# video | Did you know that insect larvae can jump?

Modern cameras and camcorders are capable offor amazing things. Just think about it - at the beginning of the XX century, our ancestors with great difficulty made black and white photographs, and today we have the opportunity to photograph objects from a distance of 45 kilometers. It turns out that thanks to optical technologies, mankind literally saw what was previously impossible to discern. So would you think that someday you can see how the tiny insect larva jumps? Hardly, but you will see it right now.

Amazing footage was shot by scientists from the United States andGreat Britain. Using a powerful video camera with the function of slow motion, they filmed the larva of the so-called gall midges on the video. These tiny insects are distributed around the world and resemble mosquitoes, but do not have a long nose and are completely safe for humans. It turned out that their 3-mm larvae are able to jump up to 10 centimeters.

Adult gallic

How do insect larvae develop?

Gall midges lay eggs on the leaves of plants. Subsequently, their eggs are enveloped in plant tissues, which form a kind of "house", inside which larvae develop. Tiny creatures really know how to jump, but scientists still do not know why they need such an ability. Most likely, long jumps are a way to escape from birds who are not averse to eating tiny worms.

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Thanks to the camera with the ability to shoot video fromWith a frequency of 20,000 frames per second, scientists have figured out how long jumps are made. It turned out that before the jump, the larvae bend in the form of a loop and hold one end of their tiny body with the other end. Then they create pressure in the body with the help of internal fluid until the two parts of the body are sharply disconnected from each other and the body of the larva is pushed away from the plant.

Thanks to this structure, the larvae can grab onto parts of their body

Have you ever put a jabber on someone's forehead? Right now, try slowly snapping your index finger on the table. Did your hand push off? Something like this happens jumping tiny creatures.

The most cunning creatures in the world

According to scientists, the flight speed of the larvaereaches 1.1 meters per second. This is enough to overcome a 10-centimeter distance, which for such tiny creatures is almost like flying into space. If people possessed such abilities, we would easily be able to overcome kilometers of a journey in several minutes.

This is interesting: Why is edible insect healthier than a glass of orange juice?

In general, reading more information about the larvae,you might think that these are the most insidious creatures in the world. Take, for example, the larvae of parasitic wasps that penetrate the brain of tropical spiders and make them weave them safe shelters for comfortable development. It sounds like it's fantastic, but it really is.

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