favourite insect

[YuanZhideDiZhen]

a couple of years ago i was practicing in my back yard and was engulfed by a small swarm of dragon flies. i kept practicing thinking they'd get out of the way or get knocked aside-and they'd learn to stay out of my way. well this went on for several weeks. one day they were gone. now every fall about mating season for dragonflies and again around hatching time i get small swarms of dragonflies in my backyard doing small flight patterns that resemble the forms i was working on. most notable was a staff form where one end of the staff was up in the air for several moves- and the dragon flies were trying to land on it. (later i learned they like the highest place overlooking a garden as a hunting perch). so just moments ago i saw this dragon fly mimicing the end of the staff's movements through my back yard. seems i have a student after all!

[EarthDragon]

Well I might be biased here but hands down the coolest most vicious insect is definatly the praying mantis.... whiel the dragon fly is also an extremly cool insect. Nothing can come close to the mantis which looms over its opponents then with razor sharp forearms and lighting speed snatches it prey then chews a whole in the throat........ nice

[FuXnDajenariht]

i was watching the discovery channel last night. lets just say i have a new found respect for ants. ferocious little *******s. 2,000 you have a fighting chance....500,000 is pushing your luck but come across 20 mil. and your plain old screwed.

[brothernumber9]

who needs hundreds of thousands when one Jack-Jumper can leave you dead in less than an hour.

In relation to the first post, I was in Cambodia in April in a country-side town, standing in the street and there were thousands and thousands of dragon flies that came through in a giant swarm, I'd never seen anything like it ever, it lasted for over 30 minutes, seemd like it was snowing dragon flies, of all different colors, and none of them would touch you.

[SevenStar]

I like spiders. And since the poster related his story, here's mine.

One particular night, when I was still living with my parents, a spider had made a HUGE web outside our front door. The next morning, I just walked around it, but my dad took a broom stick and knocked it down. That night, there was another web in the same place. When morning came, my father knocked it down. This happened two more times. Finally, When I came home on the fifth night, the web was there - but in the morning, it was gone before my father got to it.... And it was back up that night. For the next week or so, it built it's web and (I'm assuming) it was also taking it down before morning.

[MasterKiller]

I like ladybugs.

[PangQuan]

These bugs are hardcore.

[IronFist]

For the next week or so, it built it's web and (I'm assuming) it was also taking it down before morning.

I've never heard of a spider taking its web down before.

You sure your father didn't just knock it down earlier?

To answer the question, I think stick bugs are cool. (I said stick, not stink). I've only seen one twice in my life, but each time I stared at it for like 2 minutes while it walked across the ground in front of me. Awesome camoflauge!

[PangQuan]

STICK BUGS ROCK!!

growing up in the middle of the woods in texas I got plenty of opportunity to hang out with bugs, and stick bugs are high on the list.

Those beatles i posted are tough SOB's though...

[Mr Punch]

I like spiders. And since the poster related his story, here's mine.

One particular night, when I was still living with my parents, a spider had made a HUGE web outside our front door. The next morning, I just walked around it, but my dad took a broom stick and knocked it down. That night, there was another web in the same place. When morning came, my father knocked it down. This happened two more times. Finally, When I came home on the fifth night, the web was there - but in the morning, it was gone before my father got to it.... And it was back up that night. For the next week or so, it built it's web and (I'm assuming) it was also taking it down before morning.

Your father didn't burn any cakes did he?

[Mr Punch]

Saw my first wild mantids in Kyoto the other day. The first one was next to the temple where Yo****sune supposedly spent ten years learning bujutsu from the tengu. It was cool, small and brown. Just waiting.

The second one was hyyyyuuuuuuuge. Must have been a good six inches. Green. Evil and spikey looking. What I didn't realize, until it moved from the ceiling of the train towards the group of cute young Japanese 20-something ladies is that they fly! They're not exactly graceful, or quick, but I didn't even know they could do it!

On the same trip I saw lots of hornets. Don't know if they're the same as hornets anywhere else, but the Japanese ones, they say, will often kill you if they sting you twice. Big scary looking mofos they were too.

Those stag beetles we get loads of over here, and a few in the UK too. My friend keeps them.

I used to keep stick insects and you can see them a lot in the wild over here. The big ones are pretty impressive.

But the best bugs by far I've met in the world are the geji-geji. I've no idea wtf this is in English. My dictionary says house centipede, but these are the strangest looking ****ers on the planet, and to call one a centipede doesn't really do it justice. In fact they really look like a long hairy alien designed by Tim Burton after a night on fly agaric, crossed between a rogue Pak Mei's white eyebrow, of the variety often found scootling along in the background of Morecambe and Wise sets. Definitely not of this world.

There we are on the same trip to Kyoto, by a river at night in the misty wilds of the mountains, lit with paper lanterns with a bamboo roof and a bamboo screen, eating many many courses of the most exotic food and drinking the most gorgeous sake and umeshu Japan has to offer, being entertained by genuine maiko-san, with their eerily beautiful white make-up, exquisite smell, musical giggles and slow elegant dances... already in another world, when along scuttles this huge bright yellow eyebrow. I'm told they're black by the light of day, but this had the light of a paper lantern behind it and it glowed a hairy yellow-green. It was so fast! I've never seen a bug run so fast before. ****ing hilarious!!! I wished I'd had a better camera!

Quick edit... according to a quick google search these are gejigeji but the one I saw was way way cuter and furrier looking and as I said, bright luminous yellow... about four inches btw.

[IronFist]

^ I saw a video about these Japanese bees that basically come in and take over "regular" bees hives. I forgot the numbers, but an army of like 30 can take out a hive of 30,000 regular bees. They were freaking enormous, too. I would hate to be stung by one of those guys. I'll see if I can find a link to the video.

[IronFist]

Wow, I was right! It was 30 vs. 30,000.

Streaming .wmv vid clip. 30 giant hornets take on 30,000 bees and win... in 3 hours. Each giant hornet is 5 times bigger than a regular bee.

I can't believe some of the footage in that clip. They must have had some powerful zooming lenses because there's no way in hell I would be anywhere NEAR that battle.

More info on the giant hornets. Up to two inches long with a three inch wing span. Holy sh.it! One sting from their 1/4" long stinger can kill a human if left untreated.

[PangQuan]

i remember seeing that. it was set up with cameras and all, even bee back cameras.

the ultimate death match. I think i remember saying that they were a type of hornet.

they literally started ripping bees head off and torso's in half. by the end of it there were piles of dismembered bee bodies lying everywhere.

[FuXnDajenariht]

yea those yellow hornets are badass. its from a show they rerun on the national geographics channel sometimes. called "bugs!" i think.