After looking at this drawing by Junji Ito:
i searched a bit for images/traits of milipedes, but in the end was too disgusted and instead went on to read about the reason some insects have very bright/lively colors (such as red and yellow). Up to then i thought this was because they were all poisonous, but now learned that some of them are actually mimics of the warning colors and patterns, while they would not harm a predator who would try to eat them.
This particular type of mimesis is called Batesian, named after a mid 19th century British biologist who lived for a decade in the region of the Amazon rain forest so as to examine the species there.
Also worth noting is that some crypto-predatory insects (parasitic ones) do the opposite: while they are poisonous, they develop a cryptic color pattern on their bodies, so that they lure predators who die after trying to eat them, serving as a good host for the hell about to devour them from within...
All this, obviously, gives me good starting points for a short story
i searched a bit for images/traits of milipedes, but in the end was too disgusted and instead went on to read about the reason some insects have very bright/lively colors (such as red and yellow). Up to then i thought this was because they were all poisonous, but now learned that some of them are actually mimics of the warning colors and patterns, while they would not harm a predator who would try to eat them.
This particular type of mimesis is called Batesian, named after a mid 19th century British biologist who lived for a decade in the region of the Amazon rain forest so as to examine the species there.
Also worth noting is that some crypto-predatory insects (parasitic ones) do the opposite: while they are poisonous, they develop a cryptic color pattern on their bodies, so that they lure predators who die after trying to eat them, serving as a good host for the hell about to devour them from within...
All this, obviously, gives me good starting points for a short story
