I have that as well when I’m really tired. It’s more like dreaming of the situation you’re in though. When I actually open my eyes, some stuff is different and people are somewhere else.
I used primitive and modern as a way to refer to more basal or derived traits in ant colonies that I hoped would be more accessible. This is commonly used in literature although a bit dated.
Where did I say ants don’t have cognition? You just assumed this. Also, there are no examples of playing behaviour in ant species so far. Only the bumblebee paper. If you know of any publications on this topic that I don’t know about, please feel free to share. Maybe they do, still doesn’t really change much.
Show me an insect manufacturing or using tools. Or one learning new techniques by watching others, or one teaching its offspring. These are some of the complex cognitive traits found in mammals and birds that have not been shown for insects as far as I know.
Believe me when I tell you that I have a profound interest and appreciation for insects, enough to shape career and education choices around them. But claiming that insects are cognitively even remotely on the same level as humans is not supported anywhere and a bit of a silly hill to die on.
I didn’t. I meant it, to use another terminology, as ancestral/derived traits. Maybe you get that.
I didn’t, also you can’t prove absence of something as you should know.
Do you actually believe ants have closely similar cognitive abilities to humans? Where does this idea come from? At the beginning of the century entomology textbooks actually featured flowcharts to predict insect behaviour. We found out that there is more individuality and adaptability but it’s still not comparable to animals with more complex brains.
You have provided effectively 0 evidence to prove anything as wild as ants forming some elaborate society that would be even nearly as complex as that of humans. Show me this research that you speak of or maybe try to lay off the pop-sci a little.
True, however there were extinctions caused by far larger increases in CO2 than we have today and it didn’t happen. So at this moment it does not seem likely that we will achieve it this time.
More likely the small size, flight and the holometabolous lifestyle.
There is the theory that the number of species is related to the number of available niches. For mammals, a tree may offer 2-3 with the ground, the branches and maybe something like burrowing (this is just for illustration purposes).
Insects can live in the leaves, dead branches, inside the wood, in the mosses, on the ground, in the leaf litter layer, burrowing etc., etc. because they are so small. They can also easily transit between different places because most of them can fly.
Because the larvae of holometabolous insects can occupy a completely different niche than the adults, every combination of niches can more or less be considered a new niche.
All of this is reflected in the species richness of insects. The primary wingless groups of insects are not very diverse compared to winged insects. And within the winged insects, the holometabolous species make up the vast majority. Hymenoptera, flies and beetles make up the majority of insects and they are all winged and holometabolous. If you just look at the hemimetabolous ones, they aren’t much more diverse than other groups of arthropods.
4 species of roaches (Pseudoglomeris magnifica being the prettiest in my opinion), 3 species of isopods (Merulanella sp. scarlet being my favourite) and 2 species of beetles as well as shrimp and snails in an aquarium.
Rather small compared to the deep sea ones you are probably thinking of. They’re terrestrial so many people will call them rolly polys or something like that.
The largest species I currently have are Porcellio hoffmannseggi, as far as I know the largest terrestrial ones and they get to about 5 cm total length and maybe 3 cm body length.
I once tried to breed amphibious Ligia oceanica ones that I collected, commonly referred to as sea slaters. They were a bit bigger in terms of body length but needed saltwater and also didn’t fare well with room temperature I am afraid.
However the P. hofmannseggi are fairly easy to keep and inexpensive. They just need a small container with a bit of soil, leaf litter and some dead or rotting hardwood to hide under, I spray them about once per week. It’s a great hobby.
There are also small freshwater species that can be kept in aquarium but they are not sold anywhere and you can usually collect them yourself.
I dunno, still might be aliens with this one. (mander.xyz)
What is your business plan? (startrek.website)
Spinosarus (mander.xyz)
Theory (it’s possible): tetzoo.com/…/trope-of-the-buffalo-backed-dinosaur
I'm finally getting my first Steam Deck with the 512 OLED. What accessories would you consider imperative?
Some things that are of interest to me are......
What’s the strangest unexplained thing that’s happened to you ?
TIL some species of ants farm aphids like we do cows (www.mcgill.ca)
Link: www.westcoastseeds.com/…/do-ants-farm-aphids....
Pretty interesting, huh? (mander.xyz)
One thing I've learned after 21 years - you never know what is gonna come through that door. (mander.xyz)
What is your exotic pet?
I want to hear from the people with pets like centipedes, prarie dogs, alligators, scorpions, vultures, octupus… What is taking care of your pet like?
Just let them have their fun (lemmy.world)
ich🚗📻iel (feddit.de) German