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Posted by beatthatflight 7 days ago

Taxonomy of the Occlupanida (parasitoids on bread bag tags)(www.horg.com)
200 points | 47 comments
Terr_ 7 days ago|
> The outside (or ‘edge’) of the occlupanid is often smooth, but many species sport palps, or tabs. These have unguessable purposes for mating, locomotion, defense, take your pick.

I propose that these palps or tabs are remnants of the reproductive cycle, vestigial points of contact in the budding process. This phenomenon can be observed in some other classes within phylum Plasticae, and I see no reason to assume it is not happening here.

afandian 7 days ago||
This is where the morphological approach falls down. This is an "analogous trait", i.e. something that's arrived at through two independent evolutionary pathways.

These palps are due to a reproduction process called "stamping". Sounds violent, but that's nature for you. This is an asexual process. The tabs give an advantage to the overall clutch of young, not individuals.

There's a morphologically similar trait in other Plasticae that's the result of "injection moulding". This involves the mating of two (or sometimes more) parents. This method allows for the evolution of more complex features.

Overmoulding is also possible, which produces symbiotic organisms.

Groxx 7 days ago|||
The gunpla family has especially prominent ones, apparently used in mating displays.
beAbU 7 days ago||
It's like a bellybutton!
Kaibeezy 7 days ago||
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

Must be one of the most submitted pages. Is there a list?

QuinnG 7 days ago|
Another mainstay is Ian’s shoelace site: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
stogot 7 days ago||
At first , by the title, I thought there were parasites growing on these clips. Anyone else?
BretonForearm 7 days ago||
It's the only correct take, since the title atop literally says "parasitoids on bread bag tags".
Terr_ 7 days ago||
Hmm, if we're being really pedantic and go a step further, it becomes incorrect take: The text says parasitoids, which resemble parasites but probably aren't.

Much like how "asteroid samples" means rocks instead of hot plasma from stars (aster), or "android battery" doesn't mean something surgically cut out of an human man (andros).

sl-1 7 days ago|||
I think in this case parasitoid has a specific meaning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitoid

>Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasitism, distinguished by the fatal prognosis for the host, which makes the strategy close to predation.

Terr_ 6 days ago||
That sounds congruent with the "asteroid" example: It denoted a broad category, but eventually gained a very specific connotation, and when the connotation became popular enough, it took over as the new definition. So now we've got to use alternate phrasing like "starlike object" or "false star" or "pseudostar."

Terms like "spheroid" resisted the same fate, but I think that could change if everybody's talking a lot about some kind of spheroid that remains mysterious enough that we can't give it a better name in time.

redsocksfan45 7 days ago|||
[dead]
conductr 7 days ago|||
Same initial thought. Took me a solid 10 seconds for orient myself, not usually finding HN as a source of comedy so my context was polluted
ccamrobertson 7 days ago|||
Yes, same. I am now really curious for someone to culture bread tags, milk tops and fruit stickers.
boomlinde 7 days ago|||
Not seeing the forest for the trees
loloquwowndueo 7 days ago|||
Same here heh
tennfown 7 days ago||
The link is neat, but that would have been much cooler IMO.
rolph 7 days ago||
please tell us about potential competition between Occlupanida sp. , and members of the Torqueroligiverasacculum Genera [least spotted twist tie]
mrtomservo 7 days ago|
In my experience, in natural environments that contain a vertical paper towel holder, Torqueroligiverasacculum Genera finds a nest and potential mating area underneath.
picofarad 6 days ago||
But why
abnry 7 days ago||
When I was a child, I remember going to the nearby children's museum and seeing an exhibit with 1 million bread tags. It was supposed to help conceptualize the number.
ErroneousBosh 7 days ago||
This is the sort of top quality nonsense the Internet used to be good at.

We need to go back there.

Duanemclemore 7 days ago||
I distinctly remember seeing an exhibition of this work in Los Angeles in the early aughts. For the life of me I can't remember where. The photos were shot with a macro lens and blown up so that each specimen was ... 12" square? maybe bigger?

Even then there were dozens upon dozens of them on display. It was mind bending.

rwmj 7 days ago|
If you're into this sort of thing I can highly recommend the parasite museum in Tokyo https://www.kiseichu.org/e-top
ndr42 7 days ago||
Well, if the ecological niches are the same there could be analogous developments that are not homologies. So I without a reconstruction of the environment I'm not certain that the proposed tree is valid.
foobarian 7 days ago||
I've been getting listicle spam/ads with a CTA promising to reveal why you should always carry one of these in your wallet. To this day I never found out why that is!
sanswork 7 days ago|
In Australia they are occasionally used as a temporary fix for plastic sandals when the piece between your toes pulls through the base you can push it back through attach one of these around it on the bottom and it will hold long enough for you to get new ones.
muti 6 days ago||
And for a cheeky example, here's a jandal you can buy with the plugger + bread tag combo from the factory

https://heresgolden.com/products/golden-g2-mens?variant=4362...

yawpitch 7 days ago|
This is the work of a mad genus.
Rooster61 6 days ago|
The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess, and the insane lament.
hackeraccount 6 days ago||
Nice pull.
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