I love running a bug blog because I'm always getting reblogs from people named "cockroach-hugger" or "iloveparasiticwasps"

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@waspguy101
I love running a bug blog because I'm always getting reblogs from people named "cockroach-hugger" or "iloveparasiticwasps"

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Mosquitoes actually are not replaceable in any ecosystem that naturally has them and that includes replacing them with any of the non biting species because these are the traits that make them so core to food webs:
Tiny
Can use every single pool of moisture to raise generations no matter how dirty and stagnant and low in oxygen
Can fly
Males get by on just sugars
Females take protein from larger animals to manufacture thousands more eggs
All these things combined allow thst ecosystem to make huge volumes of insects from conditions barren to most other macroscopic life. You might think there are other insects that seem to make huge massive swarms out of nothing but there's really nothing that hits all the same qualities *except other insects that also suck blood.*
It's the precise combo of being able to "prey" on things millions of times larger and breed in nothing but a few drops of filthy rainwater or the moisture in a rotten log. That's the most efficient combination for anything that size to multiply that rapidly where nothing else can even survive, except of course the things that can move in because they eat them :)
A lot of people ask "could they just not be itchy though?" and I regret to inform that isn't actually their doing, there's no evolutionary advantage to making you itchy. That's your own body detecting the intrusion of another creature's saliva into your skin, where it doesn't belong, and reacting with histamines.
If you've ever been bit hard enough by a cat, dog or even human you may notice a similar effect!
I remember having a conversation with someone about my hummingbird banding volunteering and how the data went toward support for conservation efforts among other things.
They were all for that, and loved hummingbirds and supported it!
And made a quip about how the only thing they wanted to see extinct were mosquitoes and small biting insects/fruit flies.
40 to 60% of a hummingbird’s diet, and their main source of other nutrients, is small, soft bodied insects.
Including mosquitoes and fruit flies.
They had a massive struggle not wanting to accept that no fruit flies and mosquitoes = no hummingbirds.
Bluebirds also eat tons of mosquitoes!
I've also added this on other big threads about this topic but I should add it here: Being INCREDIBLY OBNOXIOUS to larger animals, even when they aren't spreading any pathogens (and again, most mosquitoes don't!) actually is another vital purpose. Ecosystems need biting and stinging things to keep big, stompy, hungry beasts from getting too cozy. Mammals are the most resource-hogging animals in almost any biome but parasites can inhibit their growth a little (a good thing), discourage them from spending as much time in the same area or ward them away from whole areas to begin with. Mosquitoes in particular breed in filthy, stagnant bacteria-rich water. You know what leaves behind conditions like that? ANIMALS! Animals eating all the plants, wallowing in the mud and shitting everywhere! A herd of ungulates can turn a lush and healthy marsh into just a cesspit if nothing stops them. But it's mosquitoes that find a cesspit an appealing nursery. And then you get a cloud of mosquitoes so dense that the ungulates move on! There used to be a great BBC documentary that actually showed "mosquito season" driving a mass migration of African megafauna but the shittified search engines right now are only showing me articles about mosquito control no matter how I try to find this again, gee thanks, maybe someone else can find it? So while the "mosquitoes are bad" all the big animals leave for months. Months of the plants growing back, months of the water clearing up until it's drinkable again (and the mosquito larvae themselves are filter feeders!), months of the mosquitoes becoming food for tiny birds and lizards and arachnids and amphibians, and the beautiful wetland is back again strong enough to survive the repeat of that cycle the next year. Everything you hate in nature - the ticks, the territorial wasps, the stinging plants - are pretty much nature's immune system. Obviously this doesn't mean the big mammals are "bad" either. The cycles of destruction are themselves also something ecosystems come to rely on as a regulatory force :)
Oh, you like dogs? Even the ugly ones? That's weird.. I can't even look at dogs without feeling sick. I mean, of course I like dogs! I just want them as far away from me as possible. It's the dogs fault if it wanders into my house, of course I have to kill them. Dogs obviously know what houses are, it should know the house is mine. Hey did you see that video of the little machine someone made that rips dogs legs off? That's so funny haha. What? Don't be so sensitive! Killing dogs doesn't matter anyway, it's not like they're even real animals. They don't feel anything. I kill dogs all the time, I mean some of them deserve it! Some dogs are just evil. Honestly if I could make some dogs go extinct I would. Why should they be alive if they're so ugly and annoying? They don't even do anything. You really like dogs? There must be something wrong with you.
This post is about bugs.
Oh my goddddd shut the fuck uppppp shut upppp you're annoyingggg *FART WITH REVERB*
[ID: The strawman comic showing a person wearing clothing with a sign that all say "stupid [article of clothing]. a person says "This is my over-the-top strawman character. no one actually thinks like that, I'm just using hyperbole to make a point." in the next panel the strawman character appears and says "hi"]
person in the tags ^
For those wondering why we shouldn't drive ticks extinct:
Animals don't have to prove their worth to humans. Animals have as much a right to exist on this planet as humans. A tick's life has as much objective, inherent worth as your life does. But in case you're convinced that animals must have a purpose to be allowed to live:
When ticks feed, they are taking nutrients (blood) from other animals without killing them. Without exoparasites, like ticks, there is no way a spider could eat a deer. The nutrients would be 'locked' in the deer until its death. This is the core role that exoparasites play in the ecosystem - to move nutrients around without violence.
Ticks are an important environmental indicator species. The migration of ticks can tell us a lot about how different areas are affected by climate change.
Ticks create jobs and fuel The Economy by being disease vectors. Is that anthropocentric enough for you?
Ticks are beautiful, and looking at them brings me joy.
Fixed a wasp meme :)
a european hornet I found last year 💜

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Yellowjacket-Mimicking Moth: this is just a harmless moth that mimics the appearance and behavior of a yellowjacket/wasp; its disguise is so convincing that it can even fool actual wasps
This species (Myrmecopsis polistes) may be one of the most impressive wasp-mimics in the world. The moth's narrow waist, teardrop-shaped abdomen, black-and-yellow patterning, transparent wings, smooth appearance, and folded wing position all mimic the features of a wasp. Unlike an actual wasp, however, it does not have any mandibles or biting/chewing mouthparts, because it's equipped with a proboscis instead, and it has noticeably "feathery" antennae.
There are many moths that use hymenopteran mimicry (the mimicry of bees, wasps, yellowjackets, hornets, and/or bumblebees, in particular) as a way to deter predators, and those mimics are often incredibly convincing. Myrmecopsis polistes is one of the best examples, but there are several other moths that have also mastered this form of mimicry.
Above: Pseudosphex laticincta, another moth species that mimics a yellowjacket
These disguises often involve more than just a physical resemblance; in many cases, the moths also engage in behavioral and/or acoustic mimicry, meaning that they can mimic the sounds and behaviors of their hymenopteran models. In some cases, the resemblance is so convincing that it even fools actual wasps/yellowjackets.
Above: Pseudosphex laticincta
Such a detailed and intricate disguise is unusual even among mimics. Researchers believe that it developed partly as a way for the moth to trick actual wasps into treating it like one of their own. Wasps frequently prey upon moths, but they are innately non-aggressive toward their own fellow nest-mates, which are identified by sight -- so if the moth can convincingly impersonate one of those nest-mates, then it can avoid being eaten by wasps.
Above: Pseudosphex laticincta
I gave an overview of the moths that mimic bees, wasps, yellowjackets, hornets, and bumblebees in one of my previous posts, but I felt that these two species (Myrmecopsis polistes and Pseudosphex laticincta) deserved to have their own dedicated post, because these are two of the most convincing mimics I have ever seen.
Above: Pseudosphex sp.
I think that moths in general are probably the most talented mimics in the natural world. They have so many intricate, unique disguises, and they often combine visual, behavioral, and acoustic forms of mimicry in order to produce an uncanny resemblance.
Several of these incredible mimics have already been featured on my blog: moths that mimic jumping spiders, a moth that mimics a broken birch twig, a moth caterpillar that can mimic a snake, a moth that disguises itself as two flies feeding on a pile of bird droppings, a moth that mimics a dried-up leaf, a moth that can mimic a cuckoo bee, and a moth that mimics the leaves of a poplar tree.
Moths are just so much more interesting than people generally realize.
Sources & More Info:
Journal of Ecology and Evolution: A Hypothesis to Explain Accuracy of Wasp Resemblances
Entomology Today: In Enemy Garb: A New Explanation for Wasp Mimicry
iNaturalist: Myrmecopsis polistes and Pseudosphex laticincta
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London: A Few Observations on Mimicry
a gentle giant trying to catch some z's on the garden bed last year. she's an Australian 'Hornet' (not a true hornet), and is the largest species of wasp in the country, with a 30mm body length!
it was fascinating to watch her, at first I thought she was injured or dying, as I've never witnessed a wasp sleeping like this before. every now and then a little ant would come along and disturb her, so she'd get up, walk around and find her comfy spot again, and lay back down.
Potter Wasps work so hard, flying back and forth all day with mud and provisions to build nests for their babies. it's nice to know they stop to relax sometimes too.
Australian Hornet, female (Abispa ephippium), April '24.
Fixed a wasp meme :)
The versatile tiny spoon that serves one or a crowd
respect all hymenopterans (and other unliked arthropods)

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Posting wasp propaganda because my ass is seething yo!
Update! Edited background to be lighter for better legibility, usually use grey backgrounds for artwork and forgor that it probably wouldn’t be great to read!
i promise i put in a profile picture.....tumblr is taking forever to load it....i'm not a scam blog....
daily wasp 1
today's wasp is the Vespula vidua, the widow yellowjacket
a Neartic species, with a range from Manitoba (Canada), southeast to New York (USA), sometimes extending as far south as Georgia (USA)
some notable traits include: thick black band on the second abdominal tergite and free spotting
photos:
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