https://twitter.com/cons_owned/status/1331400049524436992

  • Obrus [she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I remember hearing that of hive building insects, only termites have a more even sex distribution. Like wasps, ants, bees etc are almost all female, but termites for some reason skipped on that.

    • kilternkafuffle [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Termites aren't related to other social insects, they belong to different orders. They're an example of convergent evolution. Some of the nearest relatives of termites are... cockroaches. Termites are on the more disgusting side of insects - smellier and pestier than ants/bees/wasps.

      • Pezevenk [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        4 years ago

        Termites are not that gross, compared to cockroaches.

    • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      You sent me down a rabbit hole about Termites and now I'm reading about Autothysis wherein certain species of Termite will rupture glands to produce a sticky substance to block tunnels when the colony is attacked.

      • Obrus [she/her]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Termites are rad. I mean us humans dislike them since they sometimes mistakenly eat our houses, but they have developed a lot of cool and surprisingly intricate survival strategies.

        • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          They totally are. I was just reading about how certain species have soldier termites that don't have mandibles they just spit toxic goo at enemies and rely on worker termites to feed them. Fascinating!