Flush it Friday: xyz-Killer Is A Bad-Ass Species Name
When returning to my nest a few weeks ago, I was accosted by the largest wasp I’ve ever seen. It emerged from a large mound of dirt it had been excavating under my porch, and promptly made a beeline (tee-hee, Hymenoptera joke) for my face with all two inches of aggression it could muster. After freaking tf out some online sleuthing, I was able to identify my new porch-mate as an Eastern Cicada-Killer Wasp. Think about this naming convention for a minute: how tuff is it to have the name of your single prey species listed in your own moniker, hyphenated with the word “killer?” (My species name would be the Sparkling Ice-Killer.) Evolution has honed the females of this species into power-lifters of frightening strength, as seen in the photo below, where a single wasp has paralyzed two cicadas mid-coitus and manages to haul them both up a fence post at the same time, regardless of the fact that each cicada weights twice as much as her:
On a scale of 1 to “doesn’t-matter-had-sex,” this is a decent way to leave this mortal coil.
Hope this topic doesn’t bug y’all. Anyways, NOW WE FLUSH.
Stick stuck some news in your Monday. I stuck some prog death in your Tuesday.
Stevo was tempted by the latest from Temptress:
Tha Boiz say their goodbyes to Ozzy and more in this ‘sode of Toilet Radio:
Yours Trowly premiered an absolute earworm of a track from Grave Hex:
Brock Samson is on his way—he can go the dissotance:
Reliquary Tower found a stinky stash of instrumental tunes on Bandcamp:
KnifeDad explored the first release from the mysterious Cancer Void:
Seen any rare critters this summer? Got a good haul on Bandcamp today for BCF? Tell us more in the comments, and make sure to check out the above articles from your fecal friends in the Bowl! – <3 Roldy
