Seeing their extraordinary skills, I was deeply impressed

Image source: See watermark

The world is lovely, and insects are strange. Some insects have strange appearances, and some insects have strange skills. Their extraordinary skills are truly amazing. For example:

+ Anti-pressure+

© David Kisailus

Look at this ordinary little insect, 2cm long, pitch black and flat, but it has an extraordinary skill - pressure resistance. Even if a car drives over it, it will remain safe and sound.

It is the Phloeodes diabolicus, which belongs to the family Phloeopodidae in the order Coleoptera. It lives in the desert areas of North America, lives under rocks or tree bark, feeds on fungi, and has a lifespan of up to 8 years.

Source: See watermark

Such a durable exoskeleton naturally attracted the attention of scientists, who conducted steel plate compression tests on it.

Source: www.nature.com

The results showed that it can withstand a maximum external force of 149N, which is about 39,000 times its own weight. This is equivalent to one person being able to carry about 40 tanks. It is estimated that only Superman in the movie can do it.

The force exerted on the beetle by the car tire while driving is about 100N, which is well within its tolerance range.

+ Anti-freeze+

Source: ketheridge.sites.gettysburg.edu

What is the lowest temperature that the human body can withstand? A few dozen degrees below zero is no problem, of course, this is for a short period of time, with the help of warm clothing and heating facilities. However, there is a small moth that can easily live in an environment of -70℃ by relying on its antifreeze skills.

This is the Arctic grass moth Gynaephora groenlandica. The adult looks plain, but the larvae have long "hair" like other gypsy moth larvae. If attacked, it will roll itself into a ball and rely on thick toxic hair to protect its little head.

Image source: eartharchives.org

The range of the Arctic tussock moth extends to the Arctic Circle, Canada and even Greenland, where snow is present all year round and food is scarce. In these conditions, the larvae have to freeze themselves for long periods of time. They can synthesize cryoprotectant compounds such as glycerol and betaine to protect themselves from freezing damage.

Here, summers are short and once the thaw arrives, the larvae become active again. They spend only 5% of their lives eating their favorite food, tiny arctic willows, and the remaining 90% or more of their lives are spent in hibernation.

During their life cycle, they typically freeze and thaw seven times.

Source: eartharchives.org

When hibernating, the larvae even "weave" a lightweight special cocoon (not as dense or complete as the cocoon when they emerge), which not only helps to keep warm, but also helps protect themselves from parasitic wasps.

+ Anti · Eat +

Source: Kobe University

Regimbartia activatea is a 4-5 mm-sized aquatic beetle that looks like a small black bean. So what special skills does it have? It turns out that...

Come and see, even if you are swallowed by Frog, you can still “escape from shit”!

After being eaten, the spindle-shaped tooth beetle experienced a long and arduous "journey" in Frog Brother's stomach, crawling through the esophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine, and finally came to the cloaca, stimulating its defecation and thus escaping.

Source: Kobe University

Frog swallows its prey without chewing it, and the active escape of the fusiform tooth beetle saves it from death.

In addition, its hard exoskeleton acts like armor to protect it from corrosion by digestive juices. As an aquatic beetle, the fusiform beetle can store air bubbles under its elytra, allowing it to breathe underwater.

Fusiform tooth beetle: Eating me is like eating loneliness

+ Anti-abuse+

Image source: researchgate

Polypedilum vanderplanki

(Left: male mosquito, right: female mosquito)

Speaking of insects that are resistant to abuse, we have to mention Polypedilum vanderplanki, which is simply the three-body man among the three bodies, the water bear in the insect world. However, judging from its appearance, it seems that there is nothing special about it.

In fact, the key lies in its larvae!

The larvae of Chironomids van der Waals have a special skill that allows them to survive complete desiccation. The larvae live in temporary water storage pits in African deserts or arid areas, which dry up during droughts.

Image source: researchgate

Most chironomid larvae are red and are often called bloodworms because their body fluids contain hemoglobin (Figure C), while the larvae of Chironomids van der Waals appear shriveled and curled up in a dried and dehydrated state (Figure D).

When the water gradually evaporates and the body feels stressed, the larvae will gradually dehydrate, forming a dormant body similar to a mummy and stop developing. When it rains again and there is water in the puddle, the larvae can quickly recover within 20 minutes and continue to develop.

Image source: researchgate

Scientists have conducted a lot of research on the insect's environmental tolerance (abuse resistance experiments) to study its survival in different extreme environments. The results are shocking:

Image source: www.naro.affrc.go.jp

It has survived 17 years, possibly longer, when kept dry, and can still be revived! It has survived 18 months of exposure to outer space.

It survives boiling at 103°C for 1 minute (some even survive boiling at 200°C for 5 minutes).

It survived 77 hours at -190°C.

It survived 178 h in 100% ethanol.

It was even found to be resistant to 7000 Gry of radiation.

+ Anti-teasing+

Image source: flickr

Look at this fleshy green bug, the state it is in when being teased is simply deeply rooted in people's hearts.

It has a pair of small "horns", but these "horns" are not on the head, but on the "butt", more like a periscope on the butt. Whenever it is threatened, the insect will extend a bunch of hair-like "tentacles" from the periscope-like organ, and these tentacles can also rotate around.

Like this:

GIF source: YouTube

Netizens jokingly said that this little bug is "very capable"! Who is it? It is the larva of the sharp-winged silvery-grey butterfly.

Image source: See watermark

The anemone-like tentacle organs at the tails of sharp-winged silvery butterfly larvae pop out from their bodies as not only a defense mechanism designed to warn potential predators, but they may also secrete chemicals similar to ant alarm pheromones to attract ants and even alert them if the caterpillars are frightened.

Larva: Don’t tease me, or I’ll call for help!

Image source: YouTube

References:

https://eartharchives.org/articles/the-oldest-caterpillar-on-earth-spends-its-winters-frozen-solid/index.html

https://www.naro.affrc.go.jp/archive/nias/anhydrobiosis/Sleeping%20Chironimid/e-about-yusurika.html

Image source: Google

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Editor of this issue: Kongfeng Xiaoxian

Journal of Plant Protection

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