show me the bugz

Stephanie, big fan of birds, bugs, and frogs. I am the ants beneath your feet, I am the bees who fly above, I am the grasshoppers that jump beside you. My spiders lurk in your windows and report to me your darkest treasons. (aka @steffinephrine)

[gif87a-com]

[boopsandswoops]

Munch

[notkatniss]

I love baseball

[notkatniss]

they let the pest control man throw out the first pitch 😭

[hollow-keys]

You're missing the best part

Also, for those concerned: He did not kill the bees! He stunned and removed them for later release! [source]

[auckie]

[communist-hatsunemiku]

[virtualgirladvance]

You are a bug in bug hell but your spider torturer so fucking bad at their job that the devil himself has to grab you with his gay pitchfork and help them

[thenon-fictiondays]

I got arachnophobia real bad but this guy sucks at his job so much im not scared of him even a little bit

[thehotgirlproject]

[crevicedwelling]

spiny, long-legged, and armored, Polyrhachis ants are a common sight in Singapore as they forage for their colonies in a perpetual breakneck sprint. but this creature is no Polyrhachis: this is a jumping spider that looks and moves exactly like one!

he is Toxeus maxillosus*, one of the finest ant mimics I’ve seen.

an elongated first set of legs mime questing antennae while the rest are perfectly sized to match Polyrhachis’ gait. his enlarged chelicerae appear like an ant’s head, and the illusion is completed by pedipalps slung beneath like ant mandibles.

unfortunately I didn’t get a good still photo of the red-rumped Polyrhachis armata that he mimicked. however, a neighboring shrub housed another T. maxillosus who sported a shiny coat of gold hair in the style of Polyrhachis illaudata, a worker of which was also sitting there. side-by side, the mimicry is simply exquisite.

*at least, I think the black and red form is also considered T. maxillosus. the gold-haired form seems to be the most commonly observed type.

[crevicedwelling]

oh, and in case the ant mimicry wasn't enough, at least one species of Toxeus lactates.

Jumping Spider Mothers Secrete Milk-Like Substance to Feed Their Offspring | Sci.News

A team of scientists in China has discovered that females of a species of ant-mimicking jumping spider called Toxeus magnus secrete a nutrit

T. magnus females produce nutritious milk-like fluid to feed their young in the nest for six weeks, even after the babies leave their nests to hunt for themselves.

not to do a "coconuts" thing but... hair, milk, that's a mammal I'd say

[skelebee]

2.3.24 - valentine's washi tape

[glowont]

me when im a bowling alley carpet

[sometiktoksarevalid]

[bogleech]

Doing this benefits these species tremendously. They can become so rare over such a vast area as people destroy the only plants they can eat, every single one that survives makes a positive difference!

[flame-shadow]

What sorts of religions/beliefs/deities do you think bugs might have if they had minds more like ours?

I think transformation/transfiguration and death/rebirth would be significant for many cultures, especially ones that include species with complete metamorphosis.

Gods of regeneration. Gods of fertility. Gods of protection. Gods of family.

Spirits that can be called upon to assist in mating rituals or for luck on hunts. Spirits which haunt the giants that killed them. Spirits that whisper ethereal warnings with the faintest of pheromones.

A deity for centipedes that is of infinite length with legs more numerous than the stars or grains of sand. With its length and legs, it curls around and holds the world, keeping it close like a mother with her eggs.

A moth deity with as many wings as there are species and morphs. All are represented that they might find comfort.

A mantis deity whose camouflage and speed are such that no images dare be made of it. Wherever one thinks it is, there it might very well already be.

The firefly deity is a protector of knowledge with a focus in language. Its symbol is commonly associated with libraries.

A collection of sibling spiders who act as muses for creatives and artists of all types. Whether a single thread or an entire web, nothing is made in isolation; all is connected, and that is to be celebrated.

I imagine there would be many different interpretations of death and the afterlife too. Cockroaches never truly die - some are blessed to join their ancestors at the Great Feast while others are cursed to wander eternally the Scorched Plain. Webspinners have specific funerary rituals that must be followed, or a loved one's spirit might slip through the wrappings and be lost. Ants are reincarnated into a rival colony. Termites' souls seep into their surroundings, ideally to strengthen the home they worked on and to protect their colony further.

Perhaps there are curses too. You are marked if you survived a stare-down with a predator; surely, it knows you know and will hunt you later. Or you commit an atrocity and now carry the scent of death with you, no matter how many times you bathe or groom. May your antennae be forever fouled if you lead your sisters astray. May you lose a leg for every day you withhold a vital truth. May your spiracles feel clogged like those who you climbed over to save yourself when they were not yet lost themselves.

Fun stuff to think about. Feel free to add on if you'd like!

[doodle-birdo]

A spider god that created the world through its ethereal silk. The World Weaver if you will.

Festivals and prayers to the spring season. Everything comes out of the stasis and dead of winter. Maybe something to do with the god of regeneration?

A biblically accurate lepidopteran god with infinite wings with infinite eyes spots.

A dragonfly god based around the Meganisoptera (the ancient giant dragonflies). Perhaps a god of the hunt and success that bugs bless each other for before such hunts. Ceremonial hunts as a rite of passage or an annual event.

A colossus/giant based around Arthropleura. Something like those giant turtles with a whole continent on their shells.

A grasshopper deity of fitness, good health, and survival.

And the different stories of natural phenomenons. The creation of the world, sky, life etc.

Demon-like creatures that bear the forms of bugs’ worst enemies: Birds, bats (especially for moths), badgers and frogs. Maybe they have cult-like followings where it is honoured and praised to be killed by their kind.

A god that is simultaneously a larva, pupa and adult that protects and helps the children into adulthood.

And that’s all I have for now. Wow, this prompt gave me a lot of brain juice.

[bugs-are-cool]

Ooooh! What about rituals for insects that undergo complete metamorphosis? Items placed around their pupal cases with the intent of manifesting a healthy eclosion - healthy wings, strong legs, etc? What if family or community members gathered around their emerging brethren to protect them from predators, and eventually this ritual evolved into an elaborate song and dance?

What sort of stories and lore would bugs tell about other bug species? Would tarantulas tell their offspring horror stories about tarantula hawk wasps to teach them to be diligent of their surroundings? What sort of myths would they have about parasitoids? Cordyceps? What about their weird neighbors who crawl out of the ground every 13 years?

[platypu]

orb weavers' sexual dimorphism is hilarious to me like.

me and my big beautiful wife

[tanuki-kimono]

Rustic early autumn hemp obi with adorable insects (cicada, dragonfly, beetles, ants and cricket) pattern, paired with a lovely checkered kimono.

[escuerzoresucitado]

Tetragonula hockingsi brood structure nest

[dracula61]

[lemonsharks]

@onenicebugperday saw this thought of you

[cipheramnesia]

Wow, it just leaves huh.

[iwilleatyourenglish]

grasshopper nymphs make me want to cry. baby you are so small?

you're so small and also you're little?

[apsciencebylyn]

Reminder that fairy wasps can sometimes look like actual humanoid fairies when they hover

[platycryptus]

my bug ate my homework

[herpsandbirds]

Vanzolini's Worm Lizard (Amphisbaena vanzolinii), family Amphisbaenidae, Guyana

Legless lizard.

photograph by Elven Remérand

[jupiterswasphouse]

[VIDEO TAKEN: SEPTEMBER 15TH, 2023 | Video ID: A video of a black, yellow, white, and red lubber grasshopper on a piece of paper, wriggling its abdomen and opening and closing the dorsal and ventral valves of its ovipositor in a way that makes it look as if the back half of the animal is its own snapping creature /End IDs.]

Encountered this grasshopper and scooped it up with a letter! Which is about when I noticed it exhibiting this fascinating behavior! It's freaky but very interesting!

[a-book-of-creatures]

I didn’t know lubber grasshoppers did that! Terrifying!