Tommy McElrath

Trogossitidae is dead. Long live Trogossitidae. And Lophocateridae. And Peltidae. And Protopeltidae. And Rentoniidae. And Thymalidae.

Just don’t get me started on how Melyridae has been split up too.

I love that they thought a snake potion would somehow fit into the ChemSafety system label.

That’s is definitely a DND item crossed over into our world.

For all the anti-solar hubbub, there’s the simple fact that’s it’s cheap, can be built distributed, and has way less problems than dirty energy. It’s going to replace so much energy infrastructure on those merits alone, which is great.

May is crab month for #insertaninvert2024 - here, a humble farmer rides his lollypop crab to market.

Fourth time 😫😭

That’s the pattern yes.

I would love to give my children a Covid booster shot but they get it so fast from daycare every three months it’s basically impossible. I can basically schedule it at this point. #covidisnotover #covid

"Choose your own adventure in mental anguish and suffering"

WILL YOU
-count nearly invisible tarsomeres on a 2mm beetle? Turn to... COLEOPTERA
-count individual bristles on a made-up sounding body segment? Turn to... DIPTERA
-not be able to ID anything that's not spread? Turn to... LEPIDOPTERA

If it’s got wings, it’s an adult! Probably just a smaller species. Beautiful!

A leaf beetle, oblong in shape, mostly red with some metallic green/gold coloration on the elytra.

A leaf beetle, oblong in shape, mostly red with some metallic green/gold coloration on the elytra. From above.

A leaf beetle, oblong in shape, mostly red with some metallic green/gold coloration on the elytra. From below showing tiny white feet.

Managed to snap a few more #Invertefest shots, favorite is definitely this goldenrod leaf mining beetle. #coleoptera #chrysomelidae

Periodical Cicadas, 2024: Entomologists Prepare for the Six-Week Serenade Entomologists across the U.S. share their research plans for the much-anticipated—and quite rare—dual emergence of Brood XIII and Brood XIX periodical cicadas in 2024.

Want a nice, fact-filled overview of this year's periodical cicada emergence? Here you go #InverteFest 🧪https://entomologytoday.org/2024/04/25/periodical-cicadas-2024-brood-xix-xii-entomologists-prepare-six-week-serenade/

Tiny hover fly sitting on a yellow dandelion.

Tiny hover fly sitting on a yellow dandelion, side shot.

My first #Invertefest shot: nice little hover fly cooled down too much to fly away. Probably Allograpta but not sure. iNat Observation here:

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

I didn’t even have tons of engagement or track it with stats but it was like a bomb went off in my engagement, absolutely destroying it overnight. Nothing I said or tweeted got any response, even from followers, probably because they weren’t seeing it anymore.

Jeebus!

Dear parents of one sick child who insist upon sending them places to spread their disease: Don’t.

Sincerely, a parent of twins who just spent a whole week without sleep dealing with dual Upper Respiratory and Ear Infections.

#twinparenting #nosleep

Sun blowing up left side of moon with ring visible

Sun just peaking over side brightly for diamond ring effect

Almost total eclipse with solar prominences peaking out like little flames

HELL YES I GOT IT HOLY SHIT 🔭

Fish out of water story ends with 77,000 young salmon in the wrong water The Chinook got shook when their truck got cooked. Now the salmon are swimming — but in the wrong brook.

The Chinook got shook when their truck got cooked. Now the salmon are swimming — but in the wrong brook.

Grubs be grubbing. Apparently looking exactly like that is highly selected for!

Since periodical cicadas are trending again, I've copied a thread I originally posted to Twitter in 2021 that answers the question "How loud would a periodical cicada be if it were the size of an F-35?"

I mean, she’s not wrong. America elected HER so … we’ve got a lot to repent for. 😜

I love that there’s a whole group of creatures out there that are basically retractable ooze with a protective shell on top. Like come on that’s ridiculous and beautiful.

Closeup of a moss with dozens of cup-shaped apices that are either green or brown, the former being filled with green, disk-shaped gemmae.

Close-up of a pellucid four-tooth moss (Tetraphis pellucida) showing the disc-shaped propagules (gemmae) that form inside splash cups at the tips of shoots. The species can also reproduce sexually. 🌿 #botany #moss

Us ESA taxonomists would like a word.

I think I found it in the back room today.

WHAAATTT??

“CSU Management Walks Out of Bargaining.”

So we doing this thing…the California Faculty Association will begin a 5-day, systemwide strike in the Cal State system starting Jan. 22.

To be clear, that’s a systemwide strike (23 campuses) in the largest public university system in the county.

Map of eastern US and Great Lakes shows the distribution of periodical cicada broods

We’ve survived the first week of 2024! Now what’s going to define the year ahead? CICADMANIA of course! Who’s excited for 17 yr and 13 yr cicadas to emerge simultaneously for the first time in 221 y? #cicada #entomology #bugs

Looks like Dr. Johanne Brunet, of the Brunet bee lab, is finally out from the USDA.

This comes years after she left UW Madison in 2019 after they initiated a dismissal for cause.

For background see: web.archive.org/web/20230221...

Top view of a flat stubby little lichen-esque mantis

View from the side. Very flat.

Side view from a lower angle, even flatter

Derpy face of the creature; just bug-eyed, lichen-y, with false pupils staring

She's so flat 🥹
(forgot to post more grizzled mantis pics from the other day)
🌿