Sensitive White Boys

Spruce Campbell... as a spruce budworm.....

This is based off a ramble I made about Spruce being a spruce budworm. Even though I reblogged underneath that post with the artwork above, I wanted to make a seperate post so that people don't have to go through a literal wall of text of me being an undiagnosed ND over my idea-

Although... it would be nice if you... uuuuuh- could check it out for yourself cuz I think I really cooked in that post.

Leaf blotch miner moth, Caloptilia protiella, Gracillariidae

Photographed at Airlie Beach, Australia by Steve & Alison1

Shared with permission; do not remove credit or re-post!

Chinese Shield Mantis (Asiadodis yunnanensis), family Mantidae, from Yunnan, China, above a Tropical Shield Mantis (Choeradodis rhomboidea), family Mantidae, from Perú

photograph via: mantisparadise

Researchers have discovered a new species of rove beetle that grows a termite puppet on its back to fool real termites into feeding it. The replica is so precise, it even mirrors the termites’ distinct body segments and has three pairs of pseudo-appendages that resemble antennae and legs.

The new beetle species (Austrospirachtha carrijoi)—found beneath the soil in Australia’s Northern Territory—emulates a termite by enlarging its abdomen, a phenomenon known as physogastry. Evolution has reshaped this body part into a highly realistic replica of a termite (as seen above), head and all, which rides on top of the rest of the beetle’s body. The beetle’s real, much smaller head peeks out from beneath its termite disguise, the authors report this month in the journal Zootaxa. The termite “puppet” may help the beetle evade detection—though termites are blind, they sense one another through touch.

Because A. carrijoi’s mouth parts are tiny, the authors think it begs food from its hosts rather than eating eggs or larvae. Worker termites feed other castes digested food in a process called trophallaxis. This adaptation has obvious advantages to the beetle. Once it is inside the nest, it can relax and spend the rest of its life living off of termite room service.

Words by Richard Pallady

Slug caterpillar moth, Perola sericea, Limacodidae

Found in Central and South America

Photos 1-2 by memochipan and 3-5 (with pseudoscorpions catching a ride) by birdernaturalist

need to bless this on this website because it gave me a headache laughing: the saga of pepper pete and his pretzels