MediaWiki API result
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"*": "__NOTOC__\n<center>\n<font size=5px>''Welcome to the '''explain [[xkcd]]''' wiki!''</font><br>\n<span style=\"font size:210%;\">We have an explanation for all [[List of all comics (full)|'''3208''' xkcd comics]], and only 59 (1.8%) are incomplete. [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Help us finish them!]]</span>\n</center>\n<span style=\"position: absolute; right:0; padding-top:1.4em; font-size: 100%;\"><span class=\"no-link-underline\">[[3199| </span>'''Go to this explanation''']]</span>\n\n=Latest comic=\n<div style=\"border:1px solid grey; background:#f6f6f6; padding:1.5em;\">\n<metadesc>explain xkcd is a wiki dedicated to explaining the webcomic xkcd. Go figure.</metadesc><table class=\"comic-content \" cellspacing=\"5\" style=\"background-color: #FFFFFF;\n border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; color: black; font-size: 88%;\n line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.5em 0 0.5em 1em; padding: 0.2em;\n text-align: center; width:98%; \"><tr><td style=\"font-size: 21px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 800; padding-bottom:11px; padding-top:15px;\">Early Arthropods</td></tr><tr><td><ul style=\"text-align: center; margin-bottom: 10px;\" class=\"no-link-underline\"><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[1: Barrel - Part 1|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px; white-space: nowrap;\" title=\"\">|<</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[3198|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"\">< Prev</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\"\n class=\"plainlinks\">[https://xkcd.com/3199<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"Open this comic on xkcd.com\">#3199 (January 26, 2026)</span>]</li> </ul></td></tr><tr><td>[[File:early_arthropods_2x.png|553x469px|'Ugh, I'm never going to be like spiders. My descendants will all just be normal arthropods who mind their own busines and don't do anything weird.' --The ancestor of a bunch of eusocial insects]]<br /><span style=\"margin-top: 0.9em; margin-bottom: 0em; display:inline-block; font-size: 120%; \"><span class=\"plainlinks\" title=\"\">''[[Title text|Title text]]:''</span> 'Ugh, I'm never going to be like spiders. My descendants will all just be normal arthropods who mind their own busines and don't do anything weird.' --The ancestor of a bunch of eusocial insects</span></td></tr><tr><td><ul style=\"text-align: center; margin-top:2px; margin-bottom:10px;\" class=\"no-link-underline\"></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul style=\"text-align: center; margin-top:-7px; margin-bottom:15px;\" class=\"no-link-underline\"><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[1: Barrel - Part 1|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px; white-space: nowrap;\" title=\"\">|<</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[3198|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"\">< Prev</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\" class=\"plainlinks\">[[Special:RandomInCategory/All pages|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"\">Random Explanation</span>]]</li> </ul></td></tr></table>[[Category:All comics]][[Category:All pages]][[Category:Comics from 2026]] [[Category:Comics from January]] [[Category:Monday comics]]\n\n==Explanation==\n<div style=\"display: flex; justify-content: center;\">\n{| style=\"background-color: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #aaa; box-shadow: 2px 2px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border-left: 10px solid #0d5bb3; margin: 0 auto; width: auto; max-width: 70%; display: inline-block;\" class=\"notice_tpl\" \n|style=\"padding:0 0.5em; line-height: 330%; text-align: left;\"|[[File:Ambox warning blue construction.png|link=|40x40px]]\n|style=\"padding:0 0.75em; text-align: left;\"| '''''This is one of [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|59 incomplete explanations]]:'''''<br>This page was created by an arthropod who will get 10 pointy things to zap a metal box and tell it stuff.. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, '''[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=edit edit the page]'''![[Category:Incomplete explanations]]\n\n|}\n</div>\n\nThis comic points out that something we generally take for granted \u2014 spiders spinning webs \u2014 can seem weird and disgusting when we consider the details of what it involves. Whereas the kind of adaptation referred to by the first arthropod (seen in [[wikipedia:Isopoda|<span title=\"Isopoda on Wikipedia\">isopods</span>]]) and by the second ([[wikipedia:Scorpion|<span title=\"Scorpion on Wikipedia\">scorpion</span>]]s or [[wikipedia:Crab|<span title=\"Crab on Wikipedia\">crab</span>]]s) may seem like obvious things for evolution to arrive at, it may be less clear how something would arrive at the outcome of web construction.\n\nNote that evolution in real life does not work the way the comic implies, as creatures cannot decide which direction in which to evolve.<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester#top|''citation needed'']]]</sup>\n\n[[:Category:Spiders|Spiders]] are a recurring theme on xkcd.\n\nThe [[wikipedia:Eusocial|<span title=\"Eusocial on Wikipedia\">eusocial</span>]] insects mentioned in the title text are another group of arthropods with high levels of social organisation. As such, they are notable for ''not'' \"minding their own busines (sic)\", as their ancestor arthropod apparently expects. Eusociality has evolved multiple times in the ''[[wikipedia:Hymenoptera|<span title=\"Hymenoptera on Wikipedia\">Hymenoptera</span>]]'' alone, as well as in termites. There is no arthropod species that is the ancestor to all the eusocial arthropods and no others. While there are a number of species of [[wikipedia:Social spider|<span title=\"Social spider on Wikipedia\">social spider</span>]], there aren't any that meet the strict definition of eusociality. Eusocial insects have been known to do weird things, such as [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09425-w giving birth to a separate species].\n\n== Trivia\n\"Business\" is misspelled in the title text as \"busines\".\n\n==Transcript==\n<div style=\"display: flex; justify-content: center;\">\n{| style=\"background-color: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #aaa; box-shadow: 2px 2px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border-left: 10px solid #04b60c; margin: 0 auto; width: auto; max-width: 70%; display: inline-block;\" class=\"notice_tpl\" \n|style=\"padding:0 0.5em; line-height: 330%; text-align: left;\"|[[File:Ambox warning green construction.png|link=|40x40px]]\n|style=\"padding:0 0.75em; text-align: left;\"| '''''This is one of [[:Category:Incomplete transcripts|39 incomplete transcripts]]:'''''<br>Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, '''[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=edit edit the page]'''!\n|}\n</div>[[Category:Incomplete transcripts]]\n\n:[Wide panel with three small arthropods standing on the ocean floor. Two of the creatures are facing the leftmost one. Small bubbles and particles float around them.]\n:Arthropod 1: Now that we're multicellular, what are your plans?\n:Arthropod 1: I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!\n:Arthropod 2: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!\n:Arthropod 3: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.\n\n:[Beat panel narrowed in on the arthropods.]\n\n:[Same scene:]\n:Arthropod 1: '''''Dude.'''''\n:Arthropod 2: Can you '''''please''''' just be normal about this?\n:Arthropod 3: '''''What??!'''''\n\n<br><div style=\"clear: both\"></div><span id=\"Discussion\"></span><span style=\"position: absolute; right:0; padding-top:1.7em; font-size: 105%;\">[[File:comment.png|21x21px|link=//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit]]<span class=\"no-link-underline\">[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit </span>'''Add comment'''] [[File:new topic.png|21x21px|link=//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit§ion=new]]<span class=\"no-link-underline\">[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit§ion=new </span>'''Create topic (use sparingly)'''] [[File:refresh discuss.png|21x21px|link=//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=purge]]<span class=\"no-link-underline\">[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=purge </span>'''Refresh'''] </span><h1>Discussion</h1>\n<div class=\"disctemp\" style=\"border:1px solid grey; background:#f6f6f6; padding-top:0.5em; padding-left:1.5em; padding-right:1.5em; padding-bottom:2.5em;\">\n<br>''No comments yet, [//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit add the first comment]!''</div>__NOTOC__\n----\n\n<span style=\"position: absolute; left:0; padding-top:1.35em; font-size: 105%;\"><span class=\"no-link-underline\"> [[File:new topic.png|21x21px|link=3199#Discussion]][[3199#Discussion| </span>'''View comic discussion''']]</span><br><br></div>\n\n== New here? ==\n<div style=\"float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em\">[[:Special:ContributionScores/10/30/nosort,notools]]<div style=\"font-size:0.85em; width:28em; font-style:italic\">[[Special:ContributionScores|Lots of people]] contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors above have [//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&contribs=newbie just joined]. You can do it too! Create your account [[Special:UserLogin/signup|here]].</div></div>\n\nYou can read a brief introduction about this wiki at [[explain xkcd]]. Feel free to [[Special:UserLogin/signup|create an account]] and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|comics]], [[:Category:Characters|characters]], [[What If? chapters|''What If?'' articles]], and [[:Category:xkcd|everything in between]]. If it is referenced in an [[xkcd]] comic, it should be here.\n\n* If you're new to wiki editing, see the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ]] for a specific guidance to this wiki and the more general help on [[mw:Help:Editing pages|how to edit wiki pages]]. There's also a handy [[wikipedia:Help:Cheatsheet|<span title=\"Help:Cheatsheet on Wikipedia\">wikicode cheatsheet</span>]].\n\n* Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]].\n\n* You can browse the comics from the [[List of all comics (full)|list of all comics]] or by navigating the category tree at [[:Category:Comics]].\n\n* The incomplete explanations are listed [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|here]]. Feel free to help out by expanding them!\n\n== Rules ==\n\nDon't be a jerk!\n\nThere are a lot of comics that don't have set-in-stone explanations; feel free to put multiple interpretations in the wiki page for each comic.\n\nIf you want to talk about a specific comic, use its discussion page.\n\nPlease only submit material directly related to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that can legally be posted and freely edited. Off-topic or other inappropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked.\n\nIf you need assistance from an [[explain xkcd:Administrators|admin]], post a message to the [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests|Admin requests]] board.\n\n[[Category:Root category]]\n\nRecent comments: [[:Special:RecentChanges]]"
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