a psychid moth caterpillar trundles along in its mobile home stitched together from debris and silk. it’s stopped by a Hospitalitermes nasute-caste termite who pauses its patrol to investigate the strange fuzzy cone. after the soldier finds no threat, the little bagworm resumes its wandering
My Tale Of Bugs project with Zilo the termite, the first chapter was almost fully done but the coloring is very tiring and I’m not satisfied with it anymore.
I've just recently learned about the termite subfamily Nasutitermitinae! and I want to take a moment to talk about their soldier caste, because, I mean... Look at these guys:
[Image Source: Taxonomic Notes on Nasutitermes and Bulbitermes (Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae) from the Sunda region of Southeast Asia based on morphological and molecular characters | Image ID: Four photos of soldier termites of the Nasutitermitinae subfamily, genus Nasutitermes, showing their heads from above. They have particularly round heads with pointed "noses" /End ID.]
'Why are they shaped like that?' you may be asking, and, as it turns out, that charming little nose is actually a means for chemical warfare! It's referred to as a "fontanellar gun" (likely meaning "fountain gun", alternatively called the nasus), and these termites use it to fire a sort of glue, or ant repellent depending on species. In fact, the accuracy of this shot is quite remarkable, as termites are blind!
[Image Source: The Nasutitermitinae termites, Termite Web | Image ID: A photo of more termites of the subfamily Nasututitermitinae, focusing on a large, major soldier amongst smaller, minor soldiers and worker termites]
A lady I met while cat sitting. She was living (or perhaps was stuck) in the large trunk the cat's mom kept kitty litter in.
Next, a dusty ladyboog.
Don't worry, that stuff on their wings isn't parasites! It's fabric "dust" from the popup tent I was fixing for my mom's office. The tent material was shedding these little fibers every time I moved it - I was covered in them too!
Next, Lunch for another lovely lady! (RIP to her lunch)
Bonus moth
I love them all! RIP to that woman's meal. Hopefully the other spider was let out of the trunk? That can't be an ideal place to find a snack. And yes I would like to buy some grubscout cookies actually