thisgentlechild

[thisgentlechild]

One of my Blaptica dubia roaches exploring the new layout after I cleaned the tub. Terrible photo due to plastic container walls, but with his forelegs up like that you can really see how short of a jump it is between roach and mantis.

[thisgentlechild]

A parasitoid wasp that insinuates itself so completely into the life cycle of its insect host that the host never gets to form its own imago:

As they feed on their pupating host, male parasitoids absorb the host's gonads

Males with male gonads mate with males that have female gonads, forming fertile host eggs

Males with female gonads can then mate with females, using a host egg as a spermatophore

The female fertilizes her own eggs, then re-lays the host egg implanted with her own

The host larva is born with wasp larvae already inside

They act as symbionts, remaining unobtrusive, increasing vigor and hunger of the host larva so it grows extra large

When the nice fat larva pupates, the wasp larvae devour it except for the gonads, and the cycle begins anew

[thisgentlechild]

This was certainly an email

[thisgentlechild]

Oh they're fucking FINALLY having this discussion. You would not believe how I see even "nature lovers" (especially nature lovers) talk about invasive species like they're evil demons you can go ahead and burn alive. Article is more about phasing out some exceptionally cruel types of trap but maybe that'll get regular people reconsidering how they treat stuff in their own yards, too.

Because what I feel I consistently observe is that, they might not even realize it at all, but it's like people are playing "acceptable target" with invasives and letting out all their bloodlust. I am not vegan and not against killing organisms in all sorts of contexts but there's no excuse to be callous and spiteful in the process.

[thisgentlechild]

More native predation on big fat delicious lanternflies! This time, whilst in a tree for unrelated reasons, I encountered this Florida Predatory Stink Bug (Euthyrhynchus floridanus) drinking a lanternfly and carrying it around.

The Spotted Lanternfly: nature's milkshake

[thisgentlechild]

Why I'm not worried about the Spotted Lanternfly here in the mid-Atlantic USA. This is a native Carolina Mantis chowing down on one of those big juicy planthoppers.

They're invasive, and ideally we'd eradicate them, but since that isn't happening, we can take comfort in the fact that the native fauna have no problems taking advantage of this new food source.

[thisgentlechild]

hello! i am a relatively new user here on tumblr, less than a year, and i have heard a comment or two about a 'wasp discourse' that happened here, that wasps are much more nice than bees or something among those lines

this caught my curiosity as im writting a wasp based character whos just an ahole as i did it on what i knew abt them from general internet and im stuck on wether i should maaayybe change them up a bit

if its not too much to ask do you happen to know a bit abt this discourse? or have a link to it? or if not to the discourse itself some other link that elaborates abt the same topic? perhaps even someone else i can ask this?

thank you very much!

to start off, there are a lot of bees and wasps in this world and it is not easy to generalize about them. there are ~20,000 bee species, and the vast majority of these are solitary bees that nest in the ground, plant stems, or in holes in wood, and because they produce no honey or have a colony to guard, have no need to be defensive or aggressive towards humans (because “towards humans” seems to be what most people base this idea off of). colonial bees, like honeybees, are actually much more defensive than solitary ones; they have huge food stores and many defenseless larvae, hence their nasty stings (or bites, for the stingless bees) and swarm defense of their hives.

bees, however, are just a family of wasps. their closest relatives are believed to be the crabronid wasps (example: cicada killers) and sphecid thread-waisted wasps (ex. mud daubers). these wasps, and most others, are also largely solitary, and hunting prey aside, don’t typically use their stings for anything other than personal defense. of the hundreds of thousands of wasps, most of them (75%) are not just solitary but also parasitoids that develop inside other insects. it’s hard to say “all wasps are assholes [to people]” when some 100,000 of them are tiny specks smaller than sesame seeds that nobody other than scientists notice.

two parasitoids: a braconid ~3mm long & something else ~0.3mm long

the wasps most people take issue with are vespids, since they like the same foods we do (sweets, meat) and have powerful stings to defend their nests. these include the social hornets, yellowjackets, and paper wasps, but many mason wasps and the like are solitary (and, you guessed it, want nothing to do with people). vespids are great predators of caterpillars, flies, and other pests that humans don’t like in addition to being pollinators.

a yellowjacket: Vespula squamosa

the usual anti-wasp, pro-bee sentiments go: wasps attack for no reason, don’t pollinate, don’t make honey, and are “assholes.” wasps do pollinate (most wasps, bees and ants don’t eat solid food, and therefore largely drink flower nectar; some plants are only pollinated by wasps).

some tropical wasps do actually make honey, though it’s not harvested by humans. it’s sort of silly to say that making honey is what makes bees “good” though—a very selfish mindset, and for example butterflies are well-liked by people despite not making any edible products for us.

wasps also attack only when provoked, either because you’re near a wasp nest or when you lean on one accidentally. they are defending their baby sisters and themselves, same as bees would. at least in the US, I think the reason that wasps are so hated is that we have many species of paper wasp and yellowjacket that are willing to nest on or under houses, while the (invasive) honeybees prefer trees or are kept by beekeepers in artificial hives, so it’s just more likely you’ll run into problems with wasps than bees.

tl;dr:

wasps and bees are neither “nice” nor “mean.”

bees are mostly loners that don’t bother people. colonial bees will sting to defend their nests or themselves from predators. most bees are pollinators, who gather pollen to feed their larvae. a few species make honey that humans harvest.

wasps are mostly loners that don’t bother people. colonial wasps will sting to defend their nests or themselves from predators. most wasps are pollinators, and most hunt or parasitize other insects to feed their larvae.

[thisgentlechild]

A quartet of isopods just chillin in a knothole. Armadillidium vulgare and A. nasatum.

[thisgentlechild]

"Stink Eye" 2018

[thisgentlechild]

In The Olden Days, December 2018

[thisgentlechild]

Tiny cauldron on the stovetop, boiling some dead leaves and dirt for the isopods

[thisgentlechild]

Eventually I'll put the last several years of my stupid art on here

[thisgentlechild]

Many babby in that brood pouch

Porcellio laevis "dairy cow" isopod

[thisgentlechild]

Many isopods (mixed community of Armadillidium vulgare and nasatum)

[thisgentlechild]

A screen-shot of a marvelous confluence whilst playing a knockoff Spelling Bee

[thisgentlechild]

OH how the turns have tabled. Hello again to Tumblr as twitter... er, I mean “X” continues to shit itself.

I’m outta here

Seems like tumblr wants to die so I’ll do my part to help it along. Find me on the twitter at @ThisGentleChild 

[thisgentlechild]

I’m outta here

Seems like tumblr wants to die so I’ll do my part to help it along. Find me on the twitter at @ThisGentleChild