#EVOLUTION
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artifacts-and-arthropods · 4 months ago
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Yellowjacket-Mimicking Moth: this is just a harmless moth that mimics the appearance and behavior of a yellowjacket/wasp; its disguise is so convincing that it can even fool actual wasps
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This species (Myrmecopsis polistes) may be one of the most impressive wasp-mimics in the world. The moth's narrow waist, teardrop-shaped abdomen, black-and-yellow patterning, transparent wings, smooth appearance, and folded wing position all mimic the features of a wasp. Unlike an actual wasp, however, it does not have any mandibles or biting/chewing mouthparts, because it's equipped with a proboscis instead, and it has noticeably "feathery" antennae.
There are many moths that use hymenopteran mimicry (the mimicry of bees, wasps, yellowjackets, hornets, and/or bumblebees, in particular) as a way to deter predators, and those mimics are often incredibly convincing. Myrmecopsis polistes is one of the best examples, but there are several other moths that have also mastered this form of mimicry.
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Above: Pseudosphex laticincta, another moth species that mimics a yellowjacket
These disguises often involve more than just a physical resemblance; in many cases, the moths also engage in behavioral and/or acoustic mimicry, meaning that they can mimic the sounds and behaviors of their hymenopteran models. In some cases, the resemblance is so convincing that it even fools actual wasps/yellowjackets.
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Above: Pseudosphex laticincta
Such a detailed and intricate disguise is unusual even among mimics. Researchers believe that it developed partly as a way for the moth to trick actual wasps into treating it like one of their own. Wasps frequently prey upon moths, but they are innately non-aggressive toward their own fellow nest-mates, which are identified by sight -- so if the moth can convincingly impersonate one of those nest-mates, then it can avoid being eaten by wasps.
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Above: Pseudosphex laticincta
I gave an overview of the moths that mimic bees, wasps, yellowjackets, hornets, and bumblebees in one of my previous posts, but I felt that these two species (Myrmecopsis polistes and Pseudosphex laticincta) deserved to have their own dedicated post, because these are two of the most convincing mimics I have ever seen.
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Above: Pseudosphex sp.
I think that moths in general are probably the most talented mimics in the natural world. They have so many intricate, unique disguises, and they often combine visual, behavioral, and acoustic forms of mimicry in order to produce an uncanny resemblance.
Several of these incredible mimics have already been featured on my blog: moths that mimic jumping spiders, a moth that mimics a broken birch twig, a moth caterpillar that can mimic a snake, a moth that disguises itself as two flies feeding on a pile of bird droppings, a moth that mimics a dried-up leaf, a moth that can mimic a cuckoo bee, and a moth that mimics the leaves of a poplar tree.
Moths are just so much more interesting than people generally realize.
Sources & More Info:
Journal of Ecology and Evolution: A Hypothesis to Explain Accuracy of Wasp Resemblances
Entomology Today: In Enemy Garb: A New Explanation for Wasp Mimicry
iNaturalist: Myrmecopsis polistes and Pseudosphex laticincta
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London: A Few Observations on Mimicry
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highlyentropicmind · 11 hours ago
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These are the Rough-skinned newt and the Common garter snake and here is their wikipedia page
Random headcanon: the reason that Peach and Bowser don’t seem to get a lot of respect in some Super Mario games is because the Mushroom Kingdom is kind of a rural backwater and isn’t terribly important or influential politically, so people tend to regard Bowser as a C-list villain for being so hung up on such an insignificant conquest. Nobody really expects Bowser to be a serious threat – that would be like expecting a guy whose main claim to fame is repeatedly failing to conquer Wyoming to be a serious threat – so they get taken by surprise every single time.
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midnightmurdershow · 2 days ago
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Évolution (2015) Directed by Lucile Hadzihalilovic
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kingoftieland · 3 days ago
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Why are the X-Men HATED and FEARED when the Avengers aren’t? 🤔
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o-craven-canto · 6 days ago
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Well, it's not that birds appeared after the extinction of dinosaurs. Well before then, when dinosaurs were still very much around, a particular lineage of light-bodied, feathered dinosaurs took flight and gave rise to the first birds (sequences of fossils neatly show bird traits appear little by little). For many millions of years, birds and non-bird dinosaurs lived side by side, and changed adapting to their environments at the same time.
Birds conserved the traits of dinosaurs (warm blood, four-chambered heart, upright legs, air sacs in their bones, wishbones, feathers) which make them so similar to e.g. Velociraptor, and acquired new traits of their own (short tail, keeled breastbone, toothless beak). Eventually the asteroid came, dinosaurs went extinct, and the only exception was the lineage of birds, or perhaps a few lineages of birds. Large organisms fare worse during times of crisis, so it's not surprising that small birds survived where giant dinosaurs didn't (the same is true for mammals).
Similar is the situation for sharks: many kinds of sharks have been around since far before the time of dinosaurs. Some, when conditions allow it, grow to massive size; but when those conditions change, or disaster strikes, the giant forms are the first to fall, and their smaller kin survives. It's never quite the same, but they can be very similar indeed. And so it is for many other groups.
Even humans are no exception: the first species we could call human, which were quite smaller than us, diversified into a variety of forms (the bulky herbivore Paranthropus, the tall and lanky Homo ergaster, the 'island dwarf' Homo floresiensis). None of them developed completely new organs, but they all tweaked what they had to adapt to various conditions, and as it happened, only one species, ours, survived to the present. Of course if you go further up human ancestry then you have to see greater changes, and each came about in different circumstances, but every time it's just a matter of modifying what already exists -- nothing appears out of scratch.
(As for trilobites and cockroaches, their similarities are quite shallow. Both are arthropods, so both have the general traits of that group -- segmented shelled body, hinged legs, compound eyes, etc. -- but apart from that, they only resemble each other in overall shape. At any rate, the first insects, including the ancestors of cockroaches, already existed before trilobites went extinct, as well.)
Now, it is possible for very similar forms to appear over and over: the standard examples are the Australian "copies" of mammals elsewhere (marsupial 'mice', marsupial 'moles', marsupial 'flying squirrels', etc.) and open-sea marine hunters (shark, ichthyosaur, tuna, dolphin). This occurs when organisms with a more-or-less similar body structure adapt independently to the same lifestyle, in a similar environment. It's simply a matter of similar conditions leading to similar results, but it's never quite full repetition -- a dolphin is still not a shark. (I've written some more on the matter of convergent evolution here).
Favorite bird genre has got to be 'that's literally just a dinosaur'
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Groove-Billed Ani
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Hoatzin
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Pheasant Coucal
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7itch0zero · 3 days ago
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save-the-choppers · 18 hours ago
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olive-ridley · 10 months ago
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All roads lead to Rome, all lineages evolve to CRAB 🦀🦀
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samimarkart · 10 months ago
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Grounded Flight
2024, decolorant screenprint on quilted cotton
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theartofmadeline · 1 year ago
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i promise i wouldn't blame you
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artifacts-and-arthropods · 6 months ago
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Giant Emerald Pill-Millipede: when these enormous millipedes are all rolled up, their bodies can be as big as a baseball, a tennis ball, or a small orange
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This species (Zoosphaerium neptunus) is commonly known as a giant emerald pill-millipede. The females can measure up to 90mm long (roughly 3.5 inches), making this the largest species of pill-millipede in the world.
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There is a significant degree of sexual dimorphism in this species, with the males measuring only about 45mm (1.8 inches) long -- roughly half the size of the females.
Giant emerald pill-millipedes are found only in Madagascar, which is home to several endemic species of giant pill-millipedes (order Sphaerotheriida). The Malagasy name for giant pill-millipedes is "Tainkintana," which means "shooting-star."
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Pill-millipedes use conglobation as a defense mechanism, which means that they can curl their bodies up into a spherical shape so that their dorsal plates form a protective shield around the softer, more vulnerable parts of their bodies, just like an actual pill-bug or a "roly-poly."
When they roll themselves up completely, they look almost like gently polished chunks of malachite, emerald, or jade.
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Giant emerald pill-millipedes will sometimes form large swarms that travel together as a group. This is the only species of giant pill-millipede that engages in any sort of swarming behavior, and the purpose of that behavior is still unclear. The swarms often contain thousands of individuals, with almost all of them moving in the same direction, even when there is no physical contact that might allow the millipedes to "herd" one another along.
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Their swarming behavior also has some very peculiar features, as this article explains:
During swarming, Zoosphaerium neptunus individuals pay little attention to their surroundings; many specimens were observed walking straight into and drowning in small puddles. Some swarms even display ‘cliché lemming behaviour:' in Marojejy, a large part of a swarm walked into and drowned in a small river.
No single specimen was observed walking ‘against the current,' all specimens were moving in the same direction (southeast), even when not in contact with one another.
Of 273 randomly collected individuals, 105 were males, while 168 were females. The males were 8.3 - 14.1 mm wide (average width 10.4 mm). According to the inner horns of the posterior telopods, all males were sexually mature. The females were 9.95 - 15.4 mm wide (average width 11.4 mm). All females displayed non sclerotized vulvae and were sexually immature.
Some researchers argue that the swarming serves as a defense mechanism, providing a layer of protection (or at least some cryptic cover) against local predators, but the swarming behavior is still poorly understood.
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Important Note: I just want to remind everyone that these animals belong in their own natural habitat -- they should not be trapped, bought/sold, traded, shipped, collected, or kept as pets. This particular species does not survive well in captivity, either, and the demand for these "exotic" invertebrates is putting the wild populations in jeopardy. The previous article discusses those issues, too:
Another possible threat for Z. neptunus swarms are collections for the pet trade. There exists a large demand in Japan, Europe and North America for 'green -eyed monsters’ as pets. Giant pill -millipedes from Madagascar unfortunately have a very short survival time in terraria. The species is specialized on low-energy food (dead leaves), and adapted to the cool climates (<20°C) of the highlands. Specimens in terraria often starve to death quickly.
So I know that they're adorable and really, really fascinating...but let's just let them be their chunky, adorable little selves out in the wild where they belong.
Sources & More Info:
European Journal of Taxonomy: Seven New Giant Pill-Millipede Species and New Records of the Genus Zoosphaerium from Madagascar
Madagascar Conservation & Development: Swarming Behavior in the World's Largest Giant Pill-Millipede, Z. neptunus, and its Implication for Conservation Efforts
Bonn Zoological Bulletin Supplementum: The Giant Millipedes, Order Sphaerotheriida (an Annotated Species Catalogue) (PDF)
African Invertebrates: Madagascar's Living Giants: Discovery of Five New Species of Endemic Giant Pill-Millipedes from Madagascar (PDF)
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casualcarpetshark · 2 years ago
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BOW DOWN TO THE ANCIENT ONE
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markscherz · 1 month ago
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It's the hoppiest day of the year!
World Frog Day!
Here is a tiny frog from one side of the world:
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This is Mini mum. That is a 10 euro cent coin.
And here is a tiny frog from the other side of the world:
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This is Microhyla nepenthicola. That is a 50 Malasyian sen coin.
Frogs have evolved to extremely reduced body sizes gobsmackingly often. It is one of the coolest things. And basically every time they do this, they become more similar to one another, and also they lose whole structures, like ears, fingers, and toes.
Isn't it marvellous?
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prokopetz · 1 year ago
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If you've seen trivia posts going around, may have seen ones about the baculum, a bone in the penis whose purpose is to help support erections which is present in most placental mammals, including non-human apes, but which is conspicuously absent in humans.
Those posts typically don't go into why this is the case, which is fair enough, since the question is far from settled. However, there are a lot of hypotheses about it, and some of them are pretty fucking wild.
I think my personal favourite is the recently proposed idea that, since soft tissue injuries tend to heal more rapidly and completely than broken bones, a flexible and resilient boneless penis constitutes a reproductive advantage in situations where genital trauma is common, possibly as a result of the development of upright posture rendering the penis more prone to blunt encounters.
Like, imagine humanity's proto-hominid ancestors going "actually, bipedalism is great" and promptly getting whacked in the ding so much that it exerted evolutionary pressure on the morphology of the penis.
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scentedwonderlandpoetry · 2 years ago
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Further new discoveries have been made on my theory.
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