Spidey Senses
from fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz on 01 Jul 17:33
https://mander.xyz/post/33192279

#science_memes

threaded - newest

propter_hog@hexbear.net on 01 Jul 17:39 next collapse

So in addition to crabification, we also have antification. Evolution really just found an energy minima at eight legs, huh?

Ephera@lemmy.ml on 01 Jul 20:17 next collapse

Proper ants only have 6 legs, though. But yeah, these spiders-turned-to-ants would have 8 legs.

Well, and crabs technically have 10 legs, with their foremost pair typically equipped with pincers. šŸ™ƒ

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de on 02 Jul 15:24 collapse

i’m sure there’s at least one ant-mimicking spider that has turned their front legs into extra quasi-pedipalps to blend in better, getting rid of limbs is super easy in evolution (that’s where antennae and the existing pedipalps come from, and spinnerets too i presume)

fox@hexbear.net on 01 Jul 20:23 next collapse

It’s more that the lobster plan (long body) is really quite good in many niches, but the crab plan (wide body, no exposed tail) works better in more productive ecosystems that have more predators. So anything lobster shaped coming up from the deep mud will have to reduce its tail or get sniped by a fish

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de on 02 Jul 15:22 collapse

so wait are we just walking terrestrial lobsters? and… gorillas are primate crabs maybe?

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 01 Jul 20:41 collapse

Carcinisation is a bit more of an adaption to environment (convergent evolution into same-ish shape for the by-chanceb best utility of it … ie a perfect body) vs niche mimicry which is in relation to another specific species (ie some else’s body).

rizzothesmall@sh.itjust.works on 01 Jul 17:50 next collapse

I could be violet sky

SculptusPoe@lemmy.world on 01 Jul 17:57 next collapse

Are ants so visual? I guess so, or there wouldn’t be enough advantage for these guys to develop. I thought they went purely by sensing pheromones.

SGforce@lemmy.ca on 01 Jul 18:14 collapse

Maybe it isn’t just fooling ants?

Don’t know the advantage to fooling everything else but they are convincing. Worked in a warehouse that had a bunch of the red ones one summer. Everybody thought there was an ant problem but they seemed off to me. Firstly, they were never in groups, you’d only find lone ones wandering. Secondly, they walked like ants but held their ā€œantennaeā€ strangely. Lastly, when knocking one off a box I discovered they have a tether thread.

Gullible@sh.itjust.works on 01 Jul 19:00 collapse

Ants are rarely visual, but I’m also struggling to figure out which predator this is meant to dissuade.

blackbrook@mander.xyz on 01 Jul 19:39 next collapse

I would guess it’s to fool their prey.

SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net on 01 Jul 19:40 next collapse

Consider: the goal isn’t for predators to be fooled, but prey.

Lots of things consider ants totally harmless, like aphids that gets farmed and stuff. Perhaps it’s an adaptation to throw those things off.

pmtriste@lemmy.world on 01 Jul 19:50 next collapse

Ah, so these spiders look like ants to fool the aphids that ants farm. Similar to how something that looked a lot like a human might fool cows and sheep into following them away to be eaten.

Gullible@sh.itjust.works on 01 Jul 19:53 collapse

Aphids are borderline mindless, their chief strategy is simply breeding more aphids. I’ve gleefully spectated ladybugs devouring dozens of aphids, and not a single one responded in any way. Tiny dead idiots.

You might be on the right track, but I’m still struggling.

SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net on 01 Jul 19:56 next collapse

Honestly was just the first example I could come up with, but the fact remains that a lot of things do consider ants to be harmless because they aren’t, like, hunting those things. Especially other small arthropods.

I’m sure there are some hunting ant species (like the 200 army ant species), but most of them aren’t.

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de on 02 Jul 15:21 collapse

fun fact: aphids are born pregnant (or at least they can be)

Gullible@sh.itjust.works on 02 Jul 15:34 collapse

Moreover, they can give birth to live young. Live young that are, as you said, pregnant. Pregnant with live, pregnant young. They’re a veritable Russian nesting doll. My loathing for these parthenogenic little fucks cannot be overstated.

seaplant@slrpnk.net on 02 Jul 00:09 collapse

The Wikipedia page on ant mimicry is full of fun facts, but the relevant bits:

Jumping spiders in the genus Myrmarachne are Batesian mimics

Batesian mimics lack strong defences of their own, and make use of their resemblance to a well-defended model, in this case ants, to avoid being attacked by their predators.

Studies on this genus have revealed that the major selection force is the avoidance of ants by predators such as spider wasps and other larger jumping spiders.

But also (not specific to Myrmarachne):

Ant mimics can be myrmecophilous, with the mimics and their ant models living commensally together. In the case of ants, the mimic is an inquiline in the ants’ nest. Such mimics may in addition be Batesian or aggressive (predator) mimics. To overcome ants’ powerful defences, mimics may imitate ants chemically with ant-like pheromones, visually, or by imitating an ant’s surface microstructure to defeat the ants’ tactile inspections.

emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 02 Jul 05:23 collapse

Thats actually wild, they can smell like ants and are convincing enough to pass a physical ant patdown. Crazy.

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de on 02 Jul 15:21 collapse

squeezes your buttcheek yeah they’re human, carry on

jqubed@lemmy.world on 01 Jul 18:17 next collapse

Spider-Ant
Spider-Ant
Does whatever a spider can

Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works on 01 Jul 18:24 next collapse

Except jump

Cause it would be sus

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 01 Jul 20:29 collapse

Among ants be like ā€˜Did Carl just casually jump 20 stories high like it was nothing??’

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.zip/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.tenor.com%2Fm%2FgqA7tDEpFLMAAAAd%2Fcat-jump.gif">

iAvicenna@lemmy.world on 01 Jul 19:58 next collapse

Can he jump from a branch?

No he can’t, he is an ant

Look out, he is a Spider-Ant!

ada@piefed.blahaj.zone on 02 Jul 02:44 collapse

Strange, she can't fall from a branch either. Whenever she does, she always seems to catch herself with spider web...

supamanc@lemmy.world on 01 Jul 22:02 next collapse

Ant-spider, surely?

moistclump@lemmy.world on 02 Jul 03:41 collapse

whatever a spider c’ant

Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de on 01 Jul 18:20 next collapse

Evolution to spiders: We’ve decided to combine your head and thorax.

Some jumping spiders: Nah

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 01 Jul 20:27 collapse

Lmao, giraffe spiders!

zqwzzle@lemmy.ca on 01 Jul 18:32 next collapse

The crab of the insect world?

SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net on 01 Jul 19:38 collapse

Arthropods, man. They have two ideals and everything goes toward them.

UberKitten@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 01 Jul 19:44 collapse

impossible arthropod beauty standards need to be stopped!

SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net on 01 Jul 21:29 collapse

That gave me a good chortle. Thanks for making my dumb thought funnier 😊

Zerush@lemmy.ml on 01 Jul 20:05 next collapse

I saw in a documental a snake which fools ants, but not to eat these, but to use these as bait for fooling lizards, which are the real prey for the snake.

  • The snake buried itself in the sand, leaving only the tail point, imitating a tan of grass
  • This attracts the ant
  • This in turn attracts the lizard who wants to eat the ant
  • End of the lizard

Evolution games

Jumping spiders are anywayvery smart for catching their prey, even without the need to disguise their aspect, analyzing the situation and adjust their strategy.

Kolanaki@pawb.social on 01 Jul 20:07 next collapse

Bottom left is definitely a spider. I count 8 legs and can see the distinct segmentation of a spider body. Though, really, just dat fat ass gives it away.

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 01 Jul 20:21 collapse

… arent they all spiders?

(Besides the leggies & butts, eyes are also an ez clue.)

Kolanaki@pawb.social on 01 Jul 20:30 next collapse

They are all spiders, but if it hadn’t said they were all spiders I could have still just looked at that guy with little scrutiny and went ā€œwait a minuteā€¦ā€ He looks the least ant-like.

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 01 Jul 21:21 collapse

Oh, yeah, true - but I don’t know what species of ants it’s mimicking. Perhaps that’s just how they look too & now we are body-shaming ants for looking too spidery (ā€˜sup, you 6-legged no-neck with that thicc ass’) :D.

It seems like it’s Myrmarachne maxillosa, very snooty thing.

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.zip/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flive.staticflickr.com%2F4078%2F4909487853_55c61e767c_b.jpg">

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.zip/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.markeisingbirding.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fxx_large__1280_960_%2Fpublic%2Fmyrmarachne_maxillosa._tub_kaek_beach_area_krabi_thailand._2_february_2013_2.jpg%3Fitok%3D-g6pn68T">

It’s prob mimicking a puppy or something.

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.zip/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.sciencephoto.com%2Fimage%2Fc0358754%2F800wm">

Here is one desperately trying to toucha the butt of another:

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.zip/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flive.staticflickr.com%2F4166%2F33463056433_379a0ebec2_b.jpg">

As for who they are copypastaing:

It probably mimics the Common Spiny Ants of the genus Polyharchis.

Yeah, these ants indeed have a dump truck:

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.zip/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.squarespace-cdn.com%2Fcontent%2Fv1%2F5f4cf3b8b2a3715da2556590%2F1616984533233-5UBOH4M3UGECBI8RWG0R%2FIMG_6012.jpg">

(And these horny spiny ants do come in way more spinier flavours, pretty metal.)

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 05 Jul 15:25 collapse

It’s prob mimicking a puppy or something.

Why would you put that uncensored comment out here for us to see? Now I’m going to have nightmares as if directed by John Capenter about spiders that look exactly like puppies to humans until they attack.

They are most dangerous on Halloween, by the way:

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/cfde94ba-e548-4cbd-a0a4-fe25555f44ab.jpeg">

Stay vigilant. Do not become a statisic.

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 05 Jul 18:00 collapse

Why would you put that uncensored comment out here for us to see? Now I’m going to have nightmares as if directed by John Capenter about spiders that look exactly like puppies to humans until they attack.

Ohhhh, that’s a really cool & outstanding thought!
(With a satisfying explanation for the biological size limits ofc. It can just be ā€œmagicā€, idk, the idea is too nice to be cockblocked by a plot hole.)

It would be even funnier if the arachnids lost some original traits in favour of mimicry & their new environments (like the jumping spoders in this post lost the jumping part for their ant masquerade).

Not the jumping, but like the way of life - they just figured dogs have it too good when bonded to nice humans so some jumping-dog spiders just decide they want to be pets and they cuddle & fetch their entire lives (sure the humans might find it suspect how many live snacks they have to feed their pupper, or how no smol animals seem to hang around the house, but that’s not that different to being owned by a cat).

Also nothing beats the feeling of a happy jumping-dog spider jump-hugging you when you get home with all its weight.

(There is also the funny looks the first time you take your dog to the vet. Or how it builds it own beds out of the nicest silky material you’ve ever seen. Or how you’ve seen it jump from the ground after a squirrel … that was on the very top of a very tall three.)

Also jumping-dog spiders - kings of puppy-eyes look!

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.zip/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F474x%2Fb4%2F9a%2F3a%2Fb49a3ab34ecc56bf951416e2b00cb0b3.jpg">

The mammal head tilt still needs some (evolutionary) work tho:

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.zip/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fmhi6zn6sjc291.jpg">

- ā€˜Does it bite?’
- ā€˜Almost never, but it will cocoon people that it dislikes.’

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 01 Jul 20:43 collapse

I think so, too. They all seem to have eight legs, more than two eyes, which don’t look like compound eyes, a cephalothorax/two body segments rather than three, a lack of antennae, etc. It would probably be easier to tell looking at them head-on so we could see their chelicerae.

Edit: turns out the pedipalps are more of a giveaway.

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/b76811cb-74c7-4049-8227-8357ba1f7bbb.jpeg">

Man, I wish spiders didn’t creep me out so much. They’re very cool, but my ancient lizard brain isn’t having it.

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 01 Jul 21:18 next collapse

Omg, at least it’s alive in your pic, ty <3.

And yes, we are hardwired for some memetics about spider-looking things, but being amazed by them, understanding them biologically, & perhaps a bit of co-living (about as close to befriending them without them being ā€œa petā€ & still independent - you know, just seeing & saying hi to Clara every day, watching the life of a begin with ups & downs) may adapt how the association network in your brainhole is used.
(Just guessing.)

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 01 Jul 21:46 collapse

No problem!

That’s very accurate. I don’t mind handling tarantulas or furry jumping spiders, but shiny spiders of any kind creep me out. Bonus point for terror if there’s webbing involved. Hobo spiders are probably the worst. They’re so fast and aggressive. I still catch them and take them outside, but it still feels awful. The only exception to the mercy rule is the shower. Shower spiders go down the drain immediately.

IndustryStandard@lemmy.world on 01 Jul 22:42 next collapse

Kill it with fire water

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 01 Jul 22:43 collapse

Poor clean spiders.

But I get what you are saying, it makes some intuitive sense.
In my case I think I’ve (as a kid) narrowed down the technical memetic part mostly to the very centre-point where the 8 lines end, so basically my brain recognising the legs (starting from the end of the legs) & then seeing how they ā€œendā€ up in one narrow place (so, relatively to spider leg size, if the sternum looking from the bottom or the end part of prosoma from the top is ā€œtoo tightly togetherā€ or even too perfectly round/octagonal shaped).
(And spiders differ very much in that regard, even the same one in relation to how well fed it is :D.)

Why? Idk, but doesn’t feel learned.
(It’s still there, but not the default/I have to think about it more actively.)

That I remember (again, as a kid) I was only triggered (differently than described above) by one ā€œtoo smoothā€ species, the poor, harmless, misjudged beneficial, cute (well, as all spiders) wasp spiders.
I didn’t harm them but it’s a sad memory for me bcs the smol town (or the whole valley?) I grew up in basically doesn’t have them anymore. Bcs we hate flowers/biodiversity, but love grass & pesticides I guess. I should be glad they were even still around for me to experience them.

(No pics bcs you mentioned you only like unshaven butts & legs.)

remon@ani.social on 02 Jul 19:29 next collapse

I didn’t harm them but it’s a sad memory for me bcs the smol town (or the whole valley?) I grew up in basically doesn’t have them anymore. Bcs we hate flowers/biodiversity, but love grass & pesticides I guess.

Wasp spider actually primarily live in tall grass. Big, unmown fields of grass are a great place to look for them. But I guess pesticides don’t help.

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 02 Jul 19:38 collapse

Yes, you are correct, I was inaccurate in my description of events - they systematically cut grass & nothing looks wild anymore (but also less tall grass & there are less mixed meadows).

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 05 Jul 16:14 collapse

For me, it was the fireflies. I grew up in suburbs at the edge of a city, where the rural land started, just about as far as city water and sewer reached. It grew pretty quickly, and by the time I turned 18, I was about as close to the city center as I was to the outskirts. In that process, every summer, there were fewer and fewer of them until one year they were just gone. I was busy, so I didn’t think much of it at the time, but looking back, I regret not making an attempt to make a habitat for them in our garden.

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 05 Jul 18:19 collapse

That’s so sad.

It’s hard to argue how we aren’t an infestation. The reach & environmental effects of humans per individual is outstanding even without factoring the explosive growth (globally only a few 100k or a few millions for 4 billion years, then a billon in a single millennia, then 9 billon in just 200 years).

Solitary unconnected gardens can’t help, it would barely be possible to sustain us normally if we all were extremely and unambiguously (and with much more knowledge) aware of & actively dedicating our lives to diminish environmental impacts.

But also our overall lives would be better. Imagine forest cities with tall buildings (without critter loss, so maybe glass covered streets?), clean every, waste treatment & reuse, no ā€œwasteā€, etc.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 05 Jul 18:41 collapse

If it helps, some models are showing it level off. If we advance climate science and use it to inform policy, we might be able to slowly contract our population while avoiding a ā€œChildren of Menā€ style collapse. I assume it would take a few thousand years to reach an equilibrium that allows us to maintain a habitable environment while still developing space-faring technology. The bonus is that the time it would take might change our practices into something a little more worthy of spreading to other planets if that ever becomes possible. I think with our current energy and pollution situation, we’ve guaranteed ourselves future hardships for many generations, but I don’t think it’s hopeless yet.

Regardless, other life has done similar stuff before. It resulted in mass extinction, but life moved on in some form. I hope the earth will be great with us in it, but if not, it will probably be fine without us, too.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event

lars@lemmy.sdf.org on 02 Jul 12:07 next collapse

ancient lizard brain

I’m with you 100% spiders-wise but wonder if it’s cultural rather than lizard-brained. If I had a kid whom I could convince

  • spiders don’t scare me and should not scare you,
  • spiders, humans, and dogs are all reasonable animals to have in our home,

then would this kid be down with spiders’ company?

faythofdragons@slrpnk.net on 02 Jul 12:52 next collapse

Yeah, I also think its cultural and not an instinct. We don’t have screens on the windows, so letting spiders roam freely means I don’t get flies, which are objectively worse to cohabitate with.

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de on 02 Jul 15:16 next collapse

i think it’s instinctive to go ā€œOH FUCKā€ when something of sufficient size skitters about, but not instinctive to specifically hate spiders

and it doesn’t matter what the skittery thing is, if a mouse scurries across my floor i’m gonna get spooked too, and i think mice are cute!

lars@lemmy.sdf.org on 03 Jul 00:43 collapse

I see mice outside and I’m like ā€œawwwwwwwwwā€.

I hear about people seeing spiders inside and my pulse rate rises.

Iapetus@slrpnk.net on 02 Jul 19:10 collapse

Nah, my mother loved spiders and we somehow regularly had fucking massive house spiders crawling around on the ceiling of the house when I was growing up. I swear she must have been bringing them into the house at one point or something, we definitely had a well above average amount of spiders for a good few years there.

There was only ever one at a time though, that I ever saw anyway, but they were those really big, hairy bastards that you can count the legs off from across the room and don’t look like they’re supposed to live in England.

Fast too, so fast, and eerily silent as they skittered, with too many angles protruding from their fat bodies. If you couldn’t see them so starkly outlined against the white ceiling, you’d never even know they were up there, and they’d cross the room in less time than it took you to walk there yourself.

My mum thought they were cool though and called them all Boris and she’d talk to them like they were bloody cats. Mad woman.

I am (thank fuck) not my mother and shit scared of most spiders*. My mothers’ behaviour did not impact my perfectly rational fear of potentially dangerous creatures crawling around my house. I know giant house spiders aren’t dangerous to humans, but plenty of other big spiders around the world are and I don’t think it’s wise to try desensitise human children to this, especially as more and more species now will be migrating due to climate change.

*Jumping spiders are cool, I like those ones. They’re surprusingly smart, and cute, and they’ve even evolved a vegetarian amongst them.

remon@ani.social on 02 Jul 19:18 collapse

I know giant house spiders aren’t dangerous to humans, but plenty of other big spiders around the world are and I don’t think it’s wise to try desensitise human children to this

There is actually not a lot of them, really just a handful of species per continent (out of 53.000). It’s much easier to learn about the few medical significant spiders in your area and be cool to the rest of the spiderbros.

Iapetus@slrpnk.net on 02 Jul 19:28 collapse

Be cool to all animals, killing them is not OK.

But also, common house spider spreads antibiotic-resistant bacteria to humans, study finds, so maybe don’t be so blasĆ© about letting them live in your house?

remon@ani.social on 02 Jul 19:32 next collapse

Uff … this article. Talking about a common house spider, showing a picture of a noble false widow but labeling it a black widow … I’m gonna disect that in a minute, wait for my next reply.

remon@ani.social on 02 Jul 19:57 collapse

Alright, I tracked down the original source (no links provided in the news article …) and it seems they do mean the noble false widow when they say ā€œcommon house spiderā€. Which I guess is technically correct, because it’s a common spider to find in your home (in the UK, Ireland and California, that is).

Anyway, the actual article is quite interesting and above my paygrade as an amateur enthusiast. The first thing that stood out to me was that they said ā€œIn addition to their medically significant venomā€, refering to Steatoda nobilis. That is not what is widley accepted amonst arachnologists.

So I forwarded it to a friend who is a proper, published arachnologist. He immedietly replied with ā€œOh, yeah, the Dunbar studyā€. It seems to be kind of a one-off study so far (there are very few properly documented bites to begin with). The professional called the study ā€œvaluableā€ but also said that he was ā€œsceptical of the interpretationā€.

I would add that bites from Steatoda (and Theridiidae in generall, which includes black widows) are very rare and quite easy to avoid. They are very stationay spiders and can stay their entire live in a single web (the females. Males will wander around during mating season, but even amongst the black widows, only the mature females are considered medically significant).

I’ll still happily have Steatoda spiders in my flat with no worries. I know them, they’re cool.

Bytemeister@lemmy.world on 02 Jul 19:40 collapse

Get a pet jumping spider. They don’t eat much, don’t need a large enclosure, you can handle them, and their venom is not significant to humans (they don’t really bite anyway).

My partner has two of them on her desk, and catching them exploring or sunning themselves is a little happiness boost every time.

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4a42aa24-1cc6-4d05-84f8-cd66356be48d.jpeg">

Here is one chilling out.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 05 Jul 09:05 collapse

Thanks for the suggestion. I just might do that. They’re very cute.

Bytemeister@lemmy.world on 05 Jul 13:22 collapse

Fair warning, they have the same problem as rats… They live just long enough for you to get really attached to them. Lifespans are about 1 year for males, and up to 3 for females.

But, if you like them, you can always get a tarantula, which can live much longer.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 05 Jul 15:13 collapse

Hmm. I do think I’d make a good, unusually benevolent, eldrich god. On the other hand, I still miss my beta fish that died 5 years ago. No telling how I’d react to the rise and fall of a spider family line, dozens of generations in length.

Tarantulas are cool, but I’d worry about dropping it. I know they typically don’t bite, and that their bites aren’t dangerous. Still, I don’t know if I could relate to it positively after that. It’s not rational. I’ve gotten mild dog bites and cat scratches from pets playing too rough, and those are much more dangerous. Tarantulas still pas the cuteness test, but I think the spider bias affects them more than jumping spiders.

I don’t think I’ve ever been uncomfortable having a jumping spider on me unexpectedly. It’s fun to watch them hunt. Watching the retinas in their big eyes move to track things is fun. It makes them seem more like adorable cartoon characters.

Bytemeister@lemmy.world on 05 Jul 17:01 collapse

I know they typically don’t bite, and that their bites aren’t dangerous.

Fair warning, they may not be ā€œdangerousā€, but from the tarantula breeders I’ve talked to, some can ā€œpack a whallopā€ which to me means painful as all fuck.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 05 Jul 17:37 collapse

Good to know. I definitely don’t want that. I should just go see a migration and enjoy them from a safe distance.

TankieTanuki@hexbear.net on 01 Jul 20:18 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/b4aa1646-78bd-49bb-8311-54ca517b76c2.png">

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 01 Jul 20:20 next collapse

Great info, even the funny they-don’t-jump part, def looks like they don’t have the jumping hydraulics >!(but I’m always sad to see dead spiders)!<.

Fleur_@aussie.zone on 01 Jul 21:14 next collapse

The skinwalkers are among us

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de on 02 Jul 15:19 collapse

imagine if a species of lemur evolved to broadly look like us, but still with lemur faces and stuff

that’s basically what’s happening for ants, terrifying

tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip on 02 Jul 15:30 collapse

I don’t think ants see very well, so it’d prob be more like lemurs that look exactly like us, but smell like ozone and old grease.

ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 02 Jul 15:43 collapse

Note to self - automotive mechanics may be lemurs, High voltage electricians certainly are

samus12345@sh.itjust.works on 01 Jul 22:15 next collapse

It’s lucky for them ants can’t count. ā€œā€¦seven, eight legs?? Wait a minute!ā€

friendly_ghost@beehaw.org on 02 Jul 05:29 next collapse

Imagine trying to hide an entire pair of legs when you’re hanging out with ants

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de on 02 Jul 15:14 collapse

ā€œohoho no! these aren’t legs, they’re pedipalps! mmm, pedipalps to help me eat!ā€

I_am_10_squirrels@beehaw.org on 03 Jul 03:03 collapse

What big pedipalps you have, great aunt!

TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world on 02 Jul 15:37 next collapse

No, I’m not ant.

cholesterol@lemmy.world on 02 Jul 19:35 next collapse

I could be an ant.

supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz on 02 Jul 19:41 next collapse

Plot Twist All actual ant species are derived from antcestor that was simply mimicking another species, and so thus all ants are total frauds.

Good thing I don’t come from an evolutionary branch like that!

Eyedust@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 02 Jul 21:07 collapse

My ADHD brain counting all the legs on these mfers for the past five minutes…