Biggest #Insect... #Scary!

Into the record bugs

Biggest ever ... Weta bug found in NZ

Mark Moffett / Minden / Solent

1. RIHANNA'S THE NEW BLONDIE
2. Into the record bugs
3. Baby is dumped in a toilet in a plastic bag ... and LIVES
4. The Only Way Is Exit
5. Emily Scott: I chest can’t wait to bed Mark Wright

Published: Today

 Add a comment (64)

AN EXPLORER has found the biggest insect ever on record - so large it can scoff a carrot.

She's called a Weta Bug and has a huge wing span ofSEVEN inches and weighs as much as three mice.

Former park ranger Mark Moffett, 55, discovered the cricket-like creature up a tree on New Zealand's Little Barrier Island.

He spent two days searching for the creepy crawly which were thought to be extinct after Europeans brought rats to the island many years ago.

American Mark, 53, said: "Three of us walked the trails of this small island for two nights scanning the vegetation for a giant weta.

Huge ... insect weighs as much as three mice

Mark Moffett / Minden / Solent.

"We spent many hours with no luck finding any at all, before we saw her up in a tree.

"The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found.

"She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away.

"She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species and we didn't want to risk indigestion.

"After she had chewed a little I took this picture and we put her right back where we found her."

Mark, from Colorado, added: "We bug lovers hear a lot of people who think insects are inferior in some way because of their size, so it was great to see such a big insect.

"This became all the more amazing when we realised that this was the largest insect recorded."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3972007/Worlds-biggest-ever-insect-found-called-the-Weta-Bug.html

Read More

Relative Of The Tick Rediscovered

There may be more than 14,000 species of insects or arachnids that feed on blood, including ticks. There are two varieties of tick, soft ticks with leathery skin and mouth parts on their bellies, and hard ticks with a tough shield on their backs and mouth parts on the front of their bodies. Now after a long thirty year search a third type of tick has been rediscovered that combines features from both the soft & hard ticks. That this third tick is also a blood sucker suggests that all three types share a common ancestor, also a blood sucker that probably died out 250 million years ago after the Permian extinction, perhaps when it's usual host went extinct. 

Read More at Scientific American

For ticks visit your local doctor, but for your pest control contact Capybara Pest Control. 

Read More

The 5 Creepiest Ways Animals Have Mastered Mind Control

Wasps that sting & rape caterpillars, eat them from the inside out & force them to become  zombie bodyguards. A fungus that creates zombie ants to do its bidding. Spiny-headed worms that make pill bugs commit suicide. That acacia tree that creates a defending army of drug addicted ants.  A roundworm that creates zombie ants & then gets them to feed themselves to birds by disguising them as berries. Ain't nature wonderful!

Read More at Cracked.com

For all your pest problems visit our web store, www.capy.co.uk

Read More

Black Widow Spiders Invade Factory

I hope black widows can't swim, or afford the bridge toll, because this is just across the Humber river from me! An engineering firm in Barton-upon-Humber have had some surprise visitors. Three of the spiders, including a deadly female & a brown widow were found in a shipment of aircraft engines from America. Workers managed to trap each one & are now keeping them as pets in jam jars until they can be re-homed in a wildlife park. Environmental health officers were informed & have inspected the shipment & declared it now safe.

Read More at The Independent

Read More

Gallery: Some of the bacteria that make up 90% of the living cells in your body

You may want to take a hot shower after looking at these computer artworks of some the amazing bacteria that live on & in the human body.

See Gallery at The Telegraph

For all your pest control problems, please visit www.capy.co.uk and book a professional pest control technician or purchase DIY pest control products and kits.

Read More

The 5 Weirdest Worms At The Smithsonian

The giant Amazon leech is the largest leech in the world. The sea mouse is the size of a hand & covered in hair. The scale worm has teeth. The blood worm is venomous with four internal jaws & the giant tube worm lives a mile deep in the ocean. The Smithsonian's Library of Specimens gives up some of its secrets.

Read More at Smithsonian.com

For all your pest control problems, please visit www.capy.co.uk and book a professional pest control technician or purchase DIY pest control products and kits.

Read More

20 Things You Didn't Know About Spiders

Spider venom as a cure for erectile disfunction. Spider's webs used as synthetic muscle or underwater glue. Strange mating & feeding habits & even using dreadlocks as a treatment for arachnophobia. Here are some weird & wonderful facts about all things spidey

Read More at Discover Magazine

For all your spider pest problems visit our web store, www.capy.co.uk

Read More

When Giant Bugs The Size Of Seagulls Ruled The Air

When Giant Bugs The Size Of Seagulls Ruled The Air

300 million years ago huge predatory dragonflies & other massive bugs buzzed in the air. It had been thought that the bugs became so large because they benefitted from the oxygen rich atmosphere but recent studies suggest the opposite may be true & that the young larvae had to grow large to avoid being poisoned by excess oxygen. This Carboniferous period was characterized by vast lowland swamp forests that led to oxygen levels of about 30%, almost 50% higher than today. One way to minimize the risk of oxygen toxicity would have been to grow larger.

Read More at National Geographic

Interesting news from Capybara Pest Control. Pest control specialists.

Read More

Heat Seeking Vampire Bats!

Heat Seeking Vampire Bats!

Infrared sensors are used by vampire bats to detect where the blood flows closest to their prey's skin. The Common Vampire Bat Desmodus rotundus use heat-sensitive nerves in their upper lip and nose detect blood up to 20cm under their prey's flesh to enable them to feed more efficiently. Researchers have been able to pinpoint the molecule responsible as heat-sensitive TRPV1, a protein that helps animals detect dangerously high temperatures (those over 43 degrees C), but in the bats, some TRPV1 molecules have been mutated to be sensitive to lower temperatures, around 30 degrees C. So probably wise to make sure your garlic garland is kept well chilled!

Read More at The Scientist

Read More

Contemplating My Navel

Contemplating My Navel

You'd think contemplating my navel would be a fairly introspective pastime but it turns out there is a whole world in there (at least there is if you are an 'innie') Researchers at North Carolina State University have found the human belly button can be home to over 100 different organisms, including bacteria, fungi & yeasts. Samples from 391 test subjects have yielded 1400 species overall with each person having a unique mix of species, although most of us share a group of relatively few bacterial species. The team are currently sequencing each species' DNA. I need to go and take a shower now.

Read More

Read More