Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 05 January, 2023, 10:15:07 PMQuote from: Colin YNWA on 05 January, 2023, 08:41:44 PM
As I recall its both the exoskeleton and their respiritory system (tubes that would need to be too big to function... oh I can't remember) but that is over come by their sheer coolness as I said...
Spiracles! Chitinous insects breathe through spiracles.* There's a functional limit to how big an insect can be and oxygenate its body that way — if you need spiracles the size of manholes then, obviously, there are distinct disadvantages to having numerous permanently open holes in your otherwise-quite-resilient exoskeleton, for a start.
Heh. Interesting! I remember that film with giant cockroaches that mimic* humans in the New York** underground. [spoiler]The scientists did an autopsy of one of the bugs only to find they'd evolved lungs. They had also evolved exoskeletons on their heads that looked like human faces from a distance. [/spoiler] Kinda silly, but the stuff of nightmares at the same time. Kudos to them for considering the science.... stretch though it was.
* I had forgotten the name of the film but then it suddenly presented itself while typing that sentence . Mimic.
**I think it was NY. It might have been another large American city with a large underground network