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That is absolutely astonishing, but something bothers me, I thought termites were blind and it says they are and rely on smell: > though termites are blind, th
by _a_a_a_ 3y ago
That is absolutely astonishing, but something bothers me, I thought termites were blind and it says they are and rely on smell:
> though termites are blind, they sense one another through touch. The beetle may also absorb unique chemicals called cuticular hydrocarbons from the termites or produce similar compounds in order to enhance the perception that it is a termite as well.
So I would have expected a fake termite to be just the crudest impression but with great odour mimicry, but this visual mimicry is so incredible it suggests termites visual perception is better than we expected, or perhaps something else is going on.
TL;DR something doesn't add up here
- lproven 3y agoThey don't see. So they feel. It has to feel right as well as smell right.
- _a_a_a_ 3y ago> It has to feel right I'm not aware of any work/research on this. Does seem reasonable though. But the rest of the insect is much larger and non-termitey, so...? (edit: so... why don't they attack/reject it?)
- lproven 3y agoWell by way of a disclaimer, this isn't my research, and my biology BSc was more than a third of a century ago, so all I was offering was a general comment. But if Animal A is mimicking Animal B, and B is blind but uses scent/taste and touch, then we can safely deduce that looking right is not important... And we can safely assume that there is no miraculous intervention. (If someone can't safely assume that, then they're religious and no argument will dissuade them. If it were a deity, which it wasn't, then they could make a more convincing looking fake!) So, aside from odours, pheromones etc., then we just have to consider what's left. And that is touch, so it seems probable that feeling right is important.