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Currently Playing: True Facts: Electric Nematodes and Flying Spiders

Want to help restore the planet's ecosystems and see your impact in monthly videos? The first 100 people to join Planet Wild with my code ZEFRANK11 will get the first month for free at https://planetwild.com/r/zefrank/join/11 Check out their project transforming power lines into insect highways here: https://planetwild.com/r/zefrank/m15/11 merch: https://ze-true-store.myshopify.com/ patreon: https://www.patreon.com/truefacts/posts classical music: https://soundcloud.com/querflote/5-au sponsor music: https://incompetech.com/ Credits: Dr. Victor Ortega-Jimenez, UC Berkeley Dr. Sam England, Museum für Naturkunde Dr. Daniel Robert, University of Bristol Dr. David Hu, Georgia Tech Dr. Avery Russell, Missouri State University Dr. Moonsung Cho, Technische Universitat Berlin Dr. James Lightfoot, Max Planck Institute Citations: Amador GJ et al. Honey bee hairs and pollenkitt are essential for pollen capture and removal. Bioinspir Biomim. 2017 Mar 23;12(2):026015. doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/aa5c6e. Chiba T et al. Caenorhabditis elegans transfers across a gap under an electric field as dispersal behavior. Curr Biol. 2023 Jul 10;33(13):2668-2677.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.05.042. Cho M. Aerodynamics and the role of the earth's electric field in the spiders' ballooning flight. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2021 Mar;207(2):219-236. doi: 10.1007/s00359-021-01474-6. Cho M, et al. An observational study of ballooning in large spiders: Nanoscale multifibers enable large spiders' soaring flight. PLoS Biol. 2018 Jun 14;16(6):e2004405. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2004405. Clarke D et al. The bee, the flower, and the electric field: electric ecology and aerial electroreception. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2017 Sep;203(9):737-748. doi: 10.1007/s00359-017-1176-6. England, SJ & D. Robert, Prey can detect predators via electroreception in air, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 121 (23) e2322674121, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2322674121 (2024). England SJ et al. Static electricity passively attracts ticks onto hosts. Curr Biol. 2023 Jul 24;33(14):3041-3047.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.021. Garcia-Robledo, C et al. (2025). Electric transportation and electroreception in hummingbird flower mites. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 122. e2419214122. 10.1073/pnas.2419214122. Handoo ZA et al. Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Pratylenchus dakotaensis n. sp. (Nematoda: Pratylenchidae), a New Root-Lesion Nematode Species on Soybean in North Dakota, USA. Plants (Basel). 2021 Jan 17;10(1):168. doi: 10.3390/plants10010168. Kumar S et al. Reversible kink instability drives ultrafast jumping in nematodes and soft robots. Sci Robot. 2025 Apr 23;10(101):eadq3121. doi: 10.1126/scirobotics.adq3121. Lightfoot JW et al. Assaying Predatory Feeding Behaviors in Pristionchus and Other Nematodes. J Vis Exp. 2016 Sep 4;(115):54404. doi: 10.3791/54404. Matherne, M et al. (2021). Biomechanics of pollen pellet removal by the honey bee. Journal of The Royal Society Interface. 18. 20210549. 10.1098/rsif.2021.0549. Morley EL, Robert D. Electric Fields Elicit Ballooning in Spiders. Curr Biol. 2018 Jul 23;28(14):2324-2330.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.057. Mowery, M et al. (2022). Invasive brown widow spiders disperse aerially under a broad range of environmental conditions. Ethology. 128. 10.1111/eth.13314. Ortega-Jimenez VM, Dudley R. Spiderweb deformation induced by electrostatically charged insects. Sci Rep. 2013;3:2108. doi: 10.1038/srep02108. Piacentini, L et al. Massive spider web aggregations in South American grasslands after flooding. Ecological Entomology,VL - 46, https://doi.org/10.1111/een.13080 Prosi, R et al. (2016). Distribution, biology and habitat of the rare European osmiine bee species Osmia (Melanosmia) pilicornis. Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 52. 1-36. 10.3897/jhr.52.10441. Ran R et al. Electrostatics facilitate midair host attachment in parasitic jumping nematodes. 21;122(42):e2503555122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2503555122. Russell, A et al. (2017). How a generalist bee achieves high efficiency of pollen collection on diverse floral resources. 10.1093/beheco/arx058. Russell, A et al. (2016). Concealed floral rewards and the role of experience in floral sonication by bees. 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.07.024. Sahni, V.et al. Changes in the Adhesive Properties of Spider Aggregate Glue During the Evolution of Cobwebs. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep00041 Ta-oun, P & Toyoshi Yoshiga, Host-associated cues and their effects on the jumping behavior of Steinernema siamkayai, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2025.105804. Woodrow, C et al. (2024). Buzz-pollinating bees deliver thoracic vibrations to flowers through periodic biting. 10.1016/j.cub.2024.07.044. Vollrath F, Edmonds D. Consequences of electrical conductivity in an orb spider's capture web. doi: 10.1007/s00114-013-1120-8.