Scientific Name: Phainopepla nitens Population: 1,000,000 Trend: Decreasing Habitat: Desert riparian scrub, high-elevation oak woodlands and canyons.

Despite looking like a cardinal who shops at Hot Topic, this week’s #Bird of the Week belongs to the Silky-flycatcher family, a subversion of expectations that, we admit, is pretty punk rock.🤘 How else do Phainopepla defy bird norms? 🧑‍🎤

07.02.2025 00:22 — 👍 47    🔁 9    💬 3    📌 1

G. dennerle, photo Chris Lukhaup A purple crab, darker body and legs and bright claws, with bright yellow eyes with pseudopupils. On the "cheeks" are lattice like setae that help keep them wet when they go on land. It's viewed from the front on gravel in an aquarium.

G. notophorum, photo Oliver Mengedoht Close up on the carapace and face of an orange crab. Notably, she has over a dozen translucent BABY CRABS riding on top of the carapace. The baby crabs have eyes. Scale bar 5mm, the mom is maybe 15 mm and the babies about 1 mm

G. malayanum, photo Francesco Tomasinelli An adorable nepenthiphile crab which is mostly dark purple with claws tipped in red. It is peeking out from the rounded mouth of a carnivorous pitcher plant, which also has spiky leaves

G. bau, photo Lars Fehlandt Bright red crab with dark eyes, on a bright green fernlike leaf. Photo in the wild in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo

G is for Geosesarma.

Popular pets, some species were/are exploited by the aquarium trade before being described. Each has a small range in SE Asia, traversing freshwater and land. They hatch as minicrabs instead of larvae, and the mom keeps them safe for a few weeks!

#CrabAZ 🦀🧪🦑

07.02.2025 13:24 — 👍 362    🔁 90    💬 11    📌 12

I usually reserve this account for my personal views; but today I want to represent my position as President of @asn-amnat.bsky.social to post a message that will shortly go out to the membership of the American Society of Naturalists from the ASN Executive Council

06.02.2025 16:28 — 👍 795    🔁 315    💬 35    📌 58

Rose-Tu’s baby met Auntie Shine and much trumpeting ensued 🐘💕🐘

07.02.2025 21:37 — 👍 1970    🔁 404    💬 45    📌 92

So cute!

16.01.2025 04:56 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Weekend vibes 😴

11.01.2025 15:55 — 👍 1592    🔁 240    💬 22    📌 15