#video | did You know that insect larvae can jump?

Modern cameras and camcorders capable of amazing things. Just think — in the early XX century our ancestors with great difficulty did the black-and-white pictures, and today we have the ability to photograph objects from a distance of 45 kilometers. It turns out that thanks to the optical technology humanity literally saw things that were previously impossible to discern. Here you could think that will ever be able to see how tiny jumping insect larvae? Unlikely, but you will see it right now.

Amazing shots were taken by scientists from the USA and the UK. Using a powerful camera with time lapse function, they are filmed on video so-called the larvae of gall midges. These tiny insects are distributed worldwide and resemble mosquitoes, but do not have a long nose and is completely safe for humans. It turned out that their 3-mm larvae can jump for a distance of 10 centimeters.

The adult Midge

How are insect larvae?

The midges lay eggs on the leaves of plants. Subsequently, their eggs are enveloped in vegetable tissues, which form some kind of “house” within which the larvae develop. Tiny creatures really know how to jump, but scientists still don’t know why they need such ability. Most likely, long jumps are a way to escape from birds that are not very averse to eat tiny worms.

Thanks to the camera capable of shooting video at a rate of 20 000 frames per second, scientists have figured out exactly how committed long jumps. It turned out that before the jump of the larva bent in the shape of a loop and hold one end of his tiny body at the other end. Then they create pressure within the body through fluids up until two parts of the body not sharply disconnected from each other and do not repel the body of the larvae from the plant.

Due to this structure, the larvae can cling to parts of his body

Have you ever put a flick someone in the forehead? Now try slowly to click with the index finger on the table. Hand pushed? About and jumps occur tiny creatures.

The most cunning creatures in the world

According to scientists, the flight speed of larvae reaches 1.1 meters per second. This is enough to overcome a 10-cm distance for such tiny creatures similar almost with space flight. If such abilities were, we could easily overcome the kilometers in a few minutes.

This is interesting: Why edible insects are healthier than a glass of orange juice?

Actually, after reading about the maggots more information, you might think that this is the most insidious creatures in the world. Take, for example, the larvae of parasitic wasps that penetrate the brain of the tropical spiders and force them to weave them a safe haven for comfortable development. Sounds like it’s fantastic, but it really happens.

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