BIRD

Detail of the water pot decoration. Grasshoppers carrying flowers are also accompanying a palanquin, used to carry... presumably high ranking lady grasshoppers. A couple might also be katydids based on antennae length, but let's not get uptight about imaginary anthropomorphized bugs, eh?

The little freshwater pot, with a wooden top. This side shows more grasshoppers (possibly a katydid) carrying fruit and flowers as they march along on their hind legs.

Let's start Monday with some whimsy. These delightful grasshoppers (possibly also katydids?) are from a water jar created by Makuzu Kōzan in 1870. To see full size images: www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

-and getting them banned is difficult because unfortunately, people tend to care less when the victim isn't covered in fur.

If you must kill a bug, do it in a way that's quick and effective. Don't torture it and post it online for attention, that's just disgusting.

That's it.

And some of these videos make me think that if it wasn't so frowned upon, these kinds of people would happily torture and kill other animals like cats and post it online as a joke.
There are entire accounts online dedicated to bug torture and killing-

And sure, many people can't stand mosquitoes but I think it says a lot about what kind of person you are if you'd rather torture one than quickly kill it. There is nothing normal about making torture devices or ripping off the limbs of a bug.

For example,there was a meme video circling around on twitter recently that involved a series of clips of people torturing and killing mosquitoes in brutal ways such as through building literal tortute devices for them. This is just completely unnecessary.

It feels like the moment an animal isn't a cute and well loved animal like a cat or a dog, being unnecessarily cruel towards it is fine for many people and it honestly sucks.

Random thought:
I cannot stand how normalised torturing and killing bugs is online, whether it is those videos of people forcing bugs to fight to the death or memes that involve someone harming a bug in a shocking way because it's "funny".
🧵
#bugs #insect

Macro photo of a robust black wasp with red legs walking on a twig against a blurry green background. The wasp's antennae are raised.

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.

Siliquofera grandis nymph pictured from the front. tympanal organs on forelimbs (specifically tibia) circled red

tympanal organs (for hearing) of a katydid

A drawing. This is a reference sheet for a beetle character. They have big eyes, four legs and two arms. There is a fully rendered image in the middle with shading and highlights and around it are two flat coloured images. The rendered image of the beetle is posing.

Decided to use my drawing tablet again after not touching it for ages and drew this little guy based off the species Notiophilus rufipes. :)
#bugart #insect #furryart #bugs

Still need to improve on rendering my art, I'm not very used to doing so on my drawing tablet.

Buggs

Seven rough drawings of flies on a grey background. The flies are drawn in a non realistic way.

I think I'll post my art here more often. :))

A bunch of fly doodles from a few weeks ago. It's fun playing around with bug anatomy and trying to stylise it.

#diptera #bugart #bugs #insects

People love animals that can hurt them whether it be by biting or stinging or whatever (wolves, sharks, snakes, dogs etc). I don't see why liking wasps would be any different to that and so that is a bit of a silly question to ask someone.

A plastic garden compost bin with the lid off showing the contents - a mixture of kitchen and garden waste. On the grass next to the bin are a plastic bucket, a black plastic garden riddle (sieve) sitting over a red bowl, a smaller potting sieve on a round plastic plant pot tray and a white plastic tray with sieved compost in it.

A white plastic tray with sieved garden compost in it. Roughly in the centre is a tiny pseudoscorpion which has been circled in blue on the photo.

White plastic tray with sieved garden compost and two tiny pseudoscorpions in the middle, highlighted with blue arrows on the photo.

Close up of a pseudoscorpion on a white plastic tray. It is pale reddish brown with long arm-like pedipalps that end in claws.

Finding pseudoscopions. Our compost bin had Pselaphochernes scorpioides in it. To search: scoop out top layer of kitchen/garden waste & put in bucket. Sieve next layer down using garden riddle over a bowl. Then use finer potting sieve over tray. They are small, around 2mm. 1/2
@duleyp.bsky.social

A colorful illustration of 6 different species of bees

BEES
-honey
-bumble
-blue carpenter
-green sweet
-tawny mining
-ashy mining

#art | #insects | #bees

A box filled with dead pinned beetle specimens. The box has a clear glass lid allowing anyone to see the beetles within.

A box containing a variety of pinned insects such as cicadas, beetles and plant hoppers. The box has a clear lid allowing anyone to see inside.

Went to the annual AES entomology fair today, it was awesome. I got myself a bunch of books, mainly identification keys and some other stuff. I highly recommend going at least once here.

#entomology #insects #bugs

let me share a little story about a remarkable wasp that I encountered yesterday in our local deserts

I stumbled across her, and scrambled to get a few crappy photos .... but then realized that she had a burrow, perhaps a better photo op was possible ??

here she is at her burrow entrance.

It’s the @amentsoc.bsky.social annual fair & I’m here with the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Lots of great fly talk & some great exhibits including these from some of the younger members of the AmEntSoc - aren’t they great?

#entomology

4 of my insect drawings - 3 beetles and a bee.

I'll be at the Amatuer Entomological Society Exhibition tomorrow selling postcards, greetings cards and prints. It's at Kempton Park Racecourse and well worth a visit if you like specimens or live insect pets (or art).

Zopherus nodulosus, commonly known as an ironclad beetle, is a fascinating species native to North America.

What sets these beetles apart is their incredibly tough exoskeleton, providing them with exceptional protection.

#beetles #entomology #animals #wildlife #nature #biology #science #bugs

This same mentality is also used to justify hating all wasps as people fail to realise that "stereotypical" wasps (yellow jackets) are not the only type to exist. Most wasps are solitary parastoids and many species cannot harm humans at all.

(3/3)

"Wasp" refers to thousands of species of insect within the order hymenoptera and this group is incredibly diverse and INCLUDES HORNETS.

Some wasps only get up to a few millimeters in size, some have wings, some are wingless etc. "Wasp" is not a single species (2/3)

Something I've noticed a lot recently is that there's this idea spread about online that wasps and hornets are two separate types of insect, which is not true.

True hornets are wasps belonging to the genus Vespa. All hornets are wasps but not all wasps are hornets. (1/3)
#insect #bugs #entomology

A macro photo of two beetles attacking another insect, on a pale, crystalline rock. The beetles have dull dark bluish abdomens and orange head/legs/thorax. Their prey is a similar-sized, orange-brown insect, probably a termite alate (an alate is a winged, reproductive male or female termite or ant that leaves to form a new colony; this one has lost its wings, which they do after their short nuptial flight; in this case, it might also have been due to the beetles' attack).

Two bombardier beetles (Brachinus sp.) attacking a termite. Many insects defend themselves with smelly/irritating chemicals; these beetles go to 11. They mix chemicals in their abdomen, and the resulting reaction reaches near boiling; the noxious mixture is emitted with an audible pop. 🐙🌿 #insects

Today I’m databasing fleas.

Trying to learn more about their mammal hosts and now giggling at this creature - a giant root-rat which I have some unidentified fleas collected off one such animal from before I was born…

📢✨ONLINE FIRST✨ New #collembola species found in the UK!

James McCulloch @jamesimcc.bsky.social National Recorder of Sprintails, tells the world about Entomobrya petri! 💚

Please REPOST 📢🪱🌱

soil-organisms.org/index.php/SO...

Insects usually care for their own young, but sometimes they also help other species. This #RSOS study found that yellow meadow #ants protect the eggs of root aphids in their nests during winter. Read more: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... @tparmentier.bsky.social @wybouw.bsky.social

An anthropomorphic orange fairy wasp. He has 4 small wings with tiny hairs sticking out of them. He is holding a rusty spoon while saying "I like rusty spoons"

Revenge for @thatonecreature.bsky.social
Super cool to see a fairy wasp OC!
Apologies if I trigger any repressed trauma from the early years of YouTube.
#Artfight #artfight2025

#artfight for @thatonecreature.bsky.social :)

Big data, changing taxonomy, and ghost records: permanent preservation of collected specimens is essential for insect monitoring Abstract. Successful long-term biodiversity monitoring requires consistent identification of all specimens, both those newly collected and those collected

New paper out on an important issue — monitoring insects requires preserving the specimens. We explored this issue using data from the Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab, which has systematically destroyed most of their specimens for decades. A 🧵(1/10)

doi.org/10.1093/aesa...