[extropy-chat] evolution and bee tracheas

[Anders Sandberg]

spike wrote:
> http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/PDFs/Tracheal.pdf

Amazing and nasty little critters.

> The real tragedy is that there are no bugs that get inside mosquitoes and
> devour those wretched beasts from the inside.  I propose we design a bug
> or
> nanobot that devours only mosquito proboscises.  The result would be
> billions of mosquitoes buzzing harmlessly about with big stupid
> proboscisless looks on their faces.

Apparently the mosquitos do have enemies.
http://pested.unl.edu/catmans/public/chapter3.pdf mentions Mermithid
nematodes as killing up to 80% of all mosquito larvae. But it is hard to
mass-produce, since it has to be grown in larvae.
http://ucdnema.ucdavis.edu/imagemap/nemmap/ent156html/nemas/romanomermisculicivorax

The microbe Amblyospora californica is even cooler.
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2004/2/sexsidebar.cfm
mentions that it infects mosquito larvae, kills *male* larvae and places
spores in the corpse.  Then the corpse gets eaten by a crustacean, and the
microbe takes over its ovaries if it is female to produce more spores.
Makes a nice Species to go with the Alien of the Mermithids.

Seems we already have something to go on to create the embarrassing and
efficient mosquitovore.

But I would also like to promote the idea of injectable mosquito poisons.
Imagine filling up people with some insecticide that killed or (better)
sterilizied mosquitos. It is not just a revenge, but an evolutionary
pressure on the species to focus on other mammals. Mosquitos are fine as
long as they only harass the elks.

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University