Alex Wild

A green tree ant stands guard on a leaf nest. Oecophylla smaragdina. These little guys are everywhere in the humid tropics of southeast Asia and Australia and have a lemony flavor. Cairns.
#Ants #AustralianWildlife #Insects #Oecophylla
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/975/906/228/995/342/original/580039c1be6022f4.png

2026-01-24 16:35:13 GMT

Dear Europe,
I know you're having a tremendous time yelling at Americans, and fair enough for that, but get your houses in order because what happened in the United States is being orchestrated in your countries, and it may prevail as long as you let this sort of thing grow.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/24/a-lot-of-fear-the-families-bearing-brunt-of-swedens-immigration-crackdown?CMP=share_btn_url

2026-01-16 02:20:18 GMT

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RE: https://mastodon.online/@alexwild/115900612237201487
It's worth noting the tech billionaires are not trying to expand the US empire. They have incubated inside it and are planning to discard the United States like a spent shell once their new network state emerges.
In theory, those hoping to protect Europe from this new threat could find common cause with a number of more traditional American oligarchs, though it might be distasteful, because their interests are also threatened.
#note1u3y…8jk9

2026-01-09 01:33:25 GMT

Spider or puppy? We report, you decide.
#Spiders #Nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/862/562/047/971/838/original/a3a9736e34331544.png

2026-01-07 01:11:09 GMT

A winter ant, Prenolepis imparis. Georgia, USA.
#Ants #Insects #Photography #Prenolepis
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/851/149/556/418/417/original/81bfa869a109e1fb.png

2026-01-06 16:52:21 GMT

Resurrected this 10 year old photo from my unpublished archives, not sure why I ignored it the first time. It's a Carebara queen ant in an underground nest chamber, with brood.
Victoria, Australia.
#Ants #Insects #Soil #Carebara #QueenAnts
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/849/188/323/664/109/original/c2ece8975f669ca7.png

2026-01-04 14:18:29 GMT

Discerning a sense of size from macro photographs is hard. Camponotus intrepidus, for example, is one of Australia’s largest sugar ants at slightly under an inch long.
But did you see the little Pheidole ant at her heels?
#Ants #Insects #camponotus
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/837/256/720/753/340/original/6d968c278d95b1e0.png

2026-01-02 23:04:02 GMT

Whenever I see this photo of harvester ants working on their nest, I think how it looks like they planted a decorative tree by their door like they have an HOA or something.
(Pogonomyrmex desertorum, west Texas)
#Ants #photography #Pogonomyrmex #insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/828/000/605/445/385/original/ae291455670188e2.png

2025-12-29 00:19:37 GMT

Was surprised to find a new-to-me jack jumper species, Myrmecia fulvipes, in a small park I’ve been visiting for 20 years. The ant looks nearly as surprised as me!
#Insects #Ants #Myrmecia #Nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/799/986/666/353/880/original/ab7e980a8115d4f2.png

2025-12-28 03:43:40 GMT

Australian cockroaches are pretty. This is Balta spuria, which I've found in various indoor and outdoor settings in Victoria.
#Insects #Balta #Cockroaches #Australianwildlife
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/795/125/577/563/282/original/957907480c4e9140.png

2025-12-25 22:25:02 GMT

Scutiphora pedicellata, the metallic shield bug, is as good a candidate for an official Christmas bug as I’ve seen. Wilson’s Promontory, Australia.
#Scutelleridae #Insects #Hemiptera #Bugs #nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/782/547/926/819/925/original/d696ade4f0c62e55.png

2025-12-24 00:02:26 GMT

Honored to have a photo on the cover of Current Biology!
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/771/606/504/437/439/original/085aa911d9976bcb.png

2025-12-22 19:39:30 GMT

Finally got some photos of Australia’s “blue ant”, Diamma bicolor, which is not an ant at all but a shockingly large metallic blue thynnid wasp, wingless and solitary, that hunts mole crickets. Been meaning to shoot this thing for years.
#Thynnidae #Hymenoptera #Diamma #Insects #australianwildlife
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/764/905/136/714/957/original/b8ad11fdf4fa184d.png
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/764/908/436/532/341/original/a1f2cda3f942deb0.png

2025-12-20 22:54:09 GMT

Found a nest of one of my favorites! A true oddball. Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus, the red-headed spider ant.
#ants #insects #Leptomyrmex
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/754/350/576/323/171/original/c1409f1703702ca5.png

2025-12-07 14:21:35 GMT

A Formica incerta field ant worker drinks nectar from a Queen Anne's Lace. Tennessee.
#Formica #Ants #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/678/725/988/504/200/original/ced2e0efd1ae562b.png

2025-12-06 23:43:26 GMT

Post a photo of an animal that looks Gen-AI but is 100% real.
Hegemona lineata, Belize.
#Tenebrionidae #Photography #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/675/272/578/972/249/original/b830b7a7af693798.png

2025-12-06 20:30:24 GMT

One of my favorite local planthoppers, Dictyonissus griphus. Such distinctive wing venation.
#Tropiduchidae #Planthopper #Insects #Nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/674/514/148/052/205/original/e1c0ddfd5d2f07d9.png

2025-11-23 15:05:23 GMT

The genus name for American harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex, means "bearded ant", and it refers to a basket of hairs on the underside of the head that helps these desert ants carry dry sand.
Monahans Sandhills State Park, Texas.
#Ants #Pogonomyrmex #Formicidae #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/599/623/601/735/799/original/9a81f16bdadbc65a.png

2025-11-17 17:43:29 GMT

This is such a cool study. A parasitic ant queen tricks worker ants into murdering their own queen, so the parasite can take over the colony.
#Ants #Science https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parasitic-ant-matricide-queen

2025-11-17 02:35:46 GMT

It's that time of the year when the rotting Halloween pumpkins start delivering tremendous bug content.
I got these shots of Pheidole dentata ants successfully hunting fruit fly adults and larvae in the muck.
#Insects #Nature #Pheidole #Ants
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/562/703/102/228/358/original/2064733fa651a5fa.png
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/562/703/590/409/073/original/1c78dadab9a9b048.png

2025-11-15 17:39:27 GMT

I do like taking the occasional bug photo that gives the subject space in the frame.
Here's a Liometopum luctuosum tree ant in Arizona, taking home a gall midge it has caught.
#Liometopum #Insects #photography #ants
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/554/933/025/601/117/original/594433a1a4288eba.png

2025-11-14 21:48:59 GMT

Up close with a Texas cave scorpion from UT Austin's Brackenridge Field Lab.
#Scorpions #Arachnids #Nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/550/251/337/824/967/original/ec543f99891af717.png

2025-11-08 13:23:17 GMT

A Texas leafcutter ant, Atta texana, hauls spring Prunus buds along a tree branch on her way back to the nest.
#Ants #Insects #Atta #nature #leafcutterants
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/514/289/773/436/008/original/bb0b53c652494819.png

2025-11-04 23:46:53 GMT

The different colors of the cells indicate pollen from different species of plants, packed away to be used as food for hungry honey bee larvae.
#bees #geometry #nature #HoneyBees #Pollen
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/494/090/075/717/872/original/bfdf2cb5b2ebb473.png

2025-11-03 23:13:54 GMT

UT Austin students are amazing. They've raised $30,000 for their undocumented peers after the Texas state government hiked their tuition.
https://thedailytexan.com/2025/10/31/texas-student-groups-financially-support-undocumented-students-after-overturning-of-texas-dream-act/

2025-11-03 23:11:31 GMT

A colony of aphids tended by a Camponotus noveboracensis carpenter ant. South Bristol, New York.
#Camponotus #aphids #ants #Insects #ecology
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/488/291/209/268/455/original/c3484d2b02897c62.png

2025-11-03 14:23:22 GMT

I wasn't that excited about this stock standard photo of a darkling beetle (Eleodes goryi), until I noticed the parasitic tachinid fly egg attached above the insect's midleg. This beetle is on borrowed time.
#Tenebrionidae #Eleodes #Tachinidae #Parasites #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/486/208/833/324/233/original/5b15fa207a809507.png

2025-11-01 19:49:55 GMT

A tattered Beelzebub bee-eater fly rests on stick at the end of the season. This distinctive bumble bee mimic is one of North America's largest robber flies. Austin, Texas.
#Diptera #Insects #Asilidae
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/476/171/504/344/767/original/c8a22ec190dbf129.png

2025-10-27 14:12:04 GMT

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If you were feeling perky and wanted to learn a second genus, the obvious choice is Crematogaster, the acrobat ants. They're also found worldwide and are instantly identifiable for their unique, heart-shaped butts.
#Ants #Insects #Crematogaster
https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Crematogaster

2025-10-27 14:02:52 GMT

If you were going to learn just one genus of ants, you'd want to do Camponotus, which includes the familiar carpenter ants of the northern hemisphere, but many others too.
Abundant on every continent, diverse, and ecologically important.
#Ants #Insects #Photography #Camponotus
https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Camponotus

2025-10-25 12:50:33 GMT

A female soldier fly, Nemotelus kansensis, drinking nectar from a late spring aster. Dripping Springs, Texas.
#Diptera #Insects #Pollinators #Stratiomyidae
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/434/888/562/944/031/original/870110e60fc34926.png

2025-10-22 21:22:23 GMT

In which our intrepid photographer narrowly escaped being murdered by driver ants in Kibale Forest, Uganda.
#Ants #Insects #Dorylus #ArmyAnts
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/419/913/834/250/929/original/4ecc2ab83c0d354b.png

2025-10-18 21:21:17 GMT

Just want to give a shout out to my 83 year old dad- normally conservative, a former SCOTUS law clerk for Rehnquist- who protested out in the rain this morning in St Louis. #NoKings

2025-10-18 01:14:46 GMT

Quite pleased with this shot of an Urosigalphus braconid wasp I got in central Austin today. I suspect the wasps are emerging from live oak acorns, having parasitized the grubs acorn weevils.
Not many live photos exist of this genus, it seems.
#Urosigalphus #Braconidae #WaspLove #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/392/515/106/052/807/original/7821c7f8fed44c11.png

2025-10-12 23:47:17 GMT

One of the midwest's most iconic insects, a goldenrod soldier beetle sits in a mid-summer aster. Indiana Dunes National Park.
#Cantharidae #Nature #Insects #beetle
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/363/858/855/129/691/original/e63294c1d21dce8b.png

2025-10-11 19:01:40 GMT

We decided the word for arranging Halloween skeletons into various scenes in the front yard is “Necroscaping”

2025-10-11 13:48:02 GMT

Temnothorax isabellae, from the rainforests of Puerto Rico, is one of the more colorful ant species I have photographed.
#insects #ants #Temnothorax
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/355/842/560/612/399/original/26d93c817313ac5c.png

2025-10-08 01:31:04 GMT

A textbook image I did a few years ago showing a trap-jaw ant (Odontomachus rixosus) with her mandibles held open and trigger hairs forward, and then in the closed position.
The snapping shut of the trap is one of the fastest measured animal movements.
#Ants #Entomology #Insects #Odontomachus
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/335/956/856/902/608/original/01b2f046fa359470.png

2025-10-07 17:18:47 GMT

The U.S. soy market problem is going to cause complications with corn in coming years, as soy is rotated in the same fields with corn to keep corn rootworm populations low.
If farms switch to corn only, we’ll see pest resurgences and increased pesticide use.

2025-10-03 18:32:52 GMT

A honey bee visits a summer milkweed, pollinia hanging from her legs. Illinois.
#bees #milkweed #bloomscrolling #insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/311/662/443/080/073/original/3e16c38bce581a27.png

2025-10-02 19:25:48 GMT

I've obtained the Trump Compact document, let me summarize it for you.
#HigherEd #UTAustin
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/306/206/912/462/992/original/c66f9674d4b0e3c4.png

2025-10-01 16:18:39 GMT

Hello, I am Myrmoteras and I will be your disembowler this evening.
#Myrmoteras #ants #Insects #trapjawant
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/299/810/085/951/919/original/732f4c78ac044d4b.png

2025-10-01 13:30:12 GMT

Someone needs to explain to normies that the plan to “Make America Healthy Again” works by killing the sick people.

2025-09-29 11:38:30 GMT

A gallery of ant queens from around the world.
#ants #QueenAnts #Insects
https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Natural-History/Queen-Ants

2025-09-28 14:07:13 GMT

The fine velvety hairs on this Lutrochus travertine beetle trap air like a little bug scuba tank to help it breathe underwater. Arizona.
#Beetles #Insects #Lutrochus
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/282/306/665/070/134/original/391fc6a5869575b0.png

2025-09-24 21:36:07 GMT

Crematogaster crinosa acrobat ants visiting a Heliconia flower. Minca, Colombia.
#Ants #Nature #Color #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/261/423/535/936/823/original/abe5b6d9d32d3993.png

2025-09-22 17:13:36 GMT

"Why do queen bumblebees emerge from hibernation during weekends?"
I love this framing about bias in hobbyist-collected data.
#Science
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-025-01192-x

2025-09-19 15:25:48 GMT

Portrait of a human bot fly. Belize. Friend? Maybe not. But cuter as an adult, I'd say.
#BotFly #Insects #Diptera #FridayFlyday #FlyDay #Oestridae
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/231/654/176/669/607/original/dc800f7b0f246688.png

2025-09-15 02:24:10 GMT

Our graduate student Steven found this unusual two-eyed spider last night out in hill country. If you spend any time staring at spider faces, you’ll know most have 8 or 6 eyes, or maybe none at all for cave dwellers.
But two? Almost humanoid. Weird.
(Orthonops lapanus)
#Spiders #Orthonops
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/205/933/040/457/394/original/4bcc7227fb40fb11.png

2025-09-13 12:23:06 GMT

Silky field ants tending black locust treehoppers for honeydew. Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
#Ants #Insects #Nature #Treehoppers #Formica
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/196/960/962/322/446/original/533a3c21091c8396.png

2025-09-13 02:44:22 GMT

This is a real mic drop of an obituary. https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/charlie-kirk-assassination-maga/

2025-09-08 11:57:59 GMT

A great purple hairstreak takes a sip of Rudbeckia nectar. Austin, Texas. #Lycaenidae #butterflies #insects #pollination #rudbeckia
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/168/553/142/072/721/original/e9938d734185a352.png

2025-09-05 02:21:00 GMT

How does one explain to young people that the internet used to be a free, open place with no ads.

2025-09-03 21:07:04 GMT

This finding that some ant queens can lay eggs of another species is astonishing. Biology is far stranger than we can possibly imagine.
#Ants #Science #Evolution
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02807-0

2025-09-03 14:45:11 GMT

In their rebellious adolescent years, Guayaquila gracilicornis treehoppers sport garish stripes and spikes, before maturing into more stately and traditional thorn bugs (Ecuador). #Membracidae #Insects #Treehoppers #Nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/140/896/505/889/162/original/faccd9eea471a24c.png

2025-09-02 23:44:10 GMT

An extraodinarily elegant insect, Taphroscelidia linearis, a passandrid flat bark beetle. Austin, Texas. #Coleoptera #Insects #Passandridae #Beetles
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/137/356/806/809/020/original/ff05049a2b7068c1.png

2025-08-24 15:42:27 GMT

An immature Phidippus jumping spider, Texas. #spider #Photography #salticidae
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/084/499/580/928/470/original/39b6983c193618f2.png

2025-08-17 15:37:09 GMT

Me: I'm gonna plant native wildflowers and attract lots of pollinators!
The pollinators:
#pollinators #Mosquitoes #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/044/843/475/942/957/original/59312036b4c2e7c8.png

2025-08-13 15:01:50 GMT

Buried in the regime's political takeover letter of the Smithsonian is the worst bit. Unlike exhibits, which are non-destructive towards primary materials, temporary in nature, and reversible, the foundational collections are irreplacable. They want to be able to throw stuff out or sell it off.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/022/053/066/581/038/original/48193009580c5a43.png

2025-08-10 18:40:57 GMT

Today's photography project: a resh cicada that arrived to our porch light last night. Set it up in an outdoor white box for perfect front lighting with a natural background from the urban canopy.
These are the loud evening screamers performing in Austin this month.
#Cicada #Insect #Photography #Megatibicen
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/005/928/712/432/872/original/37b6312236a12192.png
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/005/929/247/509/555/original/769a6b3b19d5d241.png

2025-08-09 23:09:09 GMT

Red next to black is a friend of Jack, red next to metallic green is… something, I’m guessing we probably shouldn’t eat this.
#paederus #staphylinidae #insects #nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/001/322/379/091/912/original/a2a0225cb3903c19.png

2025-08-06 16:08:24 GMT

One of my favorite ants, the Texas turtle ant Cephalotes texanus. Photo is a live stack of three images, to improve depth of field.
#Ants #Cephalotes #Insects #TurtleAnt
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/982/680/412/896/723/original/83fd438467d1b9e6.png

2025-08-03 00:33:46 GMT

A favorite bug photo from last summer. Yes, it's a Polistes fuscatus wasp on goldenrod, but if you look long enough, you'll see another insect. (Indiana Dunes National Park)
#WaspLove #Insects #Polistes #Phymata
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/962/019/622/012/152/original/77cd84f8d69845f7.png

2025-07-26 16:18:56 GMT

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Couldn't have identified her without this 2024 paper: https://mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5496.4.3

2025-07-26 16:16:29 GMT

I never worked up this 2016 photo from the Peruvian Amazon because I was running into trouble identifying the wasp, in spite of its distinct markings.
But taxonomic resources are more accessible a decade on, and I'm happy to announce that she's the rarely photographed Polistes torresae.
#WaspLove #Polistes #Insects #Wasps
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/920/427/742/534/495/original/89ef410edc681358.png

2025-07-19 18:19:58 GMT

Insect photographers spend a lot of effort increasing depth of field. Focus-stacks, small apertures. And that's great, I do some of that too, but there's nothing wrong with a dreamy, shallow depth photo.
Here's Prionyx parkeri, a thread-waisted wasp, in Arizona.
#Insects #Sphecidae #Wasps #Nature #Photography
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/881/277/539/335/173/original/095f60076b593eb8.png

2025-07-12 20:15:58 GMT

A near-perfect field guide image of a small harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex imberbiculus, from west Texas. Walking is not the most exciting ant behavior, but I'm happy with this shot. #ants #insects #pogonomyrmex
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/842/097/483/138/813/original/0a5bf9f2e5eeec52.png

2025-07-10 23:09:45 GMT

Honored to have a cover photo on a French book about apocalypse fungi.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/831/456/248/531/172/original/e1c5977453c8fd22.png

2025-07-09 20:23:49 GMT

The thing about entomology is, there are always weirder bugs than anything you could imagine on your own.
Here's Cysteodemus wislizeni, a blister beetle from west Texas.
#Meloidae #Insects #Beetles
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/825/141/231/095/449/original/f004e5e41774bfd9.png

2025-07-08 22:23:32 GMT

I didn't know it was possible for Twitter to go even more Nazi.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/08/elon-musks-grok-ai-chatbot-is-posting-antisemitic-comments-.html?link_source=ta_bluesky_link&taid=686d93336b59ab00018d5190&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_content=main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky

2025-07-06 14:01:13 GMT

I love how this queen Lasius arizonicus ant is smooth like glass. She’s a social parasite who , after dropping her wings, sneaks into existing ant colonies, kills the resident queen, and takes over.
So much drama. #Lasius #Ants #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/806/650/402/899/920/original/3467768c755a6efb.png

2025-07-04 15:46:35 GMT

If you're willing to poke around underground, you might find some truly weird ants. Like these Syscia madrensis, whose blind, wormlike bodies are ideal for hunting in tight spaces. Arizona.
#Ants #Insects #Dorylinae #Syscia
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/795/739/390/649/651/original/72ef5109c41d9871.png

2025-07-03 22:06:06 GMT

A female tarantula hawk wasp takes nectar from a horsetail milkweed at the Southwestern Research Station in Arizona.
I should do more of these dreamy natural light shots. This one was with a 200m lens on a 2x teleextender.
#WaspLove #Pepsis #TarantulaHawk #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/791/568/838/556/083/original/f0b850be46d63ac1.png

2025-07-02 15:53:22 GMT

Dear Science Journalists,
Please mention when your write-ups cover work that was funded by federal agencies that are now being dismantled, defunded, and censored.
The public needs to know what is being lost, and if you don't tell them in the context of Cool New Science, who will?

2025-06-28 23:35:46 GMT

At the Bugshot photography workshop in Arizona, we happened across a column of Neivamyrmex nigrescens army ants that had popped above ground to grab termites after their mating flights. A real feast, hauled away to feed hungry ant larvae. #Neivamyrmex #ArmyAnts #ants #insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/762/768/495/540/277/original/7e3ecd2f74841eb9.png

2025-06-26 12:17:15 GMT

Last night I found a couple of Novomessor cockerelli harvester ants having a fight out in the desert. They stayed like this for a while, grabbing hold of the other's mandibles and pulling. #ants #insects #Novomessor
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/749/618/063/875/926/original/7d6d0eaa514f0222.png

2025-06-21 20:07:41 GMT

"Pie-Dish Beetles" are a uniquely Australian lineage of tenebrionid darkling beetles with a distinctly raised rim around their bodies. Victoria, Australia.
#Insects #Coleoptera #australianwildlife #Tenebrionidae
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/723/156/528/165/258/original/339dddb414fd4ed2.png

2025-06-13 11:58:21 GMT

When I have my military parade, it’s gonna be lit. It’s gonna be army ants for days. The biggest soldier ants you’ve ever seen.
#ants #insects #Eciton #armyants
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/675/933/759/548/854/original/115a23d8d5ef31e2.png

2025-06-10 20:49:36 GMT

Controversy brewing in the iNaturalist community over the nonprofit's partnership with Google to make generative-AI text content.
#GenerativeAI #iNaturalist
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/what-is-this-inaturalist-and-generative-ai/66140

2025-06-08 21:31:41 GMT

Apparently the lizards are putting a band together? A very real scene in the garage from just now.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/649/876/404/710/657/original/971de0d96890f32e.png

2025-06-08 18:17:19 GMT

Thanks to UT herpetologist Tom Devitt, last week I was able to photograph the unusual Texas Cliff Chirping Frog (Eleutherodactylus), which passes through the tadpole stage within the egg, hatching as a fully-formed frog.
#frogs #Eleutherodactylus #Herpetology
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/649/111/531/112/487/original/af8e61f0c8310f33.png

2025-06-06 20:24:00 GMT

Friday Flyday! Here's Meromacrus acutus, a wasp-mimicking hover fly from Texas.
#Syrphidae #FridayFlyday #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/638/285/034/670/827/original/2af2b609e639d80d.png

2025-06-04 17:04:55 GMT

The rarely-photographed opaque turtle ant, Cephalotes opacus, in the Peruvian Amazon.
#ants #Insects #Cephalotes
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/626/175/298/891/413/original/ca5a5b23648e58d0.png

2025-06-04 15:40:49 GMT

Natural history collections house more than just specimens. Here is a homemade field guide that ecologist Larry Gilbert made for himself as a graduate student in the 1960s. Those are real butterfly wings.
Seen in the UT Insect Collection.
#Entomology #Collections #butterflies #NaturalHistory
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/625/845/589/783/866/original/2ab93092df587cf8.png

2025-06-03 12:20:52 GMT

Dung beetles are such handsome animals. Here’s a female Texas rainbow scarab, Phanaeus texensis. It is not rainbow colored like its congeners, but I’m not complaining.
#insects #phanaeus #dungbeetles .
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/619/388/460/440/215/original/11eea0002fd9a1c6.png

2025-06-01 13:08:33 GMT

Found this massive beetle on the porch yesterday. It’s a hardwood stump borer, Mallodon dasystomus, one of Texas’ largest insects. #Prioninae #Insects #Beetles #Cerambycidae
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/608/261/761/166/006/original/01bf7f5817c4b1ac.png

2025-05-30 14:54:57 GMT

An Oecophylla smaragdina weaver ant hangs from the bottom of her nest, alert to any photographers that might try anything brash.
Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia.
#ants #oecophylla #insects #australianwildlife
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/597/355/764/026/511/original/9f82a4cfe26b0eb3.png

2025-05-25 19:08:23 GMT

If you are starting to learn ants, this should be your first genus: Camponotus. They are found everywhere in the world, there are a lot of ecologically important species, and you'll always have a point of familiarity in any fauna.
The genus includes North America's common carpenter ants.
#Ants #Photography #Insects #Camponotus
https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Camponotus

2025-05-25 13:38:01 GMT

Dear science journalism,
Please start including the funding source and whether it has been imperiled by the coup in your coverage of cool new science papers. The public should know the floor is being cut out from under us.

2025-05-25 13:21:28 GMT

Pavonia rock rose pollen grains are huge! Here's a photo I took this week of a young bird grasshopper hanging out, just grubby with massive pollen grains. #Insects #Schistocerca #Bloomscrolling #Grasshoppers #Pink
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/568/676/372/822/005/original/a2006b7ede9d315a.png

2025-05-23 19:29:25 GMT

It's Friday Flyday, and y'all need this Aussie dance fly. #FridayFlyday
#Insects #Diptera #Empididae
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/558/799/077/146/380/original/e4d2d132423d81ee.png

2025-05-20 15:01:18 GMT

Model and mimic: a clever longhorn beetle (Euderces reichei, at right) tries its best to look like a local carpenter ant, Campontous decipiens, as they both feed on a spring dogwood flower. Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Texas.
#mimicry #Cerambycidae #Ants #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/540/744/159/535/892/original/64316137cbbb1a17.png

2025-05-13 00:57:01 GMT

Give yourself points if you can find the little predators lurking among these bicolored frostweed aphids (Uroleucon verbesinae).
I'm quite pleased with how this photo from today turned out. Might make a good print.
#Aphids #Insects #Uroleucon
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/497/801/654/423/460/original/03c624f012b9a988.png

2025-05-12 15:09:08 GMT

We leave the venus flytrap outdoors in the summer. It's been busy, apparently. #VenusFlyTrap #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/495/490/239/027/381/original/0a8cb5cd43abf7cc.png

2025-05-11 20:53:45 GMT

I have a question
#Insects #Phengodidae
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/491/182/646/587/740/original/fd7cfee1b87a565b.png

2025-05-11 16:38:03 GMT

Happy Mother’s Day everyone! #Centipedes #Nature #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/490/174/386/126/743/original/ec6a59cf4bd2e656.png

2025-05-08 13:34:41 GMT

Murder! In the garden.
(Zelus assassin bug with Mordellistena prey, Texas)
#Reduviidae #Insects #AssassinBug #Nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/472/466/761/145/042/original/9f380f8d164ba73f.png

2025-05-07 15:12:39 GMT

In many flies, males and females can be sexed by looking at the size of the compound eyes, with those of the male being larger. These two blow flies show the difference.
See, this is why you follow me. Practical life skills, like sexing blow flies. #insects #calliphoridae #entomology #diptera #flies
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/467/191/887/073/515/original/3db24c304fab7318.png