Notices by kho (kho@shitposter.club), page 16
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:15 JST 
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Kiwa are a genus of marine decapods that inhabit hydrothermal vents and cold seeps at deep-sea levels. They have three nicknames that are often used instead of their actual name – yeti crab, yeti lobster, or furry lobster.
The yeti crab farms its own food – on its arms
The hairy ‘arms’ of this tiny crab capture all kinds of bacteria that live and grow on the crab. To encourage growth, yeti crabs have been seen waving it’s arms back and forth in seeping vents.
As a result, the bacteria are the primary source of food for the yeti crab.
The yeti crab official name comes from mythology. The Polynesian goddess of shellfish was named Kiwa. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:14 JST
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A species endemic to North America, the asp caterpillar—Megalopyge opercularis—looks quite harmless. However, it should be treated with extreme caution as it has very powerful venom and is one of the most toxic caterpillars in North America. At the end of the fluffy hairs lie sharp, poisonous spines which pierce the skin and can cause extreme allergic reactions such as inflammation, blisters, headaches, nausea and breathing difficulties. These symptoms can last for days.
Many cases of injury have been reported in the United States over the years—the injuries occur mainly in children as they try to pick up these creatures. The asp caterpillar grows to two centimeters in length an the adult is the crinkled flannel moth, which also has a bizarre, yeti-like appearance. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:14 JST
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Relative to other insects, dragonflies have extraordinarily keen vision that helps them detect the movement of other flying critters and avoid in-flight collisions. Thanks to two huge compound eyes, the dragonfly has nearly 360° vision and can see a wider spectrum of colors than humans. Each compound eye contains 28,000 lenses or ommatidia and a dragonfly uses about 80% of its brain to process all of the visual information it receives.
Dragonflies are able to move each of their four wings independently. They can flap each wing up and down, and rotate their wings forward and back on an axis. Dragonflies can move straight up or down, fly backward, stop and hover, and make hairpin turns—at full speed or in slow motion. A dragonfly can fly forward at a speed of 100 body lengths per second (up to 30 miles per hour). -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:14 JST
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The giraffe necked weevil is named for the long neck which is colored black. At the top of the neck is the head which features two eyes and a pair of antennae which project out from it. Males have a much longer neck than females sometimes by three times as much.
Males have this longer neck for use in combat across other males.
A pair of males will fight for mating rights with a female. She may wait close by while they duel using their long necks and then mates with the winner. On a rare occasion these fights may end in death for one of the parties.
The female deposits a single egg on a leaf and then rolls this up to provide protection to the egg and gives it its first meal upon hatching. Once this role is completed they will cut the tube so it falls to the forest floor.
After hatching the giraffe necked weevil is a yellowish larva which feeds on the leaf it was wrapped in. It will then undertake a pupation to become an adult weevil. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:13 JST
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The traditional appearance of the sea spider is that of long legs and a small body. Across the many species of sea spider, the leg count varies from 4 – 6 pairs. Sea spiders operate without the respiratory system that we are used to. Instead, they use their legs to take in vital gasses, such as oxygen. They also utilize a proboscis, which enables them to digest soft-bodied invertebrates via a sucking mechanism. Some species of sea spiders are so tiny that the muscles on their exoskeleton are made of just a single cell. The legs of sea spiders also contain their guts and genitals, which makes them very unique. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:13 JST
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I've had requests to include the adult moth stage so here it is, plus bonus cocoon. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:12 JST
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Jumping spider eyes are, in a word, incredible. The spiders, despite their tiny size, are better at seeing patterns than elephants are. Their pair of central eyes, known as the principle eyes, are almost like a pair of tiny binoculars: They have a large outer lens, then a smaller inner lens that magnifies the image from the outer lens and projects it onto the retina. The spiders are also unusual in that they have muscles attached directly to their retinas. That means they can move retinas up and down, side to side, focusing on different segments of the world without a hint of movement on the outside — a handy ability for a hunter. Meanwhile, the spiders' secondary pairs of eyes are less acute, but they provide crucial peripheral vision, Live Science previously reported.
Most species of jumping spider can see ultraviolet light and blues and greens. Some species, though, have evolved special tricks to expand their color vision. These tend to be the flashier species, such as the paradise jumping spiders (genus Habbernatus), which are often decorated in shades of red and orange. In some species, a random genetic mutation has introduced an extra copy of the gene that makes the proteins that allow for blue/green vision. This extra copy has then acquired mutations capable of detecting red and orange. Similar mutations allowed primates to develop color vision.
Jumping spiders can live up to their name. These spiders don't hunt by snaring prey in a web, but rather they stalk their quarry and then leap. Despite their tiny body size, jumping spiders can leap up to 6.3 inches (160 mm), according to a 2018 paper in the journal Scientific Reports. The spiders often spin a little silk and set a thread-like "anchor" before they leap, which may help stabilize their flight and protect them in case their landing is off. Jumping spiders most often jump to catch their prey, but sometimes leap to flee danger. They can also be quite clever: Researchers in the 2018 study actually trained a jumping spider (Phidippus regius) to leap from platform to platform. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:12 JST
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Everyone loves the mantis shrimp, so here you go.
Mantis shrimp are either "spearers" or "smashers" depending on their claws and prey-killing tactics. Spearers have spiny appendages with barbed tips, that are used to stab soft-bodied prey, such as different types of worms and fish. Smashers have more developed club-like appendages that are used to bludgeon and smash their prey to pieces.
Smashers can punch at same velocity as a gunshot from a .22 caliber rifle. Smasher mantis shrimp have two raptorial appendages (called ‘dactyl clubs’) on the front of its body that it uses to punch its prey. These fists are spring loaded, able to accelerate from their body at over 50 mph, delivering a force of over 1,500 newtons, enough to smash through crabs and clam shells.
They can crack and punch holes in aquarium glass. While they are highly desired, they require special stronger aquariums. When they encounter an obstacle they wish to move, they often try and punch their way out. They have also been known to attack their own reflection through the glass.
Eyes of mantis shrimp are located on the long stalks that can move independently. Each eye has ‘trinocular vision’, which means it can gauge depth and distance on its own by focusing on objects with three separate regions. They are thought to have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom and have the most complex visual system ever discovered They can see a special spiraling type of light called circularly polarized light that’s not been documented in any other animal. They also have a structure in their eyes that’s similar to technology found in DVD players, only much more advanced.
While they have significantly more color photo-receptors, research suggests they are actually worse at differentiating color than humans. However, scientists believe this is because their eyes are operating at a different level, functioning more like a satellite. It’s believed Mantis shrimp can take all visual information into their brains immediately without having to process it, allowing them to react instantly to the environment. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:11 JST
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The smallest arthropod of any kind (and also the smallest species of crustacean) is Stygotantulus stocki, a tantulocarid. This tiny creature measures only 0.094 mm long, and is an ectoparasite of harpacticoid copepods (which are themselves crustaceans). -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:11 JST
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Giant Shield Bug -Tessaratomids resemble large stink bugs (family Pentatomidae) and are sometimes quite colorful. Most tessaratomids are Old World, with only three species known from the Neotropics. Some members of Tessaratomidae exhibit maternal care of eggs and offspring. The defensive chemicals of certain species can cause significant damage if they come into contact with human skin; they may also cause temporary blindness. All species are exclusively plant-eaters, some of major economic importance as agricultural pests. A few species are also consumed as human food in some countries. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:10 JST
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Velvet ants are not ants. Velvet ants are part of the wasp family.
Velvet ants, like other wasps and bees feed on nectar. Unlike the female velvet ant, males have wings but no stingers. The male velvet ant will fly low to the ground looking for females.
When mating, the female makes a squeaking sound by rubbing one abdominal segment against another. Both will squeak when frightened.
It´s the female who is responsible for finding a home for her eggs to hatch but she is sneaky and resourceful and will lay her eggs in another ground wasp or bee´s nest where they will hatch and feed on the bee´s or wasp larvae.
Although both the white and the red velvet ant have powerful stings, it´s the red velvet ant (Dasymutilla occidentalis) that has been nicknamed “Cow Killer.”
It’s sting may hurt but it doesn´t kill. If stung, it is said to hurt “like you know what” for a good 20 minutes. The red velvet ant can be found in the eastern and southern states and west towards Texas. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:10 JST
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🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
The coconut crab — sometimes called a robber crab — boasts powerful pincers, which are some of the most dangerous weapons in the animal kingdom. Experts say a pinch from this crab can rival a lion’s bite. So there’s no question that they can do some terrifying things with their claws.
But the good news for humans is that the crabs don’t usually use their claws on us. As the name suggests, the coconut crab’s main source of food is coconuts. And since most of these creatures live on islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, they usually have no trouble finding their favorite food.
As omnivorous creatures, coconut crabs are willing to eat both plants and animals. They’ve been known to kill birds, feast on kittens, and rip apart pig carcasses. Eerily, they’ve also been known to practice cannibalism — and they will rarely hesitate to eat other coconut crabs.
In short, almost nothing is off the menu for a robber crab. They’ll even eat their own exoskeletons. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:09 JST
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What this spider has going for it is a really scary name. Otherwise, you probably wouldn’t hear much about it. It rarely kills people and many who are bitten never even know it. There are 32 types of widow spiders, including the western, southern, and northern widows, as well as the red, gray, and brown widows. They’re found on every continent except Antarctica. The females are usually dark-colored, frequently with red, white, or brown markings on the dorsal of the abdomen. Some have the classic hourglass-shaped markings and some do not. Black widows are usually small but carry an unusually potent venom that contains larotoxin, a neurotoxin that can cause pain, muscle rigidity, vomiting, and sweating. Symptoms typically last three to seven days. Only the female bite is considered dangerous to humans. Each year, about 2,200 people report being bitten by black widows. None has died since 1983. On the other hand, some house cats have died of convulsions or paralysis. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:08 JST
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🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
House flies feed and breed in the things we revile: garbage, animal dung, sewage, human excrement, and other nasty substances. Musca domestica is probably the best known and most common of the insects we collectively refer to as filth flies. In suburban or rural areas, house flies are also plentiful in fields where fish meal or manure is used as fertilizer, and in compost heaps where grass clippings and rotting vegetables accumulate.
House flies have sponge-like mouthparts, which are good for soaking up liquefied substances but not for eating solid foods. So, the house fly either seeks out food that is already in puddle form, or it finds a way to turn the food source into something it can manage. This is where things get kind of gross. When a house fly locates something tasty but solid, it regurgitates onto the food (which may be your food, if it's buzzing around your barbecue). The fly vomit contains digestive enzymes that go to work on the desired snack, quickly predigesting and liquefying it so the fly can lap it up.
How do flies decide something is appetizing? They step on it! Like butterflies, house flies have their taste buds on their toes, so to speak. Taste receptors, called chemosensilla, are located at the far ends of the fly's tibia and tarsa (in simpler terms, the lower leg and foot). The moment they land on something of interest – your garbage, a pile of horse manure, or perhaps your lunch – they start sampling its flavor by walking around. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:08 JST
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A brown recluse’s venom can destroy blood vessels, tissue, and nerves. As a result, the skin tissue can die, a phenomenon called skin necrosis.
In the mature brown recluse spider as well as some other species of recluse spiders, the dark violin marking is well defined, with the neck of the violin pointing toward the bulbous abdomen.
Brown recluses have six eyes instead of the usual eight. These eyes are arranged in a horizontal row of 3 pairs on the face.
Only a few other spiders have 3 pairs of eyes arranged this way, such as the Spitting Spiders (scytodids). Brown Recluse Spiders can be distinguished from scytodids as recluse spiders abdomens have no coloration pattern nor do their legs, which also lack spines. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:07 JST
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Saddleback caterpillars, Acharia stimulea, have a brown saddle-shaped spot on the middle of their green backs. They are called slug caterpillars because the abdominal legs lack tiny hooks that most other caterpillars have, and because the six jointed legs are so short. Saddleback caterpillars are one of the stinging caterpillars that bear urticating hairs on four prominent knobs at the front and rear as well as smaller knobs along the sides. These caterpillars are about 3/4 inch long when mature and spin tough silk cocoons in which they overwinter. Saddleback caterpillar moths are fuzzy and dark brown with some cinnamon spots and tiny white spots. These moths emerge from the cocoons the following spring and summer and lay 30 to 50 tiny, flat eggs that overlap like fish scales on the upper surface of leaves of various trees and shrubs. From the eggs hatch tiny, almost transparent caterpillars that already display yellow, spine-covered knobs around their bodies. Aside from tiny parasitic wasps that plague saddleback caterpillars, other mortality factors such as diseases and predators usually keep the numbers of these caterpillars low. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:07 JST
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Carpenter ants live in large colonies with hundreds of workers (all sterile females), several males and females that reproduce, and one or more queen. When part of an established colony goes into a nearby structure, it sometimes establishes a smaller satellite colony there. Some experts believe this is the main way carpenter ants invade houses.
Carpenter ants don’t actually eat the wood they excavate (unlike termites), lacking the digestive enzymes to break down cellulose. Instead, they forage on a wide variety of plant and animal materials, including sweet substances, like honeydew produced by aphids. They also eat the body fluids and proteins of both dead and live insects. Most of this foraging is at night, kept somewhat hidden by the underground tunnels they use. Carpenter ants have a painful bite, but cannot sting.
Hilltopping: When the winged swarmers emerge in spring to mate, they often gather at pronounced points on the landscape, like a large tree or lone building or top of a hill, thus the term, “hilltopping.” The swarms can turn into rolling clusters of males trying to mate with a single female.
Exploding ants: Some Malaysian carpenter ant species make the ultimate sacrifice to defend against attackers. They can explode their bodies, spraying a sticky and caustic fluid from inside a special jaw-to-abdomen-length gland, which immobilizes the enemy. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:06 JST
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🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
Neocaridina davidi has a similar anatomy to marine shrimp (ocean dwelling). The differences lie in the shape of certain structures. Belonging to the order Decapoda, Neocaridina davidi have five pairs of walking legs called periopods. The first two pair of legs are modified structures called chelate, which are claw-like appendages used for grabbing food. In front of the periopods are three pairs of maxillipeds or jaw legs used for feeding. Under the abdomen are five pairs of limbs that are used for swimming called pleopods. In female shrimp, these limbs are also used for egg holding. The rostrum, or beak, of the cherry shrimp has a more squared shape compared to the more pointed shape found in saltwater shrimp species. Like most shrimp species, ornamental shrimp are detritivores and opportunistic feeders. They will graze on algae, biofilms, and dead plants and animals on the bottoms of rivers.
Neocaridina davidi spends the majority of its time grazing on biofilms that form on leaf litter. Like most crustaceans, shrimp play a crucial role in the aquatic ecosystem by serving as a food source for other organisms and by recycling nutrients through feeding on decaying vegetation. This helps keep the water clean.
Unlike most crustaceans, this shrimp does not have a larval stage. The young of this species emerge from the eggs as miniature versions of the adult, they are only around 1 to 2 millimeters in length. As with all arthropods, Neocaridina davidi grows by molting their exoskeleton (Figure 5). They will feed on their molted exoskeleton to reabsorb valuable nutrients. Sexual maturity is reached at around 30 days. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:06 JST
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Creatonotos Gangis is the scientific name for a peculiar type of moth from Australia and Southeast Asia. They usually come with abdomens that are either yellow or red.
They have four coremata sticking out from their abdomen that are but are usually retracted, they are pushed out during the breeding season. The coremata release pheromones which attract females and show that the male is ready to breed. When the coremata are fully extended, they can become longer that the actual body itself which is typically around four centimetres.
They are found in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland in Australia and are found in some parts of South-east Asia. Their diet is also quite peculiar, as it eats a variety of PA rich leaves. PA (pyrrolizidine alkaloides) are usually foul tasting, toxic chemicals that would usually deter insects, but Creatonotos gangis loves plants with this strange chemical inside. This "diet" consists of plants such as pomegranate trees, rice plants, soybeans and maize. This diet is primarily during its caterpillar stage but is sometimes consumed by the adult moths. -
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Monday, 31-Jul-2023 12:23:05 JST
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The Brazilian treehopper (Bocydium globulare) is a species of insect belonging to the treehopper family (Membracidae). It has unusual appendages on its head. While Bocydium can be found throughout the world, they are most prevalent in Africa, North and South America, Asia and Australia. They exhibit limited movement and their primary food source is from the underside of leaves.
This species has very apparent, globular appendages coming out of its thorax. Entomologists are still not certain about why these treehoppers have these appendages, however, it has been proposed that the adaptation deters their predators.
The nymphs feed on the underside of leaves. They are deemed "sap sucking" insects because the nymph gets its nutrition from the sap of the leaves.
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