- mozz ( @mozz@mbin.grits.dev ) 93•5 months ago
Just to put some context:
- Predatory scorpions a couple feet long
- Armored millipedes larger than a man; they were probably herbivorous but as the article notes they “would have had few, if any, predators.”
- There is a theory, possibly not real well accepted but it makes sense to me, that trilobites were the creature that way-back-when invented effective predation shortly after evolving vision. (Before which the world was a fairly benign place.) The theory further supposes that the Cambrian Explosion was caused by every other organism on the planet having to scramble not to have their soft blobby flesh munched on at leisure by a limitless army of armored, invulnerable hunters, which they couldn’t see or avoid, but who could see and follow them.
- AFallingAnvil ( @AFallingAnvil@lemmy.ca ) English11•5 months ago
Fantastic addition to the conversation, thank you
- flora_explora ( @flora_explora@beehaw.org ) English8•5 months ago
I crocheted a giant millipede that is about 1.8 m long and while doing this I also found that there lived actual millipedes that large long ago. Now I cuddle with my giant millipede and imagine that she was one of those giants! :)
- mozz ( @mozz@mbin.grits.dev ) 1•5 months ago
That is incredibly charming 😃
- sparkle ( @sparkle@lemm.ee ) English2•5 months ago
anomalocaris anomalocaris anomalocaris
- naevaTheRat ( @naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English34•5 months ago
- outer_spec ( @outer_spec@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English5•5 months ago
this is the bug equivalent of those memes about wolves becoming pugs
- naevaTheRat ( @naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English3•5 months ago
I don’t follow sorry. Could you explain?
I was just making a silly joke and also trying to point out that genetic memory red in tooth and claw stuff is fucking weird.
- Underwaterbob ( @Underwaterbob@lemm.ee ) English27•5 months ago
We’ve got some pretty big centipedes around here, and they’re one of very few animals I slaughter ruthlessly without remorse. I have a hammer for the express purpose of braining them. Fuckers don’t need an excuse to bite you, they just do. And, they love bedsheets, clothes, etc. Ironically, we also have house centipedes, and they get a pass. They’re hideous, sure, but anything that eats cockroach eggs (another one I kill without remorse) is A-OK in my book.
- Neato ( @Neato@ttrpg.network ) English26•5 months ago
There are more kinds of beetles in the world than any other animal.
- Isoprenoid ( @Isoprenoid@programming.dev ) English28•5 months ago
I needed a clarification, Wikipedia had your back.
The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal species; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species.
- BarqsHasBite ( @someguy3@lemmy.ca ) English9•5 months ago
Fucking fascinating.
- unfnknblvbl ( @unfnknblvbl@beehaw.org ) English3•5 months ago
Make Arthropods Great Again!
- pimento64 ( @pimento64@sopuli.xyz ) English2•5 months ago
I am calling for total arthropod death
- Queen HawlSera ( @HawlSera@lemm.ee ) English1•5 months ago
But I’m not scared of them at all