Thomas Shahan

Microstylum morosum or the "Giant Prairie Robber Fly" living up to their name - what a HUGE fly! 🫡

NE Oklahoma, iphone video (wish it would've locked the color balance while filming!)

Portrait of a fancy globular springtail from a hunt yesterday morning - Ptenothrix marmorata!

NE OK, in situ, Fuji xt3 + Laowa 25mm @ 5x f/5.6(?), diffused flash, handheld stack of 12 shots (w/ gaps!), stacked in Zerene Stacker, cropped in Photoshop...

Sesiidae, the "Clearwing Moth" family, might be one of my favorite lep families

I've only seen 5 species so far, but they've all been BEAUTIFUL👏

1 Euryphrissa sp, Colombia
2 Synanthedon scitula, Oklahoma
3 Synanthedon chrysidipennis, Montana
4 Vitacea scepsiformis, Oklahoma

Check out "Revision of the comose flame moths of the genus Sosxetra Walker (Noctuidae, Dyopsinae), with descriptions of a new genus and three new species" (Martinez et al., 2026) zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1382...

These fluffy pink moths were a highlight of the Belize BugShot workshops 💗

...some portaits to prove they're not turds 🫡

Exema (beetle)
Publilia (treehopper)
Bolbonota (treehopper)
Beata (jumping spider)

💩🥬this is why I can't pass up little turds on leaves - they could be frass mimics! 😰

mating Exema sp "warty leaf beetles", Oklahoma
Publilia reticulata treehopper, OK
Bolbonota sp treehoppers, Costa Rica
Beata sp jumping spider, Peru

...a few more to illustrate the morphological diversity of staphyliniform beetles 🤩

🐜ant-like stone beetle, Scydmaenus, under log, Oklahoma
🫓flipped Eurylister carolinus, a flattened hister beetle, OK
✨sleek scaphidiine "Shining Fungus Beetle", OK
🤏TINY Ptinella sp feather-winged beetle, OK

some beautiful rove beetles for your Monday!

🤎Mycetoporine on grass, Oklahoma
💙brilliant metallic blue Plochionocerus sp, Ecuador
🖤coupled Stenus alacer in small creek, Oklahoma
🌈unbelievable Phanolinus sp, cloud forest, Ecuador

Transform Your Macro Skills: Insect Photography Workshop with Top Experts — BugShot Join Clay Bolt, Danae Wolfe, and John Abbott at Black Rock Forest for a 4-day macro workshop. Photograph butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, and more through hands-on field sessions, black lighting, ex...

Registration is open for this year’s domestic BugShot macro photography workshop. I’ve attended a bunch of them, (both domestic and international versions) and have enjoyed every one. The instructors are awesome and I’ve made many friends among fellow attendees. www.bugshot.net/bugshot-new-...

🙏📯a few non-spider arachnid orders🎺 🙇

Amblypygi - (w/ young!) feeding on a cricket, in cave, Belize
Solifugae - under rock(?), Anza-Borrego, California
Pseudoscorpiones - forest floor, Oklahoma
Schizomida - under log, forest floor, Costa Rica

found these moth people I drew back in 2022 while searching an old hard drive for hoverfly videos🙏

the people NEED roach pix 😤

Pseudomops septentrionalis "Pale-bordered Field Cockroach", Oklahoma
Balta notulata "Small-spotted Cockroach", Oahu
Panchlorinae, Tambopata, Peru
Paratropes, Tambopata, Peru

Synemosyna formica, an ant-mimicking jumping spider waves around his first pair of legs on a green leaf

Myrmecium, an ant-mimicking corinnid spider with antenniform forelegs, peru

ant-like jumping spider feeding on a springtail, costa rica

Brasema leucothysana, a Eupelmid parasitic wasp that looks like an ant (to me at least) on lichen, oklahoma

it’s amazing how diverse ants are 🙇🐜

YouTube video by Thomas Shahan Macro Photography in COLOMBIA - Ep 2: SPIDERS, Flies, Orthopterans and more!

Enjoy a lovely walk through a Colombian mountain-top forest with @tshahan.bsky.social! We suggest watching the whole video (youtu.be/sgGlXNOct9I?...), but if you want to skip to the flies 🪰 you can click here: youtu.be/sgGlXNOct9I?...

Amazing!

my modest collection of flies with WIDE heads 🙇

a hammer-headed Richardia (Ecuador),
a stalk-eyed Chaetodiopsis (Mozambique),
a pointy-eyed Ophthalmoptera (Colombia),
and an antlered Richardia (Colombia)

why though? male-male competition? sexual selection? chime-in if you know!

Been having good luck finding Symphylans recently! Here are some scolopendrellid close-ups - maybe in the genus Symphylella?

Those white spots behind the antennae are Tömösváry organs: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_o...

mileage rolled to this just as I parked for a bird-hike this morning 🫡

A collection of handsome tortoise beetles (Cassidinae) 🐢🪲

1 Ischnocodia annulus "Ringed Tortoise Beetle", Belize, 2015
2 Aspidimorpha sp golden tortoise beetle, Mozambique, 2018
3 unknown metallic green tortoise beetle, Colombia, 2023
4 Deloyala guttata "Mottled Tortoise Beetle", Oklahoma, 2020

🪲some fine tortoise beetles found during the Colombia trip:

1 HOT red Spaethiella sublaevis
2 unknown metallic green cassidine
3 wonderfully smooth blue n bream Imatidium thoracicum

(PS sorry about not posting more here - can barely make myself post to twitter - and keep forgetting about bsky)

For all the Diabrotica fans out there - 4 species I've seen in this large genus of leaf beetles :

1 Diabrotica limitata, Colombia
2 Diabrotica sp(?), Colombia
3 Diabrotica trifasciata, Costa Rica
4 Diabrotica undecimpunctata, the "Spotted Cucumber Beetle", a major agricultural pest 🤩, Oklahoma, USA

a lateral view

and some screenshots of things I'm only noticing since Frans Janssens' passing - him cropping/labeling some images I uploaded to Bugguide (for him to see since he wasn't on iNat) for his website collembola.org 😭

went springtail hunting this morning after a rainy night. Here's a portrait of a beautiful yellow "short-legged springtail" of the family Neaunuridae. Note the "pointed mouthcone" as Frans would always point out 😭

ooh! iNat shows I've observed 100 bird species so far in 2025 🥳 some exciting moments:

1 American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) on thistle - Oklahoma
2 Potoo (Nyctibius sp), cryptic on a broken branch - Costa Rica
3 Barred Owl (Strix varia) looking back in my yard - OK
4 RWBB (Agelaius phoeniceus) -OK

2025, in snake portraits:

1 Lampropeltis holbrooki "Speckled Kingsnake"✨ - Oklahoma

2 Pantherophis obsoletus "Western Ratsnake"🐀 - Oklahoma

3 Bothriechis nigroadspersus "Central American Eyelash-Viper"🐍 - Costa Rica

4 Thamnophis proximus "Western Ribbon Snake"🎀 - Oklahoma

🧡 a few late season butters enjoying the backyard a couple of weeks ago - Burnsius, Euptoieta, Anthanassa, Phyciodes 🤎

Some local (NE Oklahoma) symphylans to illustrate a difference between the two families -

Scolopendrellidae has sharp pointed tergites (pics 1 and 2)

...while Scutigerellidae has more rounded/lobed tergites (pics 3 and 4)

intimidating stare of a female Platycryptus undatus 🙇

#arachtober #jumpingspiders #salticidae

in situ, fuji, laowa 65mm

It’s not #arachtober without Phidippus mystaceus 😮‍💨

Was lucky enough to photograph some super handsome P mystaceus males on a recent trip to Texas! Scanning fences and railing beneath trees paid off!

in situ, fuji, laowa 65mm

Thanks Marshal!! 🫡

🍊Video's up! Here's 15 minutes of Paraphidippus aurantius footage, thoughts, and questions: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRByaUcKSgU

featuring courtship behavior, silk production, possible mate-guarding, cannibalism and more!
#arachtober