Re: Re: Anaxial's Annex

From: Sam Elliot <SamLElliot_at_...>
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:52:28 -0300

On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 7:29 AM, jorganos <joe_at_...> wrote:
> I'd like to add a comment, too - I think you greatly understate the
> diving beetle larvae.
>
> I'm convinced that these beasties were the role model for the Alien
> beasties in the movies. Diving beetle larvae are carnivorous like the
> adult stage, but are likely to do a lot more damage to local biota (or
> individuals) because of their aggressiveness.

That would be the dragonfly nymphs and their special mouthparts http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/odonata.htm

...and parasitoid wasps or flies for the eating from the inside business.

Water bugs (as in Hemipteran bugs, family Belastomatidae) are pretty vicious too. They get up to about 15cm here and are a big problem in commercial fish tanks. Their front legs grab at the elbow equivalent and then they suck the goodness out.

> I once had one (accidentally) in a swarm of some hundred tadpoles. I
> discovered it because of pieces of tadpoles floating up, and later
> kept it separately, feeding it with sickly tadpoles, before releasing
> it (after biology courses). Scaling up even only by a factor of 10 (to
> about 1' long critters) would make them scary, ripping pieces out of
> soft-skinned creatures (like trolls). Making them troll-sized gets you
> the Alien (underwater). Don't expect any lake sharks nearby...

Try scaling up predatory mites :)

Sam.