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How about house spiders? And all the garden spiders that come into our houses in the autumn? Note I am all in favour of spiders, particularly if they eat roache

How about house spiders? And all the garden spiders that come into our houses in the autumn? Note I am all in favour of spiders, particularly if they eat roaches!

setopt 2y ago
And silverfish!
- somat 2y ago
  You can't just throw silverfish out there without mentioning their chief predator, the house centipede. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata And fun fact about centipedes(and millipedes), lacking the ability to create a waxy layer on their chitin shell(as insects do) they are more dependent on having a moist environment to live near than insects.
  - 082349872349872 2y ago
    The other day I was wondering if Borges had read Lichtenberg: > “Some people come by the name of genius in the same way that certain insects come by the name of centipede -- not because they have a hundred feet, but because most people can't count above 14.” —GCL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede#:~:text=Despite%20the%20name,to%20191%20pairs%2e https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede#:~:text=Despite%20th... (why an odd number?)
    - croisillon 2y ago
      well insects have an odd number of pairs as well
      - 082349872349872 2y ago
        centipedes, insects, and spiders pairwise have the arthropods as their common lineage, and spiders have 4 pairs? EDIT: but what about palps? crustaceans also can have even pairs of walking legs, but odd numbers of leg-like structures...
  - pfdietz 2y ago
    Millipedes are also interesting because some of them produce cyanide as a defense measure. Wash your hands after handling. I sometimes see a local species of black-and-yellow millipede, chunky individual several inches long, that have climbed up walls, tree trunks, or fence posts and died. They were victims of a parasitic fungus (Anthrophaga myriapodina) that takes control of them and forces this climbing so spores from the fungus can disperse more widely. You might think this is Cordyceps, a fungus that does something similar in ants, but it's not closely related, not being in even the same taxonomic class. It's a case of convergent evolution.

How about house spiders? And all the garden spiders that come into our houses in the autumn? Note I am all in favour of spiders, particularly if they eat roaches!

setopt 2y ago

And silverfish!

somat 2y ago
You can't just throw silverfish out there without mentioning their chief predator, the house centipede. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata And fun fact about centipedes(and millipedes), lacking the ability to create a waxy layer on their chitin shell(as insects do) they are more dependent on having a moist environment to live near than insects.
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  The other day I was wondering if Borges had read Lichtenberg: > “Some people come by the name of genius in the same way that certain insects come by the name of centipede -- not because they have a hundred feet, but because most people can't count above 14.” —GCL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede#:~:text=Despite%20the%20name,to%20191%20pairs%2e https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede#:~:text=Despite%20th... (why an odd number?)
  - croisillon 2y ago
    well insects have an odd number of pairs as well
    - 082349872349872 2y ago
      centipedes, insects, and spiders pairwise have the arthropods as their common lineage, and spiders have 4 pairs? EDIT: but what about palps? crustaceans also can have even pairs of walking legs, but odd numbers of leg-like structures...
- pfdietz 2y ago
  Millipedes are also interesting because some of them produce cyanide as a defense measure. Wash your hands after handling. I sometimes see a local species of black-and-yellow millipede, chunky individual several inches long, that have climbed up walls, tree trunks, or fence posts and died. They were victims of a parasitic fungus (Anthrophaga myriapodina) that takes control of them and forces this climbing so spores from the fungus can disperse more widely. You might think this is Cordyceps, a fungus that does something similar in ants, but it's not closely related, not being in even the same taxonomic class. It's a case of convergent evolution.