The 5 Most Horrifying Bugs in the World

[Dave Rapp]

Warning, the contents of this post are not for the squeamish.


#5 Japanese Giant Hornet (vespa mandarinia japonica)
From:
Japan, obviously.

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/gianthornet1.jpg

Why you must fear it:
It's the size of your thumb and it can spray flesh-melting poison. We really wish we were making that up for, you know, dramatic effect because damn, what a terrible thing a three-inch acid-shooting hornet would be, you know? Oh, hey, did we mention it shoots it into your eyes? Or that the poison also has a pheromone cocktail in it that'll call every hornet in the hive to come over and sting you until you are no longer alive?

Think you can outrun it? It can fly 50 miles in a day. It'd be nice to say something reassuring at this point, like "Don't worry, they only live on top of really tall mountains where nobody wants to live," but no, they live all over the damned place, including outside Tokyo.

Forty people die like that every year, each of them horribly.

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/gianthornet3.jpg

More scary stuff:
Here's how the Japanese hornet treats other insects (and would presumably treat us, if we were small enough). An adult hornet will fly miles to find some squishy stuff to feed to its children. Often times, it finds its food in, say, a hive inhabited by thousands of bees.

What to do? Well, Vespa japonica sprays the nest with some of the acid/pheromone and brings in reinforcements, usually consisting of 30 or so fellow hornets. They then descend upon the beehive like an unholy plague of hell-born death engines and proceed to make this world a scary freaking place. This is maybe 30 wasps against 30,000 bees and the 30,000 bees do not stand a chance.


Behold the hornets systematically seize them with huge, wicked jaws and literally expletiveing cut them apart, one by one by one by expletiveing one. In three hours, there are piles of limbs and heads and just expletiveing bits of things that could possibly have been alive at one point, and the hornets have stormed the hive and flown away with all the bee's children. Who will then be eaten.

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/gianthornet2.jpg

Nature is expletiveing hardcore.


#4 Bullet Ant (Paraponera clavata)

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/bulletant1.jpg

From:
Rainforests from Nicaragua to Paraguay

Why you must fear it:
It's a full inch long, it lives in trees and thus can and will fall on you to scare you away from its hive--the one you didn't know was there, because it's in a expletiveing tree. Before it does this, it shrieks at you. This ant, you see, can shriek.

It's called a Bullet Ant because its 'unusually severe' sting feels like getting shot. On the Schmidt Sting Index, Bullet Ants rate as the number one most try-not-to-crap-out-your-spine painful in the entirety of the Kingdom Arthropoda.

Also--and we do feel the need to stress this--they expletiveing shriek at you before they attack.

More scary stuff:
Are you the sort of person who likes to think of yourself as tough? A "badass," perhaps? "Hard," as they say?

Some of the indigenous peoples of the area use Bullet Ants as part of this initiation-to-manhood ceremony that they do. You know the kind we mean, with us it's like, a big party and your relatives give you money and everyone loves you and is so proud of you? Yeah with them, it's these special leaf sleeves with hundreds of bullet ants woven into them, stingers-inwards. They put them on and are immediately stung to holy expletiveing bejeezus by, and this is important, hundreds of Bullet Ants woven into the sleeves, stingers-inward.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WQ6rFKhyn0

The goal is to leave them on for 10 minutes, after which their arms are stiff, useless lengths of twisting agony, their bodies wracked with uncontrollable spasms for days. And in order to be actually pass the ordeal and become a man, they have to do it 20 expletiveing times.


#3 Africanized Honey Bee (Apis mellifera scutellata)

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/africanized1.jpg

From:
South and Central America, the American Southwest

Why you must fear it:
You know how you can spot one of these? You can't. There is no physical way to determine the difference between an Africanized bee and a common European bee. None whatsoever.

You can, however, easily tell the difference based on their behavior. Regular bees will give you about nine seconds of being too close to the hive before deciding you're a threat and then attacking you. So it's pretty easy to just walk past them without any screams. And if you do get them after you, they'll consider you to be 'chased off' after about 300 feet.

Africanized bees do not roll this way. They give you half a second of being too close before they decide it is time to completely ruin your life and empty the entire hive--tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of angry, angry bees. When you run, flailing and crying and soiling yourself while screaming "SOMEONE HELP ME I'M COVERED IN BEES," they will chase you for over half a mile.

More scary stuff:
Africanized bees owe their existence to science. Warwick E. Kerr created them in Brazil during the 1950s by crossing a European bee with an African bee. He wanted a bee that could live in the jungle. He got a bee that swarms by the hundreds of millions, is insanely territorial, mindlessly aggressive, has killed anywhere from a few dozen to a few thousand people, and can live in the jungle.

After they escaped and swarmed northward, it turned out they were a-OK with deserts, too. They'll be in Montana by 2010.


#2 Army or Soldier Ant (Eciton burchellii)

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/armyant1.jpg

From:
The Amazon Basin. There's other subfamilies living in Asia and Africa, but these are the most notorious.

Why you must fear it: By now, you will not be surprised to hear that these ants are, in fact, expletiveing huge, with the soldiers reaching a half inch in length. You will also not be surprised to learn that they have massive, powerful, machete-like jaws half the length of the soldiers themselves. They're notorious for dismantling any living thing in their path, regardless of size. They're also completely blind, which for some reason makes the whole thing worse.

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/armyant2.jpg

They're called 'Army' ants because their entire colony, comprising up to and over one million insects, is a 100 percent mobile battalion. They don't make permanent hives like other ants, no, they bivouac down in single locations just long enough for the queen to make a few thousand eggs, while the soldiers spread out in wide fans daily in search of food ("food" here, means "anything moving"). Then the eggs hatch and they enter the dreaded swarm phase of their existence.

Much like the word "killer," nature takes words like "dreaded" and "swarm" very, very seriously. They carefully pick up their larvae and go on the move, a near-solid mass of insect death and horror moving steadily and swiftly along the jungle floor, flaying alive and disassembling every living thing too stupid, slow or asleep to get the hell out of the way. There is no talk of painful stingers or ballistic acid here, no, this is terror of a far more primordial nature--the kind that simply flows over you by the hundreds of thousands and rips you apart with massive, unbelievably powerful jaws, utterly and literally blind to size and species, considering everything in their path to be a threat to the continuation of their colony.

There are reports of animals the size of horses being overwhelmed and shredded by them. Go stand next to a horse and then think about what that means for you.

More scary stuff:
Army Ants are masters of wholly-organic, living architecture. For the good of the colony, the ants will use their own living bodies to build any conceivable structure necessary, latching on to each other foot-to-foot to create protective walls and ceilings against the ravages of the weather, bridges to cross otherwise impassable spans, whatever happens to be needed. (Can they form themselves into a crude catapult mechanism and launch themselves at prey? Not yet.)

There is no other living thing in the entire world that does this.

And, they're blind.

Now, time for the disclaimer. If you are squeamish or have a weak stomach or value your sanity in any way, you may want to bail out now.

Okay, here goes...

#1 Bot Fly (family oestridae, genus and species varies)

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/botfly1.jpg

From:
Most species found in Central and South America, some species found all over the world

Why you must fear it: Oh boy. Ohhhhh boy. Okay, Bot flies.

There are dozens of varieties of Bot Fly, they're each highly adapted to target a specific animal, they have delightfully descriptive names like Horse Stomach Bot Fly, Sheep Nose Bot Fly and, hey, guess what. One of them is called Human Bot Fly.

They each have a different and elaborate reproductive cycle, all of which end with a fat, half-inch maggot embedded in living flesh. Feeding.

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/botfly2.jpg

Horse Stomach Bots, for example, lay their eggs in grass. Horses eat the grass. And the eggs. Which hatch in the heat of the horse's mouth. Upon which they chew through the horse's tongue and burrow, through the horse, into its belly. Where they meet up and dig honeycombs into the horse's stomach. And get fat. When they're ready to be flies, they just let go and get pooped out of the system.

The Human Bot Fly lays its eggs on a horsefly or a mosquito, something that will attempt to land on a human. This carrier finds a human and lands on him or her. The eggs rub off onto the human, whose body heat hatches the eggs. The larvae drop onto the skin and burrow right the expletive in. Where they live. Under your skin. Eating.

Here's video of them removing one. DO NOT expletiveING WATCH THIS. expletive, we don't even know why we linked it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5muVjcQ6zHM
More scary stuff:
Here is the best part. The larvae can grow anywhere in your body, it just depends on where the eggs wind up. Which could end up with you having a fat wormy thing in your tear duct. Or your brain. We know, because that's happened.

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/botfly3.jpg

A Human Bot Fly larvae, burrowing into your brain. Eating your thoughts.

All this learning and fear remind you of high school? Head over to our video countdown of the 7 Scariest Teachers on YouTube. Or check out the blog, where Michael Swaim will tell you why you should be scared of the government too, and comes up with an awesome name for a rock band in the process.


Reposted from here (http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2202469&page=1).

[Mauve Shirt]

I do not see the camel spider on your list. THEY are the creepiest things I can think of.

[Cristo Meyers]

Bird Eating Spider: a spider that can grow to the size of a bloody dinner plate.

Banana Spider (I think): makes its home in banana bunches. Nothing major, right? Wait, it gets better. This spider's venom is toxic to humans and, unlike most other spiders, it won't wait to be provoked before biting. That's right, this guy would rather kill you first, then ask questions of the corpse.

[Ranna]

This is why I don't like being educated!!

I already knew this stuff from my stupid degree, doesn't make it any less horrifying though does it?

[Tempest Fennac]

I'm guessing that the Japanese Hornet's poison blinds the victim perminantly (if they survive), right? They all sound really nasty, but being potentially lobotomised by that fly really takes the cake.

[Player_Zero]

Still, humans are much more horrifying. I'm sure if bugs could be scared then they would, what with the mass-deforestation an' all.

[Serpentine]

Aw, I thought you'd written that yourself, Rapp :smallfrown:

Not so much dangerous as kinda icky, I present the following:


CAUTION: Contains images of various freaky things, including but not limited to spiders.



Weta - giant New Zealand cave cricket.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/NatureLand-Sky/8651/photo/giant_weta.jpg

Sydney funnelweb - damn aggressive, and I'm told is deadly only to insects... and humans :smallsigh:
http://www.spiderzrule.com/spider107/Picture%20197.jpg

Goliath bird-eater, debatably the biggest spider in the world.
http://www.entomon.net/fact-insect-picture/bird-eater-spider-picture.jpg

Box Jellyfish - deadly, gigantic, and come in swarms.
http://articles.mercola.com/ImageServer/public/2008/February/2.26boxjellyfish.jpg

I know there's more I should be able to think of, but I can't brain...

By the way, I'm pretty sure soldier ants have a sting, as well. And if you like those, you should look for the movie The Naked Jungle :smallwink:
...I just ran an adventure that involved a lot of those ants <.<

[Cristo Meyers]

Goliath bird-eater, debatably the biggest spider in the world.
http://www.entomon.net/fact-insect-picture/bird-eater-spider-picture.jpg


I've seen smaller cats.

I'm told that these guys are pretty docile, though. I'd love to see someone try and keep it as a pet...

[Agamid]

Goliath bird-eater, debatably the biggest spider in the world.
http://www.entomon.net/fact-insect-picture/bird-eater-spider-picture.jpg
Aww, i want one. *pouts*

But i read somewhere that the deadliest insect on the planet is in fact the mosquito, which is apparently responsible for more deaths in human history than all the wars combined. I think it meant all of the well documented wars that we actually have relatively concrete casualty numbers from - was one of those 'cool facts for kids' kind of articles.

[MrEdwardNigma]

How about we pit the Japanese Hornet against the African Bee and see what happens? I mean, nothing bad could possibly come of it, right?

[banjo1985]

Let's splice their DNA instead, so that they're 3 inches long, aggressive and evil minded! C'mon, we can't help ourselves, someone will do it eventually, then get killed when the specimens escape and sting them to death.

[truemane]

By the way, I'm pretty sure soldier ants have a sting, as well. And if you like those, you should look for the movie The Naked Jungle :smallwink:

But first you should find a copy of Leningan vs the Ants. It's on-line I think and it's a story I read over twenty years ago and I still remember it.

EDIT: Oh yeah, you should read it because the movie is based on it. And because it's excellent. And because it has many ants.

[Ego Slayer]

Ew. I should have no looked at this thread. :P Single worst thing ever has got to be any kind of grub-like thing or larva. Nightmare material. :P Srsly, that brain-eating larva... omfg. :smalleek: I guess the exception to that would be caterpillars, which somehow are not quite as disgusting.

The Japanese hornet thingy... There have got to be more than one kind of those, 'cos we have them here (Ohio). Don't think it's the same thing, but it's something from Japan and it's effin' massive. o.o Only seen them twice before.

[Cobra_Ikari]

I like how the only way the honeybees can retaliate is to cook them to death with body heat. :smallamused:

Also, bot flies were so much creepier until I saw them being removed and realized how rarely you will get one in your eye or brain. Still...*shivers*...

[Jade Falcon]

This freaky bot fly thing is pure nightmare fuel. Reminds me to never visit a tropical region.

I hate hate hate insects .. strangely I have no problems with spiders. I like to watch them :smallsmile:

[King_of_GRiffins]

Let's splice their DNA instead, so that they're 3 inches long, aggressive and evil minded! C'mon, we can't help ourselves, someone will do it eventually, then get killed when the specimens escape and sting them to death.

And while spraying toxic acid at their eyes, dissolving them on the spot in the most painful process possible....

Yeah, there are a lot of crazy deadly things you couldn't come up with if you were evil and had an overactive imagination. Still, as deadly as they are, it's surprising more people don't die because of them each year (only 40?) then by getting hit by a train or car. Maybe if cars were all red, had horns and sprayed acid, there'd be fewer deaths by car?

[MrEdwardNigma]

Are those the ants from Indy four?

[Dallas-Dakota]

EDDDDD!
*bullrushtackleshugs*

Where have you been?:smallmad:

I have missed you!

[Serpentine]

Are those the ants from Indy four?That would be them, yep. Or some relation - I know he mentioned the scientific name, but I can't remember what he said nor what the soldier ants actually is.
edit: No wait, they had a nest... Must be something else then... or they made stuff up.

[Haruki-kun]

Wow... and I thought that Indiana Jones movie couldn't have been any more fake... :smalleek:


Box Jellyfish - deadly, gigantic, and come in swarms.

You know... they're deadly and gigantic, but something about them looks kinda pretty, dontcha think?

[MrEdwardNigma]

EDDDDD!
*bullrushtackleshugs*

Where have you been?:smallmad:

I have missed you!
I've been all over the place...
Just not in SMBG.

[RS14]

I'm told that these guys are pretty docile, though. I'd love to see someone try and keep it as a pet...

No, they're generally fairly aggressive. People do keep them (they're quite desirable), but definitely not a beginner's tarantula. Also, they have exceptionally painful urticating hairs, and are not reluctant to use them.

[Cristo Meyers]

No, they're generally fairly aggressive. People do keep them (they're quite desirable), but definitely not a beginner's tarantula. Also, they have exceptionally painful urticating hairs, and are not reluctant to use them.

Must've gotten them mixed up with something else, then. Not surprising, really.

[Illiterate Scribe]

This is why we need Ichneumon wasps to safeguard us from the iniquities of other insects.

http://cirrusimage.com/Hymenoptera/megarhyssa_fem_3.jpg

GO ICHNEUMON GO!

[Renegade Paladin]

Old. Also stolen.

[averagejoe]

@ Renegade Paladin: yes, he linked us to it in his original post.

This is scary as all hell, but at the same time absolutely fascinating. Bugs have so many neat adaptations and solutions to life's problems, and can do some freakin' wierd stuff.

[Dihan]

What has been seen can't be unseen. :smalleek:

*Washes eyes out with hydrochloric acid*

[Illiterate Scribe]

@ Renegade Paladin: yes, he linked us to it in his original post.

This is scary as all hell, but at the same time absolutely fascinating. Bugs have so many neat adaptations and solutions to life's problems, and can do some freakin' wierd stuff.

Imagine what they would think (if they could) of us ...

[Raider]

*craps out spine*

Why did I click this thread? Why? You people should be ashamed of yourselves

[chiasaur11]

Hmm...
Think it'd be worth making them extinct?
Could mankind do it?

Also, the bullet ants are less scary to me due to the manhood ritual.

I mean, people can survive those things for ten minutes at a time with few long term side effects. You outrun em, you're okay.

Finally, those first wasps?

BADASS.

[Illiterate Scribe]

We can defeat them using SCIENCE!

[Hadrian_Emrys]

I'd like to splice that list into 1 super bug.

[truemane]

*snip* definitely not a beginner's tarantula. *snip*

I find the idea of a 'beginner's tarantula' scarier than the actual tarantula itself...

[MandibleBones]

Having seen a beginner's tarantula myself, I am pretty okay with saying "Don't be afraid." I dislike spiders myself, except at a distance of several feat (maybe more, depending on size/jumping ability of said spiders). Despite this, "Fluffy" (I cannot for the life of me remember the species) was rather - dare I say it - cute.

As for the person who commented on Camel Spiders, I don't know why everyone is so creeped out by them.

They're not venomous, and your hand won't fall off unless you fail to clean the wound for a month or so and it gets infected - which makes Camel Spider bites about as dangerous as a splinter. Also, they rarely bite, unless you try to pick them up.

They're not all that big, really (most of the famous e-mail pictures are some tricky camera-work, is all) - no larger than most "beginner tarantulas" :)

They don't run all that fast, though they sometimes do appear to chase people - but what they're looking for is shade. Iraq, Kuwait and the other areas where they appear are some darn hot countries - humans tend to chase shadows too while we're there.

I mean, I wouldn't want one as a pet, but I can say that about a Chihuahua, too.

[MisterSaturnine]

I'd like to splice that list into 1 super bug.

Great! You do that, I'll be in my underground insect shelter. Made of solidified bug spray.

[Raiser Blade]

Holy crap. That spider is huge.

Now I have the jibblies. :smalleek:

[Arioch]

W-w-wa....WASP! Ah! Get it away, get it away! I already knew about them, but those pictures really make it clear: I am NEVER EVER going to Tokyo. EVER. If I did, I would probably never leave the hotel room on the off-chance I saw one. I feel really sorry for any Japanese spheksophobes.

I don't really think the army ant qualifies though. I saw a documentary about it, and people really aren't frightened of it. Yes, it's an unstoppable force, but it follows a set path, and all you have to do is get out of the way. The people they were interviewing happened to have their house in the army's annual path, and they just moved everything upstairs for a few days - the ants left their downstairs absolutely spotless, too.

[Zakama]

Haha, Serp I knew you were gonna post the Weta :smalltongue:

Wow though, those are HARDCORE. I'm tempted to watch the video of the bot fly being removed... Has anybody else watched it? :eek:

[Cobra_Ikari]

Haha, Serp I knew you were gonna post the Weta :smalltongue:

Wow though, those are HARDCORE. I'm tempted to watch the video of the bot fly being removed... Has anybody else watched it? :eek:

Yeah, it's not that bad. This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O1Vocv10IE) was a bit worse.

[Ego Slayer]

Wow though, those are HARDCORE. I'm tempted to watch the video of the bot fly being removed... Has anybody else watched it? :eek:
I'd sooner die than watch that. >.<;
Don dooo eeet! :smalleek:

[DraPrime]

Holy ****. Ants that shriek. I mean, they shriek at you. That sounds like something from a bad horror movie. If the amazon has shrieking ants that fall from the sky I am going to walk under a titanium umbrella if I ever visit there.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

I've watched the fly vid, and I'm eating red chili at the moment. Halfway through watching Cobra's video, I remembered to add sour cream to it. It's so good now, nice and creamy. :smallbiggrin:

[DraPrime]

Yeah, it's not that bad. This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O1Vocv10IE) was a bit worse.

I'm afraid to watch that. Could someone click on it for me?

[Cobra_Ikari]

I've watched the fly vid, and I'm eating red chili at the moment. Halfway through watching Cobra's video, I remembered to add sour cream to it. It's so good now, nice and creamy. :smallbiggrin:

You do agree that watching the spider bite video (What kind of spider causes that? Truly? >.<) is far worse than the variety of bot fly ones, though, right?

[Hadrian_Emrys]

I'm told that it looks like multiple bites. Dude must have rolled over the bug in his sleep and got mauled. I got a pair of bites a couple weeks ago (that I drained), so it freaks me less than the idea of being consumed by a worm. :smallbiggrin:

[Hell Puppi]

The Camel Spider...it's like nature saw 'Alien' and thought those face-hugger thingies were really cool


http://www.camelspiders.net/large-camel-spider.jpg


from the same website-
1. Camel spiders top speed - 10 mph.
2. Size: Up to 6 inches
3. They have no venom.
4. They don't jump.
5. Called camel spiders because they live in the desert.

They actually aren't spiders at all, they're solpugids.. Along with spiders, they are members of the class Arachnida.


...so not really dangerous, but damn scary-looking.


Edit- apparently they are highly aggressive, though. If you take a broom to them, they will attack the broom.
A story from the site I found-
What I’ve seen in Afghanistan:
Small CS jump about 8in high, and sometimes nearly a foot in distance.
They do bite humans.
Although they don’t have venom, they have some kind of bacteria (or something) that causes the bite area to swell profusely and in some cases causes the skin to turn a blackish color.
They definitely get larger than 6in. One I killed just the body was 6 inches and the size of a mini maglight. Others were between 6 to 8 inches counting the legs.
They almost always come out at night, and are as said, extremely aggressive.
They’ve been known to eat birds, lizards, and scorpions.
They’re called camel spiders because their mandibles are can chew through a camel’s hide…which is thought to be very tough leather by the indigenous personnel.
They must have some kind of numbing agent in their bite, because nearly everyone that I’ve seen or heard of was bitten at night and was asleep at the time—and did not awake from the bite. I don’t know about you, but if something took a 1/4’’ bite out of me, I’d wake up. I’ve had one run across my face when I was sleeping, and I jumped up screamingThe ones I’ve seen look different from the Iraq/Saudi version, but the Afghani version look similar enough to know they’re from the same gene pool.
If you’re ever in a tent out in the desert and it’s Friday Fight Night between a scorpion and a camel spider…always bet on the camel spider.

[Albub]

The hornet is the most ridiculous by far to have to describe to someone else.. I think the shrieking ant is what scares me most though. I read a story about a girl who had literally dozens of botfly larva growing in her and never got one in the brain or eye, so they don't scare me. The brain picture does though... here they come again, the jibblies. Wait, never mind. I'm most scared by the Africanized bees, because they're spreading. They'll probably be invading my home within two decades. *Shudder*. I think they shoulda scalpel'd the spider bite from cobra's video, it'da been way quicker.

[Lykan]

Ah, yes, the bot fly... My fear incarnate. Also the reason why I'll probably go to live in Antarctica.

I saw one under someone's skin on animal planet when I was five. Haunted me ever since. >.>

[Phase]

Ah, yes, the bot fly... My fear incarnate. Also the reason why I'll probably go to live in Antarctica.

Living in Antarctica will kill you deader than most other things on the planet.

[Lykan]

Living in Antarctica will kill you deader than most other things on the planet.

I'd rather freeze to death than have a giant worm somewhere in my body.

[Darius Midnite]

Also, spiders that lay eggs under your skin, and when the time is juuuust right, they will pop out in swarms and ,wait for it...crawl on you! My teacher who journeyed to Africa suffered that fate. But bugs really don't bother me, big or small.

[Vavaara]

...

*Copies EVERYTHING in this thread*

The players in my D&D game won't know what hit them... That is, until shrieking bugs fall from the sky and the rogue gets blinded by a "little wasp" :smallbiggrin:

[Lykan]

Also, spiders that lay eggs under your skin, and when the time is juuuust right, they will pop out in swarms and ,wait for it...crawl on you! My teacher who journeyed to Africa suffered that fate. But bugs really don't bother me, big or small.
*throws up at the thought of more flesh burrowing insects*

... I... Hate... You...

...

*Copies EVERYTHING in this thread*

The players in my D&D game won't know what hit them... That is, until shrieking bugs fall from the sky and the rogue gets blinded by a "little wasp" :smallbiggrin:

Jungle adventures are the best. :smallbiggrin:

[Jagg]

I OBJECT!!!!

C'mon everyone KNOWS that the most poisonous, nasty critters live in Australia right?

Since this specifies bugs I'm gonna have to go with Jack Jumper Ants. (Don't be too scared you mainly find them in Tasmania.) A SINGLE ant can kill you. 3% of people will go into anaphylactic shock when bitten. Oh and the reason why they are called jumping jacks? Coz when you get close they do this little dance that means. "C'mon if you think your hard enough".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmecia_pilosula

Wiki Quote. "Jack jumper ants are carnivores and scavengers. They sting their victims with venom that is similar to stings of wasps, bees, and fire ants. Their venom is some of the most powerful in the insect world. Jack jumper ants are proven hunters; even wasps are hunted and devoured. These ants have excellent vision, which aids them in hunting.

The symptoms of the stings of the ants are similar to stings of the fire ants. The reaction is local; swelling, reddening and fever, followed by formation of a blister. The heart rate increases, and blood pressure falls rapidly. In individuals allergic to the venom (about 3% of cases), a sting sometimes causes anaphylactic shock. Although 3% may seem small, jack jumper ants cause more deaths in Tasmania than spiders, snakes, wasps, and sharks combined.[1]"

Yeah try that damn manhood ritual with these guys and you'll be ready for your toe tag pretty damn quickly.

[North]

...

*Copies EVERYTHING in this thread*

The players in my D&D game won't know what hit them... That is, until shrieking bugs fall from the sky and the rogue gets blinded by a "little wasp" :smallbiggrin:

Evvvvviil...........

Is that two camel spiders there? :smalleek:

[Darius Midnite]

*throws up at the thought of more flesh burrowing insects*

... I... Hate... You...


And my day is made.

But people with insect phobias should really stay away from this site. Like the title isn't warning enough :smalltongue:

[Cobra_Ikari]

I OBJECT!!!!

C'mon everyone KNOWS that the most poisonous, nasty critters live in Australia right?

Since this specifies bugs I'm gonna have to go with Jack Jumper Ants. (Don't be too scared you mainly find them in Tasmania.) A SINGLE ant can kill you. 3% of people will go into anaphylactic shock when bitten. Oh and the reason why they are called jumping jacks? Coz when you get close they do this little dance that means. "C'mon if you think your hard enough".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmecia_pilosula

Wiki Quote. "Jack jumper ants are carnivores and scavengers. They sting their victims with venom that is similar to stings of wasps, bees, and fire ants. Their venom is some of the most powerful in the insect world. Jack jumper ants are proven hunters; even wasps are hunted and devoured. These ants have excellent vision, which aids them in hunting.

The symptoms of the stings of the ants are similar to stings of the fire ants. The reaction is local; swelling, reddening and fever, followed by formation of a blister. The heart rate increases, and blood pressure falls rapidly. In individuals allergic to the venom (about 3% of cases), a sting sometimes causes anaphylactic shock. Although 3% may seem small, jack jumper ants cause more deaths in Tasmania than spiders, snakes, wasps, and sharks combined.[1]"

Yeah try that damn manhood ritual with these guys and you'll be ready for your toe tag pretty damn quickly.

Bulldog ants are scary, yes. >.<

However, I hold that they have nothing on those army ants. >.>

[Copacetic]

Meh, I don't see what everyone is freaked out about. I read this thread eating dinne and din't so much as flinch.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Stupid pus coming out of the expletive spiderbite...

[Bag_of_Holding]

I don't mind bugs or members of arachnid class- all except moths and butterflies. They are absolutely gross and horrid-looking. Did you know butterflies feed from manures? Moths are marginally better as quite a lot of them don't actually have feeding organ... they live to get laid, literally.

[Solo]

It is at times like these I wish I had that GURPS character flaw that allowed me to emit a negative energy field that killed any very small living creature to come near me...

[chiasaur11]

It is at times like these I wish I had that GURPS character flaw that allowed me to emit a negative energy field that killed any very small living creature to come near me...

Who doesn't?

It's behind heat vision and photographic reflexes in desirability, but ahead of freeze breath, super strength, and flight.

[RS14]

Yeah try that damn manhood ritual with these guys and you'll be ready for your toe tag pretty damn quickly.

Well, anaphylactic shock occurs due to the allergy - I doubt they kill many people who are not allergic to their sting, correct? It's likely to be 3% stung, not 3% chance per sting.

[SurlySeraph]

Ah, Cracked.com. Providing (http://www.cracked.com/article_16239_5-psychological-experiments-that-prove-humanity-doomed.html) you (http://www.cracked.com/article_15643_5-scientific-reasons-zombie-apocalypse-could-actually-happen.html) with (http://www.cracked.com/article_15801_5-current-genetic-experiments-most-likely-destroy-humanity.html) sheer (http://www.cracked.com/article_16247_10-most-terrifying-video-game-enemies-all-time.html) terror (http://www.cracked.com/article_15963_5-works-art-that-can-probably-kill-you.html) since 2006.

[MandibleBones]

HellPuppi - that's exactly the picture I'm talking about. They look ginormous in that photo, but they're actually pretty small - compare the size of the hand in the upper left corner, which is the think holding them. I'd say about the size of a small tarantula, wouldn't you?

Reference here: http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/camelspider.asp


Small CS jump about 8in high, and sometimes nearly a foot in distance. They do bite humans.

Again, nothing more scary than your average tarantula.


Although they don’t have venom, they have some kind of bacteria (or something) that causes the bite area to swell profusely and in some cases causes the skin to turn a blackish color.

Which is what happens when you don't clean a wound from fangs that size and it gets infected. Nothing special about the bite except that it's pretty ragged - something to do with the jaws.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel_spider#Urban_legends


They definitely get larger than 6in. One I killed just the body was 6 inches and the size of a mini maglight. Others were between 6 to 8 inches counting the legs.

AFAIK, that's the standard way of measuring arachnids - the body. And yeah, legs are going to be bigger.


They almost always come out at night, and are as said, extremely aggressive.

Again - shade good, desert sun bad.


They’ve been known to eat birds, lizards, and scorpions.

Not sure about birds, but I'd agree on the (smaller) lizards and scorpions. I've got nothing to back that up, though a quick Google search does produce video of these little suckers chowing down on lizards.


They’re called camel spiders because their mandibles are can chew through a camel’s hide…which is thought to be very tough leather by the indigenous personnel.

Says who, the locals? The locals said a lot of things when I was in SA - and I could trust about one out of every 10 things they said.


They must have some kind of numbing agent in their bite, because nearly everyone that I’ve seen or heard of was bitten at night and was asleep at the time—and did not awake from the bite. I don’t know about you, but if something took a 1/4’’ bite out of me, I’d wake up. I’ve had one run across my face when I was sleeping, and I jumped up screaming. The ones I’ve seen look different from the Iraq/Saudi version, but the Afghani version look similar enough to know they’re from the same gene pool.

Camel spiders don't have fangs big enough to take quarter-inch bites out of you. Heck, most large rattlesnakes barely have fangs big enough to take quarter-inch bites out of you - if everything said here about them were true there wouldn't be a numbing agent strong enough to dull the initial pain of being bit. You're talking about ramming something three to four times the size of an average nail through your skin, if the rumors mentioned above are to be believed. These things would have to be capable of producing morphine-grade narcotic compounds to keep someone asleep through that.


If you’re ever in a tent out in the desert and it’s Friday Fight Night between a scorpion and a camel spider…always bet on the camel spider.

No argument here. I doubt a scorpion of the same size would have the proper venom to kill it, and a camel spider IS faster than your average scorpion. No bet.

[Hell Puppi]

What? I just think they're creepy looking.

None of those 'facts' were mine, just stories from people that had seen camel spiders and got freaked out by them.
I'm not saying that they're dangerous or that we should be afraid of them, I just think they're freaky.

[Bag_of_Holding]

No argument here. I doubt a scorpion of the same size would have the proper venom to kill it, and a camel spider IS faster than your average scorpion. No bet.

Heh, when it comes to venomous creatures, most of time smaller ones have much more potent venom (NOT scientifically proven or otherwise based on properly researched non-anecdotal evidence).

As our beloved Dr. Jones said:
Dr. Henry Jones Jr. from Crystal Skull
"when it comes to scorpions, the larger the better."

[MandibleBones]

What? I just think they're creepy looking.

None of those 'facts' were mine, just stories from people that had seen camel spiders and got freaked out by them.
I'm not saying that they're dangerous or that we should be afraid of them, I just think they're freaky.

And with that, I heartily agree. They are indeed creepy looking and if I can go the rest of my time in the Air Force without ever again laying eyes on one of those far-realms-wannabe-scorpion eight-legged FREAKS then I'll be pretty happy.

:)

[Cobra_Ikari]

Heh, when it comes to venomous creatures, most of time smaller ones have much more potent venom (NOT scientifically proven or otherwise based on properly researched non-anecdotal evidence).

As our beloved Dr. Jones said:
Dr. Henry Jones Jr. from Crystal Skull
"when it comes to scorpions, the larger the better."

The larger the claws, the less venomous, I'm told.

[Jagg]

Well, anaphylactic shock occurs due to the allergy - I doubt they kill many people who are not allergic to their sting, correct? It's likely to be 3% stung, not 3% chance per sting.

Um it's a similar poison to bee sting (except more potent) Jack Jumpers don't swarm (well unless your unlucky enough to kick open a nest or something), but sure ONE sting will kill only 3% of the time. But just like there are some people who can get one be sting and die, and then there are some people who can get twenty bee stings and then die...From the sound of the manhood ritual there are thousands of ants in the ritual. THOUSANDS of bee stings will kill you even if you don't have an "allergy".

[SurlySeraph]

The larger the claws, the less venomous, I'm told.

True. The larger the claws, the more it relies on its claws for killing. The more it relies on its claws, the less it relies on its poison. The less it relies on its poison, the less dangerous its poison is. Natural is logical that way.

[Serpentine]

Having seen a beginner's tarantula myself, I am pretty okay with saying "Don't be afraid." I dislike spiders myself, except at a distance of several feat (maybe more, depending on size/jumping ability of said spiders).That reminds me. Sydney funnelweb? Big nasty bugger with the deadly bite? An excellent jumper.


Haha, Serp I knew you were gonna post the Weta :smalltongue:Convenient timing, hey? :smallbiggrin:


They must have some kind of numbing agent in their bite, because nearly everyone that I’ve seen or heard of was bitten at night and was asleep at the time—and did not awake from the bite.What possible reason could something like that have for a numbing bite? I mean, it makes sense for things like leeches and ticks - they need to hang around and not get squished long enough to eat - but it's a pretty useless sort of a defence if its target doesn't even feel it :smallconfused:
A friend of mine woke up once with a huntsman spider over her bed and bite-marks in her chin, once... They look like this when dead/dying:
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h287/serpentine16/photos/squitta.jpghttp://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h287/serpentine16/photos/squittaface.jpg
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h287/serpentine16/photos/squittadead.jpg
Why yes, that is my hand :smallamused: I found a good picture of one, but it was too big, so I guess I'll just link (http://members.iinet.net.au/~pterren/Spider_Dads_hand.JPG) it instead. Anyway, these ones are especially disturbing because they always walk right over your head and look like they're going to fall on you at any moment. But fortunately they don't actually do that very often, unlike these bastards:
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/chimage.php?image=science/wolfspider.jpg

I'm sure there should be many more in Australia... Well, I was going to mention the bull ant
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/allanwootton/bull3.jpg
which easily gets to an inch long and are totally aggro, but I figured the soldier ants had 'em beat. "Spitfires" are always icky...
http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_wasps/images/wpeE4.jpg
I can't find anything to support the idea that they sprayed acid at you if you disturbed them, though.

[Icewalker]

Wow, creepy. I like the bullet ant, that's pretty ridiculous.

None of these are anywhere near as disturbing as that one fish in the amazon though. I believe that posting what that fish does on these forums would actually be borderline against the rules. :smalleek::smalleek:

[Serpentine]

You mean the one that "swims upstream" so to speak? :smallamused:

[Hell Puppi]

*sigh*

I did not write any of the information I posted, if you would like to refute it, and I would like to remind everyone that they are just stories, please reffer to:

http://www.camelspiders.net/


Thank you.

[Icewalker]

You mean the one that "swims upstream" so to speak? :smallamused:

I'm pretty sure that part isn't true, although they may jump.

[Serpentine]

*sigh*

I did not write any of the information I posted, if you would like to refute it, and I would like to remind everyone that they are just stories, please reffer to:I know, I saw that. I was just commenting on what the person you quoted was saying, to the hinternut in general.

[Thiel]

I'm pretty sure that part isn't true, although they may jump.

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru), it can.

[Cobra_Ikari]

You're referring to candiru, the fish that kills people by locking itself in an orifice and leeching off them? Yeah, it totally can.

[Recaiden]

Weta - giant New Zealand cave cricket.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/NatureLand-Sky/8651/photo/giant_weta.jpg

Box Jellyfish - deadly, gigantic, and come in swarms.
http://articles.mercola.com/ImageServer/public/2008/February/2.26boxjellyfish.jpg


Aww, they're so cute.
I like insects ans bugs, except for spiders, worms, and some ants.
Yeah. The camel spider looks terrifying.:smalleek: I really like the wasp though. Someone just needs to combine it with that african hornet that goes superfast and an africanized bee (who thought making them was a good idea?) to create a super insect.

[SoD]

Holy ****. Ants that shriek. I mean, they shriek at you. That sounds like something from a bad horror movie. If the amazon has shrieking ants that fall from the sky I am going to walk under a titanium umbrella if I ever visit there.

Amazon? Booya. Oh, and the amazon leech: largest recorded length: 40 cm. Average maximum length: 25 cm.


Since this specifies bugs I'm gonna have to go with Jack Jumper Ants. (Don't be too scared you mainly find them in Tasmania.)


Don't be too scared? DON'T BE TOO SCARED??? I'm a two header and proud of it. Mind you, I ent allergic, so's I'm safe. Mind you...

One time, playing hide and seek at a friends shack. Here's what happened. I find a winding path (please note, summer, 35 degree heat, shirt, shorts, thongs) that leads on. I follow. I find a nice little hideaway, do a quick scan for ant nests/snakes/spiders/bees/wasps/scorpions/etc. (hey, it's Australia!) and, failing to see any, sit down. I then scan again (my legs in a wide V), and see nothing. I then look down...roughly the same distance from my unprotected knees is a hole in the ground. However...swarming out...jackies. Swarming. In all directions. I hadn't seen 'em before, 'cos I was standing on top of the nest. They hadn't liked that. My train of thought slows to single facts at a time. Meanwhile, the ant are swarming closer to my knees, legs, and other assorted body parts. My thoughts:
1) Oh dear...
2)Those are jack jumpers.
3) Jack jumpers bite.
4) I'm wearing shorts.
5) They look angry.
6) I not be here.
7) The quickest way to not be here would be to be somewhere else.
8) The easiest way to be somewhere else is to move there.
9) Quickly.

A few seconds later, everyone hears my screams as, panicing, I ran. Inside. About twice as fast as I ever have before. It took about two minutes before I stopped screaming, about five more minutes for me to get down off the table, and six hours before I went back outside. Oh, and about a week before I was fully calmed down. And another week before my paranoia was at rest.

Another time, my mother, wearing sandles, stepped in a nest. Not on. Well, yes, originally on the nest. But the ground was soft. The ground collapsed, and she stepped in the nest. They weren't happy.

[Yiel]

Aww, i want one. *pouts*

But i read somewhere that the deadliest insect on the planet is in fact the mosquito, which is apparently responsible for more deaths in human history than all the wars combined. I think it meant all of the well documented wars that we actually have relatively concrete casualty numbers from - was one of those 'cool facts for kids' kind of articles.

If you get one, I get one. (it eats ants... right?)

Anything that eats ants is good in my books. *shudders* They are the creepiest insect family ever.

[MandibleBones]

That reminds me. Sydney funnelweb? Big nasty bugger with the deadly bite? An excellent jumper.

And that would totally worry me to no end if I had any reason to ever go to Australia :) Thankfully, most of the spiders here (with a couple exceptions) are pretty pedestrian.

I mean, yeah, recluses will rot your skin and Widows will kill your children, but they're pretty easy to avoid: don't shove your hand in any woopiles, or anywhere else without looking first (also good for not getting your hand bit by rattlesnakes). Especially bananas.

[TigerHunter]

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru), it can.
Aaand now I don't need to pee ever again.

(Bonus points if you get the reference.)

[Ceska]

Aww, i want one. *pouts*

But i read somewhere that the deadliest insect on the planet is in fact the mosquito, which is apparently responsible for more deaths in human history than all the wars combined. I think it meant all of the well documented wars that we actually have relatively concrete casualty numbers from - was one of those 'cool facts for kids' kind of articles.
Does it count if the animal is just a vector of the disease?

The giant hornet is just ugly, the pics of spiders only strengthened my wish to have a tarantula, and the bot fly video is completely harmless. Though, to be fair, I could watch the video Cobra posted without problems as well.

[Arioch]

Aaand now I don't need to pee ever again.

(Bonus points if you get the reference.)

Ah, I remember watching a documentary about parasites a few years ago. The fish was in the "vertebrate parasites" episode. I have good memoires of creeping out my classmates with that.
That documentary also introduced me to the joy that is the ebola virus.


I really like the wasp though. Someone just needs to combine it with that african hornet that goes superfast and an africanized bee (who thought making them was a good idea?) to create a super insect.

Are you TRYING to make me spend the rest of my life indoors? Cos that's what I'd do if a wasp like that was ever created.

[Jade Falcon]

Lets build a city on the moon and leave this horrible, bug-ridden planet ..

[Toastkart]

Some of these are good.

Giant Bat eating centipede (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8313878609430213933) is definitely creepy.

[SurlySeraph]

You're referring to candiru, the fish that kills people by locking itself in an orifice and leeching off them? Yeah, it totally can.

It doesn't kill people. It just locks itself there on the assumption that your orifice is some kind of larger fish trying to eat it, and because its spines are barbed you can't get it out without surgery. The candiru is as much an innocent victim as the horribly violated person with the barbed orifice-fish in him.

[Cobra_Ikari]

It doesn't kill people. It just locks itself there on the assumption that your orifice is some kind of larger fish trying to eat it, and because its spines are barbed you can't get it out without surgery. The candiru is as much an innocent victim as the horribly violated person with the barbed orifice-fish in him.

Ah, no, sorry, I should have clarified. People often die from infection and stuff while trying to remove it, I'm told. This is what I was referring to.

[Quirinus_Obsidian]

<shudder> I am ... never ... going outside... ever ... again ... </shudder>


:eek: :eek:

[Gem Flower]

I know.....:smalleek:

[xPANCAKEx]

outdoors is great

[Bag_of_Holding]

Some of these are good.

Giant Bat eating centipede (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8313878609430213933) is definitely creepy.


Oooooh... right. Clever centipedes that utilise their many legs to hunt flying mammals in flight. Those squirmy things at the bottom of the cave will give me nightmares. Forever :smalleek:

[Lu-Tzao]

Meep! They're all creepy. Although nothing creeps me out as a sneaky stick insect... Am I the only person in the world who is scared of the damned things? *shudders*

[ghost_warlock]

Some of these are good.

Giant Bat eating centipede (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8313878609430213933) is definitely creepy.

There are only three types of invertebrates I always attempt to smash upon encountering: 1) centipedes, 2) crickets/grasshoppers, 3) beetles.

I admit to smooshing ants and wasps I find in my house but I don't mind them otherwise.

[Dave Rapp]

Personally I think the Giant Hornet is the worst. The bullet ants must hurt a lot, but pain comes and goes. The Africanized bees are scary, but we've all known that bees are evil merciless monsters that want nothing more than to sting us and make us cry, since childhood. The army ants are probably pretty scary if you see them coming at you, but us smart Primates know to get out of the way. And the bot fly getting inside you is pretty nasty, but you can have much worse things... like a bigass tape worm.

But the Hornet? Imagine that thing flying at you... keep in mind that the picture there is almost full size. (or it IS full size and the guy has big hands) Tt must make some pretty horrible buzzing too. And what if there was a nice little group of thirty or so of them? Worse, imagine them on your screen door or something, standing in the way of you and your happy place.

Huge flying monster beats ants and brain-eating flies any day, in my opinion.

[Thiel]

Id have to say that the scariest creature I know of is the Turritopsis nutricula.
http://www.usp.br/cbm/pesquisa/migotto/hidromedusas/Turritopsis2.jpg
It's not dangerous and neither is it particularly big, but it does have one thing going for it. It's immortal. That's right, immortal. The damn thing is theoretically capable of living forever. This haven't been tested for obvious reasons but I still find it very creepy.

[chiasaur11]

Id have to say that the scariest creature I know of is the Turritopsis nutricula.
http://www.usp.br/cbm/pesquisa/migotto/hidromedusas/Turritopsis2.jpg
It's not dangerous and neither is it particularly big, but it does have one thing going for it. It's immortal. That's right, immortal. The damn thing is theoretically capable of living forever. This haven't been tested for obvious reasons but I still find it very creepy.

Okay, now I want two.
One as a pet, and one to chop the head off of.

[Lykan]

Okay, now I want two.
One as a pet, and one to chop the head off of.

It's a hydrazoa, not the highlander. :smalltongue:

[Phase]

This haven't been tested for obvious reasons but I still find it very creepy.

What obvious reasons? I can't think of any, especially considering how useful it would be for medicine.

[Lu-Tzao]

What obvious reasons? I can't think of any, especially considering how useful it would be for medicine.

Presumably, you wouldn't be able to test it I think. I mean, yes, you could observe them, but how do you know it's the right one you're still observing? If you interact with them in any way you could alter their life span *shrug* Plus, it'd be pretty hard to test if something lives forever largely because, we don't. Anyway.... I want one too.

[Phase]

Plus, it'd be pretty hard to test if something lives forever largely because, we don't.

But our Genus will be around longer than that. I'm not saying it would help us the next day, but in fifty years, you might just want to be injected with jellyfish goo...

Ewwww!:smallyuk:

[Miklus]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO penisfish

[Player_Zero]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO penisfish

...Interesting... Do go on.

[SurlySeraph]

@^: He's talking about the candiru. The candiru, unlike virtually all animals and in direct defiance of common sense, is attracted to high concentrations of ammonia and uric acid. Guess what's excreted in urine? There are documented cases of candirus, which are small, swimming into people's urethras while they were urinating to get to the high concencentrations of ammonia. Unfortunately, the candiru has an adaptation that is rather common in fish; spines on its back that stick up and lock in place. This adaptation generally makes it harder for larger fish to swallow fish that have it whole. Unfortunately, it makes it rather impossible for the candiru that has swum into a urethra to get out. The results are, obviously, horrific.

[Thiel]

What obvious reasons? I can't think of any, especially considering how useful it would be for medicine.

Well, how do you test if something can't die of old age? You sure as hell can't wait it out.
Btw, I don't think it would be very useful in medicine, unless of course you want to revert to child stage and then grow old again, because that's how it does it.

[Player_Zero]

Well, how do you test if something can't die of old age? You sure as hell can't wait it out.
Btw, I don't think it would be very useful in medicine, unless of course you want to revert to child stage and then grow old again, because that's how it does it.

...People DO want to do that. :smalltongue:

Post 500, go me!

[NikkTheTrick]

Now, good thing about Alberta is that there is a lot less stuff that will kill you in painful ways (cold does that instead). None of those can be found here.

#3 Africanized Honey Bee (Apis mellifera scutellata)

After they escaped and swarmed northward, it turned out they were a-OK with deserts, too. They'll be in Montana by 2010.
... Crap :smalleek: Man the border!

[Phase]

Well, how do you test if something can't die of old age? You sure as hell can't wait it out.

Not a sngle person, no, but if an organization works on this, it could be recorded for decades.

[Thiel]

Not a sngle person, no, but if an organization works on this, it could be recorded for decades.

I can just imagine the headlines. Organization to observe life cycle of immortal jelly fish

[Serpentine]

The candiru, unlike virtually all animals and in direct defiance of common sense, is attracted to high concentrations of ammonia and uric acid... Guess what's excreted in urine? There are documented cases of candirus, which are small, swimming into people's urethras while they were urinating to get to the high concencentrations of ammonia.If I recall correctly, it actually follows trails of ammonia to find its prey. I think it might be kinda parasitic or lamprey-like or something? forget. Anyway, it's not after the urine itself, but the creature at the end of the trail.

On the study of immortal creatures: We know very, very little about what exactly is involved in aging and growing old. Thus studying an animal that never does would be extremely useful to science. You don't need to sit there watching it for millenia, you could just watch what its cells do.

[Destro_Yersul]

This thread worries me, and I am very happy that I live in Canada, where it is quite frequently too freaking cold for these to survive. You will, however, excuse me if I never leave the house ever again.

[Miklus]

If I recall correctly, it actually follows trails of ammonia to find its prey. I think it might be kinda parasitic or lamprey-like or something? forget. Anyway, it's not after the urine itself, but the creature at the end of the trail.

Curse you, Serpentine, for ever mentioning that...thing.

But here is one for you: I heard a story about this woman who travelled in the tropics, and one of those bot-fly larvae got in her nipple and...There where pictures...

[Thrawn183]

So, for once I get to be an authority!

(I just finished taking my college's Parasitology course, and not two months ago did my end of the semester presentation on the vampire fish [candiru]).

1) The human is an accidental host of a candiru. A fish doesn't do so well when its host gets out of the water.

2) There has been one officially documented case of a candiru entering a person (there were still photos and video so its officially not a legend anymore).

3) I had to find multiple videos to aid in giving visuals, here are two web sites that have a bit of overlap, but the videos are interesting.
http://www.somednat.org/site/spip.php?article55
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSLKZzuLC00
(I've never posted links on this forum before, so somebody send me a PM if they don't work, pls).

4) There are two parts that get me: a) The one removed from a man's urethra was 6 inches long and half an inch wide. That's pretty big to be in a urethra. b) Candiru are rumored to have entered orifices other than just... one linking to the urethra.

5) A study was done (I've somehow lost the link to it!) that tested whether or not candiru track urea to find their hosts. It was initially thought that this was the case because fish use their gills for the elimination of nitrogenous wastes and candiru are often found in turbulent waters with large amounts of silt that reduce visibility to extremely low levels. The study found that amino acids, urea and even scale shavings from live fish were insufficient to produce active hunting behavior from the cadiru. Placing fish in the tank was. Sadly, this doesn't tell us whether or not candiru hunt using just their eyes or also scent because the experiment didn't include a trial with an addition of a shape resembling a fish but without the fish's scent so its entirely possible that candiru do detect nitrogenous wastes in water, but at this point no one can say for certain. To find the study again, I'd have to log in through my school's library again and.... I'm lazy.

PS. The video of the surgery to remove the fish has a lot of elevator music, you might want to just mute the video and listen to your ipod or something.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

If I recall correctly, it actually follows trails of ammonia to find its prey. I think it might be kinda parasitic or lamprey-like or something? forget. Anyway, it's not after the urine itself, but the creature at the end of the trail.

On the study of immortal creatures: We know very, very little about what exactly is involved in aging and growing old. Thus studying an animal that never does would be extremely useful to science. You don't need to sit there watching it for millenia, you could just watch what its cells do.

Correct me if I am misinformed, but I was under the assumption that the current theory as to why we age and kick the bucket lies within the notion that cells can only divide a predetermined number of times. Thus, when the magic mark is set, we begin to slowly degenerate.

[Serpentine]

I got to do an assignment on aging, and while I can't remember the details, the general conclusion was "we don't know". That's one theory, but there's problems with it, and then there's things like "well, why do different animals have different numbers of them if they do, or lose them at different rates if they don't?" And then there's also stuff involving things like sleep, torpor and starvation. Rats given less-than-normal food amounts live longer - or more specifically, age later - than rats given ordinary amounts. Why? Will this work for humans? Why or why not? Etc.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

I will personally vouch for the japanese giant hornet. I swear whenever I think of all the japanese imports that have taken over my home state I wanna start some wax-on, wax off (CURSE YOU, KUDZU!) :smallsigh:

I'm utterly immune to all flying creeper stings... except for the japanese giant hornet. I didn't even react the first time, except for the whole acidic skin melting bit that HURTS like you've put your arm again a red hot iron. But apparently each time I got stung a little more lay dormant in my system, until after about the fifth time (seriously they are EVERYWHERE here in Georgia) I swelled up from the tips of my toes to my very eyelids. They said I was partially into anaphylactic shock as well, though didn't know it. They say if I got stung again I'd very likely die.

[Bhu]

I cant believe no one has mentioned Australian Paralysis Ticks or the Brazilian Wandering Spider.

[Lolzords]

Luckily, it looks like none of those horrible beasties live in england. hooray.

[poleboy]

http://www.geocities.com/zoidberg_fan/episodes/images/bee.gif

Farnsworth: "This is no ordinary honey! It's produced by vicious space bees. A single sting of their hideous neurotoxin can cause instant death!"
Hermes: "And that's if you're not allergic! You don't wanna know what happens then, oh no no, God no."
Farnsworth: "Your insides with boil out of your eye sockets like a science fair volcano!"
Hermes: "I didn't want to know!" *cries*

[Naleh]

Dave Rapp, you will pay for creating this thread. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow... but some day, you will pay for making my very existence a waking nightmare. :smalleek: (:smallwink:)

[Sewer_Bandito]

This thread really should have had a warning put on it.

Something like The 5 Most Horrifying Bugs in the World (WARNING: Do not view under any circumstances) would have sufficed.

[Nonanonymous]

See, this is why I loves me my spiders, reptiles, and amphibians. They are our most effective defense against these planeshifting fiendish vermin. That and specifically engineered super viruses intended to eradicate their species altogether.

[adanedhel9]

I'm surprised the jellyfish discussion didn't segue into the Irukandji (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irukandji_syndrome). Bugs I can take. But don't take me swimming off the northern Australian coast.

[Twin2]

Here is a picture of an ant

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn137/Twin2_02_2008/explodingant.jpg

Now this might not seem to scary compared to the others shown here, except this one explodes. That's right explodes. They can release the contents of their greatly enlarged mandibular glands suicidally by rupturing the intersegmental membrane of the gaster, resulting in a spray of toxic substance from the head. Suicide ****ing bomber ants, nature you never cease to astound. :smalleek:

[Bhu]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_wandering_spider

http://www.tickalert.org.au/ixholdet.htm

Im a good kitty :D

[Phase]

Here is a picture of an ant

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn137/Twin2_02_2008/explodingant.jpg

Now this might not seem to scary compared to the others shown here, except this one explodes. That's right explodes. They can release the contents of their greatly enlarged mandibular glands suicidally by rupturing the intersegmental membrane of the gaster, resulting in a spray of toxic substance from the head. Suicide ****ing bomber ants, nature you never cease to astound. :smalleek:

As it explodes, the explorer lets out one word with his dying breath:

"Awesome."

[Bag_of_Holding]

Here is a picture of an ant

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn137/Twin2_02_2008/explodingant.jpg

Now this might not seem to scary compared to the others shown here, except this one explodes. That's right explodes. They can release the contents of their greatly enlarged mandibular glands suicidally by rupturing the intersegmental membrane of the gaster, resulting in a spray of toxic substance from the head. Suicide ****ing bomber ants, nature you never cease to astound. :smalleek:

Ants... exploding everywhere.... Awesomessimo!