Hey, Fedi.

[mossesandbees@scicomm.xyz]

@inj4n @ShaulaEvans guess I’m always excited to tell people about the coolest bugs ever! (Although I love them all :3)

[inj4n@chaos.social]

@mossesandbees @ShaulaEvans

Well, as we have started: What actually is a bug? And how to I distinguish it, let's say, from a fly?

[shadowdancer@mstdn.social]

@ShaulaEvans
Not probably what you're asking for, but:

"Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow."

-- Eric S. Raymond (Linus's law)

[jetlagjen@gts.phillipsuk.org]

@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans that's a fun one.

Most aphids are unusual in reproducing by both parthenogenesis leading to live births *and* sexual reproduction with egg-laying. Eggs is how they typically overwinter. So clearly these giant willow aphids are especially unusual!

[statsguy@mas.to]

@ShaulaEvans Maybe not as cool as some of the other responses you're getting but one bug I genuinely love is the cinnabar moth.

They lay their eggs on the ragwort plant, which then turn into really beautiful stripy caterpillars. The caterpillars can completely destroy the foliage of a whole plant.

Many people consider ragwort to be a weed (it can be toxic to horses) and pull it up, but I always let any in my garden grow.

[jeremy_list@hachyderm.io]

@ShaulaEvans There's a type of caddisfly that lays eggs in starfish. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philanisus_plebeius

[lionelb@expressional.social]

@ShaulaEvans

@thebeeguy

[rootsandcalluses@mstdn.social]

@ShaulaEvans Do "underwater bugs" count? If so: The invasive crabs in Europe know how to cut hooks off fishing lines. They also know how to remove the hooks from their bodies if they get caught. They chop the line, then use their claws to carefully remove the hook from their bodies. That means they feel the hook, know that the line is an issue but even cooler: they know that lines with hooks hanging into the ocean are potential dangers, having made the connection. Cool!

[mayazimmerman@gamedev.lgbt]

@ShaulaEvans My favorite bug fact is that earwigs display maternal behavior.

[mossesandbees@scicomm.xyz]

@inj4n we often call every small arthropod a “bug”, but actually that’s not true. Because taxonomically there is an order of insects that is commonly called true bugs, the order Hemiptera. Some groups that belong to Hemiptera are cicadas or shield bugs (Wanzen in German) for example.
To list the differences between “bugs” would be too much for this post, but when we stick with beetles and flies for example, we can say that beetles have two pairs of wings, of which one is hardened (elytra). Flies on the other hand have one pair of wings and a pair of reduced wings (halteres). This also distinguishes a fly from a bee, which has two pairs of wings.
(Of course, there are many more differences, but as I said, this would be too much to put in a post like this :D)

[nap@social.coop]

@ShaulaEvans

This isn't a bug fact so much as a bug warm feeling.

Dog day cicadas at the end of a Summer day: https://youtube.com/shorts/mD6h6k2eal4?si=tR_aZ0xqKPc6lNcr

[cablest@mastodon.social]

@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans On my houseplants.

[2@ice.sophari.org]

@ShaulaEvans not really on topic/what you asked for, and since they have an interest in the subject they might well already know the youtube channel. but i recently discovered Privileged Bug Facts and have been loving it

might also be a decent source of facts for yourself to give out perhaps

[nap@social.coop]

@ShaulaEvans a better video https://youtu.be/XCSOTbXQ4wY?si=Ino6r_5z9NGlRibA

[mindasarcol@mastodon.social]

@ShaulaEvans hello

[ubi@ecoevo.social]

@ShaulaEvans @forse And they use their eyes like antlers to fight off other males. They rest on tree roots that hang over streams, so they fight one-on-one battles on these thin roots to control access to mates.

[acetylcholin@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@ShaulaEvans do spiders and spider like critters count as bugs?

[ubi@ecoevo.social]

@KaraLG84 @stevegis_ssg @ShaulaEvans It has something to do with the frequency of the wing beats. Flies and bees move their wings very rapidly to fly, while butterflies flaps slower and tend to glide more. Some moths like hawk moths also have rapid wing beats, so they buzz quite a bit.

[peterbrown@mastodon.scot]

@ShaulaEvans I read recently on here that if you put red ants and black ants in a jar they will co-exist quite happily. But if you shake the jar, the black ants will blame the red ants and attack and kill them. Meanwhile the red ants blame the black ants and attack and kill them.

[annehargreaves@ioc.exchange]

@benroyce @ShaulaEvans
"Big fleas have lesser fleas
Upon their backs to bite'em
Lesser fleas have lesser fleas
And so ad infinitem"

Sorry I've forgotten the author