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Sunflower and honeybee 🌻🐝
A ladybug’s meal
Bumblebee and bleeding hearts
Anise swallowtail butterfly spreading and test-flapping its newly grown wings
A dead leaf which is actually a butterfly
Kallima inachus
do you have any reading recs for someone who wants to learn about bugs?
Oh absolutely! There are so many lovely popular science entomology books. I'll name a few, but there are tons more for specific bugs you might be interested in if you search around! I've got four in mind that I've read that I think provide some nice variety.
Buzz, Sting, Bite by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson
I so enjoyed this book. It's not about any specific insect, but it's a delightful tour of a bunch of cool adaptations and the like in the arthropod world. I think it'd be a good choice if you're new to the whole thing as it's fun, light, and has lots of different groups represented. I learned about a wild interaction between ground-nesting bees and blister beetles from this one that I ended up making a little video on.
Never Home Alone by Rob Dunn
I love the household ecosystem! This book isn't just arthropods — it also covers bacteria and other organisms you might find in your home. But it's so neat! And tonally it's refreshing because it doesn't attempt to scare you about what's in your house. Rather, it invites you to engage with your fellow home inhabitants.
Honeybee Democracy by Thomas D. Seeley
This is such an interesting deep dive into honey bee behavior. I think a lot of people know bees are smart but don't quite realize how complex their social behavior gets. I also am charmed by any book that includes a chapter on incorporating another animal's behavior as a lesson to our own human society (the last chapter is basically "what can we learn from the voting system of honey bees?", an adorable thought).
The Sting of the Wild by Justin O. Schmidt
The Schmidt pain scale is a bit infamous. Dr. Schmidt made a whole collection of insects sting him, and rated them on a scale based on the pain he felt. With descriptions like "someone has fired a staple into your cheek," it's definitely not the most objective, but it is a good time. And following his journey getting stung by everything (including his grad students that followed in his footsteps in some very funny ways) is entertaining.
"I Have Committed Many Crimes But My Worst One Of All Was Being Small"
wow ive actually posted art? unbelievable!
check out la speedpainte here
Was looking through some old files and found a comic I drew while high…
THE BADASS BUG BRACKET
ROUND 2, BRACKET 7
Devil's Flower Mantis (Idolomantis diabolica) vs Synagris Proserpina
Devil's Flower Mantis propaganda: Looks cool as hell overall but especially SICK with it's threat display! Also its about 10-13 cm long (3.9-5.1 inches), so its a pretty damn big bug!!! Look up more pics of them they always look sick as hell
Synagris Proserpina propaganda: Is this wasp a total nobody? no common name, not even a wikipedia page, just a few images on inaturalist and the sort? yes! but tell me it doesnt look AWESOME. it looks like a LITTLE DEVIL. it literally looks like a cartoon demon to me its the devil from the bible. i dont know anything about it as a species, but i am enamored and delighted by its shapes. plus, those huge horns are unique to its genus, so its special little dude. when have you seen a wasp with horns before? NEVER I BET.