#pentadactyla

[drafthearse]

White Plume Moth ♂ - Dorsal side

[daily-xenarthra-posting]

Chinese Pangolin, unknown photographer, (source)

[podartists]

The Five-Toed Manis, Manis pentadactyla

[mahamayax]

Piórolotek pięciopiór / śnieżynka (Pterophorus pentadactyla, Aciptilia pentadactyla)

[solveigparks]

Может быть дело было в падающем свете, может быть в том, что Гарри никогда не смотрел на Малфоя сверху вниз под таким углом. Может быть дело в медленном движении век и обжигающе холодном взгляде. Гарри не мог понять, почему его так пробрало, когда он заметил, что у слизеринца белые ресницы. Он растерялся и забыл, что хотел сказать.

Фанфик Pterophorus pentadactyla

[darkcatblacksoul]

Art for Russian-speaking Hollow Knight Ask. The Hollow Knight in the form of a pterophorus pentadactyla.

Art from 2022.

[randomanimaloftheday]

Day 7#: Chinese Pangolin

Today's animal of the day is the Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla)!

Photo credit: Mako Pisces

This species of pangolin is native to the forests of southern China and northeast India as well as parts of Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. These shy animals are primarily nocturnal and are rarely seen due to their secretive nature.

Photo credit: Awoto Awomi

Pangolins are the only type of mammal with scales, which are made out of keratin and help to protect them from predators. When threatened, pangolins will roll up into a ball, which helps shield the pangolin's sensitive parts and can also cause predators to cut themselves on the sharp edges of their scales. Unlike the giant and ground pangolins in Africa, the Chinese pangolin is mostly arboreal and uses its sharp claws and prehensile tail to climb trees. Their claws also help them dig for ants and termites to eat, which make up the vast majority of their diet. Like anteaters, they slurp up insects using their long sticky tongues, and then because they don't have any teeth, they swallow small stones to help grind up the food inside of their stomachs.

Photo credit: Chuanshan-Shun on iNaturalist

Sadly, the Chinese pangolin is listed as critically endangered due to overhunting by poachers who sell their scales to be used in traditional Chinese folk medicine. Despite claims that these scales can cure all sorts of maladies, such as asthma and even cancer, these scales are made out of the same thing that human fingernails are made of (keratin) and possess no medicinal properties.

Photo credit: adachao on iNaturalist

While laws have been put in place to protect pangolins from poachers, pangolins are still considered to be one of the most heavily trafficked animals in the world. One of the ways conservationists are working to protect pangolins is to educate people about them in order to discourage people from buying or selling medicine made from pangolin scales.

Photo credit: Firdia Lisnawati

When pangolins get too stressed they can die, which makes it very hard for pangolins rescued from wildlife traffickers to be rehabilitated and released back into the wild, though it's not impossible. This also makes it hard to keep pangolins in zoos, so there's a very small captive breeding population. However, the Chinese pangolin is one of the few species that, according to my research, has been kept in zoos with some success. The only other two species of pangolins in zoos that I could find any information on are the Sunda pangolin and the white-bellied pangolin.

[bug-befriender]

Plume Moths, the bugs that went bird-mode

Moths are already the best things that ever happened, but when I found out that plume moths existed, my heart melted. As you can probably guess, plume moths don't have actual feathers, but the structure of their wings very closely resembles bird feathers. Only a few plume moths have the common butterfly wings most moths have

The species you can see in the picture above is called white plume moth (Pterophorus pentadactyla) and can be found all over europe and parts of north africa and iran. It has been my goal to photograph this specific species ever since I found out about plume moths last summer, so maybe this year will be the year!

Until then, take this picture of the also very cute Emmelina monodactyla that looks like a very wide T

[earhartsease]

asking for a friend - can anyone identify this little beauty? seen in Wales

update: identified :)

[nikofortuna]

JTTW Chapter 73 Thoughts

Chapter 73 for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group!

Honestly you cannot blame the daoist for getting angry. In fact he is quite noble for that after having heard one of the monks potentially having tried to assault the spider ladies, which are his friends no less. Anyone with a little care in their heart would be rightfully pissed.

However he also does not act hastily, but goes to make sure it is the right individuals first. Another point for the daoist!

Pangolin! Specifically a Chinese Pangolin or Manis pentadactyla.

Here are some obligatory cute pangolin pictures!

And a reminder that they are critically endangered. This is due to habitat loss as with most animals, but also heavily due to illegal poaching for their meat, which is considered a delicacy in some countries, and their scales, which are used in traditional medicine to no scientifically proven effect.

The backstab from the daoist is so good narratively in the way that it depicts the guy as a bad and selfish person.

Okay, so how do many legs translate into many eyes? Well, I could see the beams probably being what is really meant to translate into the legs, but I would have made the “eyes” just many holes instead and not just on two ribs but along all of his ribs to make it a little more close to an actual centipede.

Also I would have made the poison consist of a couple of refined types of insect venom instead including centipede and spider to really bring out the relationship to the spider women and foreshadow the daoist’s true identity more.

Those are mostly nitpicks though and no real issues.

[covenawhite66]

Pangolins are the most trafficked animal in the world, according to the outlet, which noted 23.5 tonnes (nearly 26 tons) of pangolins and their body parts were bought and sold in 2021 and that one million pangolins have been poached in the last 10 years. The giant ground pangolin is endangered.

The giant ground pangolin reemerged in Kenya in 2018, the first time the scaly creature had been spotted in 47 years.

Asian pangolins:

Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) – Critically Endangered

Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) – Critically Endangered

Palawan pangolin (Manis culionensis) – Critically Endangered

Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) – Endangered

African pangolins:

White-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) – Endangered

Giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) – Endangered

Ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) – Vulnerable

Black-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla) – Vulnerable

[mysticmothworld]

for noooooo reason at all; if you wanted to make a hollow knight-esque moth king character, what would be your top picks of moths to base the character on and why?

I haven't played hollow knight yet, so I did some research. The moth characters' colour scheme is mostly neutral with some pops of colour. There's a lot of emphasis on shape, so my first thought was a plume moth, maybe Pterophorus pentadactyla?

image credit: Didier Descouens

But why stop at a plume moth? What about a many-plumed moth? Like Alucita phricodes?

image credit: Edward Meyrick

I also think some sort of metalmark moth would be cool: a lot of metalmark moths are jumping spider mimics and have fake eyes at the ends of their wings. These marks aren't recognizable as eyes irl, but could be exaggerated in the character design.

Also: they have evil eyes!! just look at this devious fella

image credit: Abhijith A.p.c on researchgate

Gracillariidae moths are also very shapey, specifically when their wings are spread out. This unID'd one reminds me of hollow knight a lot, especially the way its legs are held under it.

^it's copyrighted so I linked it

The Golden Clearwing is especially beautiful, and also very eldritch looking which I think suits the purposes of hollow knight.

Warreniplema fumicosta has a Shape.

Lastly, Atkinsonia clerodendronella. Spiky legs!!

^this was the nicest picture I could find but it's copyrighted so I linked it

[arthistoryanimalia]

For #WorldPangolinDay:

Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla)

from the Wellesley Albums, painted in Bengal by a local artist, c. 1798-1805

British Library NHD 32/24

[mahamayax]

piórolotek pięciopiór

[grantimatter]

Science Art: Pterophorus pentadactyla MHNT, by Didier Descouens - https://guildofscientifictroubadours.com/2025/06/02/science-art-pterophorus-pentadactyla-mhnt-by-didier-descouens/ This is an image of a white plume moth, a photograph taken of a specimen in the Muséum de Toulouse in August of 2011. The moths really look like this in life, too. But this one was on display in a museum. The photo was taken as part of Projet Phoebus, a push by the museum to get photographs of all of its collection on Wikimedia Commons. I think 10 years ago, we were as a planet less cynical about the potential of the internet as a repository of knowledge and a site of shared projects. I'm glad this one existed, or exists, still. Stark and monochromatic. White wings spread wide.

[alienworlds]

White Plume Moth (Pterophorus pentadactyla)