Nostr notes by Alex Wild

Avoid things that are brightly marked or have spines. Otherwise, ...

2026-01-29T03:11:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…vppz
_________________________

Avoid things that are brightly marked or have spines. Otherwise, you just sort of try them.

A couple.

2026-01-29T02:03:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…zfsg
_________________________

A couple.

A green tree ant stands guard on a leaf nest. Oecophylla ...

2026-01-29T01:58:25Z

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

Dear Europe, I know you're having a tremendous time yelling ...

2026-01-24T16:35:13Z

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

RE: https://mastodon.online/@alexwild/115900612237201487 It's ...

2026-01-16T02:20:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…hpct
_________________________

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.

quoting
note1u3y…8jk9

Why are US fascists fixated on Greenland? It's weirder than you think and only happening because a few nutjobs became billionaires (from April, but still relevant)

https://www.thenerdreich.com/tech-billionaires-want-to-build-a-network-state-in-greenland/

Why are US fascists fixated on Greenland? It's weirder than ...

2026-01-15T18:49:54Z

Why are US fascists fixated on Greenland? It's weirder than you think and only happening because a few nutjobs became billionaires (from April, but still relevant)

https://www.thenerdreich.com/tech-billionaires-want-to-build-a-network-state-in-greenland/

Spider or puppy? We report, you decide. #Spiders #Nature ...

2026-01-09T01:33:25Z

Spider or puppy? We report, you decide.

#Spiders #Nature

A winter ant, Prenolepis imparis. Georgia, USA. #Ants #Insects ...

2026-01-07T01:11:09Z

A winter ant, Prenolepis imparis. Georgia, USA.

#Ants #Insects #Photography #Prenolepis

Resurrected this 10 year old photo from my unpublished archives, ...

2026-01-06T16:52:21Z

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

Discerning a sense of size from macro photographs is hard. ...

2026-01-04T14:18:29Z

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

Whenever I see this photo of harvester ants working on their ...

2026-01-02T23:04:02Z

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

Was surprised to find a new-to-me jack jumper species, Myrmecia ...

2025-12-29T00:19:37Z

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

Australian cockroaches are pretty. This is Balta spuria, which ...

2025-12-28T03:43:40Z

Australian cockroaches are pretty. This is Balta spuria, which I've found in various indoor and outdoor settings in Victoria.

#Insects #Balta #Cockroaches #Australianwildlife

Scutiphora pedicellata, the metallic shield bug, is as good a ...

2025-12-25T22:25:02Z

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

Honored to have a photo on the cover of Current Biology! ...

2025-12-24T00:02:26Z

Honored to have a photo on the cover of Current Biology!

Finally got some photos of Australia’s “blue ant”, Diamma ...

2025-12-22T19:39:30Z

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

Found a nest of one of my favorites! A true oddball. Leptomyrmex ...

2025-12-20T22:54:09Z

Found a nest of one of my favorites! A true oddball. Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus, the red-headed spider ant.

#ants #insects #Leptomyrmex

A Formica incerta field ant worker drinks nectar from a Queen ...

2025-12-07T14:21:35Z

A Formica incerta field ant worker drinks nectar from a Queen Anne's Lace. Tennessee.

#Formica #Ants #Insects

Post a photo of an animal that looks Gen-AI but is 100% real. ...

2025-12-06T23:43:26Z

Post a photo of an animal that looks Gen-AI but is 100% real.

Hegemona lineata, Belize.

#Tenebrionidae #Photography #Insects

One of my favorite local planthoppers, Dictyonissus griphus. Such ...

2025-12-06T20:30:24Z

One of my favorite local planthoppers, Dictyonissus griphus. Such distinctive wing venation.

#Tropiduchidae #Planthopper #Insects #Nature

The genus name for American harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex, means ...

2025-11-23T15:05:23Z

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

This is such a cool study. A parasitic ant queen tricks worker ...

2025-11-17T17:43:29Z

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

It's that time of the year when the rotting Halloween ...

2025-11-17T02:35:46Z

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

I do like taking the occasional bug photo that gives the subject ...

2025-11-15T17:39:27Z

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

Up close with a Texas cave scorpion from UT Austin's ...

2025-11-14T21:48:59Z

Up close with a Texas cave scorpion from UT Austin's Brackenridge Field Lab.

#Scorpions #Arachnids #Nature

A Texas leafcutter ant, Atta texana, hauls spring Prunus buds ...

2025-11-08T13:23:17Z

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

The different colors of the cells indicate pollen from different ...

2025-11-04T23:46:53Z

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

UT Austin students are amazing. They've raised $30,000 for ...

2025-11-03T23:13:54Z

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/

A colony of aphids tended by a Camponotus noveboracensis ...

2025-11-03T23:11:31Z

A colony of aphids tended by a Camponotus noveboracensis carpenter ant. South Bristol, New York.

#Camponotus #aphids #ants #Insects #ecology

I wasn't that excited about this stock standard photo of a ...

2025-11-03T14:23:22Z

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

A tattered Beelzebub bee-eater fly rests on stick at the end of ...

2025-11-01T19:49:55Z

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

If you were feeling perky and wanted to learn a second genus, the ...

2025-10-27T14:12:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…nsvx
_________________________

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

If you were going to learn just one genus of ants, you'd want ...

2025-10-27T14:02:52Z

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

A female soldier fly, Nemotelus kansensis, drinking nectar from a ...

2025-10-25T12:50:33Z

A female soldier fly, Nemotelus kansensis, drinking nectar from a late spring aster. Dripping Springs, Texas.

#Diptera #Insects #Pollinators #Stratiomyidae

In which our intrepid photographer narrowly escaped being ...

2025-10-22T21:22:23Z

In which our intrepid photographer narrowly escaped being murdered by driver ants in Kibale Forest, Uganda.

#Ants #Insects #Dorylus #ArmyAnts

Just want to give a shout out to my 83 year old dad- normally ...

2025-10-18T21:21:17Z

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

Quite pleased with this shot of an Urosigalphus braconid wasp I ...

2025-10-18T01:14:46Z

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

One of the midwest's most iconic insects, a goldenrod soldier ...

2025-10-12T23:47:17Z

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

We decided the word for arranging Halloween skeletons into ...

2025-10-11T19:01:40Z

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

Temnothorax isabellae, from the rainforests of Puerto Rico, is ...

2025-10-11T13:48:02Z

Temnothorax isabellae, from the rainforests of Puerto Rico, is one of the more colorful ant species I have photographed.

#insects #ants #Temnothorax

A textbook image I did a few years ago showing a trap-jaw ant ...

2025-10-08T01:31:04Z

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

The U.S. soy market problem is going to cause complications with ...

2025-10-07T17:18:47Z

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.

A honey bee visits a summer milkweed, pollinia hanging from her ...

2025-10-03T18:32:52Z

A honey bee visits a summer milkweed, pollinia hanging from her legs. Illinois.

#bees #milkweed #bloomscrolling #insects

I've obtained the Trump Compact document, let me summarize it ...

2025-10-02T19:25:48Z

I've obtained the Trump Compact document, let me summarize it for you.

#HigherEd #UTAustin

Hello, I am Myrmoteras and I will be your disembowler this ...

2025-10-01T16:18:39Z

Hello, I am Myrmoteras and I will be your disembowler this evening.

#Myrmoteras #ants #Insects #trapjawant

Someone needs to explain to normies that the plan to “Make ...

2025-10-01T13:30:12Z

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

A gallery of ant queens from around the world. #ants #QueenAnts ...

2025-09-29T11:38:30Z

A gallery of ant queens from around the world.

#ants #QueenAnts #Insects

https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Natural-History/Queen-Ants

The fine velvety hairs on this Lutrochus travertine beetle trap ...

2025-09-28T14:07:13Z

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

Crematogaster crinosa acrobat ants visiting a Heliconia flower. ...

2025-09-24T21:36:07Z

Crematogaster crinosa acrobat ants visiting a Heliconia flower. Minca, Colombia.

#Ants #Nature #Color #Insects

"Why do queen bumblebees emerge from hibernation during ...

2025-09-22T17:13:36Z

"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

Portrait of a human bot fly. Belize. Friend? Maybe not. But cuter ...

2025-09-19T15:25:48Z

Portrait of a human bot fly. Belize. Friend? Maybe not. But cuter as an adult, I'd say.
#BotFly #Insects #Diptera #FridayFlyday #FlyDay #Oestridae

Our graduate student Steven found this unusual two-eyed spider ...

2025-09-15T02:24:10Z

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

Silky field ants tending black locust treehoppers for honeydew. ...

2025-09-13T12:23:06Z

Silky field ants tending black locust treehoppers for honeydew. Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

#Ants #Insects #Nature #Treehoppers #Formica

This is a real mic drop of an obituary. ...

2025-09-13T02:44:22Z

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

A great purple hairstreak takes a sip of Rudbeckia nectar. ...

2025-09-08T11:57:59Z

A great purple hairstreak takes a sip of Rudbeckia nectar. Austin, Texas. #Lycaenidae #butterflies #insects #pollination #rudbeckia

How does one explain to young people that the internet used to be ...

2025-09-05T02:21:00Z

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

This finding that some ant queens can lay eggs of another species ...

2025-09-03T21:07:04Z

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

In their rebellious adolescent years, Guayaquila gracilicornis ...

2025-09-03T14:45:11Z

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

An extraodinarily elegant insect, Taphroscelidia linearis, a ...

2025-09-02T23:44:10Z

An extraodinarily elegant insect, Taphroscelidia linearis, a passandrid flat bark beetle. Austin, Texas. #Coleoptera #Insects #Passandridae #Beetles

An immature Phidippus jumping spider, Texas. #spider #Photography ...

2025-08-24T15:42:27Z

An immature Phidippus jumping spider, Texas. #spider #Photography #salticidae

Me: I'm gonna plant native wildflowers and attract lots of ...

2025-08-17T15:37:09Z

Me: I'm gonna plant native wildflowers and attract lots of pollinators!

The pollinators:
#pollinators #Mosquitoes #Insects

Buried in the regime's political takeover letter of the ...

2025-08-13T15:01:50Z

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.

Today's photography project: a resh cicada that arrived to ...

2025-08-10T18:40:57Z

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

Red next to black is a friend of Jack, red next to metallic green ...

2025-08-09T23:09:09Z

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

One of my favorite ants, the Texas turtle ant Cephalotes texanus. ...

2025-08-06T16:08:24Z

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

A favorite bug photo from last summer. Yes, it's a Polistes ...

2025-08-03T00:33:46Z

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

Couldn't have identified her without this 2024 paper: ...

2025-07-26T16:18:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…kdqr
_________________________

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

I never worked up this 2016 photo from the Peruvian Amazon ...

2025-07-26T16:16:29Z

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

Insect photographers spend a lot of effort increasing depth of ...

2025-07-19T18:19:58Z

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

A near-perfect field guide image of a small harvester ant, ...

2025-07-12T20:15:58Z

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

Honored to have a cover photo on a French book about apocalypse ...

2025-07-10T23:09:45Z

Honored to have a cover photo on a French book about apocalypse fungi.

The thing about entomology is, there are always weirder bugs than ...

2025-07-09T20:23:49Z

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

I didn't know it was possible for Twitter to go even more ...

2025-07-08T22:23:32Z

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

I love how this queen Lasius arizonicus ant is smooth like glass. ...

2025-07-06T14:01:13Z

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

If you're willing to poke around underground, you might find ...

2025-07-04T15:46:35Z

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

A female tarantula hawk wasp takes nectar from a horsetail ...

2025-07-03T22:06:06Z

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

Dear Science Journalists, Please mention when your write-ups ...

2025-07-02T15:53:22Z

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?

At the Bugshot photography workshop in Arizona, we happened ...

2025-06-28T23:35:46Z

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

Last night I found a couple of Novomessor cockerelli harvester ...

2025-06-26T12:17:15Z

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

"Pie-Dish Beetles" are a uniquely Australian lineage of ...

2025-06-21T20:07:41Z

"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

When I have my military parade, it’s gonna be lit. It’s gonna ...

2025-06-13T11:58:21Z

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

Controversy brewing in the iNaturalist community over the ...

2025-06-10T20:49:36Z

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

Apparently the lizards are putting a band together? A very real ...

2025-06-08T21:31:41Z

Apparently the lizards are putting a band together? A very real scene in the garage from just now.

Thanks to UT herpetologist Tom Devitt, last week I was able to ...

2025-06-08T18:17:19Z

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

Friday Flyday! Here's Meromacrus acutus, a wasp-mimicking ...

2025-06-06T20:24:00Z

Friday Flyday! Here's Meromacrus acutus, a wasp-mimicking hover fly from Texas.

#Syrphidae #FridayFlyday #Insects

The rarely-photographed opaque turtle ant, Cephalotes opacus, in ...

2025-06-04T17:04:55Z

The rarely-photographed opaque turtle ant, Cephalotes opacus, in the Peruvian Amazon.

#ants #Insects #Cephalotes

Natural history collections house more than just specimens. Here ...

2025-06-04T15:40:49Z

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

Dung beetles are such handsome animals. Here’s a female Texas ...

2025-06-03T12:20:52Z

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 .

Found this massive beetle on the porch yesterday. It’s a ...

2025-06-01T13:08:33Z

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

An Oecophylla smaragdina weaver ant hangs from the bottom of her ...

2025-05-30T14:54:57Z

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

If you are starting to learn ants, this should be your first ...

2025-05-25T19:08:23Z

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

Dear science journalism, Please start including the funding ...

2025-05-25T13:38:01Z

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.

Pavonia rock rose pollen grains are huge! Here's a photo I ...

2025-05-25T13:21:28Z

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

It's Friday Flyday, and y'all need this Aussie dance fly. ...

2025-05-23T19:29:25Z

It's Friday Flyday, and y'all need this Aussie dance fly. #FridayFlyday
#Insects #Diptera #Empididae

Model and mimic: a clever longhorn beetle (Euderces reichei, at ...

2025-05-20T15:01:18Z

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

Give yourself points if you can find the little predators lurking ...

2025-05-13T00:57:01Z

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

We leave the venus flytrap outdoors in the summer. It's been ...

2025-05-12T15:09:08Z

We leave the venus flytrap outdoors in the summer. It's been busy, apparently. #VenusFlyTrap #Insects

I have a question #Insects #Phengodidae ...

2025-05-11T20:53:45Z

I have a question

#Insects #Phengodidae

Happy Mother’s Day everyone! #Centipedes #Nature #Insects ...

2025-05-11T16:38:03Z

Happy Mother’s Day everyone! #Centipedes #Nature #Insects

Murder! In the garden. (Zelus assassin bug with Mordellistena ...

2025-05-08T13:34:41Z

Murder! In the garden.

(Zelus assassin bug with Mordellistena prey, Texas)

#Reduviidae #Insects #AssassinBug #Nature