A western boxelder bug CREDIT: Simon Fraser University
by LiveScience Staff Date: 24 August 2012 Time: 03:54 PM ET
Western boxelder bugs frequently stretch out in the sun, though not to get a tan. Canadian researchers found that these insects use sunbathing to keep germs at bay.
"Prophylactic sunbathing defends these bugs against pathogens that they encounter in their shelters," researcher Gerhard Gries, a biology professor at Simon Fraser University, said in a statement. The pheonomen has yet to be observed or reported in other insects, Gries added.
"If they are converting the sun's solar energy to fuel chemical work, without the aid of microbial symbionts — organisms that live together with a host, often to their mutual benefit — we would consider this a highly remarkable feat in the animal world."
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