#EVOlution

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Moss-and-Lichen Katydid: these katydids are covered in cryptic markings and textures that allow them to blend in with their mossy, lichen-covered habitat, and their wings even mimic the appearance of a twig

The katydids of this genus (Anaphidna) can be found in the rainforests of Central and South America. They have cryptic features that mimic the mossy, lichen-covered environments in which they live -- their bodies are covered in green, brown, and white markings that are accented by bumpy, moss-like features, and their long, slender wings are usually held upward at a 45-degree angle in order to mimic the shape of a twig.

As this article notes:

These katydids fly well and probably live in the canopy, perhaps on trunks and mossy branches, where the camouflage should be particularly effective.

The moss-and-lichen mimic katydids of the group treated here are easily recognized by their long and slender wings held upward at an almost 45-degree angle. They live in rainforests of central and northern South America, with one species ranging southward to subtropical forest in NE Argentina.

Sources & More Info:

Journal of Orthoptera Research: The Group Paraphidniae, with Three New Species from Guatemala and Ecuador

iNaturalist: Genus Anaphidna

Zoosystematica Rossica: Review of the Neotropical Genus Paraphidnia

Orthoptera Species File: Anaphidna

[kafkasapartment]

"If we continue to accumulate only power and not wisdom, we will surely destroy ourselves. Our very existence in that distant time requires that we will have changed our institutions and ourselves. How can I dare to guess about humans in the far future?

It is, I think, only a matter of natural selection. If we become even slightly more violent, shortsighted, ignorant, and selfish than we are now, almost certainly we will have no futüre." ~ Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.

[katborg82]

Dinovember days 1-30!! Thank you for hosting, @1dinodaily, I had so much fun participating! I feel like I've learned so much in such a short time. Stay tuned for more paleoart!!!

[sleepysaurus4]

Okay so.. since cetaceans are technically ungulates, wouldn't that mean that if your world has both mermaids AND centaurs they likely inherited their chimerism from a common ancestor?

And if you went back in time like 55 million years you would find those cursed hybrids of early ungulates and proto-primates which then evolved into all those magical creatures??

[cumberbatchedandproud]

@eremin0109 Their relationship line reminds me of a dance. Something aggressively tenderly passionate, like Argentine tango. Mathematically verified symmetry of movements and fiery emotions. @rcmclachlan #i don't like touching other people's hands to i don't want to let you go speedrun

Dongsik's 90-degree bow to Juwon in the first episode always left such an impression on me. Here's a little compilation as their relationship evolves.

[cricket-moth]

the fact that martyn’s power is listening is crazy but ALSO JIMMY’S BEING AN UNSEEN WATCHER?? WHAT THE HELLLLLL

[olive-ridley]

All roads lead to Rome, all lineages evolve to CRAB 🦀🦀

[druid-for-hire]

[image id: a four-page comic. it is titled "immortality” after the poem by clare harner (more popularly known as “do not stand at my grave and weep”). the first page shows paleontologists digging up fossils at a dig. it reads, “do not stand at my grave and weep. i am not there. i do not sleep.” page two features several prehistoric creatures living in the wild. not featured but notable, each have modern descendants: horses, cetaceans, horsetail plants, and crocodilians. it reads, “i am a thousand winds that blow. i am the diamond glints on snow. i am the sunlight on ripened grain. i am the gentle autumn rain.” the third page shows archaeopteryx in the treetops and the skies, then a modern museum-goer reading the placard on a fossil display. it reads, “when you awaken in the morning’s hush, i am the swift uplifting rush, of quiet birds in circled flight. i am the soft stars that shine at night. do not stand at my grave and cry.” the fourth page shows a chicken in a field. it reads, “i am not there. i did not die” / end id]

a comic i made in about 15 hours for my school’s comic anthology. the theme was “evolution”

[cosmicportal]

Authenticity is synonymous of enlightenment.

[theartofmadeline]

i promise i wouldn't blame you

[samimarkart]

Grounded Flight

2024, decolorant screenprint on quilted cotton

[casualcarpetshark]

BOW DOWN TO THE ANCIENT ONE

[prokopetz]

If you've seen trivia posts going around, may have seen ones about the baculum, a bone in the penis whose purpose is to help support erections which is present in most placental mammals, including non-human apes, but which is conspicuously absent in humans.

Those posts typically don't go into why this is the case, which is fair enough, since the question is far from settled. However, there are a lot of hypotheses about it, and some of them are pretty fucking wild.

I think my personal favourite is the recently proposed idea that, since soft tissue injuries tend to heal more rapidly and completely than broken bones, a flexible and resilient boneless penis constitutes a reproductive advantage in situations where genital trauma is common, possibly as a result of the development of upright posture rendering the penis more prone to blunt encounters.

Like, imagine humanity's proto-hominid ancestors going "actually, bipedalism is great" and promptly getting whacked in the ding so much that it exerted evolutionary pressure on the morphology of the penis.

[katborg82]

Dinovember day 28!! @1dinodaily I hope my fellow Americans enjoyed eating their dinosaurs today!

Just kidding here's the actual Dinovember day 28. Happy thanksgiving!!

[scentedwonderlandpoetry]

Further new discoveries have been made on my theory.