Pictures of a mysterious creature that looks like a cross between a moth and poodle recently went viral on the Web, with some people turning these pictures into memes, only increasing their popularity. The creature is called a Venezuelan poodle moth, and because of how peculiar it looks, plenty of questions revolve around whether it’s real or not.
Fortunately, the poodle moths are 100 percent real, and are possibly a new species of moth identified a few years ago. In 2009, Kyrgyzstan-based biologist Dr. Arthur Anker discovered the moths in Venezuela’s Gran Sabanaarea. The species seems to be related to another fuzzy looking moth, the Muslin Moth or Diaphoramendica.
The poodle moth almost certainly fits into the Lasiocampidae family and the genus Artace or other genus connected to Artace. There is also a possibility that the poodle moth is a new subspecies of the Artacecribraria, a species known to reside around Argentina and up to the northern parts of North America. So far, there are about 10 to 15 Artace species in South America that have been described and scientifically acknowledged. The possibility of the poodle moth to be a new species of previously scientifically undescribed species, or even a new regional subspecies, is high.
Beyond the photos and detail of its discovery, not a lot is known about this strange looking creature.
You know what they say about how doing the deed regularly prolongs your lifespan? Well, the jury’s probably out as far as the effects of frequent sex for humans go, but when it comes to fruit flies, that adage is very likely to be true.
A new study from researchers at the University of Michigan shows that fruit flies that had more sex enjoyed better health, and get this, longer lives.
In fact, male fruit flies that perceived the pheromones of female flies, without mating, saw significant reductions in fat stores, resistance to hunger, and more stress. In short, these sexually frustrated were miserable, and lived shorter lives.
In contrast, fruit flies that mated more experienced a partial reversal of these negative effects on health and aging. According to Scott D. Pletcher, Ph.D, senior author of the study, he and his colleagues’ findings provide a better understanding on how physiological states and sensory perception come together in the brain to make biological changes to health and lifespan. Dr. Fletcher is a professor at the U-M Medical School’s Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and U-M Geriatrics Center.
Dr. Fletcher notes that with the cutting-edge neurobiology and genetics employed in the research, it can be theorized that, at least for fruit flies, the myth of sexual frustration being a health issue may not be a myth after all. Expecting sex and not getting the reward, being left hanging, had a distinct correlation to the health and lifespan of fruit flies.
Behold the bone-skipper, high in the running for the strangest fly on Earth. For the bone-skipper, fresh carcasses just won't do. No, these flies prefer large, dead bodies in advanced stages of decay. And unlike most flies, they are active in early winter, from November to January, usually after dark.
They also disappeared from human notice and were declared extinct for more than a century. That's why they've often been considered almost mythical or legendary, said Pierfilippo Cerretti, a researcher at the Sapienza University of Rome.
Butterflies are the essence of cool in the insect world, a favorite muse for poets and songwriters who hold them up as symbols of love, beauty, transformation and good fortune.
But providing good fortune apparently goes only one way. As humans rip apart woods and meadows for housing developments and insecticide-soaked lawns, butterflies across the US are disappearing.
The positive charge on an insect such as a bee or fly attracts the web, which is normally negatively or neutrally charged, increasing the chances that an insect flying by will contact and stick to the web, said UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Victor Manuel Ortega-Jimenez.
He also suspects that light, flexible spider silk, the kind used for making the spirals built on top of the stiffer silk that forms the spokes of a web, may have developed because it more easily deforms in the wind and the presence of electrostatic charges to aid prey capture.
“We're the only ones who make honey, pollinate flowers, and dress like this!” This famous line of Barry B. Benson from the Bee Movie helped us change everything we think about bees. The story’s morale proves that even the smallest and seemingly insignificant creature can make one heck of a difference this world. However, there’s another breakthrough discovery that scientists have discovered about bees. Far from its 2007 movie adaptation when those bees navigated like crazy, these social insects that live in hives actually navigate through a hit and miss kind of maneuvering. Bees can fly at about 15mph, roughly 24kph but they actually go from one flower to another, revisiting it many times, before moving on to the next.
In an article from the Huffington post, “a team of researchers from Mary Queen University in London outfitted tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) with miniscule harmonic radio sensors and plastic number tags. They trained the bees to feed on artificial flowers that offered a perch and a sugar solution in the center. The colony’s nest box, positioned in a large field on a British estate, was then situated near five of these artificial flowers. The flowers were arranged in a pentagon shape, with each one 50 meters from the next, which is many times the distance a bumblebee can see. That arrangement prevented the subjects from following each other or spotting the next flower. The “flowers” were watched by motion-sensing video cameras to capture each bee’s feeding. The researchers also chose to complete the experiment in October, when local flowers would have faded and not tempt the bees away from the experimental ones.”
The outcome of the study shows that the routes of the bees were initially longer and more tedious, travelling from one empty flower to another, even revisiting these flowers a couple of times, yet they learned to refine their travel and modify their routes after gaining the exposure and experience. In effect, these bees were able to reduce their flight distance compared to how they first began.
According to the same article, “The learning appeared to be primarily through trial and error. “Each time a bee tried a new route it increased its probability of re-using the new route if it was shorter than the shortest route it had tried before. Otherwise, the new route was abandoned and another route was tested.”
Whether it’s a matter of heuristics or not, it just proves one point: Bee navigation is still complex because they are able to gain experience from flight, thereby decreasing their senseless time buzzing through the air. These findings may lead to a new cognitive laurel for these small social insects, something that we thought only larger-brained mammals are capable of.
When talking about exotic pets, insects and arachnids are among the most often mentioned, with spiders generally at the top of most “most exotic pets” lists.
Often kept in enclosures, insects and spiders are relatively easy to keep as pets, not demanding when it comes to space, generally not all that picky when it comes to food, as well as not necessarily needy when regular baths or frequent clean up is being talked about.
Insects and spiders also don’t require that much interaction or attention from owners, unlike cats or dogs. In fact, they’re known to generally fair better without any socialization at all.
But pet insects and spiders also have their own list of particulars, a roster which pet lovers have to think long and hard about before going on an impulse and bringing them home.
Here are some exotic pet facts worth knowing about, before getting your first pet insect or arachnid.
Finding the Right One
For those looking in to keep insects or spiders as pets, specialty pet shops often suggest a “start small” approach, recommending insect or spider species which are less dangerous and/or not so temperamental to keep.
Ant farms are often suggested, especially for kids, given how easy they are to maintain. An escaped colony, though, is a home safety risk, which means that owners have to make sure ants don’t break out from enclosures.
Stick and/or leaf insects are also often recommended, though these require degrees of delicacy with their care. The hissing cockroach is also popular as an “entry level” exotic pet, given that they are pretty docile and large enough for an owner to handle.
Certain types of tarantulas are also often suggested, like the Costa Rican Zebra, the Mexican Redleg and the Chilean rose. These arachnids are venomous, but their venom-factor is somewhat similar to the venom of bees.
If one is not all that keen in keeping a venomous pet, it’d be best not to do so.
Background Information Before Getting One
It pays to do some fact checking before settling on a particular pet insect or spider.
For one, verify with your local agencies’ regulations regarding the legality of owning a particular insect or spider.
Also, gain specifics and particulars related to the care and keeping of insects or spiders, particularly with their feeding. Some tarantulas, for example, require feeding procedures akin to their natural environments. These could be tricky to feed. Though hissing cockroaches are generally easy to feed, stick and leaf insects are more picky with what’s in their diets.
Some insight related to the lifespan of a pet would also be necessary. Certain tarantulas, for example, live as long as 20 years, with females living longer than males
Bottom line, though the basics related to the care of insects and spiders are pets are quite easy to fulfill, in no way does this mean that they're not as “high maintenance” as having dogs or cats in the house.
So? Will you still be getting that tarantula just because it's so cool to have?
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