murder hornet, f, mandibles of death
MURDER HORNET FRIDAY! Welcome to the first in a series of pictures of Vespa mandarinia, recently deemed the Murder Hornet in the media, but more commonly called some variant of "Asian Giant Hornet" . The beefiest of all the world's hornets (which presumably means beefiest in the universe) this is the chewing end of the hornet, mandibles spread, used to chew up wood and plant fiber for its nests and chomp big insects and process them into baby murder hornet food. All those things in between might be called the wasp's "tongue" but these structures are so different than our tongue that this term is misleading. There are lapping devices here and help with the manipulation of the soft materials the mandibles pull out. The details of what those palps and other structures are actually useful for escapes me. Thanks to Izzy Hill for purchasing this specimen prior to the debut of the Murder Hornet in the media.
We Are Made One with What We Touch and See
We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde. Original public domain image from Flickr