Nature's Hypodermics - image added Feb 8

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NikonUser
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Nature's Hypodermics - image added Feb 8

Post by NikonUser »

SEE ALSO: http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 154#133154
Examples of convergent evolution.
Homo sapiens has developed the Hypodermic Needle, a fine sharply-pointed tube with an opening at the tip:
Top: 27 gauge needle
This can be seen as a design flaw in that the tip has been weakened by having almost all of the wall ground away. But as it is designed for one-time-use only such weakness is moot.
In nature’s hypodermics the tip remains intact and the opening is placed further back along the ‘needle’. Needle always seems to be curved.
Three of these animals use a modified mouth part as the hypodermic, the centipede uses a modified leg.
I would like to see the structure of a scorpion’s sting.
Rattlesnake, tabanid (predaceous fly) larva, spider, stone centipede.

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NU13-02-06-1-5
Last edited by NikonUser on Fri Aug 16, 2013 4:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
NU.
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Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

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Chris S.
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Post by Chris S. »

NU, I found this very interesting. Thanks for posting!

I would like to see a picture of the envenomating structure on the bright red ant that got me in Utah, a few years ago. I imagine it looks like a stick of dynamite.

--Chris
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curt0909
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Post by curt0909 »

Excellent post.
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Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Fascinating!
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canonian
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Post by canonian »

Thanks for posting! Very interesting indeed.
lAlways look at how nature solve things...
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sonyalpha
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Post by sonyalpha »

Ah! But there is one difference, the stinging insect etc, has no problem about causing pain to a victim; whereas the hyperdermic needle is designed to cause the least pain possible....

SORRY......SHARP SCRATCH ;-)

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NikonUser
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Post by NikonUser »

Thanks everyone.
Chris ... an ant stinger is a totally different design. The stinger is a modified ovipositor and therefor present only in females. Always a single unit made up of opposing appendages; no permanent canal but but a temporary one formed by the apposition of appendages. Entrance into the victim is by the alternate thrusting of two barbed lancets. Poison flows between them and a dorsal stylet into the wound. Certainly would make a much larger wound, with torn flesh, than the hypodermic type.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

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Olympus microscope and objectives
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Excellent pictures, NU, and a nice variety of subjects!
Chris S. wrote:bright red ant ... imagine it looks like a stick of dynamite.
Sounds like a velvet ant, actually a wingless wasp. Wikipedia notes that "They are known for their extremely painful stings, hence the common name cow killer or cow ant." Really not much mechanical damage, but nasty toxins!

If that's correct, then Wikipedia also has an SEM picture HERE. I'm not sure about that page's explanation of the "bulbous sheath", however. That looks to me like possibly a drop of dried venom, similar to what's in my image HERE and which quickly dissolved in alcohol to produce the better picture HERE

--Rik
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Post by NikonUser »

Just found a man-made' hypodermic' that mimics the design of Nature.
It's an "Air pressure cork remover", pierce a wine bottle cork and pump air between the cork and the wine, cork pops off. And yes, it works!
Note how the pointed tip is of a different metal than the tube and how the tip is being damaged but the exit hole is staying intact.
Image
NU13-02-08-1
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
Top
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