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   Wren “Hot Cocoa” Archer :bc: (wrenarcher@beige.party)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:20 JST Wren “Hot Cocoa” Archer :bc:

   #SilentSunsday
   According to my image search these little pods are wasp #galls of varying species.

   Saw this on the sidewalk during a morning walk a couple of days ago.

   • Embed this notice
     Ben Royce 🇺🇦 (benroyce@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:08 JST Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     • raganwald 🍓

     @raganwald @WrenArcher 🤭

     no, no. bugs are abstract

     the closer they resemble us, the more the horror unfolds

     i'm sitting here on the south side of lake ontario

     where our good buddies the lampreys reside

   • Embed this notice
     Ben Royce 🇺🇦 (benroyce@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:10 JST Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     • raganwald 🍓

     @raganwald @WrenArcher

     the more you look into it, the weirder it gets

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptapanteles

     "The larvae of Glyptapanteles species are able to manipulate their hosts into serving as bodyguards."

   • Embed this notice
     raganwald 🍓 (raganwald@social.bau-ha.us)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:10 JST raganwald 🍓

     in reply to

     • Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     @benroyce @WrenArcher Makes sense, because "Hymenoptera" is actually Latin for "Nightmare Fuel."

     Mr. Bill repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     raganwald 🍓 (raganwald@social.bau-ha.us)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:11 JST raganwald 🍓

     in reply to

     • Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     @benroyce @WrenArcher But let us move on to more pleasant topics... Like the Jewel Wasp.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ySwuQhruBo

     IIRC, the Jewel Wasp was the inspiration for the reproductive behaviour of the Xenomorph in the original "Alien."

   • Embed this notice
     Ben Royce 🇺🇦 (benroyce@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:13 JST Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     • raganwald 🍓

     @raganwald @WrenArcher

     i think toxoplasma gondii will make the leap before cordyceps

     as someone who grew up in a house with 10-20 cats, i feel them in me, searching, commanding...

     ...

     "braiiiiinnnnsss....."

   • Embed this notice
     raganwald 🍓 (raganwald@social.bau-ha.us)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:13 JST raganwald 🍓

     in reply to

     • Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     @benroyce @WrenArcher I recall some hysteria over statistics suggesting that young men exposed to toxoplasma gondii were more likely to get into motorcycle accidents or some such alleged correlation with foolhardiness.

     Which led scientists to wonder if it's the same mechanism that makes mice stop avoiding the scent of cats.

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     raganwald 🍓 (raganwald@social.bau-ha.us)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:14 JST raganwald 🍓

     in reply to

     • Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     @benroyce @WrenArcher Cordyceps is very scary. The moment it mutates into a version that can parasitize mammals, our time is done.

     No way a species too stupid to believe in vaccines is going to muster the worldwide epidemiological resources to beat back a fungus that engages in mind control.

   • Embed this notice
     Ben Royce 🇺🇦 (benroyce@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:15 JST Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     • raganwald 🍓

     @raganwald @WrenArcher

     delete that post!

     😱 😱 😱

     (/s)

   • Embed this notice
     Ben Royce 🇺🇦 (benroyce@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:16 JST Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     • raganwald 🍓

     @raganwald @WrenArcher

     the parasite seeks the easiest existence

     rendering all other biological functions irrelevant, and those waste away

     if it could, after billions of years, it would evolve into a wasp prion

   • Embed this notice
     raganwald 🍓 (raganwald@social.bau-ha.us)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:16 JST raganwald 🍓

     in reply to

     • Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     @benroyce @WrenArcher Or into Cordyceps.

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     Ben Royce 🇺🇦 (benroyce@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:17 JST Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     • raganwald 🍓

     @raganwald @WrenArcher

     🤯

   • Embed this notice
     raganwald 🍓 (raganwald@social.bau-ha.us)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:17 JST raganwald 🍓

     in reply to

     • Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     @benroyce @WrenArcher Fairy Wasps are little more than five neurons dressed in a trenchcoat. Amazing that such a small brain produces any behaviour at all.

   • Embed this notice
     Ben Royce 🇺🇦 (benroyce@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:19 JST Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     @WrenArcher

     i love these galls for an entirely morbid reason

     there is the gall wasp, a parasite of oak trees

     then there is the crypt keeper wasp, a parasite of the parasite

     their larva eat the gall wasp larva then make it chew a hole until the tip of its head sticks out of the gall, then the adult crypt keeper wasp escapes through the head

     latin name "euderus set"

     named after set, the egyptian god who trapped his brother osiris in a sarcophagus and killed him

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euderus_set

   • Embed this notice
     raganwald 🍓 (raganwald@social.bau-ha.us)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 06:00:19 JST raganwald 🍓

     in reply to

     • Ben Royce 🇺🇦

     @benroyce @WrenArcher Euderus Set is a hyper-parasitoid. But wait!

     The Fairy Wasp predates a variety of insects, including parasites and even hyper-parasitoids like the Crypt-Keeper Wasp.

     Scientist have discovered chains of predations four and five levels deep. And some theorize that the induced head-plugging behaviour exists to keep fairy wasps from predating the cyrpt-keeper's offspring.

     https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/inception-but-with-parasites/514211/.