apsciencebydan

[apsciencebydan]

Slightly misshapen fungus heart ♥️

[apsciencebydan]

Sisterhood of the Traveling Ants

or

Lesbiants

(I'm sorry)

[apsciencebydan]

Aphytis sp. nugget wasp, carved from living Mango

[apsciencebydan]

Brown lacewing 🤎

Accurate common name.

[apsciencebydan]

Such a Good Boy 🥹

Young Hamataliwa helia lynx being a perfect lump on the boardwalk this evening 🤎

[apsciencebydan]

Seems like a good use of a scorpion's discarded exoskeleton, they ain't using them no more.

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Isa textula, the crowned slug moth. Munchipede. 💚

Found roaming wire fence, far from snacks. Moved it to snacks. It seemed happy with the move.

[apsciencebydan]

For your consideration: Floof Lump considering you

(Hamataliwa grisea 🩶)

[apsciencebydan]

Bolas spider lass orders a vibrator, and it's a life-sized male bolas spider model

[apsciencebydan]

Related: some bolas spider males emerge from the egg sac with their siblings, AS MATURE ADULTS? Grown-ass men with jobs and everything??

This is not normal spider development 😍

Ok 2025, this is a quality start! Was not expecting to see an adult bolas spider this time of year 😍

She's barely alive, might be at the end of her life, or caught by the recent freeze (they're usually deceased by winter). Sleep well, lovely Lump. 🤎

I've only seen 3 bolas spiders ever.

Mastophora sp

[apsciencebydan]

She's just a little an't ♥️

Synemosyna formica lass

[apsciencebydan]

Ok 2025, this is a quality start! Was not expecting to see an adult bolas spider this time of year 😍

She's barely alive, might be at the end of her life, or caught by the recent freeze (they're usually deceased by winter). Sleep well, lovely Lump. 🤎

I've only seen 3 bolas spiders ever.

Mastophora sp

[apsciencebydan]

Horsefly boy in flight, very buzzy 🤎

[apsciencebydan]

The many same faces of Mr Angry Brows (Pelegrina galathea) over the years 😠🤎

[apsciencebydan]

Day 31 of my 2024 favorites: Polyergus oligergus!

I learned of this rare Amazon ant after finding their cousins in 2022 via the gynandromorph: this species kidnaps Formica archboldi (known, accurately, as the skull-collecting ants). Happened to witness a raid, then found their nest!

This was definitely a bucket list encounter! Polyergus longicornis raids the nests of Formica dolosa to acquire a worker class for themselves, while Polyergus oligergus raids Formica archboldi (which collect the heads of trap-jaw ants, for reasons). Just a lot going on with these two.

I'd never have found them if not for the luck of encountering a late afternoon raid, and carefully following the raiders back through the brush ~30 yds away to their inconspicuous nest in a clump of wiregrass.

[apsciencebydan]

Day 30 of my 2024 favorites: BLUE

I'd been aware of Sphodros abboti (one of our local mygalomorph species) for a few years, and that the males looked like this, but seeing one for myself was a bucket list event. This boy absolutely did not disappoint 💙

Now that's America's Ass:

[apsciencebydan]

Found an old nondescript ring in the lot of the park where I originally found the new Ophiocordyceps zombie fungus species; cleaned it up, removed the "gem" from it, and replaced it with a zombie ant encased in resin. Obvious upgrade.

A zombie ant as I find them in the wild, for reference: