[quote]PGA200X wrote:
The bees should have waited for an escort.[/quote]
Now that’s funny!!!
I saw this clip a few weeks ago and thought I was the only dork that would think it was awesome. I
've yet to get stung by one but there are bumblebee’s that must have a colony in the field next to my house because there are usually no less than 10 flying around in my yard. Those bastards sound like an Apache attack chopper when the get within 20 feet.
I once saw this massive wasp fighting a huntsman (spider) about the size of my fist. The wasp killed it and dragged it down a hole in the ground.
It was awesome.
[quote]gojira wrote:
Social insects represent the ultimate sisterhood where are the workers are female and males are only produced for their “genetic contribution”.
[/quote]
Hint hint
[quote]BIGRAGOO wrote:
SWR-1240 wrote:
The guy said he get a lot of them around his lilac trees. He seems to think they nest inside the trees. I don’t know if they’re the same thing as these, but it scared the crap out of me.
Did it look like this?[/quote]
Yea. Ugly, scarry mo-fo’s.
Although in person (or bee) it looked about 2 feet long by one foot thick. At least that’s what my brain made it seem like when I cought a glimps of it.
OK, so here’s my question:
If you’re a beekeeper, what do you do to keep out hornets and prevent them from slaughtering your entire hive?
Yea, I guess what I saw were wasps. I checked out the video again, and their heads weren’t nearly as big as those hornets.
The knowledge of people on this site never ceases to amaze me.
(A bunch of teenage shills? I think not…)
Amazing stuff guys.
I love to learn new things.
Thanks!
Mufasa
[quote]Kuz wrote:
OK, so here’s my question:
If you’re a beekeeper, what do you do to keep out hornets and prevent them from slaughtering your entire hive?[/quote]
With man made bee hives, it’s relatively easy. They are designed so that the openings are only large enough to allow the workers to come and go. This keeps the larger predators, such as hornets, out.
There actually are a number of other insects that live peacefully, and some not so peacefully, in bee hives. These are called inquilines and are able to gain access to the nest by mimicking pheromones and other cues.
Not having ever kept bees myself, and only having studied the wild hymenoptera, I do not know how often domestic bee hives are attacked by other members of the hymenoptera.
A little bit of history here: the Western Honey bee (Apis mellifera) is not native to the US and was brought here by the colonists. The Native Americans referred to them as “the White Mans Fly”.
Gojira, you mentioned “cheaters” all through nature, would you happen to know of a species of spider that behaves that way? From what I vaguely recall, this spider does not spin its own web, it instead attacks and kills spiders who have already spun a web and claims it as its own.
Any other big brained folk are welcomed to chime in also.
[quote]nikolo wrote:
Gojira, you mentioned “cheaters” all through nature, would you happen to know of a species of spider that behaves that way? From what I vaguely recall, this spider does not spin its own web, it instead attacks and kills spiders who have already spun a web and claims it as its own.
Any other big brained folk are welcomed to chime in also.[/quote]
I haven’t heard of one that will take over another’s web, but I do know of small spiders that will live in the same web of a large spider and feed of the kills, with out triggering the large spiders defenses.
[quote]BIGRAGOO wrote:
nikolo wrote:
Gojira, you mentioned “cheaters” all through nature, would you happen to know of a species of spider that behaves that way? From what I vaguely recall, this spider does not spin its own web, it instead attacks and kills spiders who have already spun a web and claims it as its own.
Any other big brained folk are welcomed to chime in also.
I haven’t heard of one that will take over another’s web, but I do know of small spiders that will live in the same web of a large spider and feed of the kills, with out triggering the large spiders defenses. [/quote]
I have not heard of this species, I’ll check into it. However, there are a couple of things that don’t make sense here.
First of all there are many free living species of spiders that do not utilize a web for capturing prey. A common well known family are the wolf spiders (the Lycosidae). These are those big ones you find roaming around your bathroom or basement. Free living species are usually distinquished by their large eyes, which they use for catching prey since they don’t use a web (see photo). So a free living spider would not need a web to catch prey, but most certainly may go after it’s owner.
The second thing is that many spider webs are reconstructed each evening. The spider actually eats the web (they recycle the proteins) and spins a new web every evening. So it would not make sense for another spider to kill the inhabitant and take over the web, since it would just have to build a new one that evening.
But I’ll look into it and let you know.
Some interesting spider facts:
Spiders do not have a true head. There are only two body sections (insects have three). What they have is called a cephalothorax where the eyes and mouth parts are part of the thorax.
That thick wiggly design you see in the center of certain orb weavers (mostly Argiope) web is called a stabilimentum, and there are many theories about why they exist, but no one has really nailed it down yet. I knew a guy who was doing his PhD on this.
See what happens when you encourage me?
[quote]BIGRAGOO wrote:
nikolo wrote:
Gojira, you mentioned “cheaters” all through nature, would you happen to know of a species of spider that behaves that way? From what I vaguely recall, this spider does not spin its own web, it instead attacks and kills spiders who have already spun a web and claims it as its own.
Any other big brained folk are welcomed to chime in also.
I haven’t heard of one that will take over another’s web, but I do know of small spiders that will live in the same web of a large spider and feed of the kills, with out triggering the large spiders defenses. [/quote]
That’s equally fascinating. Do they possess an instinct that allows them to know how much pressure will trigger the larger spiders defense? Or are they able to mask their presence by emitting pheromones or some such thing?
[quote]gojira wrote:
BIGRAGOO wrote:
nikolo wrote:
Gojira, you mentioned “cheaters” all through nature, would you happen to know of a species of spider that behaves that way? From what I vaguely recall, this spider does not spin its own web, it instead attacks and kills spiders who have already spun a web and claims it as its own.
Any other big brained folk are welcomed to chime in also.
I haven’t heard of one that will take over another’s web, but I do know of small spiders that will live in the same web of a large spider and feed of the kills, with out triggering the large spiders defenses.
I have not heard of this species, I’ll check into it. However, there are a couple of things that don’t make sense here.
First of all there are many free living species of spiders that do not utilize a web for capturing prey. A common well known family are the wolf spiders (the Lycosidae). These are those big ones you find roaming around your bathroom or basement. Free living species are usually distinquished by their large eyes, which they use for catching prey since they don’t use a web (see photo). So a free living spider would not need a web to catch prey, but most certainly may go after it’s owner.
The second thing is that many spider webs are reconstructed each evening. The spider actually eats the web (they recycle the proteins) and spins a new web every evening. So it would not make sense for another spider to kill the inhabitant and take over the web, since it would just have to build a new one that evening.
But I’ll look into it and let you know.
Some interesting spider facts:
Spiders do not have a true head. There are only two body sections (insects have three). What they have is called a cephalothorax where the eyes and mouth parts are part of the thorax.
That thick wiggly design you see in the center of certain orb weavers (mostly Argiope) web is called a stabilimentum, and there are many theories about why they exist, but no one has really nailed it down yet. I knew a guy who was doing his PhD on this.
See what happens when you encourage me?
[/quote]
Keep going! I love learning new things. I have no idea why this subject interests me so, considering I have a bug phobia.
If I ever did see a spider like the one pictured roaming around my house, I would run away screaming and be forced to relocate.
Is it true that the face huggers from Alien were modelled after spiders who behave in that manner?
[quote]gojira wrote:
BIGRAGOO wrote:
nikolo wrote:
Gojira, you mentioned “cheaters” all through nature, would you happen to know of a species of spider that behaves that way? From what I vaguely recall, this spider does not spin its own web, it instead attacks and kills spiders who have already spun a web and claims it as its own.
Any other big brained folk are welcomed to chime in also.
I haven’t heard of one that will take over another’s web, but I do know of small spiders that will live in the same web of a large spider and feed of the kills, with out triggering the large spiders defenses.
I have not heard of this species, I’ll check into it. However, there are a couple of things that don’t make sense here.
First of all there are many free living species of spiders that do not utilize a web for capturing prey. A common well known family are the wolf spiders (the Lycosidae). These are those big ones you find roaming around your bathroom or basement. Free living species are usually distinquished by their large eyes, which they use for catching prey since they don’t use a web (see photo). So a free living spider would not need a web to catch prey, but most certainly may go after it’s owner.
The second thing is that many spider webs are reconstructed each evening. The spider actually eats the web (they recycle the proteins) and spins a new web every evening. So it would not make sense for another spider to kill the inhabitant and take over the web, since it would just have to build a new one that evening.
But I’ll look into it and let you know.
Some interesting spider facts:
Spiders do not have a true head. There are only two body sections (insects have three). What they have is called a cephalothorax where the eyes and mouth parts are part of the thorax.
That thick wiggly design you see in the center of certain orb weavers (mostly Argiope) web is called a stabilimentum, and there are many theories about why they exist, but no one has really nailed it down yet. I knew a guy who was doing his PhD on this.
See what happens when you encourage me?
[/quote]
Check the web of a large female Nephila. I’ve seen these…symbionts, I guess, in these webs. It’s usually a small, pearl colored spider that is a bit smaller than a match head. They feed off of what the Nephila captures in the web, but do not get eaten them sleves. And no, it’s not a male nephila, as those look like a female, only smaller and more fragile.
Argiope are neat to watch how fast they mummify their prey and how much silk they use to do so.
Klepto parasites are what the small spiders in the Nephila web.
[quote]gojira wrote:
up-close picture of a big ass spider
[/quote]
Damn it, your info is great, and I love learning about this stuff, but it’s a little difficult to concentrate with that thing staring at me!
It was hard enough to read all the posts in the last thread about these hornets.
Although I think it may be helping me with my fears.
[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
Although I think it may be helping me with my fears.[/quote]
Well there is Theraphosa blondi, also known as “the Bird Eating Spider”. They measure about 10" to 12" across and have a lifespan of about 25 years.
And they don’t really eat birds, but they have been known to prey on…
mice.
Bwahahahahahahahah…
But tarantulas have enemies
[quote]BIGRAGOO wrote:
Someone else posted this a couple months ago, but it had Metallica’s “Orion” as the back track.
Another question: Who has come into contact with the Giant hornet that is displayed here? I have only seen one or two, and have never encountered a nest of them. I have come across all other hornet nests, however. Some on good terms, some accidentally on bad.[/quote]
Not the ones in the video, but the bald faced hornets. I was brush cutting a hillside and accidentaly whacked one of their cones in half. I didn’t know that I did it, but thought that the gas tank of the brush cutter I was using exploded and that I was on fire.
I realized I was getting swarmed and ran to the apartment complexes pool and jumped in. The angry bastards followed my draft for about 100 yds. till I dove in the water. Had to spend the rest of the day in the hospital, and a few more recovering. Numerous stings, many multiple at the same site, at about 50 distinct sites.
Those things are nasty.