#The Insect Queen

[malliya-gw2]

PURBOE

[addicted2wasps]

An old video from 2011. Yours truly picking up a queen Vespula alascensis that was overwintering somewhere in the basement and woke up prematurely. This was filmed during the winter months. I think I tried to keep her alive until spring, but she passed, unfortunately. She was so sweet. I did my best to keep her alive at the time. 😢 Please excuse the framed beetles in the background, I had just finished making that display and then hung it up on my wall afterward. I don't recommend that people go around trying to pick up any wasp that they see (especially allergic folks), but the point of this video is to show that these animals are not completely mindlessly hostile and can be very passive if shown respect.

[fairytaleprincessart]

[futurebird]

What is a gamergate?

Friendly reminder about the word #gamergate

A "gamergate" (pronounced like "gamete") is a mated worker ant with the potential to become a queen of the colony. This is believed to be how early ant colonies worked before the physical differences between queens and workers became more pronounced in the majority of ant species. Diacamma, Harpegnathos and Ophthalmopone genus ants still have this ability.

This is the *only* significant meaning the word "gamergate" has had and will ever have.

I'm sorry... but look at her. She's like a cartoon character. "harpos" are very popular among antkeepers and their ability to choose new queens makes for interesting colony dynamic. They duel each other with their long mandibles to decide who will be queen.

And they can jump!

[onenicebugperday]

Ant cockroach, Attaphila fungicola, Blattellidae

Ant cockroaches live in the nests of leaf-cutter ants and disperse phoretically by hitching rides on virgin queen ants (photo 1) or by riding on leaves carried by ants returning to a nest. They have been suggested to feed on the fungus their host ants farm and are not attacked by host workers because they blend into the colony by mimicking the odor of their hosts ants. Adults measure only about 3mm in length.

Photo 1 by leg9 and 2-4 by myrmexflora

[oswaldpettyeyeart]

first meeting?

you can commission me something like this! all the info is in my pinned.

[viviraptor-art]

reason #276 that shrimpshipping is canon, their favorite monsters' names match perfectly... should we be shipping them too?

bonus:

[kryptonbabe]

🔥 Some hot takes on the women of the Superfamily:

Superwoman should be Kara Zor-el and neither Lois Lane nor Lana Lang – historically I know they came first, but in the universe it makes much more sense for this title to go for Kara (like in Kara Zor-el Superwoman in the Future State event, bring that costume back too, it's time to end the war on skirts, pants are cool, but skirts are not inherently sexist please and Kara is known for her fashion diversity...)

Let Natasha Irons be more than your LGBTQ / black token, we only see her as more than a background character in diversity specials and she can be way more interesting than that, she fought a powerful sentient AI in Superman and the Authority and it was so cool, she could be a valuable member of a team (any team except Suicide Squad please), let her shine even if she's not necessarily the main character

Don't make Lois Lane a super-powered person (unless it's really quickly just for fun or an old-timey throwback), let her be cool for her own merits, regular humans can have interesting abilities you know (some would mention Batman as an example even). She's an awesome investigative reporter and she could have another series, even if a limited one like the 2019's Greg Rucka, Mike Perkins one. Lois had a super popular series (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane) from 1959 to 1974, she deserves the spotlight

If you need to give powers to Lana Lang make her Insect Queen again, let my girl be weird, she's very underutilized these days either way (and I don't know... bring back Bee-boy, he had only one appearance but sure it was a tragic and bizarre story, he would do a fine super-villain or... a Doom Patrol member! This could be a whole arc about how he has his life destroyed, his heart broken and goes on a path of rage until the Doom Patrol reaches out and he finds a new family... but ok enough of Bee-boy)

Let's stop trying to make Karen, aka Power Girl, into a Superfamily member (I'm looking at you 2023 Power Girl series), she respects them, but her family is the JSA, she actively refused multiple times to be associated with the Superfamily, not because she hates them, but because she makes a point of being her own woman, creating her own legacy. She's a proud and sometimes hardheaded person yes, but that's her personality and that makes her different and interesting

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Where the fuck is Otho-ra??????????????????

[the-animal-kingdom]

Did you know, that wasps can create their own paper? This material is what is used to create wasp nests. When a lone Queen wasp finds a good place to build, she begins to chew on wood fibres, mixes it with her saliva and then spits it back out to form walls. The nest starts as a durable, vertical stalk and then she builds an inverted cup shape that has 6 sided cells, as a nursery for larva. She also sprays this first part of the nest with a chemical that is able to repel ants.

When she is done with the first part, the Queen wasp lays eggs in the cells she created and when they then reach adulthood, these worker wasps will then continue to build the nest, allowing for the Queen to resign to egg laying.

It can typically take a hive around 2-4 weeks to build a full, finished nest.

[catherinetheprincessofwales]

Christmases at Sandringham Adapted from Meet Ella by James Middleton

At Sandringham Christmases, we joined in the family gathering. Beatrice and Eugenie, whom I knew from school, would be there and we’d all go to church in the morning.

One year the Queen and I sat down to do a jigsaw puzzle. It was the sort of activity I’d have enjoyed with my own grandparents, all four of whom had died in the space of three years when I was a teenager. So in a way, I felt the Queen was filling a granny-sized void in my life.

And there we were, engaged in this everyday pleasure, which was elevated to the extraordinary by the company I was in. It still feels surreal, the fact that I was there with the Queen: I look back on it with amazement.

She frequently put down five pieces to my one, deft-fingered while I was inept, scanning the board with practised eyes, not even stopping when people came to talk to her, but still ­chatting as she slotted in the pieces. I hoped she wouldn’t notice how little I contributed.

There were presents, too, modest but wrapped with care. Mine from Her Majesty was a pair of socks; I gave her a card with a photo of Ella on it and a few jars of my own honey, which I brought down to breakfast on Christmas morning.

The Queen talked to me about beekeeping and I knew she appreciated the effort it takes for a colony of bees to produce enough honey for a jar.

I’ve been a passionate advocate of these ­ingenious, industrious little creatures since I became a beekeeper nearly a decade ago, having fallen for them as a child. I now have almost half a million bees in eight hives in a meadow at Bucklebury, and I’m in awe of them.

Hives are highly organised communities presided over by a queen bee. So a jar of honey, a gift from a queen to the Queen, seemed fitting.

[thewisecheerio]

Elden Ring Caterpillars

It's Elden Ring, but every character is a caterpillar. STARRING...

Ranni the Witch as Pseudosiobla excavata

Praetor Rykard as Phyllodes imperialis

General Radahn as Orgyia Vetusta

Mohg, Lord of Blood as Citheronia Phoronea

Morgott the Grace Given as Troides helena

Post-black knives Godwyn the Golden as Brahmaea wallichii

https://australianbutterflies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Picture1-1.png

Malenia, Goddess of Rot as this unidentified Saturniid (Automeris, species unknown)

Miquella the Unalloyed as Apatelodes torrefacta (they also come in a pale gold!)

Messmer the Impaler as Eacles imperialis

Melina, Kindling Maiden as Pyrrharctia isabella

Queen Marika the Eternal as Euploea midamus

Radagon of the Golden Order as Hyles lineata

https://allofnature.blogspot.com/2013/10/white-lined-sphinx-moth-and-caterpillar.html

Fia the Deathbed Companion as Citheronia brissotti

The Loathsome Dungeater as Rhanidophora ridens

Goldmask as Estigmene acrea

https://bugguide.net/node/view/988678

Miriel, Pastor of Vows as Charadra deridens

The post that inspired it all, The Elden Beast as Eudocima phalonia

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/uey6s1/the_common_fruit_moth_caterpillar_looks_a_bit/

[malliya-gw2]

[addicted2wasps]

Queen blackjacket (Vespula consobrina) chilling in my hand. The orange stuff on my fingers is dried-up fruit juice. She took a few sips and then I released her back outside. She's so cute! Eeeeeeee. 😍

[fairytaleprincessart]

[noctomnis-art]

Royalty must always look their best! 🐝👑 Commission for @solidagold , thank you so much for letting me draw your beautiful character! I get the best clients! 😩

[onenicebugperday]

Found this lil guy on our car! (she needs a wash we know qq) Wondering if the fella’s identifiable at all? Hope the pictures are helpful ^^ (Selangor, Malaysia)

Yup, she's an Asian weaver ant queen. Once she mates (if she hasn't already) she will shed her wings and start a colony :)