Insects and Spiders and the like

[Stonetribe]

OH OH OH! We are getting her to blush! Let's continue! I mean she made my awesome siggy too! Rosie is totally awesome!

Also, to be on topic, I'd like to request the bombardier beetle! Has to be the possessor of one of the coolest defense mechanisms EVER!

Edit: my request is not of high priority, so feel free to take your time with it

The bombardier beetle is actually one of my favorites! I'll gladly do a highlight on them. Until then, if anyone asks what that certain defense is, be a pal and don't spoil it.

[starswirlthebearded]

The bombardier beetle is actually one of my favorites! I'll gladly do a highlight on them. Until then, if anyone asks what that certain defense is, be a pal and don't spoil it.

But of course, mon ami.

[Stonetribe]

Alright, as requested by CrescentBlaze, the House Centipede.

The has centipede is believed to have been originated in the Mediterranean region, but has become widespread in many parts of the world since. They usually grow to be as long as one or two inches in length, but because of their disproportionately long and spindly legs, they apear more than a tad bigger. Like many arthropods, they prefer cool, damp places, a human basement being ideal. They are remarkably fast when they dart across floors or up walls. Uncommon in other centipedes, House Centipedes and their relatives have proficiant eye sight, but seem to rely more on their antennae for navigation. House Centipedes are active nocturnal predators, and succesful ones at that with their fast speed and good senses. With their long bodys and seemingly longer legs, they can easily over come their prey, which consists almost entirely of insects that are often detrimental to human life such as home damaging termites and silverfish as well as food raiding cockroaches and ants. Rather than using their mandibles to inject venom, House centipedes use their modified foremost legs known as forcipules, making it more akin to a sting than a bite. That being said, House Centipedes seldom sting humans and when they do, their forcipules are often not big enough to penetrate human skin. On the rare occasion that the venom does get through, it will only produce minimal pain and and minor swelling, making them hardly harmful to humans. Unfortunatly, despite them eating so many pests as mentioned above, most homeowners consider the presence of house centipedes as much as a nuisence as the rest of the pesky bugs that they regularly dine on. So next time you see a House Centipede in your home, be sure to not to reach for a newspaper and instead give him a word of thanks and let him go about making your life better.

Hope you found this highlight to your liking Blaze!

[Rosewind]

When I opened this thread, that picture was front and center, so I got a little surprise! Eeeek!

That's good to know about centipedes, though! I'll make it a point to leave them alone if I see them inside.

[SaucySpider]

Well...that was.....gross...but informational. I shall now take better care of any house centipedes that I see. I haven't exactly seen any lately.

[Stonetribe]

Glad to hear that my highlight will be saving the life of a few centipedes.

[CrescentBlaze]

well that was certainly enlightening! I was one of those who thought them more of a pest since they seem to multiply rather rapidly, and all those legs, while mesmerizing also weird me out. Doesnt help that one crawled onto my face while I trying to fall asleep one night and scared the ever-loving crap out of me. Only time ive ever shaken my habds like a little frightened child. Anyways good to know they're actually helping me out, I'll definitely be making o point of leaving them be, maybe I'll even keep one as a pet if I can get passed my mental block. I already buy crickets for my geckos so it wouldnt be a stretch to get to pay a few extra cents for food. thank you so much oh Bug master Stoney much appreciated

[Winter]

I used to love finding them out under random bricks stacked in the backyard! Thanks for the awesome highlight

[Stonetribe]

well that was certainly enlightening! I was one of those who thought them more of a pest since they seem to multiply rather rapidly, and all those legs, while mesmerizing also weird me out. Doesnt help that one crawled onto my face while I trying to fall asleep one night and scared the ever-loving crap out of me. Only time ive ever shaken my habds like a little frightened child. Anyways good to know they're actually helping me out, I'll definitely be making o point of leaving them be, maybe I'll even keep one as a pet if I can get passed my mental block. I already buy crickets for my geckos so it wouldnt be a stretch to get to pay a few extra cents for food. thank you so much oh Bug master Stoney much appreciated

Glad it met your expectations Blaze!

[starswirlthebearded]

I'm never actually killed a centipede. I didn't even know what they hunted primarily but always left them be regardless. Perhaps that is why we so rarely saw ants at my old house

Great highlight as always Stone!

[Angie Cakes]

I like how I've never seen of any of the bugs you guys have talked about so far, even the common ones XD

"you can find these bugs almost ANYWHERE"

everyone: "oh yeah, those things are, like, EVERYWHERE"

Angie: "I've never seen one in my life :l"

but I guess we don't get a lot of bugs here though XP at least not compared to the rest of the world. anything bigger than 1cm is HUGE to us XD

[Stonetribe]

As asked by starswirlthebearded, The Bombadier Beetle.

The Bombardier Beetle can be found on every continent bar Asia and Antartica. Their appearance is simple enough, a reddish orange head and thorax with a black abdomen that may have additional markings. Their rather small, only growing as big as 2 mm to an inch. They prey upon small insects at night and when their not eating, may congregate into small groups.

The Bombardier Beetle's most notorius feature is its incredible method of defense. Now he may not look like much, but when threatened, The Bombardier Beetle is capable of spraying a searing hot, toxic, and sticky chemical from its abdomen in rapid succesion. That's right, if you though acid spiting monsters only existed in sci fi movies, think again, as they are very real. You see, the Bombardier Beetle has two chambers in its abdomen. One containing hydroquinone and the other containing hydrogen peroxide. These two reservoirs are both connected to a mixing chamber through holowed tubes. The walls of the mixing chamber are lined with water and catalytic and peroxidic enzymes. When all these chemicals come together, they resault in a chemical reaction creating noxious substance that reaches tempetures just under that of the boiling point of water. The Bombadier Beetle is then free to spray this chemical warfare in incredibly rapid spurts, being recorded of delivering 400 sprays a second!

Here's a short video showcasing this marval of the insect kingdom in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-wVFLucTks

There you go Swirly, hope you liked it!

[Ancre]

I like the house centipede ! Though I wonder, if you see one in your basement, doesn't it mean you have a pest problem, then ? The centipede population in your basement will never eat all the cockroaches/ants/whatever on their own after all.

I like how I've never seen of any of the bugs you guys have talked about so far, even the common ones XD

"you can find these bugs almost ANYWHERE"

everyone: "oh yeah, those things are, like, EVERYWHERE"

Angie: "I've never seen one in my life :l"

but I guess we don't get a lot of bugs here though XP at least not compared to the rest of the world. anything bigger than 1cm is HUGE to us XD

You also live in Canada. I wonder if it's really true (maybe Stonetribe might tell us) but in my experience, the colder and/or dryer the climate, the less bugs you'll find, and the smaller they are.

I've never seen big bugs in France. But in Los Angeles I have seen a few giant cockroaches (giant for me at least) and here in Georgia I'm in the countryside, so I can see magnificent moths from time to time (along with big spiders and stuff - including a strange, freaky, huge bronze fly with big green eyes).

[Angie Cakes]

You also live in Canada. I wonder if it's really true (maybe Stonetribe might tell us) but in my experience, the colder and/or dryer the climate, the less bugs you'll find, and the smaller they are.

I've never seen big bugs in France. But in Los Angeles I have seen a few giant cockroaches (giant for me at least) and here in Georgia I'm in the countryside, so I can see magnificent moths from time to time (along with big spiders and stuff - including a strange, freaky, huge bronze fly with big green eyes).

yeah, that's mostly what I was getting at XD the biggest thing you can find here is a butterfly, and they only stick around a month or two. as soon as I head south of the boarder, all the bugs double in size. when I was in Orlando, most of the bugs were at least three or four times the size.

[Rosewind]

Wow, those beetles are neat! I had no idea they could produce boiling hot acid like that!

Requesting Honeypot Ants for a spotlight!

[Cainiam]

In Starship Troopers they had those things like Bombardier Beetles that shot down starships! Cool Spotlight. I had heard of them before, but never seen a clip of them in action.

[DrMaxwell]

I would like to request a spotlight on the cellar spider, of which there are many in my house.

[Stonetribe]

Wow, those beetles are neat! I had no idea they could produce boiling hot acid like that!

Requesting Honeypot Ants for a spotlight!

Sure thing Rose.

I would like to request a spotlight on the cellar spider, of which there are many in my house.

Rosewind was first in line with a honeypot ant highlight, but after that I'd be glad to do cellar spiders. Untill I finish those two, I'd like it if you guys could hold off on requests ok?

[Rosewind]

You can do cellar spiders first -- I've had more spotlights than Max. (I'm curious about them too, since they like my home as well. Saucy has eaten several!)

[Stonetribe]

As requested by Rosey, I welcome the Honeypot Ant to my threads list of bug stars!

Honeypot Ants are found in dry areas worldwide, especially in Australian Deserts. Honeypot Ants is actually a term used for a number of unrelated species that share a certain special caste. In case your not familier, the different ants in a colony are broken up into different groups or castes acording to their jobs. The most common and reckonized would be queens, workers, and soldiers, among other things. Ants classified as the Honeypot variaty include a caste known as repletes. You see, its almost manditory for all eurosocial insect colonys to forage for food and store it for later use. They however, usually just bring the food into predetermined food storage chambers. Honeypot ants on the other hand, don't store food in reserves, they are the reserves. That's right, these repletes wait for workers to bring food back to the colony for them to eat. Once they eat more than they need (which isn't much to begin with) they store the rest into their abdomens. It's not long till their abdomens swell up to the size of grapes and the're unable to move by themselves. Then, in times of drought or hardship, the other works can make the Honeypots regurgitate their stored nutriants by strokeing their antennae to share with the rest of the colony. This method of efficiant food storage does not go unnoticed by other species. When food is scarce, other colonys of ant may attempt to raid Honeypot dwellings in hopes of stealing some of these living food dispensers. It doesn't stop there though. In some rural areas where Honeypots can be found, even humans are known to snack on these little morsals and consider them a delicacy.

[Stonetribe]

You can do cellar spiders first -- I've had more spotlights than Max. (I'm curious about them too, since they like my home as well. Saucy has eaten several!)

Whoops. I already started on the Honeypot highlight while to ninja'd me. Oh well, no biggie.

[SaucySpider]

Wow! That's an interesting ant! Thank you ever so much Bugmaster Stone. That was very interesting.

[Rosewind]

Yay! Great spotlight! I totally would not hesitate to sample a honeypot ant. I wonder what they taste like!?

[SaucySpider]

Rosie I find it appropriate to deem you the most interesting mare in the world if you do that. They do look tasty though...

[Stonetribe]

Yay! Great spotlight! I totally would not hesitate to sample a honeypot ant. I wonder what they taste like!?

It would depend on what they were fed prior. I actually found this little gem during my research on Honeypots.

"Dr. Bill Brown used to tell a story about how he and some other scientists were digging up a nest of honey pot ants. Having heard that people in the southwestern United States and Australia eat the swollen repletes filled with honeydew, the other scientists decided to taste a few. Dr. Brown declined however, because he had noticed nearby foraging ants were gathering fluids from dead earthworms."