CoffeeWoman
In my pocket this morning (termites?) v2
Hunting for something this morning, I found a stick in my jacket pocket. I was about to put it on my shelf with other odd bits of nature when I saw something moving!
I guessed termite - hunted up a magnifying glass and my camera -- peered, took photos. Found insect book -- termite still a maybe. This wasn't a happy critter and I kept wanting to release it - but the urge to get in close prevailed. Oh, dear. Poor bug. I put the container with the stick in a bigger container and poked holes. Then forgot it for a while. It was in severe distress when I came back (not enough air?) When I let in air, two more family members appeared. Also apparently relieved to get some air! Now the urge to sketch took over my humane impulses as well - you see the results here - not clearly a termite yet - but still likely. My $3 magnifying glass is not the best tool for this job.
Size: 3 mm long.
Released into wooded area between apartment complexes. I imagined them happy, exploring their new territory.
More research makes termite, worker caste, very likely. Also found this:
"TERMITES as bioreactors: The U.S. Department of Energy is researching ways to replace fossil fuels with renewable sources of cleaner energy, and termites are considered a possible way to reach this goal through metagenomics.[11]
Termites may produce up to two litres of hydrogen from digesting a single sheet of paper, making them one of the planet’s most efficient bioreactors.[12] Termites achieve this high degree of efficiency by exploiting the metabolic capabilities of about 200 different species of microbes that inhabit their hindguts.
Sorry - can't seem to get this in a format that'll allow clicking on the link.
In my pocket this morning (termites?) v2
Hunting for something this morning, I found a stick in my jacket pocket. I was about to put it on my shelf with other odd bits of nature when I saw something moving!
I guessed termite - hunted up a magnifying glass and my camera -- peered, took photos. Found insect book -- termite still a maybe. This wasn't a happy critter and I kept wanting to release it - but the urge to get in close prevailed. Oh, dear. Poor bug. I put the container with the stick in a bigger container and poked holes. Then forgot it for a while. It was in severe distress when I came back (not enough air?) When I let in air, two more family members appeared. Also apparently relieved to get some air! Now the urge to sketch took over my humane impulses as well - you see the results here - not clearly a termite yet - but still likely. My $3 magnifying glass is not the best tool for this job.
Size: 3 mm long.
Released into wooded area between apartment complexes. I imagined them happy, exploring their new territory.
More research makes termite, worker caste, very likely. Also found this:
"TERMITES as bioreactors: The U.S. Department of Energy is researching ways to replace fossil fuels with renewable sources of cleaner energy, and termites are considered a possible way to reach this goal through metagenomics.[11]
Termites may produce up to two litres of hydrogen from digesting a single sheet of paper, making them one of the planet’s most efficient bioreactors.[12] Termites achieve this high degree of efficiency by exploiting the metabolic capabilities of about 200 different species of microbes that inhabit their hindguts.
Sorry - can't seem to get this in a format that'll allow clicking on the link.