*Bombarded.
[Teasing] 212°F is 100°C, for anyone or anymany using proper measurement systems for temperature.
Or about 373° Kelvin for the truly enlightened.
Or 0° Delisle if you just want to flex about knowing obscure temperature scales.
I don't think Kelvin is an obscure flex, but I had never heard of Delisle. That is a weird one! Thanks for sending me down a little rabbit hole.
Yes that is a flex tbh
Or about 672 Rankine for the truly deranged
Only a couple more million years of natural evolution before we beetles capable of jet-powered flight...
Assblasters!
If y'all have not seen The Oatmeal's bit that includes a great piece on the bombadeer beetle, it's a treat:
GOD made that butthole!
According to this theory, every action that I take in this body is a direct result of evolution; which: according to my research on humans . Is entirely correct.
Heh, it sprays its own head with it. Still some space for improvement.
They can shoot it in different directions. This one's just not very smart.
No wonder it can't keep its cool.
They nip at his ankles, but he simply kicks them away
#inspo #goals #😤😤😤
Has anyone been hit by one of these guys?
At the very least the person the finger in the stock image belongs to
the only known survivor
I'm sure someone has. Not me tho
Says online it can cause mild eye and skin irritation to humans, but nothing serious.
For a good read, look for "For the Love of Insects" by Thomas Eisner who studied the bombardier beetle. The book doesn't focus on bombardier beetles. But he does go over how he made some discovers on the bombardier beetle.
Eisner was a wonderful scientist with a fascinating perspective.
How can something like this evolve?
Here's an attempted explanation
Quinones are produced by epidermal cells for tanning the cuticle. This exists commonly in arthropods. [Dettner, 1987]
Some of the quinones don't get used up, but sit on the epidermis, making the arthropod distasteful. (Quinones are used as defensive secretions in a variety of modern arthropods, from beetles to millipedes. [Eisner, 1970])
Small invaginations develop in the epidermis between sclerites (plates of cuticle). By wiggling, the insect can squeeze more quinones onto its surface when they're needed.
The invaginations deepen. Muscles are moved around slightly, allowing them to help expel the quinones from some of them. (Many ants have glands similar to this near the end of their abdomen. [Holldobler & Wilson, 1990, pp. 233-237])
A couple invaginations (now reservoirs) become so deep that the others are inconsequential by comparison. Those gradually revert to the original epidermis.
In various insects, different defensive chemicals besides quinones appear. (See Eisner, 1970, for a review.) This helps those insects defend against predators which have evolved resistance to quinones. One of the new defensive chemicals is hydroquinone.
Cells that secrete the hydroquinones develop in multiple layers over part of the reservoir, allowing more hydroquinones to be produced. Channels between cells allow hydroquinones from all layers to reach the reservior.
The channels become a duct, specialized for transporting the chemicals. The secretory cells withdraw from the reservoir surface, ultimately becoming a separate organ.
This stage -- secretory glands connected by ducts to reservoirs -- exists in many beetles. The particular configuration of glands and reservoirs that bombardier beetles have is common to the other beetles in their suborder. [Forsyth, 1970]
Muscles adapt which close off the reservior, thus preventing the chemicals from leaking out when they're not needed.
Hydrogen peroxide, which is a common by-product of cellular metabolism, becomes mixed with the hydroquinones. The two react slowly, so a mixture of quinones and hydroquinones get used for defense.
Cells secreting a small amount of catalases and peroxidases appear along the output passage of the reservoir, outside the valve which closes it off from the outside. These ensure that more quinones appear in the defensive secretions. Catalases exist in almost all cells, and peroxidases are also common in plants, animals, and bacteria, so those chemicals needn't be developed from scratch but merely concentrated in one location.
More catalases and peroxidases are produced, so the discharge is warmer and is expelled faster by the oxygen generated by the reaction. The beetle Metrius contractus provides an example of a bombardier beetle which produces a foamy discharge, not jets, from its reaction chambers. The bubbling of the foam produces a fine mist. [Eisner et al., 2000]
The walls of that part of the output passage become firmer, allowing them to better withstand the heat and pressure generated by the reaction.
Still more catalases and peroxidases are produced, and the walls toughen and shape into a reaction chamber. Gradually they become the mechanism of today's bombardier beetles.
The tip of the beetle's abdomen becomes somewhat elongated and more flexible, allowing the beetle to aim its discharge in various directions.
I feel like being part of a setup that was created for this comment. That's more than I ever expected. Thank you very much.
Why did you use a code block for a quote?
idk why but I kind of like to read it with random keywords highlighted and every apostrophe toggling the effect
I didn't do it on purpose, I just copied and pasted
The same way every living thing evolve. Through millon or billion of years of mutations and natural selection.
Proof that god hates us, we didn't get explosive fart cannons.
we didn’t get explosive fart cannons
speak for yourself
Right? Casual.
What kind of spice has it eaten?
BOMBADEER? fuckinng western Canadian spotted.
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