Episode 2 - A Day in the Life of a Giant Tarantula and Scorpion

A Day in the Life of a Giant Tarantula and Scorpion
Episode	2
Air date	March 26, 2022
Writer	Rev Storm
Director	Rev Storm
Episode guide
Previous	Episode 1 - Roach vs. Humans vs. Giant Praying Mantis
Next	Episode 3 - Giant Praying Mantis Attack

This is the second episode in the storyline of "Humans-B-Gone!" You can watch it here.

Episode Summary

The second episode opens with a field of parasitic flowers, and the camera moves over them to reveal Rose, a tarantula, waking up. She stretches, activates her morning routine and then watches an orchideo piece. Harvey interrupts and reminds Rose that she's going to be late for work. She heads to work and we learn from Gregorsa that not all arachnids are spiders. Rose walks through town, greeting and talking with various arachnids including her sister Violet who is a scorpion. As Gregorsa continues to provide information about different arachnid species. The sisters take public transport to work. They share a ride on a contractile and discuss how Violet enjoys her new place and encourages Rose to move out of their father's place, though Rose doesn't feel like it's in her budget. Violet explains that if she was more careful she could. The current conversation gets cut off when a UV light comes on. Afterwards, Violet asks Rose about the color blue, where Rose explains her ideas on what the color blue is. Violet then takes a pause to think about it. Violet then suggests that Rose could stay with her to help her, which Rose tries to decline. Violet continues to state how it's okay and continues listing reasons until the ants nearby entirely drown them out. A ant then comes down from the root to tell them to seperate by species. At this point Violet walks away after quickly saying goodbye. We then see Gregorsa in the white void again, explaining the differences between arachnids and insects. After that he touches on the similar elements in their world and also name drops the "Bolecore." Afterwards we get information about his citations and citation numbers and then flicks to black.

Rose's Poem

"A gentle feeling, like a powdery smell, like dust settled just right. That way you feel when things aren't as good as they could be, but maybe they're about to get better?" -Rose, describing the color blue.

-Gregorsa's Notes-

Click the number to get the info for that citation marker. There are 41 points possible. 2 of these points were for if you are keeping track of the Citation numbers.

Toggle All Notes

Found at 0:01

[1]

Flat top broomrape (Orobanche corymbosa)

Most plants require sunlight in order to photosynthesize. Holoparasites like broomrape are an exception. Instead, they parasitize other plants, piercing the host plant's roots with their own and siphoning off what nutrients they need.

Due to a lack of chlorophyll, holoparasitic plants are not green.

3 pts if you're aware of holoparasites.

Found at 0:15

[2]

Pink sundew (Drosera capillaris)

You may not be familiar with the sundew, but you're probably aware of its relative, the Venus flytrap. Like its cousin, the sundew is a voracious eater of insects. The sticky "dew" holds an insect fast while the tentacles curl around it, allowing the plant to slowly digest the unlucky individual.

In our world, however, we have put them to work for us as grooming devices. Through selective breeding and judicious grafting, we who live underground have even weaned the sundew off its need for sunlight.

(What is it, now? Only a dew?)

1 pt if you're no stranger to carnivorous plants.

3 pts for sundews in particular.

Found at 0:20

[3]

Fly orchid (Ophrys insectifera)

Orchids of genuses like Ophrys and Cryptostylis faithfully mimic female bees and wasps, tricking males of the species into mating with them in order to spread their pollen.

From orchids like this one we have engineered the orchideo, a plant-based technology that uses flowers to simulate figures and their smells. It functions as a combination of a TV and a phone, with an (admittedly, limited) "Internet."

Its functions are...usually more wholesome.

3 pts if you're familiar with sexual mimicry in orchids.

5 pts if you guessed the wasp.

Found at 0:41

[4]

Chilean Rose Tarantula (Grammostola rosea)

The etymology is uncertain, but one possibility comes from the Greek gramma, Latin rosea, and the original sense of stola: "rosy armor bearing writing or an image." Referring to the flower-like pattern, perhaps?

Though not members of the "true spider" infraorder (Araneomorphae), tarantulas nonetheless are spiders, and belong to the same order (Araneae). Like most other spiders, tarantulas have eight eyes, eight legs, and are capable of spinning silk.

Tarantulas and most other large arachnids are nocturnal, preferring the safety of their dark burrows during the day.

On Formicosa B-1, they rarely find a reason to leave that darkness.

2 pts if you knew arachnids are not insects.

2 pts more if you knew not all arachnids are spiders.

Found at 0:44

[5]

Harvestman (Leiobunum rotundum)

Male harvestmen are indeed doting fathers, taking special care of the eggs until they hatch.

As macrovolutes, harvestman fathers care for their young even beyond that, well earning another name for their order: “daddy longlegs.”

2 pts if you're familiar with harvestmen.

2 pts again if you're familiar with their parenting techniques.

Found at 0:51

[6]

Two-spotted spider mite (overwintering phase)(Tetranychus urticae)

Two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae)

As protocules, many mites are so small as to be microscopic. As a result, despite their wide range, your people know very little about them.

Even as macrovolutes, I think they hold secrets from the rest of us...even from other arachnids.

Ah, but I don't have time to pursue every mystery.

Spider mites are unusual among mites. They are social creatures, and true to their name, spin spider-like sheets of silk to live in.

In the arachnid nest of Formicosa B-1, macrovolute spider mites work together with the tarantulas to maintain their home.

Web of two-spotted spider mites

1 pt for knowing about spider mites.

Found at 0:54

[7]

Giant vinegaroon (Mastigoproctus giganteus)

True to their name, vinegaroons will spray a substance similar to vinegar (both containing acetic acid) when threatened.

They are also called "whip scorpions," though they are not scorpions at all, and instead belong to their own order entirely.

2 pts if you've heard of vinegaroons.

Found at 0:54

[8]

Amblypygid (Heterophrynus batesii)

Amblypygids are also known as "whip spiders" or "tailless whip scorpions"--though again, they are neither, and have their own order.

Mothers are known to communicate with their children using their front legs.

2 pts for amblypygids, as well.

Found at 0:55

[9]

Pseudoscorpion (Chelifer cancroides)

As protocules, pseudoscorpions are very little--the text in the image gives context for how little. Even as macrovolutes, they are still on the smaller side.

As the name would suggest, they are not actually scorpions, and have their own order.

2 pts for knowing about pseudoscorpions.

Found at 0:57

[10]

Emperor scorpion (Pandinus imperator)

Emperor scorpion fluorescing under UV

This arachnid order seems to be rather famous among you. The emperor scorpion, like many scorpions, glows in low lighting when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) rays.

3 pts if you knew about scorpion fluorescence.

Found at 3:00

[11]

Contractile roots of a hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis)

Plants like lilies and hyacinths possess what are called contractile roots. In lilies, the contractile roots extend from a central corm, similar to a hyacinth's bulb. Expanding and contracting from the corm like accordions, these roots work to gradually drag the plant deeper into the ground.

In our world, we have bred the lily into the contractile, an underground train.

3 pts if you had already learned about contractile roots.

Found at 3:26

[12]

I left out extinct groups for simplicity. And, admittedly, I am stitching together a cladogram here from disparate sources.

It is very difficult to piece together a consistent genetic tree from your literature--your people seem to have multiple, competing taxonomic schemes.

3 pts if you knew insects were more closely related to crustaceans than to arachnids.

(Or we might actually be crustaceans, depending on who you trust.)

Found at 3:45

[13]

Good job!

"Secret" Quote

The end quote shows up very quickly for a brief moment, to reveal it Click "Reveal"

Reveal

"given her altruistic nature,

admit the spider is a gamble, but

should give all the push she needs to"

Sources for the Episode

Each episode has sources that are listed at the end of the episode, click "Sources" to show all the sources at the end of the episode.

Sources

• Andrea Casadesús, Sergi Munné-Bosch, Holoparasitic plant–host interactions and their impact on Mediterranean ecosystems, Plant Physiology, Volume 185, Issue 4, April 2021, Pages 1325–1338, https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiab030

• D'Amato, P. (1998). The savage garden: Cultivating carnivorous plants. Berkeley, Calif: Ten Speed Press.

• Schiestl, F.P., Cozzolino, S. Evolution of sexual mimicry in the orchid subtribe orchidinae: the role of preadaptations in the attraction of male bees as pollinators. BMC Evol Biol 8, 27 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-8-27

• Public Library of Science. (2012, October 10). Single daddy longlegs dads caring for eggs suffer no disadvantages despite parenting costs. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 24, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121010172118.htm

• Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America's most-trusted online dictionary. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary.

• Rayor, Linda (December 2017). "Social Behavior in Amblypygids, and a Reassessment of Arachnid Social Patterns". Journal of Arachnology. 31 (12): 399–421. doi:10.1636/S04-23

• A. Fasel, P.-A. Muller, P. Suppan, E. Vauthey, Photoluminescence of the African scorpion “Pandinus imperator”, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, Volume 39, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 96-98, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1011-1344(96)00016-4.

• Jaffe, M. J., & Leopold, A. C. (2007). Light Activation of Contractile Roots of Easter Lily, Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 132(5), 575-582. Retrieved Dec 24, 2021, from https://journals.ashs.org/jashs/view/journals/jashs/132/5/article-p575.xml

• Lab 4. morphology part 1: Insect external anatomy. ENT 425 - General Entomology. (n.d.). Retrieved December 24, 2021, from https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/students/lab-schedule/1455-2/

• Class Arachnida. Class Arachnida | Department of Entomology. (n.d.). Retrieved December 24, 2021, from https://entomology.unl.edu/class-arachnida

• Rota-Stabelli, O., Campbell, L., Brinkmann, H., Edgecombe, G. D., Longhorn, S. J., Peterson, K. J., Pisani, D., Philippe, H., & Telford, M. J. (2011). A congruent solution to arthropod phylogeny: phylogenomics, microRNAs and morphology support monophyletic Mandibulata. Proceedings. Biological sciences, 278(1703), 298–306. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.0590

• Schultz, J.W. (2007), "A phylogenetic analysis of the arachnid orders based on morphological characters", Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 150 (2): 221–265, doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00284.x