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Post by freshmonkey on Jan 27, 2012 22:57:17 GMT -5
New bug? How about a centipede that stings lol.
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Post by klatypus on Jan 30, 2012 10:03:03 GMT -5
Centipedes are usually assumed to have 100 legs. false. Centipedes have one set of legs per segment, whilst millipedes have 2 sets of legs per segment. here is a Giant African millipede that we borrow from the Durham museum for outreaches to make kids go ohhhhh ahhh centipedes are probably one of my least favorite arthropods (they are not insects, they have more than 6 legs), but they are fascinating nonetheless. do you see the blac/hardened fangs? they are called chelicerae and they are very similar to spider fangs a centipede bite can be painful, depending on the species, and can lead to systemic infection causing fever. the house centipede is the most common one around ( Scutigera coleoptrata). They have modified legs near their mouth that has small amounts of venom that they can sting you with, painful, but not life threatening. When hunting they will leave the prey along after a sting for the venom to take effect. When the house centipede gets a leg pinned by a predator or your foot, it can detach any of it's legs to escape. They live in damp and dark spaces and are not usually seen except under the house. While they are creepy looking, they are actually cleaning up for you, they can eat small mice and other house pests.
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Post by Erniewan on Jan 30, 2012 22:55:45 GMT -5
DO NOT WANT
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Post by Flutterby on Jan 31, 2012 11:00:00 GMT -5
Ew. The thought of centipedes eating a mouse absolutely disgusts me lol
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Post by freshmonkey on Feb 1, 2012 13:00:44 GMT -5
I wanna hold that giant one!!
Next up is a dragonfly?!?!
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Post by klatypus on Feb 21, 2012 15:30:46 GMT -5
Since the most notable feature of dragonflies is their flight, I think it is most fun to look to their wings: During gliding, dragonfly wings can be interpreted as acting as ultra-light aerofoils which, for static reasons, have a well-defined cross-sectional corrugation. This corrugation forms profile valleys in which rotating vortices develop. The cross-sectional configuration varies greatly along the longitudinal axis of the wing. you can speciate dragonflies based on the cell shape and/or color and also the wing veination. skimmer: do you notice how the veins and cell coloration slightly differs from that of a pondhawk dragonfly? then compared to that of the whitetail? bioengineering research has become quite interested in mimicking the dragonfly flight abilities. Among natural flight systems, ragonflies possess a plethora of unique flight capabilities including hovering and flight in multiple directions. The fly is also well studied for engineering purposes, but flies are able to bend and flex their wings, and human technology cannot reproduce that same maneuver just yet. Because dragonflies do not actively change the shape of their wings to achieve such maneuvers, the passive bending resulting from the wing structure is the primary quality of the wing which allows for the dragonfly’s unique flight abilities. The best fliers are the globe skimmer dragonflies which can top out at 35 mph (imagine that speed if you are 3 inches in length ) but what is more amazing is that they migrate 11,000 from India to Africa across the indian ocean, with only a handful of islands in between to rest on. they are masters in aerodynamics
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Post by Flutterby on Feb 22, 2012 18:44:22 GMT -5
That's awesome
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