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[10/14/2024] Entomology Class
🐞 🐜 🐛 🦋 🦗 🐞 🐜 🐛 🦋 🦗 🐞This semester I'm taking an obligated free-choice subject. Today was the 2nd lesson and I bought a script for 5€. The professor is a cool old lady who sometimes shit-talks about academia. She's a little sarcastic, tells anecdotes of her scientific experience; gossiping about the 'bad side of science' ... laughing it off, jumping back to the topic of the lecture.
The two main takeaways from the lesson were:
it's a matter of size and weight to look at. She gave out two gigantic grasshoppers she had collected in Thailand during research. They were dead and prepared in an alcoholic solution. The bigger one was stringed - she took it out of the glass container and puppeteered with the dead insect; yup funny and yup, she's a bizarre character. She told us to really feel the insect (if we wanted to touch the structure) and I also took a picture.
dead grasshopper from Thailand
Since I am from a small country in Europe, there's no rain-forest / tropical region where these big buggers are located - this was special and a first time experience. To me, the flying apparatus felt like leaves and leathery. She told us that the natural (alive) color of the grasshopper would be grass green .
How fvcking beautiful?!
Chitin is complex (material compound) of carbohydrates and specific proteins that make it very stiff or even elastic/durable (when compressed).
This time she gave out a dead, big black bug with 3 massive horns.
Sadly, I couldn't find a scientific name. I need to do some research since there are similar-looking ones that all refer to the character of their horns like deer, rhino and so on...
big black horned bug [WIP]
She told us to tap on the chitin shell, to feel and be proven of the stiffness ngl. The bug just looked like plastic at first sight. The color was very matte black but I saw through/inside the head of the bug, so clearly: That wasn't a mockup (why would she...?) I tell you, this one had a funny smell - similar to the old, sweet smell of books...
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inheaven
super cool!!!!!
tysm ^_^
by MoQQo To Go; ; Report
Vinax
wow it's very interesting to see! like you I have never seen such large grasshoppers in the EU, it's fascinating
what's your favorite insect? lately I've been interested in the particularity of leaf insects :0
i rlly dunno if we have such big ones in the EU tbh
maybe i'll have the courage to ask the prof about that but i'm more the observatory type in class :x
oh yeah these are really cool. it's just like magic to me rn that they've evolved in such a way to discretely snuck between real leaves.
have u ever heard of flower heads that imitate insects to be pollinated?
nature is crazy O_O it's like a max pollution strategy to survive
my fav insect?
that's a hard question .. ill give u my best 3^^
mantis coz they are very diverse, colorful and very alien. ( devil flower mantis, orchid mantis) but would be a lil frightend to touch (they are delicate and prone to die fast I've heard)
2nd butterflies since there're emotionally very pretty to look at.
3rd shiny, glossy bugs
by MoQQo To Go; ; Report
nature is really amazing, it never ceases to amaze me! it's a super clever strategy, thanks for the curiosity ^^
do you have any favorite flowers?
i love your list! butterflies are wonderful, recently in my garden i saw a peacock butterfly and i was very surprised. i also really like shiny bugs, on the walnut trees in my garden i often see golden beetles
by Vinax; ; Report