Piotr Naskrecki

Tympanophora uvarovi, a jewel-like katydid from New South Wales. Unlike many other katydid species that have spectacularly colored nymphal stages but turn plain green upon reaching adulthood, this species retains its gorgeous color palette.

14.03.2025 14:26 — 👍 150    🔁 48    💬 1    📌 1

With the hope of lifting everyone’s spirit in these dark, depressing times, here’s a splash of color and beauty from Costa Rica. These are just some of the species of amphibians that I photographed around my house.

04.03.2025 12:20 — 👍 141    🔁 23    💬 2    📌 1

How many insects can you see in this photo? Believe it or not, there are five. This termite alate fell victim to four perfectly camouflaged assassin bug nymphs (Reduvius tarsatus) Their bodies are covered with minute setae that trap grains of sand and various debris, making them virtually disappear.

24.02.2025 12:56 — 👍 76    🔁 24    💬 3    📌 4

Once, in Gorongosa NP, I thought that I had found Halucinogenia, a near-mythical Cambrian animal with spikes on its back. The creature turned out to be a caterpillar of Acridotarsa melipecta who lives as an inquiline in the colonies of the termite Schedorhinotermes lamanianus. Still cool, though.

21.02.2025 12:10 — 👍 155    🔁 29    💬 2    📌 2

Thank you. No, none is focus-stacked.

17.02.2025 20:20 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

@juliusgoat.bsky.social

17.02.2025 20:02 — 👍 56827    🔁 15008    💬 690    📌 588

Some of the coolest and perhaps most under-appreciated African carnivores are solifuges. The ferocity of these incredible arachnids, a.k.a. camel spiders or sun spiders, easily matches that of the wild dogs and, just like the canines, they can dismember their prey in a matter of seconds.

17.02.2025 15:16 — 👍 135    🔁 37    💬 7    📌 2

I am afraid we are in free fall already.

16.02.2025 16:28 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

President Musk and his sidekick Donny "Useful Idiot" Trump are doing all they can to prevent future generations from being able to share the planet with such beautiful creatures as this elephant shrew from Gorongosa. Killing USAID kills biodiversity.

16.02.2025 15:51 — 👍 16    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

Trump Chaos Is Killing Us Republicans will probably go first. But that's no cause to cheer.

You remember #measles? You remember whooping cough? Get your kids and grandkids vaccinated now, because old diseases (and new ones, too!) are part of Trump's big plan for America. substack.com/home/post/p-...

15.02.2025 14:51 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Remembering Measles Let's stop Trump’s attack on public health so other kids don't have same miserable experience—or worse.

richardconniff.substack.com/p/rememberin...

15.02.2025 23:49 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

The rainy season in @gorongosapark.bsky.social brings out an abundance of insects, making all insectivores and entomophiles very happy. The light of my cabin attracts a large number of cicadas, turning my porch into a free buffet for bushbabies and genets.

29.01.2025 08:13 — 👍 29    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 1

I have been photographing scorpions for many years, always handling them very carefully. But a few days ago Afrolychas burdoi stung me when I was picking up a piece of wood. The pain was intense and it paralyzed my hand for a few hours but the next day the pain was completely gone.

19.01.2025 10:23 — 👍 122    🔁 22    💬 5    📌 2

katydid, bat, banana flower

Katydids are some of the bats' favorite prey items. But here the tables are turned - the katydid (Docidocercus fraternus) is competing for access to the banana flower with a nectar-feeding bat Lonchophylla mordax. I took this photo a few years ago in the garden of my house in Costa Rica.

19.11.2024 12:19 — 👍 24    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0