Dear Bug Girl....

[bug_girl]

Another thread sort of went in an unintended direction, when a poorly worded question about "what should the general public know about insects" was interpreted as "what do you, individually, want to know about insects?"
My bad

So, here's the thread to ask away in! What random bug fact are you dying to know?
Or, what other important issue in the world of fashion, dating, or politics do you wish to have my opinion on?

Caveats:
--i have a real job, and it may take over 24 hrs for me to answer some questions.
--i can't identify any insects 100% over the internet

 

[Zep]

Why do all the fu**ing cockroaches in the world spend the summer in Sydney???

 

[Correa Neto]

Well, this is actually just to tell you that the tip you gave me on DEET-based insect repellants (sp?) is working.

30 days in amazonia and very few mosquito bites! YAY!
30 days in our bush country (I´m talking about vegetation, not GWB Jr.´s Texas) and very few mosquito bites! YAY!

Thanks!

Oh, a question about insects...

Is it true that their size is limited by the way their breathing systems are made and their exoskeleton weight? What would be the limit?

 

[Ralph]

Last fall (October) I had a problem with assasin bugs. They seemed to be everywhere. I'd just moved into the house & was worried that they might become a permanent problem.....

So far though--even though it's almost July now--I haven't seen a single one......

Are their populations cyclic in nature? Was last year just a bad year??



Also--while I'm not normally attracted to green multi-faceted eyes and antennae----there's something very erotic about your avatar...........you probably knew that though anyway...thx--Ralph

 

[chance]

What is the oldest fossil record of an insect (what, if any, is it’s modern equivalent).

 

[espritch]

Why are there no insects that live in the ocean? Given how plentiful they are in every other imaginable habitat (including fresh water), why have they never managed to return to the sea?

 

[aerocontrols]

I was waiting for a 'legit' thread where I could do this without threadjacking...

In your opinion...



Which bug species has had the biggest effect on the development of Man, and in what way?

Which bug species has had the biggest effect on history, and in what way?

Which bug species would you say has had the most interesting unexpected effect on a particular historical event? What event?


Of all the bug species that have abilities that mankind would like to replicate artificially:

1) Which ability of which species is close to being replicated, but not quite done?

2) Which ability of which species may never be replicated? (just too hard)

3) Which ability of which species do you think would be the most useful to replicate?

 

[Brian]

Cool.
So where do the cutworms go? What do they eat aside from tomatoes? I never see them anywhere but on tomato plants. And they're big. Do they burrow?

What bugs have you eaten and what do they taste like?(I just assume) Is the cutworm the watermelon of the bug world? They sure as hell look like it. Juicy.

 

[Yahweh]

Why dont maggots spontaneous generate from live cows? Is the cow's vital force somehow inhibiting this?

 

[Virgil]

bugs in medicine like leaches for amputations and blow flies to each dead tissue




V

 

[richardm]

Why are there no insects that live in the ocean? Given how plentiful they are in every other imaginable habitat (including fresh water), why have they never managed to return to the sea?

Do arthropods count as insects? If so, there are quite a few of them in the oceans - shrimps, crabs, and so on.

 

[Hand Bent Spoon]

Re: I was waiting for a 'legit' thread where I could do this without threadjacking...

Which bug species has had the biggest effect on the development of Man, and in what way?

Which bug species has had the biggest effect on history, and in what way?

If a layman can take a guess at these two, I'd say the answer to both is the mosquito/malaria.

 

[tonygraham]

Do arthropods count as insects? If so, there are quite a few of them in the oceans - shrimps, crabs, and so on.

Nope - all insects are arthropods, but not all arthropods are insects.

Specifically, arthropoda is a phylum within the kingdom animalia , while insecta is a class within the phylum arthropoda

 

[bug_girl]

oh dear lord, what have i done.
well, clearly, it's going to take a little longer than my initial estimate for me to get around to answering all of these.

 

[Benguin]

I always point out that prawns are basically aquatic cockroaches, and so cockroaches should be deepfried and served with lemon wedges as a tasty and nutritious appetiser.

Is there any evidence I can use to support my wildly speculative assertion? Can you provide this before the next dinner party I'm invited to attend? Strike that, people have stopped inviting me.

 

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Why are there no insects that live in the ocean? Given how plentiful they are in every other imaginable habitat (including fresh water), why have they never managed to return to the sea?

I'd think because other arthropods(crabs, lobsters, shrimp, sand fleas, etc.) already fill all ecological niches so they can't move in.

 

[bug_girl]

Well, this is actually just to tell you that the tip you gave me on DEET-based insect repellants (sp?) is working.
30 days in amazonia and very few mosquito bites! YAY!
30 days in our bush country (I´m talking about vegetation, not GWB Jr.´s Texas) and very few mosquito bites! YAY!

A completely unsolicited testimonial, folks

Oh, a question about insects...
Is it true that their size is limited by the way their breathing systems are made and their exoskeleton weight? What would be the limit?

It is true, but a technical discussion of the physics behind the exoskeleton size limitation is beyond me. I'll just stick to saying it gets so heavy, the insect can't move. There's a lot of technical stuff about cylinders and local buckle, and i'll skip it.
I can demonstrate it in person, but it's hard to write about without visual effects.

For anyone interested in the physics behind biology and biological structures, i recc. any of Stephen Vogel's books. A great, readable discussion of why living things are shaped the way they are. I especially enjoyed "Life's Devices: the physical world of animals and plants."

The breathing system of an insect is primarily a set of tubes connected to 2-12 spiracles, or holes on the outside. It runs on diffusion. The size of an insect is limited by diffusion distance, and the number of branches in the tubes. And here is where we go off into physics again.

[edited to fix dumb mispelling]

 

[bug_girl]

Why do all the fu**ing cockroaches in the world spend the summer in Sydney???

Because the "Attract beautiful women" pheromones you bought on the internet got mixed up at the manufacturer.

 

[bug_girl]

Last fall (October) I had a problem with assasin bugs. They seemed to be everywhere. I'd just moved into the house & was worried that they might become a permanent problem.....

Clarification question: assasin bugs??
were these by any chance orange and black boxelder bugs, or milkweed bugs?
Assasin bugs are predatory, and very rarely go walkabout in people's houses.

 

[bug_girl]

What is the oldest fossil record of an insect (what, if any, is it’s modern equivalent).

The problem with this one is that it depends on how you define "insect."
There still is a fair amount of argument about what living animals are and are not insects. Proturans, for example, an extremely simple little group that has most of the characteristics of insects, have bounced in and out of the Insecta.
Here's a great reference for things taxonomic:
http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Hexapoda&contgroup=Arthropoda

So, if we go with the TOL definition here, the answer is that i don't know, because i am about 2 months behind on my journal reading, and they announced a new fossil in the next to last issue.
The fossil insects are amazingly similar to modern ones; apparently if it ain't broke, don't fix it. From memory, the oldest fossil insect i know of is over 400 million years ago.
You can look at some *very* cool insect fossils here:
http://www.ub.es/dpep/meganeura/meganeura.htm
They even have fossil honeybee combs!