alt.hn

6/17/2026 at 11:20:38 PM

Taxonomy of the Occlupanida (parasitoids on bread bag tags)

 https://www.horg.com/horg/?page_id=921

by beatthatflight

6/17/2026 at 11:29:22 PM

> The outside (or ‘edge’) of the occlupanid is often smooth, but many species sport palps, or tabs. These have unguessable purposes for mating, locomotion, defense, take your pick.

I propose that these palps or tabs are remnants of the reproductive cycle, vestigial points of contact in the budding process. This phenomenon can be observed in some other classes within phylum Plasticae, and I see no reason to assume it is not happening here.

by Terr_

6/18/2026 at 11:11:55 AM

This is where the morphological approach falls down. This is an "analogous trait", i.e. something that's arrived at through two independent evolutionary pathways.

These palps are due to a reproduction process called "stamping". Sounds violent, but that's nature for you. This is an asexual process. The tabs give an advantage to the overall clutch of young, not individuals.

There's a morphologically similar trait in other Plasticae that's the result of "injection moulding". This involves the mating of two (or sometimes more) parents. This method allows for the evolution of more complex features.

Overmoulding is also possible, which produces symbiotic organisms.

by afandian

6/18/2026 at 12:55:40 AM

The gunpla family has especially prominent ones, apparently used in mating displays.

by Groxx

6/18/2026 at 7:11:37 AM

It's like a bellybutton!

by beAbU

6/18/2026 at 12:31:21 AM

At first , by the title, I thought there were parasites growing on these clips. Anyone else?

by stogot

6/18/2026 at 1:48:24 AM

It's the only correct take, since the title atop literally says "parasitoids on bread bag tags".

by BretonForearm

6/18/2026 at 2:51:54 AM

Hmm, if we're being really pedantic and go a step further, it becomes incorrect take: The text says parasitoids, which resemble parasites but probably aren't.

Much like how "asteroid samples" means rocks instead of hot plasma from stars (aster), or "android battery" doesn't mean something surgically cut out of an human man (andros).

by Terr_

6/18/2026 at 1:05:35 PM

I think in this case parasitoid has a specific meaning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitoid

>Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasitism, distinguished by the fatal prognosis for the host, which makes the strategy close to predation.

by sl-1

6/18/2026 at 11:29:53 PM

That sounds congruent with the "asteroid" example: It denoted a broad category, but eventually gained a very specific connotation, and when the connotation became popular enough, it took over as the new definition. So now we've got to use alternate phrasing like "starlike object" or "false star" or "pseudostar."

Terms like "spheroid" resisted the same fate, but I think that could change if everybody's talking a lot about some kind of spheroid that remains mysterious enough that we can't give it a better name in time.

by Terr_

6/18/2026 at 10:12:03 AM

[dead]

by redsocksfan45

6/18/2026 at 7:43:30 AM

Same initial thought. Took me a solid 10 seconds for orient myself, not usually finding HN as a source of comedy so my context was polluted

by conductr

6/18/2026 at 3:16:06 AM

Yes, same. I am now really curious for someone to culture bread tags, milk tops and fruit stickers.

by ccamrobertson

6/18/2026 at 1:51:37 AM

The link is neat, but that would have been much cooler IMO.

by tennfown

6/18/2026 at 6:45:56 AM

Not seeing the forest for the trees

by boomlinde

6/18/2026 at 12:36:18 AM

Same here heh

by loloquwowndueo

6/17/2026 at 11:54:36 PM

please tell us about potential competition between Occlupanida sp. , and members of the Torqueroligiverasacculum Genera [least spotted twist tie]

by rolph

6/18/2026 at 1:52:57 AM

In my experience, in natural environments that contain a vertical paper towel holder, Torqueroligiverasacculum Genera finds a nest and potential mating area underneath.

by mrtomservo

6/18/2026 at 6:19:42 PM

But why

by picofarad

6/18/2026 at 3:11:40 AM

When I was a child, I remember going to the nearby children's museum and seeing an exhibit with 1 million bread tags. It was supposed to help conceptualize the number.

by abnry

6/18/2026 at 1:42:11 AM

I distinctly remember seeing an exhibition of this work in Los Angeles in the early aughts. For the life of me I can't remember where. The photos were shot with a macro lens and blown up so that each specimen was ... 12" square? maybe bigger?

Even then there were dozens upon dozens of them on display. It was mind bending.

by Duanemclemore

6/18/2026 at 2:23:52 AM

If you're into this sort of thing I can highly recommend the parasite museum in Tokyo https://www.kiseichu.org/e-top

by rwmj

6/18/2026 at 8:06:57 AM

Well, if the ecological niches are the same there could be analogous developments that are not homologies. So I without a reconstruction of the environment I'm not certain that the proposed tree is valid.

by ndr42

6/18/2026 at 1:59:50 PM

My grandma had a Paraguayan snuffler (specifically Emunctator sorbens), these parasitoids were his absolute favorite snack.

by usagisushi

6/18/2026 at 3:22:51 AM

I've been getting listicle spam/ads with a CTA promising to reveal why you should always carry one of these in your wallet. To this day I never found out why that is!

by foobarian

6/18/2026 at 3:25:43 AM

In Australia they are occasionally used as a temporary fix for plastic sandals when the piece between your toes pulls through the base you can push it back through attach one of these around it on the bottom and it will hold long enough for you to get new ones.

by sanswork

6/18/2026 at 4:47:32 AM

This is the work of a mad genus.

by yawpitch

6/18/2026 at 2:18:06 PM

The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess, and the insane lament.

by Rooster61

6/18/2026 at 6:35:03 PM

Nice pull.

by hackeraccount

6/18/2026 at 4:59:23 AM

It took me quite a while to figure out what the article is about. These don’t seem to exist over here.

by Toutouxc

6/18/2026 at 7:25:32 AM

Perhaps the species hasn't spread to your area of the world yet - where are you?

I'm familiar with them from Australia, where Orthogonidectes seems the most common, and was a helpful addition to our bread freshness as a child. However in northern Europe these days the same niche is occupied by an entirely different variant not present on this page, more akin to a twist-tie (metal covered in plastic, which bends.) Both kinds attach to the same location on the host bread bag, enclosing the mouth of the bag and helpfully holding bread in while preventing airflow. How fascinating to see the same niche, with a different alternative.

by vintagedave

6/18/2026 at 7:21:58 AM

They're the American (perhaps other places) equivalent of the little wire ties, almost exclusively used for bread. They're supposed to be quick to close the bread bag back up but in my experience they're I'll equipped for that purpose as they either break or maul the plastic.

I thought they were commonplace until I moved outside the US; at least here in Germany I never see them.

As kids you'd break off one of the half-circle parts, stick it on your finger and flick it to make a makeshift ninja star.

by junon

6/18/2026 at 7:37:31 AM

I consider them a disposable freshness seal. After opening a new bag, I toss it out and just spin the bag real tight and tuck it under. The weight of the bread holds the twist.

It’s super effective but my wife isn’t a fan. Neither was my mom.

by conductr

6/18/2026 at 10:25:56 AM

They're also used where I am with milk to keep the outer bag closed.

by bregma

6/18/2026 at 2:59:51 PM

At this point, many readers will be regionally thinking, "Milk ... in ... bags???? What's HE talking about?"

But I'm with you, friend. Occlupanida securing the primary containment vessels housing the partitioned units of bovine secretions, all the way!

by emptybits

6/18/2026 at 7:53:57 AM

These used to be absolutely commonplace in the UK with Sunblest in particular, but also supermarket-baked bread, when I was a kid and then they largely disappeared. I haven’t seen one in maybe twenty five years, probably more, but I gather they have crept back into use in places.

Bread bags are pinched and taped, folded and over and taped, or (in the case of supermarket-baked bread) maybe taped paper if not actually simply folded.

Bread in the UK has improved so enormously in my lifetime that we have largely abandoned sci-fi long-life bread anyway, though Sunblest is still around for any quiet men the kids have given cheeky nicknames who are still saving up for a boat. We’ve also largely moved away from giant loaves of bread towards smaller loaves, but the bigger stuff increasingly seems to be sold in waxed paper anyway.

So reusable sealing devices just seem silly.

by dofm

6/18/2026 at 11:25:32 AM

They were replaced by twist ties in the late 80s / early 90s, which in turn were replaced by tape fastenings fifteen or twenty years later - the main benefit of tape is that it can be recycled along with the bag.

As you say, the industrially-produced sliced white 800g loaf has fallen out of fashion in the UK, and only 20% of us will buy one in any given month. The market is consolidating as a result, with two of the three main providers (ABF and Hovis) in the process of merging.

by roryirvine

6/18/2026 at 11:37:35 AM

It's one of those things that we don't really realise about ourselves — our bread is pretty good and our tastes in bread are actually quite grown-up. Kids eat a much, much more varied range of bread now.

And unlike, say, our transition to semi-skimmed milk, it doesn't seem to have really happened as a result of deliberate nudge theory; it's probably more down to cheap flights to the EU and exposure to European bread that people started to remember that our bread used to be varied, rustic and regional, and bakers found that there was demand for pre-Chorleywood breads.

Perhaps it happened simultaneously with our rediscovery of quality cheese.

Including our rejection of margarine, three mass-production uniform-food trends reversed over the same period.

ETA: I guess there was a bit of nudge theory regarding wholemeal bread — was it ever subsidised? Can't remember if margarine alternatives ever had subsidies.

by dofm

6/18/2026 at 9:18:30 AM

This is the sort of top quality nonsense the Internet used to be good at.

We need to go back there.

by ErroneousBosh

6/18/2026 at 5:42:20 AM

What are these for? In Europe we normally put a sticker directly on the bread, if at all. Is this for sliced bread?

by ricardobayes

6/18/2026 at 6:34:26 AM

They seem attracted to sliced bread in plastic bags here in the Nordics. They attach to the end of the bag so as to seal and hold it closed, regardless of the labeling on the bag.

There are some positive side effects to this, which is probably the reason we're so tolerant of their presence.

by boomlinde

6/18/2026 at 5:48:27 AM

I’m pretty sure we have bread in plastic bags in Europe too. At least here in the less civilized regions. In these parts they’re usually the plastic-clad aluminum wire sort though.

by Sharlin

6/18/2026 at 5:51:19 AM

We have bread like that even in the more civilized parts.

by WastedCucumber

6/18/2026 at 7:00:03 AM

Out in the sticks, we just eat the bread after we make it.

by MomsAVoxell

6/18/2026 at 7:54:37 AM

The UK does, or used to, and yes, it was on the plastic wrappers on sliced bread.

Sweden has a wire encased in plastic thing that crimps the opening shut instead.

Both types are re-usable at least for the expected lifetime of a loaf of bread.

by dcminter

6/18/2026 at 3:56:02 AM

Pretty sure “fusoridae” had a prominent role in the original Tron movie.

by BobbyTables2