Hopefully, Tim will weigh in on the details, but it looks to me like the thing breathes through its head and not from the juices of the plant. That means that his idea of an anoxic chamber would do the trick as would a hypobaric chamber. No oxygen = no scale, 100%, all dead, gone, gone, gone.
Oh, man. I wish he included a key to the abbreviations there. I have a sneaking suspicion that the original diagram was from a French document, which makes it tricky sorting out what the abbreviations mean . . .[1]
ReplyDeleteI think you are probably correct that PA is most likely the air passageways (trachea). In which case, it does breathe through its head. This makes sense, because they cover their abdomens with armor, which would make it unnecessarily hard to breathe.
That's assuming that this diagram shows the respiratory system at all, that is. Most of it seems to be the digestive system, though.
Anyway, on the subject of suffocating pests: Some relevant information from Keepsafe Microclimate Systems. They say that 72 hours at less than 0.3% oxygen is sufficient to do in most insects, although it might take up to 8 days to kill the eggs.
The question now is, can your daisy make it without external oxygen for three days? She should be OK during daylight hours while she can photosynthesize, but during the night could possibly be a problem.
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[1] Let's see, my best guesses for the rest are:
GS - Salivary Gland
PS - Salivary (passage?)
TM - Malphigian Tubules (kidney equivalent)
IP - Looks like the intestine
CF - Crop?
You are filled with teh awesome.
ReplyDelete