Notices by kho (kho@shitposter.club), page 9
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kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Saturday, 02-Sep-2023 04:01:30 JST 
kho
Pterochroza ocellata, the peacock katydid, is an insect in the family Tettigoniidae from the Amazon rainforest in South America. The species is a leaf-mimic katydid; when it is in repose its camouflage resembles a diseased or dead leaf. The katydid owes both its common name and its specific epithet (ocellata, meaning "marked with little eyes") to its startle display, in which it shows false eye spots on its normally hidden hind wings.
The adult Pterochroza ocellata is about 45mm to 65mm in length. In its protective camouflage it resembles a dried leaf. If in spite of its camouflage it is threatened, the katydid exposes its hind wings, displaying two conspicuous eye spots.
No two individual Pterochroza ocellata are identical in their color pattern or the shape of the wings; this reduces the risk that predators could learn to recognize a fixed visual pattern. As in all katydids, their organs of hearing, or tympana, are on their front legs just below the joint between the femur and the tibia. The antennae are long, even for Tettigoniidae, being two to three times the length of the body.
As in most Tettigoniidae, the male attracts females with a high-pitched call, which it produces by rubbing one fore-wing over a scraper on the other fore-wing. This sound has been suggested to double as interference for the echolocation of bats, one of its many natural predators. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Saturday, 02-Sep-2023 04:01:29 JST
kho
The breathtaking Claudina Butterfly is a truly dazzling Lepidoptera. Although best known for its great visual appeal, it also qualifies as impressive for yet another reason. That’s the fact that, along with that beauty, the creature also attains a highly respectable physical size. Total wingspan varies significantly between individuals, as with many related species. In its case, however, that variation has nothing to do with gender. Overall, though, a wingspan for a mature adult varies from about 2.8 – 4.7 in (7 – 12 cm). That’s quite large for a butterfly.
The upperside of the wings of this natural wonder present a magnificent view. More precisely, these typically present as dark black, with brilliant crimson red patches showing on the forewings. The fascinating insect also generally manifests small patches of blue.
The underside of the wings of the Claudina Butterfly, though, are quite different than the upperside. This part of the anatomy of the invertebrate presents a striking combination of colors and patterns. Overall, though, the colors include red, blue, black, and gold. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Saturday, 02-Sep-2023 04:01:10 JST
kho
Black Horse Flies are about an inch long, making them highly visible and somewhat intriguing to watch. They are fast fliers despite their hefty size. Females feed on blood, and they are not averse to taking it from anything that has it. Their mouth parts cut open flesh, allowing blood to ooze out. They use a proboscis to sponge up the blood, leaving behind an open wound. These wounds can become infected, which poses a threat to livestock health. They are also very painful bites for humans. Males do not bite and do not drink blood. Males actually drink flower nectar and spend their days looking for females to mate with.
Males and females are both completely black, but males have huge eyes that touch each other at the center of the face; the eyes of females are separated. It's the size of the eyes that strikes curiosity in most people that see them. The color of the eyes may vary depending on the lighting. Facets comprising each eye reflect light, so sometimes their eyes appear black, sometimes silver (see photo gallery) and sometimes shades of their surroundings.
This species is found in the eastern part of the continent. Females lay fertilized eggs on or near water sources. Maggots (larvae) feed on other aquatic insects and worms. Chemicals, home remedies, and special collars exist as methods used to deter the presence of Horse Flies, especially in stables. ©InsectIdentification.org -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Saturday, 02-Sep-2023 04:01:10 JST
kho
Few insects boast a truly gold-colored body. The Golden Tortoise Beetle is even more remarkable because it can actually change its coloring at will thanks to microscopic cavities in its cuticle that house pigmentation. The beetle's metallic sheen can be dulled, and that lovely gold can become brown. Upon death, the metallic glimmer fades. Like a tortoise, the body of the beetle is humped, or rounded, as if the wing coverings were actually a shell. The bottom edges of the beetle's eltyra are transparent, like glass.
Adult tortoise beetles use some unique features to protect themselves from predators. They can cover themselves with their clear pronotum and elytra, which are flanged plate-like structures that extend beyond their oval-shaped bodies. The hardened shell protects them much like a tortoise’s shell, hence the name tortoise beetle. This feature makes it difficult for predators to capture them. They can also evade predators by suddenly dropping off the leaf on which they are sitting. It is an effective “disappearing act.”
Fascinatingly, it also developed a very special relationship with certain flora. That’s because the unique invertebrate evolved to feed only on a specific family of plants, the Connolvulaceae. This family includes several species, including morning glories, bindweeds, and sweet potatoes. In fact, both the larvae and the adults feed on the foliage of these species exclusively. While not unknown, this characteristic remains uncommon enough to garner great interest among researchers. This case, therefore, makes for a rather fascinating example of coevolution.
In the attached video you can see it change color. When a golden tortoise beetle is agitated or under attack from a predator, it contracts the spaces between the layers of cuticle and forces liquid out of the grooves — doing away with the iridescence and usually revealing a brownish-orange color. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Saturday, 02-Sep-2023 04:01:09 JST
kho
Today's arthropod:
The Cyanide millipede—Harpaphe haydeniana—is the chemist of the arthropod world. This millipede produces hydrogen cyanide (HCN) to hunt prey and to protect itself against any threats. This lethal substance has proved very effective and as a result of this adaptation, the millipede has very few natural predators.
Storing HCN is extremely complex. If it is stored at room temperature, it could harm the millipede. So instead of storing this substance, the cyanide millipede stores two other chemicals, (mandelonitrile and benzoyl cyanide) in various segments of its body. When it needs to release the cyanide, chambers open and the different chemicals mix. The gas is ejected from millions of pores around the body at its prey or in defense against a predator. The millipede produces up to 0.6 milligrams of HCN, which can kill mice, predatory beetles and stun larger predators.
The millipede is found on the west coast of North America from California to British Columbia and grows to five centimeters in length. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Saturday, 02-Sep-2023 04:01:09 JST
kho
Had limited internet service yesterday, but here was yesterday's arthropod:
Fire ants, aka Solenopsis spp, are dark reddish brown. Their head is lighter than their abdomen, and their size ranges from 1/8-3/8 inch in length. The queen is longer than the workers. They generally possess two segment antennal clubs.
These ants have a painful sting which can cause a raised welt. A white pustule appears, which lasts for 48 hours. Notably, their stings react severely to the people who are allergic to insects.
Fire ants are found in southern parts of the United States. These ants make their nests outdoors and near buildings, making them agricultural and urban pests. They can enter through holes and cracks to invest in the structure. Their nests can usually be found near logs. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Saturday, 02-Sep-2023 04:01:08 JST
kho
The horseshoe crab, scientifically known as Limulus polyphemus, is a unique marine animal that has been around for more than 450 million years. Despite its ancient origins, the horseshoe crab plays a crucial role in modern biomedical research.
The horseshoe crab has unique blue blood that contains a substance called Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL). LAL is used to test for bacterial contamination in medical equipment, vaccines, and injectable drugs. The horseshoe crab’s blood contains a clotting agent that reacts to the presence of bacterial endotoxins. This reaction is used to determine if a product is contaminated with bacteria, making LAL an essential tool in the fight against bacterial infections.
The horseshoe crab’s blood is also used to study the immune system. The amebocytes, or white blood cells, of the horseshoe crab have been found to have similar properties to the white blood cells of vertebrates. This has led to the study of the horseshoe crab’s immune system as a model for understanding the human immune system.
Despite their name and appearance, horseshoe crabs aren’t crabs. In fact, they aren’t crustaceans at all and are actually arthropods in the subphylum Chelicerata. This means they are more closely related to sea spiders, scorpions, and other arachnids than to the crustaceans whose name they share.
Along with numerous eyes, horseshoe crabs also have several legs numbering 10 in total. Five of the pairs, or pedipalps, are used for locomotion. In the males, the pedipalps change over time and eventually become glove-shaped so as to help them better hold on to females during mating. Like other arthropods, the front two legs, or chelicerae, or smaller and are specially designed to help the crabs move food into the mouth. Although they appear rather clumsy on land, horseshoe crabs can move rather freely in the water. They possess a flap-like structure next to the abdomen known as book gills that allow them to breathe underwater. However, these gills also provide another benefit: the ability to swim upside-down. These underwater acrobatics demonstrate that there’s more to horseshoe crabs than meets the eye.
Also the Pokemon, Kabuto, is based on the horseshoe crab: "Kabuto is said to still exist in the Pokémon world’s present day, suggesting that it's partially inspired by another group of arthropods called the limulids, or horseshoe crabs, which is called kabutogani in Japanese. " -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Saturday, 02-Sep-2023 04:01:07 JST
kho
Seeing the dark-edged bee-fly hover in mid-air, some people describe it as a tiny, fluffy, flying narwhale. It has a hairy little body and face, and a very long, straw-like tongue.
At a glance, it's easy to mistake one for a bee. But these small fluffy creatures buzzing around looking for nectar are actually flies. And they have a fascinating lifestyle.
This is the most common bee-fly species in the UK. It is widespread across England, Wales and Scotland, occurring in urban gardens and city parks as well as in woodland and coastal areas.
It is one of the earliest bee-flies to emerge. Having pupated over winter, dark-edged bee-flies usually start to appear in March, but people sometimes report sightings as early as mid-February after unseasonally warm and sunny days - they don't usually fly in temperatures less than 17oC.
When they aren't whizzing from flower to flower, these sunseekers will often sunbathe on bare ground or dead leaves.
While adult bee-flies are adorable, a young bee-fly isn't quite as endearing. The larva is a parasitoid, meaning it is a parasite that will end up killing its host.
When the eggs hatch, the bee-fly larvae are very active. They have false legs that they use to enter the burrow of the bees and they have been known to stuff their faces with all the pollen left for the bee babies. Then they go through a second metamorphosis, called hyper-metamorphosis, which is very rare in the insect world. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Aug-2023 23:30:13 JST
kho
@matrix -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Thursday, 24-Aug-2023 00:01:06 JST
kho
@coolboymew it's a different whip scorpion - vinegaroon -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Aug-2023 23:57:45 JST
kho
🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
Tailless Whip Scorpions are spiderlike in appearance.. Due in part to their nocturnal lifestyle and bizarre, frightening appearance, very little is known about this arachnid order. An Amblypygid , the Mexican tailless whip-scorpion was featured in the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
The body of the Tailless whip-scorpion is is flat. It has ten legs, and its first legs are very long, thin and whip-like. This Amblyplygid’s pedipalps (pincer-bearing front arms adapted for sensory and predatory use) are spiny and powerful. Whip-scorpions found in the El Yunque National Forest can be quite large (19 to 25 inches/48 to 63 centimeters, including legs) when compared to those found in other tropical areas, possibly because there are no large mammal predators on the island. Adult females are larger than males.
Whip-scorpions are nocturnal, emerging at night to hunt and kill their prey. They eat frogs, small animals, large insects and crustaceans. They capture prey by seizing and holding it with their pedipalps and then killing and eating it with their strong jaws. Although they are Arachnids, they do not have spinnerets (tubular structures used to secrete silk thread) and therefore do not spin webs. Whip-scorpions do not produce venom and are harmless to humans. Whip-scorpions fasten their pedipalps together when they are mating to prevent the female from killing and eating the male when mating is finished. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Aug-2023 23:57:45 JST
kho
Looking at this butterfly it is easy to understand why it is called ‘The Emperor of India’. With its shimmering greens, bright yellows and delicate blacks, this rare butterfly is a visual delight.
This magnificent butterfly is found along the Eastern Himalayas (West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim and Manipur) in India. In these areas, it occurs at medium and higher elevations from 6000 to 10,000 feet in well-wooded terrain.
It has a strong and fast flight. It usually flies at tree-top level but when there is strong morning sunlight it descends to sit on low vegetation. April to July is the period when it is in flight. Its eggs are laid on the underside of leaves and are pale purplish red in colour and smooth and spherical in shape. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Aug-2023 03:17:19 JST
kho
🚨 ARTHROPOD OF YESTERDAY 🚨
Scyllarides latus, the Mediterranean slipper lobster, is a species of slipper lobster found in the Mediterranean Sea and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It is edible and highly regarded as food, but is now rare over much of its range due to overfishing. Adults may grow to 1 foot (30 cm) long, are camouflaged, and have no claws.
They are nocturnal, emerging from caves and other shelters during the night to feed on molluscs. As well as being eaten by humans, S. latus is also preyed upon by a variety of bony fish. Its closest relative is S. herklotsii, which occurs off the Atlantic coast of West Africa; other species of Scyllarides occur in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific. The larvae and young animals are largely unknown.
When confronted with a predator, S. latus has no claws or spines to repel the predator, and instead either clings to the substrate, or swims away with powerful flexion of the abdomen, or "tail-flips". Larger lobsters can exert a stronger grip than smaller ones, with a force of up to 150 newtons (equivalent to a weight of 15 kilograms or 33 pounds) required to dislodge the largest individuals. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Aug-2023 03:17:18 JST
kho
Wow I missed posting this here yesterday too!! I post them for my discord friends every day because they hold me accountable, but I forget to do it here I guess. Here is yesterday's arthropod:
Adult fruit flies have the typical fly body plan — they’re just much smaller than many other fly species. The average adult is 0.12 inches long and 0.08 inches wide.
Fruit flies undergo a complete metamorphosis throughout their life cycle. The stages of their life cycle include:
Eggs — these are most often laid on fruit
Larvae — also called maggots, they’re about 0.25 inches long and lack legs and functional eyes
Adults
Individual insects only live for a maximum of three to four months.
Fruit flies at all stages of development survive off of fruits. Adults also eat rotting plants. Freshly hatched larvae survive exclusively off of the food that they’re laid on. This is one of the main reasons they’re considered a common household pest.
Fruit flies originated in certain parts of the tropics. Human activity has spread them to every continent except Antarctica. They prefer temperate climates where they can access plenty of water. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Aug-2023 03:17:16 JST
kho
🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
Even though their name implies that these little guys are bugs, they're not actually insects, but crustaceans. They're in the isopod (meaning same pod or foot) family and have seven pairs of legs that are all similar in size and shape. Roly-poly bugs also have three main body parts – head, thorax and abdomen – as well as simple eyes, uropods, a pair of prominent antennae, gills and lunglike adaptations. As terrestrial creatures related to marine animals, they need moisture to survive but cannot live submerged in water.
Roly-poly bugs have many unique adaptations. They have an exoskeleton with plates. They may not be able to bite or sting, but many are able to roll up into a ball for protection and also use odor as a defense. Roly-polies have even shown social behaviors such as fighting over food and communicating by tapping with their antennae. They absorb water with food, through mouth parts or by capillary action through their uropods. These cold-blooded critters react strongly to humidity levels, light and temperature changes. They like dark, moist areas, and if left out in the sun, they perish. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Aug-2023 03:17:15 JST
kho
Giant water bugs—Kirkaldyia deyrolli—are mostly found in East Asia, Australia and the Americas. These bugs are some of the largest in the world (measuring up to fifteen centimeters long) and hunt small fish and amphibians. They are also known to consume snakes and turtles. They wait at the bottom of freshwater rivers and lakes for their prey. When a potential meal comes by, the giant water bug injects powerful digestive fluid into it so that the insides of the prey turn to liquid for easier ingestion. The bug has one of the most painful bites in the insect world.
The male bugs take a very active role in reproduction. Around seven hundred eggs are laid on the male’s wings and remain there until they are ready to hatch. The giant water bug is used in Asian cuisine and it is a popular snack in Thailand. The pheromones it secretes are used in production of an expensive dipping sauce. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Aug-2023 03:16:53 JST
kho
Arthropod of yesterday I forgot to post it here:
The western pygmy blue (Brephidium exilis or Brephidium exile) is one of the smallest butterflies in the world and the smallest in North America. It has reached Hawaii, as well as the Persian Gulf, including eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Males establish a territory in which they look for receptive females to mate with. After mating, females lay eggs on all parts of the host plant, oftenmost on the uppersides of leaves. The caterpillars eat all parts of the plant; host species include Pigweed (Chenopodium album), saltbush species (Atriplex), and others in the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae). Adult imagos appear in July–September in the north, while it appears year round in South Texas. Adults feed on nectar only. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Aug-2023 03:16:52 JST
kho
🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
House crickets are distantly related to grasshoppers and were most likely introduced to the U.S. between 1950 and 2000 when they became the standard feeder insect for the pet and research industries. They are known for their loud chirping which is caused when males rub their front wings together to attract females.
House crickets are omnivores. In nature, house crickets eat rotting leaves, rotting fruit, vegetables and insects. Once inside a home or other building, house crickets will feed on a variety of fabrics and wallpaper glue. House crickets prefer fabrics made of natural fibers like wool and silk. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Aug-2023 03:16:52 JST
kho
Today's arthropod:
At over 6 inches long, the Titan Beetle is the largest beetle in the world, and one of the largest insects that we know of. They have strong mandibles and sharp spines to help them defend themselves. While they are large and imposing, these beetles are not aggressive and only act in defense when threatened.
Even though they are very large, adult Titan Beetles do not eat anything. They can fly but only do so for short bursts to conserve energy.
They have curved mandibles at the front of their head, used to snap and bite. These mandibles are sharp and strong enough to bite people when they feel threatened. They aren’t naturally aggressive but do possess plenty of defensive mechanisms, including their bite, that they can use if they are threatened. -
kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Aug-2023 03:16:51 JST
kho
Phymateus viridipes Stal, aka Green Milkweed Locust or African Bush Grasshopper, belonging to the family Pyrgomorphidae (Gaudy Grasshoppers), is an African locust about 70 millimetres (2.8 in) long at maturity and capable of long migratory flights. Its body and forewings are green in colour while the hindwings are bright red and blue, presenting a striking appearance in flight.
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