#pennata

[inatungulates]

Guanaco Lama guanicoe

With lesser rhea Rhea pennata

Observed by dmitrydubikovskiy, CC BY-NC

[fullfrontalbirds]

Lesser Rhea (Rhea pennata)

© Felipe Sepulveda muñoz

[otus-scops]

Melanargia galathea / Le Demi-Deuil, sur Stipa pennata / Cheveux d'Anges.

Causse Méjean, France.

Le 07 juillet 2023.

[vrgssmncht]

MEDITERRANEAN CONEHEAD MANTIS OR EMPUSA PENNATA FOR DAY TWO LETS GOOOO

[critter-captures]

Darwin's rhea (Rhea pennata), family Rheidae

Also known as the lesser rhea, it is the smaller of the two species of rhea. Together they are the only extant species within their family.

Avifauna, taken July 2024

[straight-up-killing-it]

I have a new home screen and I really like it so I’m posting it here

Look at her she’s so beautiful

[noodle-necks]

Lesser Rhea (Rhea pennata)

© Steven Hopp

[pulsethebabyoctopus]

[mutant-distraction]

Conehead praying mantis (Empusa pennata), photo taken by Marta Albareda.

[tenth-sentence]

It was cooked and eaten before my memory returned.

"Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World, 1832-36" - Charles Darwin

[onenicebugperday]

Mediterranean conehead mantis, Empusa pennata, Empusidae

Photographed in France by Bernard DuPont

[herpsandbirds]

Any praying mantis, perhaps?

I have a few mantises for you...

Giant Devil’s Flower Mantis (Idolomantis diabolica), family Empusidae, found in Eastern Africa

photograph by Igor Siwanowic

Orchid Mantis (Hymenopus coronatus), family Hymenopodidae, found in SE Asia

photograph by @sipinkara

Conehead Mantis (Empusa pennata), family Empusidae, Spain

photograph by Marta Albareda (@malbafont_macrophotography)

Chinese Shield Mantis (Asiadodis yunnanensis), family Mantidae, from Yunnan, China, above a Tropical Shield Mantis (Choeradodis rhomboidea), family Mantidae, from Perú

photograph via: mantisparadise

Red-and-yellow Slender Flower Mantis (Toxodera integrifolia), female, family Toxoderidae, Malaysia

Photograph by Chien C Lee

Asian Ant Mantis (Odontomantis planiceps), family Hymenopodidae, Malaysia

Ant mimic.

Max. length of up to 2 cm.

photograph by Juliette Lee

[razehider]

this is Empusa pennata, a mediterranean conehead mantis, and i've wanted to see one since i was eight years old. she wasn't happy about being removed from her hiding spot, my camera, or my general existence, which made photos a little complicated, but the real deterrent was the fact that for a really long time all i could do was stand there speechless

this has been my #1 local lifer for as long as i've had a concept of "animal i really wanna see one day". now that i've finally found one i dunno what my next goal could possibly be. maybe a dodo. maybe another conehead that looks exactly like this, why not. i miss her already

(September 1st, 2024)

[noseysilverfox]

Neckera pennata (lat. Neckera pennata). A rare moss that grows on the trunks of deciduous trees, the roots of fallen spruces, and in the shadowy crevices of rocks. It stands out from other mosses with its flat, curved shape and wavy leaves.

If you come across this moss, it is very likely that you are in an ancient, untouched forest—an essential habitat for rare and endangered species of plants, animals, and fungi. 🌱

Неккера перистая (лат. Neckera pennata). Редкий мох, произрастающий на стволах лиственных деревьев, корнях поваленных елей, в тенистых расщелинах скал. Отличается от других мхов плоской изогнутой формой и волнистыми листьями.

Если вам встретился данный мох, вполне вероятно, вы находитесь в старом девственном лесу, который является важной средой обитания для редких и исчезающих видов растений, животных и грибов🌱

[humansbgone]

At long last, the final mantis model is DONE! That makes all three! This guy also required a special eye rig, but luckily that turned out to be much simpler than Bicoris's. Unfortunately, he also required a lot of bespoke modeling edits on top of that, especially on his head. It was a pain to get his color scheme right, too! Not to mention all the work on his antennae.

This is Empusa, a conehead mantis (species Empusa pennata)! Finally, we see a male mantis. He takes on a lot of jobs in Mantis Swarm, with "beleaguered schoolteacher" among them. If he doesn't, who will? Mother Sophodra has enough on her plate, that's for sure.

Now that Empusa's done, I've been taking a bit of a break from modeling to get some other things done, both HBG and otherwise. For instance, I've done my most thorough outline of future episodes yet! At this rate, finishing the series will only take me...twelve more years. Hoo boy.

You might have also seen that I put out a second episode compilation last Saturday! First compilation I left out Gregorsa's Notes because I thought it would be too big a chunk of notes at once, and I figured people would go and check out notes in the individual episodes if Gregorsa gave them a nudge. Now, I know better.

Only a little modeling remains for now, on a minor character model and on a minor background asset. I might try to finish those over the weekend. Otherwise, I might just take a break from modeling for now and finish them when the staging calls for it.

Because yes, next week we finally begin on STAGING! Hopefully I can get this done in two weeks. After that, I'll take a week and aim to get what backgrounds done that Claire and I can manage. Then, all of November will be devoted to animation! A week or two of December to finish up the rest, and then it should be ready for a release that month. Festive! Until next time!

[homunculus-argument]

Not a bug, but apparently Finland also has glowing cave moss called Aarnisammal (Schistostega pennata). I saw an info sign about it in Helvetinjärvi (National Park in Ruovesi).

Saddly, it isn't bioluminescence. The moss has just optimized its light collecting and reflects usuless wavelenghts back towards the source which gives the moss "a greenish-gold glow".

It seems that the English name for it is goblin gold.

Ooh yeah, that's something I have heard of. In the name, the word aarni is a very, very archaic old word for treasure of some sort. It's only met in combination with other words, such as aarnituli - a will-o'-the-wisp that hovers above buried treasures as a magical marker of the place. The word "tuli" is simply "fire", so aarnituli is simply to the mythical treasure what a torch is for human settlement.

And fascinatingly enough, the word aarni is also part in aarnikotka - gryphon, combining aarni with kotka, eagle. Finnish folklore does not naturally have griffins of any kind, so whoever needed to come up with a finnish name for the heraldic symbol considered it more necessary to clarify that this beast is an eagle-like creature that guards treasures, not that the ass end of it is a lion.

To clarify for the english-speakers present, in aarnisammal, the latter word of the name just means "moss", any kind of moss. So much like aarnituli is "a fire that marks the location of some great, supernatural treasure", aarnisammal is "a moss that grows somewhere around (the same kind of) great, supernatural treasure". So back in the day, people saw something in the woods that glows in the darkness in ways that nothing naturally should (as far as they understood), and made the educated guess "whatever that is must belong to the world of ghouls and unnatural spirits, and while it's alluring, I should probably not fuck with it."

Also as a bonus translation about the name of the national park: "Helvetinjärvi" literally just translates to "Lake of Hell." Like the christian Hell.