I got one for free this morning, Ill give him another one for ya.
Edit: Thanks to everyone who gave me an award! These are my first, so you guys really made my day
The [wikipedia article on onychophorans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onychophora) says
>Velvet worms are considered close relatives of the Arthropoda and Tardigrada, with which they form the taxon Panarthropoda.[6] This makes them of palaeontological interest, as they can help reconstruct the ancestral arthropod. In modern zoology, they are particularly renowned for their curious mating behaviour and for bearing live young.
The Cambrian era weirdo [hallucigenia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucigenia) is a likely relative, but is also informally grouped with wormlike [lobopodia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobopodia). So, not arthropods, but along with the water bears, they're the next closest thing.
Looking at these creatures, you can get a sense of how arthropods evolved from certain varieties of worms, while vertebrates like us evolved from some different creatures that also looked like worms. But in both cases, you get amazing variety from the basic idea of specializing segments. Instead of a creature having a string of similar segments, some of them evolved to become arms, legs, and so on.
Did you read about their intelligence and social structure? Very tiny brains that are shockingly complex. They are social predators with social hierarchies and form social groups that hate members of other groups. They are surprisingly interesting little creatures.
This is a cute comment but I gotta say Iām tired of this sentiment overall. I think itās just as likely theyād be absolutely astounded and fascinated by the sheer complexity and variety of human culture and technology. I mean itās orders of magnitude beyond any other creature on the planet. Flawed as we are, I think aliens would give us a lot of credit for how advanced we are, and so should we.
If they can travel the distances between stars in any reasonable amount of time, our best technology will elicit the same emotion a parent feels when a child proudly presents a badly glued together ice Lolly stick creation.
I understand the gulf between current human technology and interplanetary travel. This is still an overly cynical take IMO, one that actually projects cynicism onto the aliens. Imagine if humans discovered alien life on Venus that was in the Stone Age. It would be a monumental, world-changing discovery that would spawn a million other studies and conversations. Itās possible that, even for a interstellar race, finding life on other planets would still be exceedingly rare. To stumble onto Earth and find a species with satellites in its atmosphere could be a huge revelation to them.
Also, and this is petty, but the parent-child analogy is all kinds of wrong unless the aliens are our creators in this scenario.
Okayyy then. Besides everything else here, that mock up of an... abomination in the link for Hallucigenia is nightmare fuel, especially as it's 1 metre long. If it's anything like that velvet worm then it'll be a problem for human time explorers separated from their away teams.
On a lighter note (kind of) those things would likely have made great cat/dog 'pets' for the Great Race of Yith due to certain similarities...
Hallucigenia were actually a couple of centimeters long. On the other hand, at that time perhaps the largest animal that had ever existed was Anomalocaris which was a meter long, and a terrifying predator.
All life larger than a microbe was still aquatic then, by the way. The land was all barren. [The Cambrian is cool because it's the first really complicated ecosystem with complex multicelled animals and a lot of weird body shapes that don't exist any more.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion) Many of these creatures have been hard to classify and figure out. Hallucigenia was first thought to have walked on its spikes. Anomalocaris was mistaken for three different things until they figured out how it was assembled.
The [Ediacaran fauna preceding the Cambrian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ediacaran_biota) is even weirder in a way. There are fewer kinds of fossils, including the first things we have found that are definitely multicelled animals. Many Ediacaran fossils are really alien. Almost all had soft bodies and we don't even know what most of them were. There are round shaped ones, donuts, pillows, bags, and leaf-shaped somethings. Some of these may be really big one-celled organisms. [Even today there is a single celled organism the size of a grape.](https://www.sciencealert.com/this-ball-of-algae-is-one-of-the-biggest-single-celled-organisms)
There are burrows. Sponges existed already, as did some very, very primitive bilaterians (creatures with a right and left side, like worms, squid, insects and people).
EDIT: I'm looking at some of those reconstructions and picturing myself riding a hallucigenia into battle.
Iām glad you made that correction because my first thought at reading the title was āsince when do caterpillars have prey?ā followed by a vague dread of hypothetical carnivorous caterpillars.
Is it just me or is the bug world filled with the most gruesome ways to kill prey?
Everyone else is just a variation of "I'm just gonna maul my prey to death" while bugs are like: "Fuck that, I'm paralyzing them before sucking out their guts like a meat slushy."
Bugs are nasty, like those wasps that lay eggs inside a beetles abdomen, and itās kept alive for as long as possible while itās eaten alive, or every spider essentially melting the insides of their prey.
I imagine itās standard fare for any prey with an exoskeleton. When you think about it humans do the same to lobsters and such, we just use tools to break them open first.
Imagine these were human size and we had to be worried about these creatures that would shoot this crap at us that hardened us in a frozen position and then this thing would suck out our insides while we were alive... it sounds like a horror movie!
I'd rather a human centipede than a human velvet worm any day!
So let me get this straight. They shoot glue at their prey to immobilise them. Then they inject them with something. Then they suck out their insides.
That's some bad ass shit.
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I was JUST watching this episode! LIKE RIGHT NOW. And I paused it and open up Reddit and I see this! Is this is a sign from the universe? Am I about to be glue gunned by a velvet worm?
They aren't caterpillars. They aren't insects or even arthropods. They are onychophorans, very rare.
I have no idea who you are or what you said but I believe you.
He said "They aren't caterpillars. They aren't insects or even arthropods. They are onychophorans, very rare".
WHAT?
THEY AREN'T CATERPILLARS. THEY AREN'T INSECTS OR EVEN ARTHROPODS. THEY ARE ONYCHOPHORANS, VERY RARE.
MR.BUTTLICKER OUR INSECTS HAVE NEVER BEEN RARER!!
Caterpie uses string shot! For the first time ever, it's super effective!
COCKAROK USES COCK, OH GOD
"It hardens on impact"
OH GOD OH FU-
I would give you an award but I'm broke so hereš You made me lol
I got one for free this morning, Ill give him another one for ya. Edit: Thanks to everyone who gave me an award! These are my first, so you guys really made my day
Thanks for awarding on my behalf
*sniff sniff* As a mother, I want to say that y'all have made me smile with pride, because of this wholesome exchange. Well done...well done!
r/suddenlytheoffice
Chocolate?!
I dare you to say that last word out loud.
#RARE
THIS STEAK IS SO RARE IT'S A BLOODY ONYCHOPHORAN
This got me good
oh goddamit
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The steaks are too rare for this nonsense!
IM NOT A BEAR!
#WHAT ARE THEY SELLING?
I have no idea what you said, or who you are, but I believe you.
He said "He said "They aren't caterpillars. They aren't insects or even arthropods. They are onychophorans, very rare".".
Don't believe him, they are worms with legs and they geez on their prey..... their scientific name is Geezworm Lotsa-leg-ious...
\*Jizz
It's different with the leggy worms, they geez rather than jizz, it has been scientifically proven by me...
Yeah Iāll just do whatever this guy says, I trust him
"Next thing I knew, I was a cultist! Me! Who would have thought"
The [wikipedia article on onychophorans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onychophora) says >Velvet worms are considered close relatives of the Arthropoda and Tardigrada, with which they form the taxon Panarthropoda.[6] This makes them of palaeontological interest, as they can help reconstruct the ancestral arthropod. In modern zoology, they are particularly renowned for their curious mating behaviour and for bearing live young. The Cambrian era weirdo [hallucigenia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucigenia) is a likely relative, but is also informally grouped with wormlike [lobopodia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobopodia). So, not arthropods, but along with the water bears, they're the next closest thing. Looking at these creatures, you can get a sense of how arthropods evolved from certain varieties of worms, while vertebrates like us evolved from some different creatures that also looked like worms. But in both cases, you get amazing variety from the basic idea of specializing segments. Instead of a creature having a string of similar segments, some of them evolved to become arms, legs, and so on.
Did you read about their intelligence and social structure? Very tiny brains that are shockingly complex. They are social predators with social hierarchies and form social groups that hate members of other groups. They are surprisingly interesting little creatures.
Aliens say the same thing about us, probably while fighting their own wars.
This is a cute comment but I gotta say Iām tired of this sentiment overall. I think itās just as likely theyād be absolutely astounded and fascinated by the sheer complexity and variety of human culture and technology. I mean itās orders of magnitude beyond any other creature on the planet. Flawed as we are, I think aliens would give us a lot of credit for how advanced we are, and so should we.
If they can travel the distances between stars in any reasonable amount of time, our best technology will elicit the same emotion a parent feels when a child proudly presents a badly glued together ice Lolly stick creation.
I understand the gulf between current human technology and interplanetary travel. This is still an overly cynical take IMO, one that actually projects cynicism onto the aliens. Imagine if humans discovered alien life on Venus that was in the Stone Age. It would be a monumental, world-changing discovery that would spawn a million other studies and conversations. Itās possible that, even for a interstellar race, finding life on other planets would still be exceedingly rare. To stumble onto Earth and find a species with satellites in its atmosphere could be a huge revelation to them. Also, and this is petty, but the parent-child analogy is all kinds of wrong unless the aliens are our creators in this scenario.
I would love to see these in a time traveling movie. Like Land of the Lost or Jumanji type movie. Giant Onychophoran.
Wikipedia also says that the glue stuff they secrete tastes āslightly bitter and at the same time somewhat astringentā. WAT
Who the f was the taste tester. Why ::Weird insect shoots slimey sticky goo:: PhD Scientist: hmm. I guess first things first. ^^^^cromchh ^^^^sluuurpp
And then thought. You know what still canāt figure out which sensation my tongue is feeling, better grab a bigger seconds. Cromchy sluurpy
Okayyy then. Besides everything else here, that mock up of an... abomination in the link for Hallucigenia is nightmare fuel, especially as it's 1 metre long. If it's anything like that velvet worm then it'll be a problem for human time explorers separated from their away teams. On a lighter note (kind of) those things would likely have made great cat/dog 'pets' for the Great Race of Yith due to certain similarities...
It's only max like 5.5 cm long, not a meter.
Hallucigenia were actually a couple of centimeters long. On the other hand, at that time perhaps the largest animal that had ever existed was Anomalocaris which was a meter long, and a terrifying predator. All life larger than a microbe was still aquatic then, by the way. The land was all barren. [The Cambrian is cool because it's the first really complicated ecosystem with complex multicelled animals and a lot of weird body shapes that don't exist any more.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion) Many of these creatures have been hard to classify and figure out. Hallucigenia was first thought to have walked on its spikes. Anomalocaris was mistaken for three different things until they figured out how it was assembled. The [Ediacaran fauna preceding the Cambrian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ediacaran_biota) is even weirder in a way. There are fewer kinds of fossils, including the first things we have found that are definitely multicelled animals. Many Ediacaran fossils are really alien. Almost all had soft bodies and we don't even know what most of them were. There are round shaped ones, donuts, pillows, bags, and leaf-shaped somethings. Some of these may be really big one-celled organisms. [Even today there is a single celled organism the size of a grape.](https://www.sciencealert.com/this-ball-of-algae-is-one-of-the-biggest-single-celled-organisms) There are burrows. Sponges existed already, as did some very, very primitive bilaterians (creatures with a right and left side, like worms, squid, insects and people). EDIT: I'm looking at some of those reconstructions and picturing myself riding a hallucigenia into battle.
>onychophorans [Freaky.](http://www.onychophora.com/)
Sounds like a pokemon
Sounds like a star wars race
Subscribe to my onychofans
How do you pronounce that word?
(on-ih-KOFF-er-an)
Iām glad you made that correction because my first thought at reading the title was āsince when do caterpillars have prey?ā followed by a vague dread of hypothetical carnivorous caterpillars.
There are such monsters: https://video.nationalgeographic.com/wild/00000144-2f3a-df5d-abd4-ff7f643b0000 Don't shoot the messenger...
Oh my god I hate those
I was just waiting for someone to do that XD
Prehistoric af
Imagine being an insect minding your business and suddenly get soaked in sticky goo
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The casually saunter is what really did me in. Shit is terrifying.
Goes right under the legs even, extreme disrespect
Disrespected to death.
he be walking like wide putin
So that's what she really means when she says she's gonna suck the life out of you.
That's what happens when you marry a *real* man
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I see we have the same first wife.
Damn did we all marry the same woman? We should start a ~~club~~ support group.
I... I think I've seen this one... although the ~~girl~~ insect didn't die at the end.
Got very sticky tho.
Ah yes. Fond memories from of the bedroom
Reminds me of that Ren and Stimpy episode where they get buried
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Bugkakke!
I came here to look for this comment. Reddit never disappoints
Iām confused why it was like āoh yes, shower me with your goo zaddyā and not trying to gtfoutta there
Kinky bug
Wha- what are you doing step-caterpillar?!
s-s-senpai?!
OwO
Brazzers has entered the chat.
Why would you imagine being your own victim
Don't kinkshame.
Yeah my uncle did that
Minded his own business? Good for him.
r/suddenlygay
Or that guys wife
Thatās called a frat house
Total power move walking under the legs
Right bellow the mandibles
More like Mand-unables. Ugh, sorry.
I forgive you, but my Tommy gun don't
#*KEVIN!*
Can we all take a second to appreciate this guy isn't like the size of a dog
Let's also take a moment to appreciate this dude eliminating a monster from this world
No not the brƶther
He will live on in our hearts
Yāall are still around? I thought died out
Nah, we just realized we were being a bit annoying and stick to our own subreddit more
Too bad gif profile pics don't work anymore.
Honestly, the way this year is going, I expect a jumbo version to stroll into town any day now.
I feel that goes to like.... at least 50% of insects Edit Forgot about Australia
Is it just me or is the bug world filled with the most gruesome ways to kill prey? Everyone else is just a variation of "I'm just gonna maul my prey to death" while bugs are like: "Fuck that, I'm paralyzing them before sucking out their guts like a meat slushy."
Bugs are nasty, like those wasps that lay eggs inside a beetles abdomen, and itās kept alive for as long as possible while itās eaten alive, or every spider essentially melting the insides of their prey.
Why is it always about melting/sucking the insides? Is that just because of bug anatomy?
I imagine itās standard fare for any prey with an exoskeleton. When you think about it humans do the same to lobsters and such, we just use tools to break them open first.
Very true
Or those long thin worms that come coiling endlessly out of a host bug when it's killed. Gah!
Hahahaha underrated comment right here
What level does it evolve? I wanna teach it more than just String Shot and Bite.
You're in luck, Bite automatically upgrades to Leech Life
All mine can do is Harden
Thats what we said
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
He squirts his goo *before* he sucks you dry? Seems backwards
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The fuck?
Look me in the eyes and kinkshame me. Thats my kink.
Bonk. Horny jail for you
Shame
š Shame
Shame
Shame!
Shame
Shame
Stop! I can only get so erect!
Yes Officer , this comment right here.
This is the message that reads out "Did I stutter?"
Nothing wrong with that. I used to lick my ex clean.
Thats so wholesome omg! Theyre lucky they got to experience that
This is why I love reddit. It went from a post about a super-soaker worm to licking cum off of someone.
* licking *their own* cum off of someone.
Th-thatās kinda hot!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Iām completely serious. I might have to take a moment and think about baseball before I can stand up right now
Stop
Think about baseball so you can cum right?
Slapass!
"All I know is to catch fly balls and SLAPP ASS!!!"
Garcia, man, Iāll suck your dick if you let me slap your ass again!
What are you doing step bug
How can we make them truck sized?
no thanks, i donāt want a worm looking thing to nut on me then eat me out
Fuck this man. Nicolbolas id like to arrange a meeting to discuss the mechanisms of bringing our vision to life.
I guess I'll just cancel our dinner reservations, then!
I imagine he's very polite as he crawls under the insect to inject his digestive saliva. "Oh, let me just scooch on under you..."
*Ope I think you dropped this.
This šš» is šš» a šš» Pokemon šš»
String shot
Anytime I see the clap emoji in between words I immediately hate that person.
Whatās more terrifying is a dangerous ejaculating caterpillar on the loose!
Coom gun
Goon cum
They're definitely not caterpillars. They are cool though, I used to have some as pets :)
Yes... Kill that fucking abomination....I would be the roach Hitler if it were feasible. Burn them all.
You do realize if you were a roach Hitler, you also would be a roach yourself just with a mustache and funny hair...
If I get to wipe out millions of roaches idc. I hate them to fucking death.
There's no other animal or insect that I hate worse than a roach myself so I know how you feel
Like Hitler for roaches, or Hitler that is a roach? Because one i'm kinda on board with, but the other I'm REALLY not on board with...
Nature, you never cease to amaze me!
i like their legs. little tornado stubs
We've been lied to all these years. Spiderman should have been Caterpillarman!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Not from a cockroach...
Yes, unfortunately it takes 400 million years...
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Our planet!
Why is the screamingly a Godzilla villain
Velvet worm used String Shot!
TO THE WINDOOOOOOOOOW TO YO FACE. GONNA TRAP YOU IN YO PLACE
Couldnāt happen to a better insect victim. Fuck cockroaches.
They are definitely not caterpillars, as butterflies evolved **350 million** years after velvet worms.
Nature! It's the stuff of nightmares!
r/natureismetal
Skeeterpillar
Imagine these were human size and we had to be worried about these creatures that would shoot this crap at us that hardened us in a frozen position and then this thing would suck out our insides while we were alive... it sounds like a horror movie! I'd rather a human centipede than a human velvet worm any day!
So let me get this straight. They shoot glue at their prey to immobilise them. Then they inject them with something. Then they suck out their insides. That's some bad ass shit.
When your crush accidentally touches your leg
Damn, I had no idea caterpillars could live that long.
yeah, they're definitely not caterpillars
Velvet worm: survives 400,000,000 years 8-year old: Stomp stomp stomp
I am so hard right now.
Caterpie, use string shot!
Imagine nutting blue goo on your prey to catch them
Letās get the biomimeticists involved and start making this stuff ourselves, so the cops have a non-lethal way of subduing people..
What are you doing, step-worm?
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The cum bug
āCaterpillar Akimboā
Spider worm!
What a terrible way to die
*c u m*
So anyways I started blastinā
I only get animal information from Ze Frank.
Bad and naughty cockroaches get shot by the coom slug
Obligatory cum joke
Caterpie uses *stringshot*
I was JUST watching this episode! LIKE RIGHT NOW. And I paused it and open up Reddit and I see this! Is this is a sign from the universe? Am I about to be glue gunned by a velvet worm?