Episode 6 - Inside the Mantis Nest

This is the Sixth episode in the storyline of "Humans-B-Gone!" This is also the start of the "Second Semester." You can watch it here.

### Episode Summary

The episode starts with a view of Formicosa City, a city suspended above ground and inhabited by various insect species that are divided by Swarms. The characters, Rose and Sophodra, arrive in Formicosa City and enter Sophodra's house, which is filled with tanks containing captured humans. Sophodra explains that she collects humans to keep an eye on them. Rose is shocked and scared by the revelation. They then proceed to a room where Sophodra has empty storage. She then finds some penguins on the floor. Rose states a question, asking if they lay eggs in their eyes. Sophodra clarifies that after the mating season, adult females bury themselves in your eyes, with the eggs trailing behind them. Rose is left alone in the room and contemplates her decision to come to Formicosa City but eventually finds comfort in the sight of flowers growing in the corner.

Gregorsa then announces that it's the end of the semester and proceeds to grade the students based on their performance in the class. Different grading ranges are provided, indicating different levels of achievement. Gregorsa reassures those who didn't perform as well that learning is an ongoing process and concludes the class.

### Gregorsa's Ranking for this Semester

"If you've attended every class, you've had an opportunity to gain 141 points so far.

You may have also received points from supplemental classes or extracurricular activities along the way.

If you made it to the range of 80 correct answers or above, consider yourself top tier. Congratulations! These are very difficult questions, and you were expected to answer them without prior study.

If you got at least 60 questions right, you're still at a high rank and outperformed expectations. Well done!

If you reached 40, you're mid-tier. Still, very good job!

20 questions is still quite an achievement. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Finally, 10 questions is still nothing to sniff at. I'm proud of you.

If you didn't score as high as you would have liked, and even if you didn't get any of them, don't worry. We are, all of us, always learning." - Professor Gregorsa

### -Gregorsa's Notes-

Click the number to get the info for that citation marker. There are 41 points possible.

Toggle All Notes

**[1]**

From the Greek di and ptera, the order name Diptera means "two wings," in reference to only the forewings remaining functioning. The hind wings have evolved into structures called "halteres," used to maintain balance in flight. with a free-living species in Antarctica: the Antarctic midge.
(All other insects in Antarctica would be parasites.)

**Flies** constitute the order *Diptera*. Creatures with excellent vision, they form one of the largest of Tricularia's *Swarms* (governing bodies below the authority of ants). Because their mouthparts have fused into probosces, flies are incapable of eating solid food.

You know them best as scavengers, but some are also apex predators or nectar-feeders. In fact, flies are some of the most important pollinators on the planet--far more important

than bees! Their range of sizes and ability to prosper in wide conditions let them pollinate a great variety of flowers. Even those that don't specialize in pollination are pollinators. Did you know chocolate is pollinated by a biting midge?

**2 pts** if you knew their importance as pollinators.

**[2]**

From the Latin *arāneus* and the Greek *Araneomorphae* breaks down to "spider-shaped." up and down. Self-explanatory.

Spiders constitute the infraorder Araneomorphae. As you'll recall, spiders are not insects, but arachnids. Despite this, the true spiders consider themselves distinct from the arachnids of Arachnid Swarm, and have themselves formed Spider Swarm. The solifuges also have allegiance to them, forming the sister swarm Solifuge Swarm.

Though tarantulas are spiders, they are not true spiders. However, almost any other spider you can think of is--the web-building spiders like the orb-weavers and cobweb spiders, as well as hunting spiders like wolf spiders and ton Dee Ed jumping spiders. They can be distinguished by their jaws, From the Latin araneus and Greek morph, the name which work from side to side, where a tarantula’s Jaws move

Incredibly successful apex predators, their importance to the ecosystem cannot be overstated.

*2 pts* if you knew tarantulas were not true spiders.

**[3]**

Lepidoptera means "scale wings." Indeed, under a microscope, it can be seen that their wings are covered in fine, shimmering scales.

**Moths** (including **butterflies**) constitute the order *Lepidoptera*. Moth Swarm is not the largest swarm, but it is one with a lot of status. Formerly, the butterflies formed \* their own queendom. Being delegated to a daughter swarm of Moth Swarm has been a source of shame for them ever since.

Like flies, moths have fused their mouthparts in probosces. However, these probosces have formed entirely separately, and are completely different. Where a fly proboscis is a complicated structure, a moth proboscis is a relatively simple apparatus which coils and uncoils.

**2 pts** if you knew butterflies are moths.

**[4]**

Coleoptera means "sheath wings," in reference to the hard, armored forewings that hug the abdomen tightly, meeting in the middle with a neat seam. Beetle wings can be mistaken for no other.

Beetles constitute the order Coleoptera. Often very large, and durably armored, if somewhat clumsy. Beetle Swarm is one of the largest of Tricularia's Swarms, perhaps even larger than Fly Swarm. Accordingly, beetles have almost the greatest number of species of any animal, period (outdone only by all the parasitoid wasps).

Beetle mouthparts have not fused at all. On the contrary, their mandibles are often large and capable of a nasty bite. It's unsurprising that many beetles are vicious predators, even as grubs.

**2 pts** if you knew there were so many species.

**[5]**

Hemiptera means "half-wings." This is because their forewings are hard like a beetle's for the first half, but membranous like a fly's for the second.

True bugs constitute the order Hemiptera. A Swarm with a very decent representation, and together with Fly Swarm, Beetle Swarm, Moth Swarm, and Roach Swarm, they form the five greatest powers below the ants' authority. Though other swarms exist, it is mostly as sister or daughter swarms below these five.

True bug mouthparts have fused into a sharp, needlelike beak. True bugs include such insects as cicadas, stinkbugs, assassin bugs, and water bugs. The word "bug" is properly applied only to them.

The previous three insects (flies, moths, beetles) have special worm-like young called larvae (maggots, caterpillars, grubs). However, true bugs are like mantises and roaches in having young called nymphs, which look like smaller versions of the adults.

**2 pts** if you knew true bugs existed.

**[6]**

From the Greek anoplo-, and Latin lepis, gracilis, and and farming plant-hungry aphids for their honeydew, they pes. Approximaiely translates for "unshielded and oo brine an entire ecosystem to its knees. In your world, slender-footed." Don't let their frailty fool you.

Members of the order Hymenoptera ("membrane wings;" includes sawflies, wasps, bees, ants), they are what you call "yellow crazy ants." But to us, they are not yellow...and no one would dare call them crazy.

The highest authority of Tricularia, and headed by two remaining queens, they are something beyond a Swarm. We call them only "the ants"--and there are no other ants left to contest the title.

They are a scourge in your world as well as ours. Capable of shooting acid, taking down what are to them giants (crabs), and farming plant-hungry aphids for their honeydew, they can bring an entire ecosystem to its knees. In your world, their queendom continues to spread. In ours, its reign is already total.

**3 pts** if you knew some ants can shoot acid.

**[7]**
    By grasping onto one another with their jaws and finger- like tarsal claws, yellow crazy ants (of both our worlds) can link together in rafts and float across rivers unharmed.
Army ants can make more impressive formations still. Living bridges, columns, even shelters known as "bivouacs"--again,in your world and ours! They can synchronize perfectly to rapidly build a ladder up to an enemy wasp's hive and quickly dismember the children inside.

With macrovolute intellects, of course, yellow crazy ants are capable of all the formations the army ants are...and many more formations, more complicated and terrifying still.

**3 pts**if you knew ants could make such complicated formations.

**[8]**

    By grasping onto one another with their jaws and finger- like tarsal claws, yellow crazy ants (of both our worlds) can link together in rafts and float across rivers unharmed.
The aptly named seedbox keeps its seeds in hollow, papery boxes. We have bred these seedboxes into something more durable, useful to us for such things as luggage.

This is shown well by Rose in this episode, carrying her most treasured possesions with her to her new home in Formicosa City. She has strapped them on with her own webbing. That must be quite handy.

**1 pt**if you're familiar with seedboxes.

**[9]**

Ant plant refers to any of a number of unrelated plants which have developed specialized chambers for ants to live in. Most buildings in Formicosa City are modified ant plants, suspended from modified vines.

**5 pts**if you're familiar with ant plants.

The 10th quote is not in the episode, but was mentioned to be about Rose hyperventilating.

**[10]**

Insects and arachnids both breathe through openings in their abdomens--spiracles for an insect, a book lung for an arachnid. Like you, we hyperventilate when stressed.

**3 pts** If you're familiar with spiracles.

**3 pts** If you're familiar with book lungs.

**[11]**

Dark backs, pale bellies, long bodies...yes, I see why you think they're cute.

**1 pt** if you think penguins are cute.

**[12]**

The Greenland shark eye copepod (*Ommatokoita elongata*) is a parasitic crustacean of the family *Lernaeopodidae*. The female buries her head in the eye of a host Greenland shark, her body trailing behind her as she feeds on the eye jelly of the shark, eventually blinding it. (Luckily, the shark lives in the cold, dark depths and does not seem to need its eyes.) Males latch onto the females with their antennae.

On Tricularia, some penguins display many traits in common with *O. elongata*, parasitizing the eyes of large invertebrates. They exploit some property of the Unknown Nature we do not yet fully understand, allowing them to float in the air as though in water.

By the standards of your world, this must seem like a very unusual combination. Though both inhabit cold oceans, in your world *O. elongata* lives by the North Pole, where penguins live by the South Pole.

**5 pts** if you're familiar with parasitic copepods.

**[13]**

With substantial populations in both our worlds, both protocule and macrovolute, the housefly is a familiar sight to you and me.

Yes. I remember him well, this one. Though he didn't have the prosthetic then, of course.

**5 pts**if you treated him with the understanding they both deserved.

#### -Our World-

**[14]**

As said earlier, Swarms are the fundamental unit of government under the ants. However, not all orders have their own Swarms. Most are sister Swarms to a larger Swarm--for instance, Lacewing Swarm is a sister Swarm to Fly Swarm, and Earwig Swarm is a sister Swarm of Beetle Swarm. There are also daughter Swarms, smaller sub- Swarms making up the larger mother Swarm.

Each Swarm is headed by a Swarm Mother. The exceptions to this are Roach Swarm (which has both a Swarm Mother and a Swarm Father), Arachnid Swarm (which is governed directly by the ants, and technically considered a non-Swarm), and Grasshopper Swarm (which lacks government at all, and is also largely considered a non-Swarm).

Not all macrovolutes belong to Swarms, however. For instance, the dragonflies vehemently disavow the system, and stick to their packs. In fact, the formation of many Swarms has been relatively recent...

**[15]**

The way the gravity-like effects of the Unknown Nature affect Macrovolutes can be thought of like an encasing bubble. The bubble surrounds us and sticks to a surface, but does not pull down on our insides.

However, the bubble itself is subject to what I'll translate as "the gravity debt." The longer a macrovolute is away from a surface, the more their surrounding bubble is pulled toward the direction of Angion. The longer they fall, the faster, and if they fall too long they will finally hit a surface with what can only be described as an unfortunate SPLAT.

Luckily, this effect can be avoided by flying, or by sticking to walls and ceilings. Unluckily, neither is easily achieved by a burrowing tarantula.

**[16]**

The most efficient shape for packing is a hexagon, as exemplified by the honeycombs of bees. Taking a page from them, the rest of us also tend to use hexagonal shapes for storage.

**2 pts** if you knew the efficiency of hexagons.

#### "Secret" Quote

The end quote shows up very quickly for a brief moment, to reveal it Click "Reveal"

**Reveal**

"The least I could have don"

### Sources for the Episode

Each episode has sources that are listed at the end of the episode, click "Sources" to show all the sources at the end of the episode.

Sources
• Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America's most-trusted online dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary.

• Yellow crazy ant biocontrol. Australian Government. (n.d.).
https://parksaustralia.gov.au/christmas/discover/nature/conservation/yellow-crazy-ant-biocontrol/

• BBC Earth. “Yellow crazy ants kill red crab: Planet earth II: BBC Earth.” YouTube, 22 May 2021,
https://youtu.be/NqnauxtCX6I?t=118

• Wet Tropics. “yellow crazy ants rafting on Wet Tropics creek, Australia ” YouTube, 27 Aug. 2014,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWOAR7-ORRQ

• National Geographic. “See How Ants Build Bridges in Mid-Air With Just Their Bodies | National Geographic” YouTube, 22 Mar. 2018,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BdjxYUdJS8

• Bochynek, T., Schiffers, F., Aichert, A., Cossairt, O., Garnier, S., & Rubenstein, M. (2021). Anatomy of a superorganism--structure and
growth dynamics of army ant bivouacs. arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.09017.

• Mayer, V.E., Frederickson, M.E., McKey, D. and Blatrix, R. (2014), Current issues in the evolutionary ecology of ant–plant symbioses.
New Phytol, 202:749-764. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12690

• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "spiracle". Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/science/spiracle.
Accessed 31 May 2023.

• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "book lung". Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/science/book-lung.
Accessed 31 May 2023.

• Burrows, Malcolm, 'Breathing ', The Neurobiology of an Insect Brain (Oxford, 1996; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Mar. 2012),
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198523444.003.0012, accessed 31 May 2023.

• Leung, T. (n.d.). July 22 - ommatokoita elongata. July 22 - Ommatokoita elongata.
http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2010/07/july-22-ommatokoita-elongata.html

• Chamberland, M. (2015, July 22). How bees teach us the most scientifically efficient way to pack things. Slate Magazine.
https://slate.com/technology/2015/07/hexagons-are-the-most-scientifically-efficient-packing-shape-as-bee-honeycomb-proves.html

• Tanvi Deora, Siddharth S Sane, Sanjay P Sane (2021) Wings and halteres act as coupled dual oscillators in flies eLife 10:e53824

• Pain, S. (2021, March 8). How much do flies help with pollination?. Smithsonian.com.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-much-do-flies-help-pollination-180977177/

• Arnold, S.E.J., Forbes, S.J., Hall, D.R. et al. Floral Odors and the Interaction between Pollinating Ceratopogonid Midges and Cacao.
J Chem Ecol 45, 869–878 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-019-01118-9

• Forbes, A. A., Bagley, R. K., Beer, M. A., Hippee, A. C., & Widmayer, H. A. (2018). Quantifying the unquantifiable: why Hymenoptera,
not Coleoptera, is the most speciose animal order. BMC ecology, 18, 1-11.

1. ↑ Derek Keats CC BY 2.0
2. ↑ Robby Deans CC BY-NC 4.0
3. ↑ Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren CC BY 2.0
4. ↑ Bmattor CC BY-SA 3.0
5. ↑ David Gardner CC BY-NC 4.0
6. ↑ Steve Shattuck CC BY-SA 2.0
7. ↑ Geoff Gallice CC BY 2.0
8. ↑ Geoff Gallice CC BY 2.0
9. ↑ Bernard DuPont CC BY-SA 2.0
10. ↑ BlueRidgeKitties CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
11. ↑ modified from image by CNX Openstax CC BY 4.0
12. ↑ Georg Botz CC BY-SA 3.0
13. ↑ cropped from image by Hemming1952 CC BY-SA 4.0
14. ↑ Philippe Hénault CC BY-NC 4.0
15. ↑ USDAgov CC BY 2.0