All posts in “Star Wars”

Adult Antions

Adult Antlions

So what are Adult Antlions? Have you ever seen those holes in dry sand? It resembles the Sarlacc from star wars fame. It first appeared in the film Return of the Jedi (1983) as a multi-tentacled alien beast whose immense, gaping jaw is lined with several rows of sharp teeth. As a child I would dig up them up and watch the tiny little lion use its jaws, then put it back and feed it an ant.

Its amazing to me that this little thing becomes a huge winged bug. I guess that some insect species, are way to cool for their good. Like the  caterpillar to butterfly and dragon fly nymph to dragon fly. Some cool creatures are out there. I really love those jumping spiders – the ones that are the size of a dime and multi colored. There is one called the Peacock Jumping Spider by Jurgen Otto that is so colorful, even has a tail appendage that is bright just like a Peacock. There are also those creepy things that go bump in the night, Zombie spiders (I’m kidding) no such thing. But the movie Arachnophobia (scary), freaks me out every time I see it.  We all have those things that scare us, maybe its rodents or maybe spiders. Adult Antlions are the adult version of the small predatory antlions that wait for their victims. Adults just feed on nectar and pollen so be careful out there if you fall in their hole jk not that big. Now if you ran into the Sarlacc, that would be something that could get you…

Antlions – What’s making these holes?

Antlions are making these holes.

antlions IMG_20150901_074508

 

 

 

Antlions – the terror of the sandlot! A week or so ago I posted a who knows what this is? I then spotted a Youtube video that I thought would be fun to watch, especially since its National Geographic. As a kid I always played with these weird creatures and until I saw Star Wars with that SarLoc it never resonated as much.

If you ever have the chance, take a small business card and bend it and scoop out this tiny little critter. It’s interesting to think that everything has its place, well maybe not mosquitoes? Noah had the chance to smack both of them, didn’t he?

 

[az_video_embed class=”” link=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWkfAyfBDHE”]

Even Entomologist have to have fun………

Even Entomologist have to have fun………

 

The naming of scientific names of critters goes way back to the founder “Carl Linnaeus” he is credited as being the first to give a name based on taxonomy. But sometimes I think some of these folks are playing games, there is one guy who named things after Star Wars characters – wasp names Polemistus chewbacca, Polemistus vaderi, and Polemistus yoda. So please check out “14 Great Names for Bugs” for an interesting take on naming bugs.

Typically the person who discovers the animals or critter gets to give the critter it’s scientific name , usually they associate it with their name but not always. So its fun to see how the intellectuals name the bug.

Social media hi-lights…

Social media hi-lights…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuNx0UrnEo]

I really found this interesting at a meeting last week on Social Media and they mentioned this Youtube video, watch and see what you think. Any Comments?

Contact Us