A black bee with a few light yellow markings- vertical mark visible on lower left side of face, irregular light patch on side of thorax, hand on rear tibia- on goldenrod florets.

After a cold rainy week, a few #bees back on the remaining flowers today. This is a female masked bee, I think Hylaeus mesillae, on Solidago. Masked bees are not good pollinators because they carry pollen internally instead of on body hairs.
#inverts #bugsky #macrophotography #nativeplants

A trending newe phrase hath societye at sixes and sevens

OK this one has a better Halloween vibe I think. Toxomerus boscii, thin-lined calligrapher. #flyfriday #flyday #insects #macrophotography #bugsky

Sticker with a peach reading “I’m a Georgia Voter” on a shirt front.

Halloween is last day for early voting in Georgia. mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/advanced-v... for locations in your county.

Fly with big dark red eyes, dark scutum, yellow scutellum, yellow and black pattern on abdomen on a small white flower.

#flyfriday Halloween edition. Eristalis transversa, transverse-banded flower fly. #flyday #insects #macrophotography #bugsky

Bulbous bright orange spider with a little tangle of silk coming out of her belly. Small head, yellow and black banded legs are held in close.

Happy Halloween! Marbled orbweaver Araneus marmoreus, aka pumpkin spider to wrap up #arachtober. From 11/2021.

#inverts #macrophotography #bugsky

Top view of an orbweaver spider with a fuzzy abdomen, brown with a white inverted cross pattern, legs are dark with white bands towards extremities and red bands on femurs.

Neoscona domiciliorum, Red-femured Spotted Orbweaver from 9/22 for #Arachtober 30.

#inverts #macrophotography

Open letter from many #Emory faculty re the firing of a med school colleague. We asked that only tenured faculty who are citizens sign it. Many people worked hard on our Open Expression Policy, only to have it violated at least 3x in less than 3 yrs.

www.emorywheel.com/article/2025...

Could’ve gone with hyperkinase?

I need to get some more bricks to appease not the HOA but the family members who put up with native plantings as long as they look “intentional”.

I Know Exactly What They Are Doing Rural foresight

I hear people all around me saying, “They are going to crash the economy. Surely they don’t mean to crash the economy.”

I beg to differ. This is curated failure.

jesspiper.substack.com/p/i-know-exa...

US citizen, 67, ‘has six ribs broken’ by Border Patrol agents, his running club says The incident unfolded Saturday in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood, where residents say federal agents disrupted a children’s Halloween parade

"According to his running club, the man, who is a U.S. citizen, was returning from a team run when agents pulled him out of his vehicle, tackled him to the ground and kneeled on top of him, allegedly breaking six ribs and causing internal bleeding"

The data center industry is growing faster in GA than in any other state—and WE’RE SUBSIDIZING IT!

For the 1st time in YEARS, Georgians have a chance to say NO MORE!

Vote for Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard in the Public Service Commission Election!

Early voting through 🎃
Election Day 11/4

YouTube video by American Red Cross A Bloody Nightmare

youtu.be/PxpdgHjZXl8?...

My thoughts are with the people of Jamaica today.

Whoosh I missed that reference, thanks for clarifying.

I think I see that- my initials!

The Spirograph engineer who turned his back on weapons for toys Denys Fisher was running a company making weapon components when he had his Eureka moment.

Denys Fisher, the Leeds-born pacifist weapons engineer who changed toys for good. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Markings on spider looks kind of like Napoleon from behind- big wide Napoleon hat shape, underneath is a neck and wide shoulders (epaulettes?), short arms and waist.

Ok I feel silly, didn’t realize why it’s a napoleon spider and had to look it up. See alt text. It’s a crab spider in the same genus as the black-banded crab spider, which I have seen in Georgia, but the Napoleon can grow much bigger I think.

Gato gordo branco com manchas cinzas sentado todo troncho sobre um puff marrom de frente pra foto olhando pra foto com uma patinha de trás pra cima

Eu tenho uma pergunta

Spider with bulbous abdomen, black and white splotches against red background, rear legs white with dark bands, dark front legs splayed and ready to grab an unsuspecting insect, head dark with a bunch of little eyes. At the base of a yellow flower.

For #Arachtober 27 a Napoleon spider, Synema globosum. Siena, Italy, June 2023.

#inverts #macrophotography

M exilis is a close cousin to the leafcutter bees but its branch of Megachile (subgenus Chelostomoides, the Nearctic Resin Bees) uses plant resin rather than leaf material to build its nests.

Mostly black bee with white hairs on face and fringes of thorax, glassy almond-shaped eyes on a small white daisy-like flower.

Side view of black bee with irregularly shaped and slightly recurved abdomen, thin white hair bands, white fringes on thorax and rear legs, and red protrusions on front leg.

Still a few #bees out around me, but wasn’t expecting to find Megachile exilis. He was fast but paused long enough for a view of his distinctive red bulging foreleg.

#insects #macrophotography

The energy we need is this suburban dad standing out in the street -- barefoot with Blackhawks pajama pants on -- screaming at the masked goons to get the fuck out of their neighborhood.

Spider upside down in its web. Legs are whitish with brown bands, folded close to the body. Abdomen is bulbous and irregularly shaped, light brown with mottled black markings. Head mostly obscured by legs.

For #arachtober 25th, a Colorful Comb-footed spider (genus Parasteatoda) from March 2020.

#inverts #bugsky #macrophotography

He should have gone with the Academy of Music

Side view of a spider with short brindle fuzz, longer spines visible on rear legs, on a brown leaf. One side eye and one forward facing eye are visible.

For #arachtober 24th a thin-legged wolf spider (genus Pardosa), at least according to a helpful #iNaturalist expert. Bugguide says these have nearly perpendicular spines on their legs, so I guess that checks out! From November ‘22.

#inverts #bugsky #macrophotography

Georgia election board member accepted anonymous donations linked to ‘election integrity’ movement Exclusive: funds are being raised for Janice Johnston, vice-chair of the state election board, for her defense in lawsuit over open-records laws

People in the "election integrity" orbit are chattering about how this is a "hit piece" while complaining about points that I actually made in the story.

They won't actually talk to me directly, because they're afraid I will quote them accurately, by name.

He’s a cool guy!

Side view of fly nectaring on small white and yellow aster. Fly has long thin orange legs, wide dark bands on dorsal side of a yellow abdomen, bronze scutum, yellow scutellum, large red eyes, a fringe of white and gold hairs around eyes and on face, short brown antennae.

Happy #flyday! from this past weekend, when I saw more Syrphus hoverflies in one place than I can ever remember seeing. Many many of these (I think this is Syrphus rectus, yellow-legged hoverfly) and a few other syrphids visiting late asters.
#flyfriday #insects #macrophotography