Biology

1725 readers

6 users here now

This is a general community to discuss of all things related to biology!

For a more specific community about asking questions to biologists, you can also visit:

/c/askbiologists@lemmy.world

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

Sal@mander.xyz

Antarctica's Only Insect (www.404media.co)

submitted 3 weeks ago by otter@lemmy.ca to c/biology@mander.xyz

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Belgica antarctica, or the Antarctic midge, is the only insect that lives year-round on its namesake continent. Do you know how weird you have to be to be the only insect somewhere? But this midge doesn’t care. It just lives out its bug life, which lasts two years, in an otherwise bugless wasteland.

Humans definitely care about the midge, though—how could we not? What is it doing there? How is it not dead? What can it teach us about cryopreservation? These questions are addressed in a new study that resolved mysteries about the animal’s interesting life cycle.

The paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-86617-4