4 ms·

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.