[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BYOqw4TCEAAlSqD.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/195rnox2mggepjpg/original.jpg[/img]
[quote]David Rothenberg’s engaging reflection on evolution and aesthetics, “Survival of the Beautiful,” came to mind as this amazing photograph, taken in Dubai by Peter Roosenschoon, a conservation officer at the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, circulated on Twitter (thanks to Ziya Tong, a host of Daily Planet, a Discovery program in Canada).
I did a bit of sifting and found more photos from Roosenschoon on the UAE Birding Web site and a very nice description of what’s known about this species in The National, an English language Emirates newspaper. Here’s an excerpt from the fascinating piece, by Anna Zacharias:
[A] closer examination of the transparent wings of Goniurellia tridens reveals a piece of evolutionary art. Each wing carries a precisely detailed image of an ant-like insect*, complete with six legs, two antennae, a head, thorax and tapered abdomen.
“The image on the wing is absolutely perfect,” says Dr. Brigitte Howarth, the fly specialist at Zayed University [link] who first discovered G. tridens in the UAE.
It is a member of tephritidae, a family – there are two – of 5,000 species of fruit flies whose colorful markings have earned them the name “peacock flies.”
In the UAE alone, 27 picture wing species are known. Some have wings bearing simple shapes but others, like G. tridens, are far more complex.
Dr Howarth first saw G. tridens on an oleander shrub in northern Oman. “I was looking at the stem of the leaves and I noticed that there were some insects crawling around. When I sort of honed in I started to notice what I thought was a couple of ants moving around.”
At first she suspected an infestation on the fly’s wings. “But it was so symmetrical that I thought, ‘oh this is not possible’. When I got it under the microscope I realized that these were insects painted onto the wings.”
[Read the rest.][/quote]
[url]http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/survival-of-the-extraordinary-a-fly-with-ants-on-its-wings/?_r=0[/url]
At least its not spiders!
holy fuck that is awesome
what does it gain?
Does it like scare away spiders and shit because they think it's a bunch of ants?
That's completely incredible, I am having really hard time believing this. It looks way too perfect.
[QUOTE=Empty_Shadow;42807222]what does it gain?
Does it like scare away spiders and shit because they think it's a bunch of ants?[/QUOTE]
Apparently it's spiders, not ants.
[quote]Andrew, as someone who has studied ants for years and also jumping spiders (salticids), I can tell you that that fly has spider images in its wings, not ants. This happens in a variety of species, I’ve even photographed one for National Geographic. Unlike ants, jumping spiders are visual and see their image in the wings, I’ve watched them dance to [an] image (thinking it a mate) rather than eat the prey.[/quote]
That's fucking amazing.
[QUOTE=onebit;42807247]Looks like three instead of one.[/QUOTE]
It's the Manta Style of the insect kingdom!
He looks so cocky about it too.
*rubs eyes* umm what?
Even fruitflies have tattoos
Reminds me of that one little bug that had evolved fucking gears in its legs.
[QUOTE=Stopper;42809069]Reminds me of that one little bug that had evolved fucking gears in its legs.[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/09/a-clockwork-insect-common-garden-bug-sports-mechanical-gears.html"]Oh man, that thing freaked me the fuck out when I first saw the news.[/URL]
Makes you realize that no matter how Mother Nature pretty much one ups us puny humans all the time, every time.
[IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BYOqw4TCEAAlSqD.jpg[/IMG]
I've never seen a fly as cute until this photo
When I first entered the thread I first thought the fly had evolved to literally carry two ants with it at all times.
The adaptation is THAT convincing.
[QUOTE=Corey_Faure;42809474]When I first entered the thread I first thought the fly had evolved to literally carry two ants with it at all times.
The adaptation is THAT convincing.[/QUOTE]
Same, I thought these guys were fucking ant dropships or something :v:
[QUOTE=Zaure;42810098]Same, I thought these guys were fucking ant dropships or something :v:[/QUOTE]
their forming alliances to bring us down, they are advancing
So is this the peacock-fly equivalent of finding jesus on toast? I really don't see how one random mutation can produce a perfect 2d image of an ant.
[QUOTE=Zenreon117;42810488]So is this the peacock-fly equivalent of finding jesus on toast? I really don't see how one random mutation can produce a perfect 2d image of an ant.[/QUOTE]
Picture a fly with a random mutation that paints a dot on to it's wings, then picture how fast flies multiply and how many flies die to other insects.
Now picture that periodically a few flies out of the million get a bigger dot, this dot confuses predators and allows them to reproduce more prolifically, now picture, a few of those flies are born with dots that are blotchy, some insects start to think that this blotch could potentially be a predator around the fly,
As time goes on, these flies will continue to reproduce, using the blotch mechanism as a means to protect themselves. They will still get eaten though, and eventually the ones with the blotches which more closely resemble an insect will survive, until you get the image of a spider on the wings.
[QUOTE=Zenreon117;42810488]So is this the peacock-fly equivalent of finding jesus on toast? I really don't see how one random mutation can produce a perfect 2d image of an ant.[/QUOTE]
[quote]One random mutation[/quote]
No no no nononononono
Mutations over hundreds of generations.
Also it's not a perfect image - it's just enough to convince a spider.
Also of course it's 2d its not going to project a bloody hologram from its ass.
This is crazy cool. It amazes me I get to see evolution to such degree in my lifetime.
[QUOTE=Rofl my Waff;42810585]Picture a fly with a random mutation that paints a dot on to it's wings, then picture how fast flies multiply and how many flies die to other insects.
Now picture that periodically a few flies out of the million get a bigger dot, this dot confuses predators and allows them to reproduce more prolifically, now picture, a few of those flies are born with dots that are blotchy, some insects start to think that this blotch could potentially be a predator around the fly,
As time goes on, these flies will continue to reproduce, using the blotch mechanism as a means to protect themselves. They will still get eaten though, and eventually the ones with the blotches which more closely resemble an insect will survive, until you get the image of a spider on the wings.[/QUOTE]
The problem with that description is that a "blotch" isn't useful in itself. This is only useful because it looks like a spider and the other spiders don't attack it. There's no reason to think "this dot confuses predators and allows them to reproduce more prolifically" is true in any way shape or form.
I'm all for trying to provide evolutionary chains, but yours just doesn't hold up.
[QUOTE=sgman91;42812148]The problem with that description is that a "blotch" isn't useful in itself. This is only useful because it looks like a spider and the other spiders don't attack it. There's no reason to think "this dot confuses predators and allows them to reproduce more prolifically" is true in any way shape or form.
I'm all for trying to provide evolutionary chains, but yours just doesn't hold up.[/QUOTE]
But it does hold up? Not all of these insects have exactly similar markings. The ones with really shitty ones kept getting eaten and the ones that had slightly less shitty ones got away, cause the predators were like "oh that kind of resembles some bad shit". the predators eventually learned, but not before the survivors ended up having a whole bunch of kids with markings similar to their parents. Rinse and repeat for like a bajillion years and now we have this.
yeah fruit flies are some of the fastest reproducing animals ever so crazy shit can easily happen quickly with them
[QUOTE=sgman91;42812148]The problem with that description is that a "blotch" isn't useful in itself. This is only useful because it looks like a spider and the other spiders don't attack it. There's no reason to think "this dot confuses predators and allows them to reproduce more prolifically" is true in any way shape or form.
I'm all for trying to provide evolutionary chains, but yours just doesn't hold up.[/QUOTE]
The blotch is useful. If two large amorphous blotches are moving around an insect isn't going to think "Well I don't think I've seen any insects that look quite like that, clearly its a decoy". Not only that, but the blotch could be used for other purposes like distracting or confusing predators.
The argument you are using is the same argument people use against the evolution of the eye. That the structure is only useful in its end stage. Any bit of added functionality, although not as useful as the end results, helps the organism survive
[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntGe5vg-7Tw[/URL] Havent embedded a video on FP in a long time so I'm not sure how to but that video demonstrates that primitive functionality is still functionality.
and because it is not as useful as the end results adds to an even more complex stage of survival of the fittest, where the development of the blotch into a spider is entirely based on the minute differences between a blotch in one fly and a blotch in another fly causing the blotch to become fine tuned as the more "spider like" (or just generally more convincing) blotch passes on genetic information and eventually turn into a spider after many generations.
[QUOTE=V12US;42809664][t]http://i.imgur.com/lRuLERB.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]
How the hell is there a stock photo of this?
[QUOTE=Zephyrs;42813290]How the hell is there a stock photo of this?[/QUOTE]
there isn't
[QUOTE=Zephyrs;42813290]How the hell is there a stock photo of this?[/QUOTE]
he obviously shopped the spiders in as evident by the bad cropping on the spiders
This is one of those discoveries that impact and influence your life, my perspective of life is now bigger, how the hell does evolution makes such wonders? What is that little intelligence that can make such complex adaptations in a small creature?
Man I was amazed, even now more at finding the planthopper gears. Life amazes me.
[QUOTE=RobbL;42809206][IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BYOqw4TCEAAlSqD.jpg[/IMG]
I've never seen a fly as cute until this photo[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://drkaae.com/InsectIDPt2/Chapter2BeetlesPart2_files/image006.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=fritzel;42817727][IMG]http://drkaae.com/InsectIDPt2/Chapter2BeetlesPart2_files/image006.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]
Holy shit NSFW, link that shit bro.
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