#parasitism — Public Fediverse posts

Tapeworm makes #ants live longer: Study identifies molecular changes that reshape aging and behavior in infected workers, leading to a partially queen-like phenotype 👉 https://press.uni-mainz.de/tapeworm-makes-ants-live-longer/

#insects #temnothorax #parasitism #BehavioralEcology #SocialInsects #ant #biology

Today in the park, I noticed a lot of small flies around this one unhealthy-looking plant, a mint of some kind, that had been put outside the greenhouse. I looked closer to find…a flower crab spider (family Thomisidae, tribe Misumenini) feeding on a plant bug (family Miridae)! The small flies are kleptoparasites trying to get a bite of the spider's meal. It periodically flicked the flies away with its spare legs and moved around to get away from them, in vain.

I don't see flower crab spiders that often so this was a nice find.

#DailySpiderPic #spiders #flies #parasitism #kleptoparasitism #Araneae #Thomisidae #Diptera