Post Aj0CyWcZE8nnFV4Lb6 by swart@mastodon.cloud
(DIR) More posts by swart@mastodon.cloud
(DIR) Post #Aj0AAfHyWgdZkDXCV6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T00:20:54Z
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Parasitic wasps are my problematic favs forever and I love her. When Darwin saw this he doubted if God could have made such a creature, and took it as evidence of evolution. But, as far as I'm concerned, though she may have evolved, God has *blessed* her. She is a Good Mother. (https://www.tumblr.com/futurebird/753489492062699520/parasitic-wasps-are-my-problematic-favs-forever?source=share)
(DIR) Post #Aj0ARvU1ZM3CtROvpo by andrewfeeney@phpc.social
2024-06-17T00:24:15Z
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@futurebird We have a few species like this around our house. The wasps and wolf spiders are in a perpetual battle.https://australian.museum/learn/animals/insects/spider-wasps/
(DIR) Post #Aj0AgCVj3gGNl00Hr6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T00:26:54Z
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Caterpillars reading this post:
(DIR) Post #Aj0CWLMXUawcDt8NZQ by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T00:47:31Z
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These are the kind of folk ants count as "cousins" and I suspect they are just as proud of them as they are of being related to bees (while still thinking ants are best of course)Hymenopterans are so cool.
(DIR) Post #Aj0CqStzAddzOjNCKW by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T00:51:09Z
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There are, of course some parasitoid wasps that ants HATE. The little ones that try to lay their eggs in the heads of big headed ants. That's why leaf cutters often have a little ant riding on the leaf as a bigger ant carries it. The little ant is there to snap at the wasps who try to lay eggs on the head of her bigger sister. This has been going on for so long the ants evolved this protective method!
(DIR) Post #Aj0CyWcZE8nnFV4Lb6 by swart@mastodon.cloud
2024-06-17T00:52:30Z
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@futurebird a friend, terrified of wasps, asserted emphatically that wasps are terrible and must be eradicated. And I said, what about the wonderful and plentiful parasitoids? But she was horrified and became even more emphatic, and I was sad.
(DIR) Post #Aj0DASGrE78DESbSUq by Snowshadow@mastodon.social
2024-06-17T00:54:44Z
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@futurebird Very interesting. 😀
(DIR) Post #Aj0Enu6NmkA0nS4uRM by 990000@mstdn.social
2024-06-17T01:12:59Z
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@futurebird wow also I just saw the leafcutter ant display at AMNH here in NYC. So cool.
(DIR) Post #Aj0F8l1SjlVEicijmi by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T01:16:53Z
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@990000 Sometimes I go there after works and sneak in the back just to watch them for a bit.
(DIR) Post #Aj0FJU4e5mBFL4KAZU by noplasticshower@zirk.us
2024-06-17T01:18:31Z
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@990000 @futurebird I once followed a leaf cutter superhighway in the Amazon (Ecuador) for over a kilometer. Incredible.
(DIR) Post #Aj0Gv9Ur97bGTh6qmm by cobalt@awscommunity.social
2024-06-17T01:18:48Z
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@990000 @futurebird Oh! I have been wondering what insects were taking pieces out of the rose bush leaves for the last month. The shapes these ants in the video make look like on our roses. AND I am wondering if this is specific to a "leafcutter ant" or other ants as well. I have not ever seen any insect on any of the bushes, day or night.
(DIR) Post #Aj0GvAPDlYgdIVTrdo by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T01:36:49Z
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@cobalt @990000 If it's more like circular discs and they are spaced out it could be leaf-cutter bees. If it's ants (and if you are in the south west...) they will take every leaf from entire branches leaving nothing. They do love roses, the petals even more.But if you aren't in the south west? It's bees not ants.
(DIR) Post #Aj0H05nuIqeuTONNxo by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T01:37:43Z
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@cobalt @990000 The ants work at night. Bees work during the day.
(DIR) Post #Aj0H23lIrl4Aie61qK by justafrog@mstdn.social
2024-06-17T01:37:48Z
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@futurebird In nature, motherly love includes stabbing other species with the oviposistabber.
(DIR) Post #Aj0HRnAz9cKYoBNYoa by cobalt@awscommunity.social
2024-06-17T01:42:41Z
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@futurebird @990000 Phoenix, Arizona! AND we are questioning if the problem ants in the front yard are fire ants. Did you see the post last week about my son's trip to ER by ambulance? Unbelievable allergic reaction to ant bites. They had come into the house and literally into his bed.
(DIR) Post #Aj0IP9gR7G51hOOdkW by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T01:53:27Z
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@cobalt @990000 Yikes!Fire ants can be very annoying. You are kind of in the center of ant diversity in the country. Fire ants like "disturbed soil in full sunlight" The hate shade. So, things like edging a lawn, plowing a field etc can attract them. They won't dig packed soil.
(DIR) Post #Aj0J9cebjjSOs0hMNk by gentoobro@gleasonator.com
2024-06-17T02:01:56.379394Z
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@990000 @futurebird I see these fuckers on display on the sidewalk all the time. They completely destroy the trees they target. 50+ year old trees in the middle of the city just gone in a few months.