Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. One rather unpleasant "wee beastie" that had a major effect on parts of Europe in the 1840s is phytophthora infestans. This water mould was the primary cause of the Great (potato) Famine in Europe, Ireland, and the Highlands of Scotland.
Which British politician said in 1844 of Ireland, "[it has a] starving population, an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Church, and in addition the weakest executive in the world."
2. Silk has been of great importance historically, used as currency and a status symbol for many centuries. The first Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Emperor to obtain supplies of the precious silk worm eggs did so in the year 552AD. Which Emperor was this?
3. One story involving an historical figure and an invertebrate is that of the Scottish King who, as he hid from pursuing enemies in a cave on the island of Rathlin, after the Battle of Methven in 1306, watched a spider trying again and again to spin a web. The spider part of the story may well be entirely fictional, but which real King, sometimes referred to as "The Hero King", was this?
4. In 1122, Pope Calixtus II and the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V reached an agreement called the Pactum Calixtinum, also known as the Concordat of Worms. Which of these options was NOT an outcome of this agreement?
5. One invertebrate which changed history is the tsetse fly. Possibly the greatest effect of the tsetse, in economic and historical terms, is that in the early days of the various African colonial empires, it prevented the spread across Africa of something with enormous consequences. What was it that was halted by the humble tsetse fly?
6. In the town of Enterprise, Alabama, stands a monument to a particular invertebrate, erected in 1919, and hailing it as a "Herald of prosperity". This creature has played a major part in the recent economic history of the southern United States since it arrived in the late ninteenth century, and continues to do so, although its effects have lessened over the years. What creature is this?
7. The "Ten Plagues of Egypt" is a story told in the Book of Exodus and the Ipuwer Papyrus. Some scholars have undertaken studies claiming to show that accounts of these plagues could have a factual basis, and that seven of the ten are directly or indirectly attributable to invertebrates of one kind or another.
8. The term 'leechcraft' conjures up visions of bloodletting and suffering at the hands of ill informed doctors through the ages, but in fact leeches are a valid therapy for the treatment of various medical problems, and are still useful to this day. The earliest known documentary evidence of medicinal leechcraft dates back to 200BC, when a Greek physician from Colophon detailed his work with them. Also remembered for his poetry and literature, who was this man?
9. An invertebrate species named 'Xenopsylla cheopis', first studied and classified in 1903, turned out to be very (in)famous historically speaking, as it is a carrier and transmitter of bubonic plague.
Its discoverer was a member of a famous family, who left his extensive butterfly collection to his alma mater, Harrow, in England, when he died. Do you know who he was?
10. In the year 1135, the English King died of food poisoning which went down in history as "a surfeit of lampreys". Known as "the Lion of Justice" and "Beauclerc" for his renowned scholarship, which king was this?
Source: Author
Rowena8482
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.