Arthropods - Blog Posts

I was bored in class

I hate moth.

Image IDs: all of the images are photographs of the same subject matter, which is a close-up of a very small saptha beryllitis moth on even smaller bright pink and white flowers. The moth is cone-shaped, with its head being the point. It has two long, thin antennae that are all black except for one white stripe near the top of each. Its eyes are comically large compared to the rest of its head. Only 4 of its legs are visible, which are black with 3 white stripes on their lower sections. Its wings are iridescent green/teal on top, followed by an iridescent black/gold stripe, a stripe of teal, then two thin pink stripes, then the bottom half is all iridescent black/gold. It’s so tiny you can see all the little scales that make up its wings. The background is mostly just green, likely the out-of-focus leaves of the plant.

ID1: the moth balancing poorly on one of the flowers, it’s thin, barely visible pink proboscis curving into the flower. One of its legs is blurred in movement. It’s photographed from the top.

ID2: the moth balancing much better on one of the flowers. This one is also photographed from the top.

ID3: a photo of the moth from the side and further back than the others. To the right of it there is some sort of bee or wasp also feeding on the same plant. It is mostly dull yellow and black, with alternating neon green and black stripes on its abdomen.

ID4: a photo of the moth from the side, also balancing on a flower but with its antennae touching the flower.

ID5: a photo of the moth from the front. It’s sitting on some flower buds while feeding from an open flower. Its antennae are slightly out of focus and blurred with movement.

/End IDs

Image ID: a close-up picture of a spider. It’s looking up at the person taking the photo with its head tilted. It’s mostly mottled brown with two iridescent green patches on the front of its head. It has 4 round eyes, with the center pair being larger than the outer two. You can kind of see a silhouette of a person in the reflection of its eyes. It has little tufts of hair all of its body, with two larger tufts on either side of its head. Frankly, it’s adorable. /End ID

Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax)

March 27, 2023

Southeastern Pennsylvania

I'd like this a lot

glimpse into my beautiful imaginary world where arthropods are really big and we domesticated them

edit: people are starting to say some "my worst nightmare" or "eeeww no that one is yucky and scary" comments on this like they do on any bug post and id like to say. it's fine if you don't like bugs it's fine if you're scared of bugs but don't put that on MY post clearly talking about how much i like them and how cute i think they are. you can make your own damn post about how much you hate wasps or spiders or whatever. i'm blocking people who make these kinds of comments.

Okay, for anyone interested in the science here, I have a few clarifications.

First, early fossils of land plants date to around 433 million years ago, during the Silurian period, not to the Precambrian (defined as before around 540 million years ago).

Second, Tiktaalik was not the first land animal; it is known for being the earliest/one of the earliest vertebrates to walk on land, but arthropods got there first. Early centipedes and millipedes ventured out of the water relatively soon after the plants (around 425 million years ago, also during the Silurian), while Tiktaalik evolved around 375 million years ago, during the Devonian period.

can you imagine plants on land in the precambrian like aw fuck yeah fish cant even eat us anymore this owns and then tictilak shows up

I ❤️ vermin

I ❤️ pests

May little creatures’ lives be blest.

This. This is what got me into insects and other “bugs” as a small child. I was (and still am) an animal lover and they were the animals that were right there in my backyard and easy enough for a child to catch and play with. They are such cute little creatures 🪲🐜🦋🦗🐛

everyone should try to get into bugs because they fulfill all your primal needs to get Way Too Close to wildlife and hold and pet wild creatures

When you start recognizing bugs as friendly and cute little Guys, your world opens up so much.

They're easy to obtain. Do you want isopods? Just put a piece of cardboard on the ground and you will have isopods. There's a straight-up CLOUD of bees, wasps, butterflies, and flies around my Swamp Milkweed. Planting any native flower will make you so many friends. Better yet, do nothing—any somewhat overgrown area is habitat. I was hacking down some of the grasses in the Weed Area in our back yard yesterday (the non-native chicory is overpopulated and the native perennials are getting swallowed up by a Crap Ton of non-native grass) and found a enormous katydid.

I am feeling such awe and wonder over how tame and unbothered insects are in front of humans. Lots of them you can catch and hold in your hands and they will just be like oop oh well this is strange sorry to bother you and fly away.

They are so beautiful too! The COLORS. Electric blue! Iridescent green! Bright red! Every metallic shade! Rainbow! Our yard is full of dragonflies now and they've got to be one of the world's most elegant creatures.