From: spike66 (spike66@attbi.com)
Date: Thu Jan 23 2003 - 23:43:05 MST
I myself am a bug chaser, especially since Damien made a
comment a few days ago that led me to some interesting
new insights. He cited a study that contends that
mantises wings have evolved and de-evolved repeatedly,
calling into question some traditional notions about
pylogeny recapitulating ontogeny.
I placed a roach hotel in the garden and managed to
apprehend a guest who checked in but did not check
out. I removed the deceased cockroach and examined
him or her closely (are the females still called
cockroaches?) observing that under those big wings,
a roach looks a lot like a mantis. One is drawn
into a grudging admiration of these wretched beasts
for what is actually a very elegant and efficient
configuration.
The insight was that the wings are not primarily for
flying, an activity in which the cockroach seldom
participates. The tough, waxy wings are good for
other purposes, such as allowing the roach to wiggle
into small cracks without hanging up. Would not the
roach's wings also make him or her a less desireable
meal for birds? I would think it would be like when
one takes a newby to sushi and they eat the entire
edamame, not realizing the tough outer hull is not
actually edible. Birds might have a similarly
unpleasant experience attempting to devour a roach.
Unlike many insect's strategy of conserving energy
with slothful ponderous movements, the cockroach
darts and scurries. (Have you ever seen one calmly
walking? No.) The wings have their cost with this
lifestyle, as they do add weight. I can imagine wings
in cockroaches could be right on the line between
advantageous and disadvantageous, depending on the
environmental circumstances. It doesn't upset my
notions of how evolution works if they were to come
and go every few jillion generations.
Even so, I do wish to avoid possible misunderstanding
of the term bug chaser. Amateur ornithologists are
often called birders, so it seems natural that amateur
entomologists would be known as buggers, and their
avocation known as buggery.
spike
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