!!", grab it and let it walk all over my hands and arms for several minutes, and then realize I forgot what blister beetles look like yet again
-
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
Some leaf beetles produce toxins which they can secrete through glands on their back....other leaf beetles feed on poisonous plants, "collect" the toxins and secrete them (sometimes chemically modified).
... and *some* leaf beetle larvae keep the toxins of the plants inside their digestive tract making their feces toxic. Their anus is at a position where they shit on their own back producing a protective "fecal mask". No shit.
-
@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.
@StevenLawsonPhotography @ShaulaEvans Male scorpion flies offer a piece of prey (smaller insects) to the females. The females feed on it while mating takes place.
-
@ShaulaEvans oh please tell your friend about the Australian small ant-blue butterfly!
Fun facts:
1. Critically endangered in Victoria but still breeds in Canberra including near my house in the suburbs.
2. The female is more colourful than the male.
3. Has a symbiotic relationship with coconut ants who build nests in dead wood. The butterfly lays eggs next to ant nests. The ants take the eggs inside and feed the larvae. When the caterpillar is big enough it then makes food for the ants. Then it crawls out of the nest, makes its cocoon, and becomes a butterfly.
4. To protect the butterfly, we must protect the ant. To protect the ant, we must leave dead eucalyptus and acacia wood on the ground instead of tidying up our reserves or building houses on them.@emmadavidson @ShaulaEvans oh wow we also have a blue butterfly symbiotic with ants in the UK! It never occurred to me that this sort of relationship could be happening with species across the world! https://www.dorsetbutterflies.com/species/chalkhill-blue/
-
E exxo@nrw.social shared this topic
