Exploiding yourself for the good of your kin

Image taken from http://www.myrmecos.net/insects/ManzAphid3.html

It's been quiet for a while. Not because any lack of cool things to write about; just because a general gloomy period with lots of work and a home computer not willing to cooperate.

But now I'm back. At least for a post. Better one post in the blog than ten in the head, we might say. Well, you perhaps have noticed that I like insects. And you perhaps know that I like a touch of the weird and morbid. So of couse I just had to write something about this: apids exploding themselves for safety of the community in a manner that would make 2nd-WW-kamikaze-soldiers and al quaida green with envy.

These aphids life in so called galls, a ball-like plant tissue that has been induced by the aphids. Then they prefer to live a cosy, non-disturbed life in there, which of course is not always the case. A lot of things could threat their existance, so therefore it's been necessary to evolve an efficient defence system using community members with an explicit role - the soldiers.

So when the gall is damaged, the soldiers aggregate around the area and explode (!), which results in the formation of a sealing goo that protects the gall.

Beats building a ugly wall and shooting at every moving object passing it.