#Diabolical Ironclad Beetle

[entomologize]

Fun fact: The diabolical ironclad beetle traded away the ability to fly in order to become essentially unsquishable.

Driving a car over them would just push them down into the dirt, still whole. Trying to stick a pin through wouldn't be successful without a drill. These guys are tough.

Every part of the beetle's exoskeleton seems to enhance its armor. The flattened body shape distributes pressure to even the load, the multilayered material is strong yet flexible enough not to crack, and the unique interlocking seams between wing cases function better than most joins designed by humans:

It'll be exciting to see what new materials might be possible using these concepts!

Sources: Jesse Rorabaugh, Po-Yu Chen, & Jesus Rivera et al.

#they really put all their stats into defense #long post #fun facts #beetles #insects #diabolical ironclad beetle #bugblr

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

The diabolical ironclad beetle's name is no joke! The exoskeleton of this species is made of tightly interlocked and impact-absorbing structures that allow it to withstand up to pressure of up to 39,000 times its own body weight!

(Image: A diabolical ironclad beetle (Phloeodes diabolicus) by David Kisailous)

If you like what I do, consider leaving a tip or buying me a kofi!

#diabolical ironclad beetle #Coleoptera #Zopheridae #ironclad beetles #beetles #insects #arthropods #uncharismatic facts

[emperornorton47]

Diabolical Ironclad Beetle

#Diabolical Ironclad Beetle #Beetle #Insect #insects #portola hills #orange county #california #photo #digital #Nature #original photographers

[lilafeuer]

bugz Artist: @Carapace777 (Twitter)

#invertebrate #insect #mantis #hornet #alate #diabolical ironclad beetle #monster #horror #art

[gnarl3ne-blog]

Diabolical Ironclad Beetle - Phloedes diabolicus by Arlene Schag Via Flickr: I love these beetles, called them rock-buggies until I learned their official name. They aren't really diabolical, in fact they are probably the sweetest beetle around. Some of the other ones will stink you or run away, but not these beetles. They move slowly. Sometimes they will pull their legs in snug against their body and pretend to be a rock. One inch in length. They come out to forage for tasty decomposing plant material. Southern California, Chaparral / Oak Woodland habitat along Santa Margarita River - Fallbrook.

#Phloeodes diabolicus #Diabolical Ironclad Beetle #beetle #Southern California #SoCal #rock bug #bug #black beetle #insect #hard shell #hard #slow #chaparral #San Diego #Fallbrook #North County San Diego #flickr #Westcoast Wildlife

[morbidsmenagerie]

I knew they drew in to protect themselves, but oh my her face is so cute! And even tho they're hard to take pictures of, the wooly darkling beetle is one of my favs.

#invertebrates #invertiblr #inverts #invert #bugblr #beetle #beetles #hellburnt diabolical ironclad beetle #phloeodes diabolicus #black death feigning beetle #cryptoglossa variolosa #wooly darkling beetle #eleodes osculans

[jupiterswasphouse]

I really gotta wonder what it would look like if we based tech off of bugs and the way they move/have their body parts come together- I like imagining a huge machine, vehicle or robot, scuttling across the ground and being able to move some parts like a contortionist in a many-plated suit of armor!

#Before you ask: Yea!! I've heard about the research on the Diabolical Ironclad Beetle for planes!!! :3 #Wasp House Buzzing

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Shonweak

This is an unusual one in terms of whether people have preconceptions on what it looks like. On one hand, the medieval interpretation of this animal is widespread and generally known, at least in comparison to other bestiary material -- shows up in modern fantasy and everything -- so it's possible that people familiar with medieval stuff recognized it on sight and had to work against those preconceptions. On the other hand, the medieval interpretation is pretty much completely divorced from reality, so anyone coming at it from a background of Actually Knowing Animals rather than one of Knowing Medieval Nonsense is likely going to be baffled.

Anyway, as usual, if you're confused by what I'm talking about, please refer to https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. And you can find the entry that artists are working from here:

Art below the cut, roughly chronological, &c.

@silverhart-makes-art (link here) says that they wanted to draw a Weird Little Creature, and... mission accomplished, that creature sure can Weird and Little. I kind of love it; it's got that vibe that makes something simultaneously cute and kind of unsettling. The linked post goes into some detail about design decisions and the real-world animals they used for inspiration. Something I think is particularly clever is how they not only incorporated the carapace from the beetle they were inspired by, but they also made the profile of the head fit with that, so that it also looks kind of beetle-like despite being obviously mammalian.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) also had Beetle Thoughts and decided to just run with them, creating an impressively-realistic-looking drawing of a beetle. (I think I'm just a sucker for black-and-white naturalist-style art, because lately I keep looking at CheapSweets's work and going "ooh, look at the stippling and everything". Plus I'm perennially impressed that they do this with a fountain pen.) There's some detailed discussion in the linked post about what specific beetles this design takes inspiration from, as well as how they envision this animal functioning in general, and that's really interesting, so I recommend checking it out. (Did you know there was a beetle known as the "diabolical ironclad beetle"? Delightful.) Additionally, they note that we should imagine bright warning colors, but they didn't have time to add them. Also, thank you CheapSweets for providing alt text.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) also notes that this critter would have bright warning colors if she'd had time to color it. Apparently this design is inspired by poison-type Pokemon, which I can definitely see: that's a credible Pokemon design. It's all gloopy for putting out fires. I find it interesting that there's a degree of consensus on this entry being interpreted in this way -- replies on the original post expressed that That Is A Pokemon, and seemingly SweetlyFez agrees. I like the side-eye it's giving, too. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@pomrania (link to post here) was the one to label this a Pokemon in the replies, and we can see that they've run with that a bit, as this is also a credible Pokemon design. It's a little bit cat, a little bit dragon, and a little bit liquid so it can put out fire. I like that it looks so pleased with itself while causing problems.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has decided that the Shonweak is an armadillo. This illustration shows some very nice Stylized Trees, I must say, and I particularly like the visual effect showing that the Shonweaks are poisoning the one on the left. (Coolest-Capybara also makes note of the Pokemon thing.) For an explanation of why they are armadillos, please see the linked post.

@strixcattus (link to post here) has drawn a very charming little creature. I love the puffed-up cheeks & throat sac, and the effect that has on its facial expression. If you check out the linked post for a proper description of this beast, you'll find it's quite interesting -- I particularly like the idea that it spits poison by filling its throat sac with water and then allowing its natural poison to seep into that water. I think that's pretty clever.

Now, to the Aberdeen Bestiary, where the illustrator has done a Scene that takes up most of the page:

That's a heck of a thing, right? I really like it, to be honest. We've got the cool Stylized Tree with critters wrapping around the branches, we've got the ones in the fire doing kind of a flame-like pose, and of course we have a dead guy at the bottom. The last of these just strikes me as funny for some reason.

Anyway, as I think multiple people guessed, this is the salamander.

No, the illustrator had apparently never seen one, so they've drawn snakes instead, probably because of the association with poison.

Anyway, I was surprised to learn (just now actually) that salamanders really are quite poisonous. I have no idea whether they can poison food and water in the way that the author describes -- that seems a bit extreme -- but I don't think I know enough to rule it out.

The fire thing... well, that's definitely not the case. I'm not really sure where that came from. I've heard the explanation that people in the past would occasionally see salamanders crawling out of fires, and thus form the idea that they were fireproof, unaware of the fact that the salamanders were just hiding in their firewood and are fleeing the fire as a result of being Definitely Not Fireproof. I don't know how credible that is, though.

This fire association may have been amplified by... well, look at this:

That's Salamandra salamandra, aka the fire salamander. It's pretty common and widespread in Europe, and is also among the largest salamanders on the continent, so it's reasonable to think this is the one that pre-modern Europeans would have in mind. And you know, that coloring definitely gives the impression of "this is a Fire Guy". If one were to see this salamander crawling out of a fire (worth noting that the Wikipedia article does say they like to hide under fallen wood, so maybe that idea tracks), and knew nothing about zoology, you could see how they might think "yes, that looks like something that was supposed to be in there."

#maniculum bestiaryposting #shonweak

[weekly-welsknight]

learned about a beetle called the diabolical ironclad beetle today and if that's not the most welsknight/helsknight coded bug ever i don't know what is /silly

they have such a strong exoskeleton that they can withstand getting run over by a car (which is so sick like wtf how) and entomologists that want to display specimens have to drill holes in their shell for the pins to go through bc they can't be pinned properly with just stainless steel pins?? like bro?? look up how their shells are interlocked and stuff it's insane

also diabolical is in the name lmao

#welsknight #not art #mod sock #just rambling #what a cool bug #cw: insect #insect #cw: beetle #beetle #<- jic

[galacticnova3]

Finally. I present to you all Lor as a bug but with effort, as promised. You know when you put something near a bug and it immediately tries to climb on, like that mantis trying to climb onto an excavator? She is doing that I just don’t know how well I got that across. She want uppy

I think she would be a harmless beetle-esque thing roughly the size of a Syrian hamster with the durability of a diabolical ironclad beetle, which I highly recommend looking up if you don’t know how wack they are. She’d be somewhat good at swimming but flightless because no way in hell was I going to try to bullshit functional wings onto a design that already doesn’t make sense before bug-ification. What doesn’t change is the fact that she can’t see well. Probably bumps into things a lot, which makes the hard exoskeleton useful.

The claws are mostly for gripping surfaces and holding onto fruits— the pseudopods under her “emblem” would just be used to cut through the peel/skin/rind. The “wings” are mostly a defensive measure, able to be flared out quickly to make herself look at least somewhat noticeably larger than a hamster. Also to help her right herself if she gets flipped over. If the threat display doesn’t work and someone decides to hold her like burger or something she’d stridulate like a hissing cockroach, though it’d be like. Halfway between that and death’s head moth squeaking. Creacher.

#rambling #my art #lor starcutter #idk how to tag this? #does it go in Lor tag or is this too far removed #eh I can figure it out later #edit: its later in the tag it goes

[psychospore]

Someone Special

A/N: Hello Tumblr Friends! Sorry for the unexpected hiatus but I'm back with a new fic for y'all

If you like this, you might wanna check out my Masterlist for more fics – smutty and fluffy and sometimes a bit angsty

@twhxhck tagging you on my new one :D

Pairing: Avenger!Loki x Y/N

Word count: 1400+

Warnings: mentions of torture, violence, death, fluff, mutual pining etc.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Tony and Steve rescued Y/N from an underwater HYDRA experimentation facility that conducted Human-Animal Splicing Experiments. With a low chance of survival, HYDRA successfully spliced Y/N with a Peacock Mantis Shrimp with the intention of creating advanced weaponry to conquer the world.

The two Avengers rescued Y/N and shut down the system to prevent HYDRA from continuing the program. During Y/N’s rehabilitation in the Avenger’s tower, she has found an expected companion in the form of Loki – who she met while sneaking one night to grab a bite. With her enhanced vision, she was able to surprise Loki that she was able to see him despite his invisibility.

Months of constant interaction made Loki grow fond of Y/N, he is in denial of these growing feelings towards Y/N – thinking it was not a good idea for her to be closer to him given his track record. He grew distant, Y/N noticing this wanted to confront him but had to push it back due to a mission back to the HYDRA laboratory where they found her. Stark gifted Y/N with a full white nano-suit, a long white overcoat, and heavy gauntlets resembling a Peacock Mantis Shrimp’s dactyl limbs.

The Avengers were caught in a pinch when super soldiers cornered them, they were not aware before their mission that HYDRA has developed a serum to temporarily enhance these soldiers with the powers of a cockroach – nasty but freaking resilient despite losing limbs.

Y/N had to fight one of her comrades spliced with the Diabolical Ironclad Beetle, a perfect defense against her, during the mission. Her barrage of power-packed punches destroyed most of the room but barely had any effects on the spliced enemy in front of her. He deflected her attacks and knocked her out with a blow to the stomach, making her cough up blood as she noticed a hole in her caved-in torso.

After being captured, tortured, and injected with the triggering serum to activate her dormant powers – partially transforming into a Peacock Mantis Shrimp as she convulsed in inexplicable pain – red antennae grew from her head, her long brown hair, tainted green with red tips, eyes turned red – to fully activate vision able to see both UV and polarizing light, her whole suit and overcoat turned to fully resemble her spliced animal – gauntlets turning green with gloves turning red, overcoat turning into the green hue with the lower part turning into fan-like segmented carapace-like disks with red edges. Chest and facial plates grew that resemble carapaces partly with the help of the nanobots from the suit.

Unlike her other comrades, Y/N retained a part of her humanity, she ordered the rest of the Avengers – Nat, Steve, Bruce, Thor, and Loki to head back to the ship to assist Tony and Clint who were already busy fending off the 2 Leviathan attacking the Submarine. Loki was hesitant to get back and wanted Y/N to go back with them – their first interaction after Loki decided to avoid her. Y/N assured him that she can handle it so hesitantly Loki followed, fully trusting Y/N’s decision.

Y/N fought her comrade, leaving him immobile before destroying the control panels and drowning the whole laboratory along with the rest HYDRA soldiers. As she escaped, she grabbed a few vials of the Triggering Serum and Antidote to bring back with her but before she could go out, her comrade decided to have one last fight – trapping them both under the rubble of what was left of the facility under the sea.

With the monsters dead after the fight with the rest of the Avengers, Loki hurriedly went to the destroyed building to retrieve Y/N, his biggest fear lingering – the possibility that she might be dead. He saw Y/N’s unconscious body – the lower half trapped underneath the rubble and the upper half submerged in the water. With all his strength, he removed the large rocks and recovered Y/N’s body, and brought it back to the ship.

He feared she might have drowned – he never left her side as she lay on the table, praying that she comes back. And come back she did – she coughed hard, as she comes back to her senses, exhausted from the fight. She smiled at Loki saying that thank goodness she was able to breathe underwater now or else she would have been a goner before passing out again.

Back at the infirmary at the Avenger’s tower, doctors were running around, hooking her up to the many devices to monitor her condition. Loki was worried the whole time as he felt helpless, his healing magic could only do so much. Thor assured him that Y/N will be fine and he needs to believe in her.

The whole week, Y/N was out, and Loki never left her side. The doctors have decided not to inject her with the antidote just yet, thinking her current state would be optimal for her survival – her human form would not be able to take the damage done to her.

 Slowly, Y/N’s eyes fluttered slowly to see a sleeping Loki, sitting by her hospital bed. She brushed Loki’s locks which woke the god.

“How are you feeling now, Y/N?” Loki worriedly asked.

Y/N’s antennae twitched, “Feeling better, but I feel a bit different” she weakly responded.

“I am deeply sorry for not being much help throughout your whole ordeal, you shouldn’t have faced it alone” Loki rubbed her fingers looking dejected.

“That’s alright, it was something that I need to do sooner or later,” she answered.

Soon, the rest of the Avengers poured inside the hospital after being notified by the nurses that Y/N has come to – bringing flowers and well-wishes.

“Your white suit looked good, but your current one looked better,” Tony commented.

“Looking more like a shrimp now?” Y/N joked.

“Can’t say it’s a bad thing,” he responded.

“You need more training when you get released from here. Despite your powers, you got us all worried about you with what you did with the facility,” Steve said, arms crossed.

“Especially my dearest brother, Loki. He hasn’t left you even for a second!” Thor exclaimed.

“You don’t have to tell her that,” Loki crossed, furrowing his brows.

“Nothing to be ashamed of brother – I know you hold Y/N dear so we understand,” Thor responded.

Before Thor and Loki could continue with their banter, Nat interjected, “Okay everyone, let’s let Y/N rest for now so she could recover quick.”

After a few more weeks in the hospital, the doctors cleared Y/N to be discharged.

Loki was reading a book in the lounge when Y/N popped in – now back to her usual form after being injected with the antidote. “Do you mind if I join?” before Loki could answer, Y/N sat beside him.

“How are you feeling now?” Loki asked.

“Much better, I feel like I could fight another freak like me,” Y/N joked.

“You are not a freak Y/N, you know that.”

“Hey, that’s a badge of honor for me now – not everyone gets to survive the whole shit show, now that I realized it,” Y/N responded.

“You didn’t deserve what you went through. Still, a part of me is glad that you’re here with us now,” Loki felt his heart hurt, while he was there at the facility, he saw the manuscripts documenting the harrowing experiments conducted.

“ Yeah, I’m glad to be here too,” Y/N eyes glimmered with hope as she looks outside the floor-to-ceiling window, not noticing Loki was looking at her with much admiration. Vowing to himself he wouldn’t let the same thing happen to her again.

“Y/N…” Loki moved closer to her, cupping her chin with his fingers, and gazing directly into her eyes.

Her heart fluttered with this gesture and before she could respond, Loki to her in a sweet and beautiful kiss that felt like heaven and lasted forever.

Loki broke the kiss to continue, “I couldn’t imagine myself being without you anymore.” Y/N’s face turned beet-red and before she could say anything, Steve walked in. Y/N jumped away covering her face with a throw pillow. She didn’t know how to react.

“Ready for your training, Y/N?” Steve naively asked.

“Perfect timing captain, you couldn’t have walked in a perfect time,” Loki sarcastically answered, leaving Steve confused.

“See in 5 Agent, training room,” Steve responded which Y/N answered with a squeak and a nod.

“Loki… I…” Y/N said.

“Don’t worry, Y/N. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up. Go with the captain now,” Loki smugly smiled at Y/N.

#loki fanfic #loki laufeyson #loki x y/n #loki x reader #loki fanfiction #loki fic recs #loki x female reader #loki fic #loki of asgard #loki x you #avengers loki #loki au #loki x reader angst #loki laufeyson fanfic #loki laufeyson fluff #loki laufesyon x reader #loki laufeyson x female reader #loki laufeyson x reader #loki laufeyson imagine

[ratcandy]

y'know regardless of any debates about zote we do know that his skull is like fucking invincible. like it takes a vengefly king so long to crack it that you can do like a third of the game before it happens. you cannot break it no matter how good your nail is or how many times you hit it. he's so thick-headed that his head became impervious

I KNOW!!! He's so tanky it's obnoxious. Even without the mask, he takes forever to wear down for a guy who sucks ass at everything else!!!

Like I've mentioned it 1 million times but he takes a ton of hits in the Coliseum and doesn't even die from it. He stops fighting because he gets stuck in the ground, not because he's been Murdered like every other boss in the game. And assuming Eternal Ordeal is not canon, we have no idea how much Actual Health this dude has.

And the mask . Yea. Never breaks apart ever. It cracks!! But never shatters. What is going on in this guy. Fuckin diabolical ironclad beetle type resistance. Asinine

#ask #zote #something is wrong with him (said affectionately)

[cheapsweets]

The nocuous Shonweak

My response to this week’s BestiaryPosting challenge from @maniculum

Jinhao shark fountain pen with fine, hooded nib, with Monteverde Raven Noir ink, over initial pencil sketch. I'd considered adding some colour, but didn't have time this week; imagine it's got telltale orange/yellow and black warning colouration :)

It's been interesting trying to relearn pen shading techniques from scientific illustration again (as ever, suspect going a bit bigger would make this easier, I'm also going to have another rummage through my pens to see if I can find an even finer nib, since the one's I've been using don't come close to using a dip pen).

Reasoning under the cut;

The Shonweak is so called because it is proof against fire.

Okay, first things first, we get no indication about what type of creature this is. My default assumption when the bestiary authors don't give us any more detail is that is must be a Beast, but I've been wanting to mix it up a bit. But what to go for...?

Of all poisonous creatures, it has the strongest poison. Other poisonous creatures kill one at a time; it can kill several things at the same time. For if it has crawled into a tree, it poisons all the apples and kills those who eat them. In addition, if it falls into a well, the strength of its poison kills those who drink the water.

Okay, a poisonous critter, and not just poisonous, the most poisonous...! Okay, this narrows it down a bit. We get some creatures that are occasionally poisonous due to their diet (including certain birds, and snakes!), but mostly we're looking at amphibians, insects, echinoderms, fish, flatworms, and some others too.

This also made me think about the line between poisonous and venomous. We've all been on tumblr a while, so we've probably seen the memes, but technically the main difference is that poisonous animals deliver their toxin passively (in this context, being eaten is passive...)

We also know that this thing can crawl into a tree, so must be able to climb (that eliminates most fish, for starters).

I've gone for a beetle, since drawing an arthropod is pretty different from anything I've done thus far. Main influences are;

The diabolical ironclad beetle, a tiny awesome critter that is nigh on indestructable. It has a flattened body, fused elytra, and a cool, knobbly surface to its armour; I gave the elytra a bit of an overlap, so it could consider clamping its body down if it gets into a sticky situation (like a fire).

Bombadier beetles; in case you're not aware of them, their defence mechanism is spraying near-boiling noxious chemicals at attackers (you'll also be familiar with them if you've ever read the Spider World books by Colin Wilson!). The most famous ones are yellow and black, and you can see the nozzle on the end of its abdomen.

While the bombadier beetle does actively spray toxins, keeping them in its body also makes it poisonous - best of both worlds!

Also can't deny the influence of the blue death feigning beetle, a very aestheic insect indeed, and if I'm honest, the tanker bug from Starship Troopers...!

I did look at large beetles like the goliath beetle for some inspiration, especially around the legs (I imagine the Shonweak to be pretty big as beetles go), but decided against it since they're a lot fancier, and I figured a tough, fire-braving critter like this to be a little plainer and unadorned.

It resists fire and alone among creatures can put fires out. For it can exist in the midst of flames without pain and without being consumed by them, not only because it does not burn but because it puts the fire out.

Okay, if this is the creature I strongly suspect it is, this is an interesting wrinkle to the mythology around it; it's proof against fire because it puts the fire out (not something I've heard before). I'll have more to say if it does turn out to be what I suspect...

Okay, hear me out... The bombadier beetle combines exothermic chemicals in its body to produce its boiling, caustic spray... What if a creature could do something similar for a seriously endothermic reaction; it would be almost like a tiny, living fire extinguisher... I imagine the Shonweak as a bomadier beetle relative, spraying freezing toxins at enemies (or just generally if stuck in a fire, or if it falls down a well, or if those apples are looking particularly hostile...)

#maniculum bestiaryposting #bestiaryposting #shonweak #my art #🪲

[ask-professor-gohan]

professor Gohan what the strongest bugs in the world also if you weren’t an entomologist what would you be?

They're also the classic example of insect strength. I mean, what can't these little guys do?! They plow through the ground for their intricate tunnel systems, use their jaws to cut up everything from leaves to their enemies, and even build bridges and rafts by hanging from each others' bodies! The force of a trapjaw ant snapping its mandibles shut on a hard object can be enough to send itself flying several times its body length back, which looks silly but is a great escape route. And of course, they can lift tens of times their own body weight. To explain shortly, smaller animals have the potential to be very relatively strong because the surface area-volume ratio is more even at that scale. They weigh less and so have less to carry, so they can allocate strength to carrying larger objects than usual. A human-sized ant would be very strong, but not as proportionately strong as it was at its usual size. But let's move on from ants!

Apparently, the world's strongest insect and apparently overall strongest animal (once again relative to body mass!) is a dung beetle called Onthophagus taurus which has pulled more than 1,000 times its body weight in a study! This strength may have been sexually selected for due to males competing for females through competitions of brute strength. Beetles in the family Scarabaeidae are generally pretty strong, if you hold certain burrowing species in your hand you'll find that they can prise open your fingers quite easily!

The diabolical ironclad beetle (Phloeodes diabolicus) is another very strong beetle, but in a different way. Its exoskeleton, especially its elytra (the shell on its back), are incredibly durable and are constructed of layers that are meshed like puzzle pieces and cemented together by proteins that make them almost impossible to crush through natural means. The way the parts of the shell are interlaced also has given scientists a challenge to replicate their structure in human materials such as planes. Biomimicry is a crazy field! Also, you can imagine how notoriously difficult these things are to preserve for the... average entomologist.

(It's true. Entomologists, in the name of science, have run over these beetles with their cars and they just shrugged it off.)

I don't want to make this post too long (you're strong yourself for getting this far!), but I should give honorable mentions to our saltatorial (jumping) friends in the order Orthoptera, which are your grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids. Even less well-known (or rather less-respected) are the fleas, which I personally find fascinating because their closest relatives are likely scorpionflies! Who knew such a tiny, flat insect with no wings but powerful hindlegs could have evolved from potentially such a dainty-looking ancestor.

As for an alternate career path... I'm very grateful to be studying the insects I love so much, but I've always been interested in all the sciences. One of my backup plans was to become a researcher or lab technician at Capsule Corporation, which would have dealt largely with mechanical engineering. I wonder how that would have gone!

#insects #entomology #dragon ball #dragon ball z #dragon ball super #dragon ball super super hero #dbz #dbs #dbssh #gohan #son gohan #mod jay

[vespidazed]

top 3 coolest bug carapaces

OOH gods this is a hard one, here we go

CW: insects below the cut

First we're going to go for some ants. There's a LOT of cool ants but we're going with polyrhachis cyaniventris which are cool spiky blue creatures:

We'll follow this with the amazingly named diabolical ironclad beetle. This sucker looks like a moving chip of concrete or raw metal, which is cool. Cooler still is how durable that carapace is: you can legitimately drive a car over one and it'll be fine.

Giving the third to a specific kind of leafhopper nymph that is (I think) the only living thing that has ORGANIC GEARS

... they're just some of many cool bugs but HERE'S THREE BEFORE WE GET INDECISIVE

#vespidazed asks

[morbidsmenagerie]

Beetle appreciation post, love their textures.

#invertebrates #invertiblr #inverts #invert #bugblr #beetle #beetles #hellburnt diabolical ironclad beetle #phloeodes diabolicus #wooly darkling beetle #eleodes osculans