#pupae

[futurebird]

It's always bothered me that when people adapt Kafka's Metamorphosis they depict Gregor Samsa as a roach. Cockroaches do not undergo metamorphosis. They are born as nymphs which are just smaller wingless versions of the adult form.

Kafka writes that Gregor can only enjoy rotten food. Which also makes him not at all roach-like. Roaches strongly prefer fresh vegetables to rotten ones.

And, of course, he gets stuck on his back, not something roaches struggle with nearly as much as beetles.

That's why always imagined him as a beetle. Which implies that the man Gregor was a larvae for all his pre-bug life. I thought that was the whole point of the story... We're all grubs, but Gregor reached the next stage though sadly none of the grubs in his family could understand him.

[heartnosekid]

oleander hawkmoth (daphnis nerii) | stonedaffection on ig

[rattyexplores]

Cocoon Creation of Cyana Moths

This lichen-feeding genus of moths have a very strange looking cocoon.

The cocoon is made with the larva’s setae (hair-like structures), with the pupa being suspended in the centre of the cocoon with silk.

These cocoons can be found across Southeast Asia (Hawes 2016), however they can also be found in parts of Australia, with Cyana meyricki being a common species here.

Cyana meyricki

Source and further reading

06/07/22

[myfckingnameisnuwanda]

This is because I said the last one was easy, isn't it? TuT

Masterpost

<- 021: Freefall - 023: Schwartzwald ->

<-<- 001: Angler Fish

[sixteenseveredhands]

The Common Green Lacewing: these tiny insects pupate within loosely-woven cocoons that measure just 3-6mm (about 1/8 to 1/4 inch) in diameter

The lacewing will spend about 5 days maturing within its cacoon, before it cuts an opening in the top and emerges as a fully-developed adult.

The larvae of the green lacewing (family Chrysopidae) are also known as "aphid lions," due to their skill/appetite when it comes to hunting aphids. They're widely used in agricultural contexts to help eradicate pests, because they are voracious predators that also commonly prey upon caterpillars, leafhoppers, planthoppers, thrips, spiders, mites, and insect eggs.

As it nears the end of its larval stage, a lacewing will spin a small cacoon out of silk and then tuck itself inside, allowing the pupal phase to begin; its tiny green body is often partially visible through the thin, loosely-woven walls of the cacoon.

These breathtaking photos of a lacewing climbing out of its cacoon were taken by a Danish photographer named Frederik Leck Fischer.

When a lacewing first emerges from a cacoon, its wings are still compactly folded down against its body; the wings then gradually begin to expand until they have reached their full size, which usually takes about an hour or two.

Fischer's photographs provide an excellent account of this entire process.

Here are just a few other images of the common green lacewing:

Sources & More Info

University of California's Integrated Pest Management Program: The Green Lacewing

Texas A&M's Field Guide to the Insects of Texas: Green Lacewings

Washington State University: Lacewings

Tennessee State University: Fact Sheet on the Green Lacewing (PDF download)

Pacific Pests & Pathogens: Green Lacewings/Biocontrol

[monkeyslunch]

You find a dark chrysalis that has a new, dusty moth emerge from it every day. Do you keep it?

[harlyhyde]

@onenicebugperday Any idea what this could be found in northern Germany. It is still moving if touched

[zombeaversrule]

[futurebird]

Death and Metamorphosis: parallels between the imagery of and reality of transformation.

We were talking about weaver ants over on the fediverse* and how they always look angry in photos since they are such brave little ants and determined to "defend our tree"

llewelly got interested in weavers and found this great paper about their fossil history. That brings me to what I want to share with you all over here on tumblr: I love this image of the fossil ants from the paper. They are pupae, but something about them makes it feel like an Egyptian burial with these poses.

There are, of course, deep parallels between the notion of mummification, waiting for the next world and the pupal state of insects as their bodies are transformed by metamorphosis.

*if the fediverse sounds like a fun place you should join us. It's like twitter with nice people.

[heartnosekid]

old world swallowtail caterpillars (papilio machaon) | source

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Worker ants tend to pupae and small larvae in a colony of clonal raider ants, Ooceraea biroi.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DANIEL KRONAUER

[rattyexplores]

Cyana meyricki Cocoons

More info on cocoon creation here

Cyana meyricki

18/03/23

[comicsispeople]

Pupating ants make milk — and scientists only just noticed

Oat milk is out, we all drink ants' milk now.

[peacewise08]

Optimising weight, by david jarvis may 2022.

Optimising weight, by david jarvis may 2022.

Feeling good. Feeling bad. Feeling ambivalent. Feeling strong. Feeling weak. These are the kinds of things we all feel! Your feelings are motivation, but they are not always rational, they will lead us all around and around and may not lead in the most rational observable best pathways forward. I love exercise, i love eating, i love drinking and I love to write! The reality is that too much of…

[manga-ranga]

Got a broken thing in the mail, so what am I gonna do?

Simple. MAKE. ART!!!!!!!!!!!

Aaaaannnnnndddddd bit of hot glue (after dropping broken thing accidentally and making it more broken then fixing it), and we're done!

They're bee pupae! I.e. just before they pop out into the world.

Giant bee pupae that will either be adorable or kill us all.

[onenicebugperday]

Southern African slug moth, Coenobasis amoena, Limacodidae

Photo 1 by thijsvalkenburg, 2 by nikiescott, 3 by fubr, 4 by Bernard Dupont, 5 by qgrobler, 6-7 (cocoon before and after moth emerged) by nikiescott, 8-9 by wolfachim, and 10 by suncana