Fake termites

September 8, 2023 2:55 AM

Fake termites "In what may be one of Earth’s craziest forms of mimicry, researchers have discovered a new species of rove beetle that grows a termite puppet on its back to fool real termites into feeding it. "
posted by dhruva (15 comments total)

"Termite room service", heh...
posted by Harald74 at 3:16 AM on September 8, 2023 [3 favorites]

“Fake termite” is so hurtful. Maybe “aspirational termite?”
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:18 AM on September 8, 2023 [10 favorites]

This is absolutely nuts. Evolution is wiiiiiiiiiiiild. Thanks for sharing
posted by 0bvious at 4:33 AM on September 8, 2023 [4 favorites]

"termaybe"
posted by brundlefly at 5:18 AM on September 8, 2023 [16 favorites]

Oh just like billionaires pretend to be human and get workers to feed them while they do nothing all day.

"Not everything is about capitalism, yo."
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:41 AM on September 8, 2023 [7 favorites]

Oh just like billionaires pretend to b-

...

Nevermind.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:12 AM on September 8, 2023 [3 favorites]

Insects are weird. Previously.
posted by Paul Slade at 7:44 AM on September 8, 2023

god think of the beetle's perspective. that beetle is not intentionally mimicking anything; that's just the way it was created. the termite puppet is just part of its body, same way your butt is part of yours. and natural selection has conspired to make it worthwhile for the beetle to seek out and live in colonies of what amount to animate, disembodied beetle butts.
posted by logicpunk at 9:35 AM on September 8, 2023 [10 favorites]

My butt doesn't earn me snacks.


very often
posted by gottabefunky at 11:18 AM on September 8, 2023 [9 favorites]

It's just wild that something like this can actually evolve.

How did its ancestors bridge the gap between "bug off, beetle intruder" and "hello fellow termite, have some food"?

I feel like there had to be some pretty crazy single mutation that kicked this off.
posted by automatronic at 5:11 PM on September 8, 2023

There may have been intermediate steps like chemical camouflage, or chemical mimicry, so that the termites don't attack the beetles.
posted by dhruva at 12:05 AM on September 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Reminds me of Adrian Tchaikovksy's Children of Time: hyper-evolved spiders and their ant agriculture.
posted by pjenks at 7:45 AM on September 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

For me, these stories always beg the question: What kinds of fake butts are humans serving, and why?
posted by sneebler at 10:31 AM on September 9, 2023

Genuinely stunning, thanks.
posted by senor biggles at 8:43 PM on September 9, 2023

> How did its ancestors bridge the gap between "bug off, beetle intruder" and "hello fellow termite, have some food"?

IIRC there was an example of this in The Blind Watchmaker of insects mimicking leaves; if you evolved to look 5% like a leaf you were less likely to be eaten than your colleague who looked 2% like a leaf.
It takes just one beetle surviving meeting the termites, and a bit of luck.
posted by farlukar at 1:49 PM on September 10, 2023 [1 favorite]