MaoCat

@maocat

(Fan)Artist & Cosplayer🧑🏼‍🎨 They/Them I speak EN, DE & some JP. WIPs & works: #MaoCatDraws #fanart #art #cosplay other interests: Animation / Manga / Games / #gardening 🌱 #flowerreport 🌸 #invertebrates 🐝 #DIY 🛠️ science/medicine 🔬

246 Following307 Followers6,644 Posts

Bluesky

amateur cosplay

Is this your profile?Claim it and maocat.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

MaoCat@maocat· 25d

Most of the violas are now starting to die down, but they’ve managed to attract this black & white hoverfly! #invertebrates #insect

A fly with very big eyes and a semi-long flat, white-striped body sits between the viola leaves. It hovered but is not the usual type of hoverfly I get to see here.

MaoCat@maocat· Jul 11

Shy carder bumble, I guess 😂 #carderbee #bumblebee #insect #invertebrates

Carderbee that is plopped into a yellow calibrachoa flower so much that only its wings, some of the fur and the legs that squeeze the flower bloom are visible. The red blooms of this mixed color flower pot were not of interest so there was little opportunity for another photo.

MaoCat@maocat· Jul 5

Ok, one more bumble peets train #bumblebee #invertebrates #bees #insects

A buff-tailed bumblebee sipping from a hot pink calibrachoa with its middle hind legs stretched all across the bloom and its head plopped into the center.

MaoCat@maocat· Jul 5

Since the heat wave hit Germany, I’ve caught 2 bugs like this in my kitchen, this one fell into a container that was meant to be a fly trap so it can only have fallen from the window sill. Or can it fly? It seems too small/too young to be a typical kitchen pest or is it. #BugID please #invertebrates

Dark beetle-type bug walking around in a transparent plastic container, failing to go up the walls. It is not very fast and seems too small to be the kitchen pest type that comes in this color. It doesn’t seem to try to fly. Sorry for the two dead fruit flies in the background, let’s say I left them for scale.

MaoCat@maocat· Jul 4

This is an older photo but it’s very LEG🦵 #CarpenterBee #invertebrates #bee

A big blue-black carpenter bee uses the tiny claws on its floofy legs to hold onto my insect screen’s net fabric and sun itself.

MaoCat@maocat· Jun 20

TinyMöth… #moth #invertebrates #insects #TeamMoth

A small beige and white patterned moth is chilling on the shady side of a metal balustrade, wings widely spread.

MaoCat@maocat· Jun 15

Probably same, though it is to say that the “true” Earth Bumble (aka buff-tailed bumblebee) has a cousin that tends to have lighter stripes, so it’s not always super clear whether you have a B. terrestris or a B. lucorum. This is literally a gene test problem though so we just say Earth Bumble here😂

Chart of bumblebee stripe layouts comparing Bombus terrestris, B. lucorum and B. hortorum, which all have white butts and yellow to golden brown stripes. The species B. terrestris has yellow to golden or dark brown stripes, the B. lucorum has yellow stripes but can in real life often overlap in shades with the first species. The B. hortorum stripes are more often yellow only, but the first yellow stripe reaches across between the sections of thorax and abdomen (the chest segment and the belly-to-butt segment). The other similar species only have their first stripe on the thorax segment.

MaoCat@maocat· Jun 15

Earth bumble (probably B. terrestris) with mighty pollen puff pantsies 🥰🐝 #bee #bumblebee #insect #invertebrates

Bumblebee with yellow stripes and white butt holding on to the blooming clusters of pink flowers on a shrub. It has very large golden pollen puffs on its hind legs.

MaoCat@maocat· May 28

Just a heads-up, this is misinfo. She’s been in contact with them for 3 years over them being unhappy with her usage of their logo design which is registered. She agreed not to use it. Guess what she’s still doing? Apparently she’s opted for a rival collab now too which forces them to enforce.

An excerpt from the plaintiff reading:
Patagonia tried to work with Pattie Gonia to avoid this outcome. In February 2022, when Hydroflask was discussing a collaboration with Pattie Gonia, Hydroflask contacted Patagonia to ensure Patagonia did not object to the proposed collaboration. The parties met and discussed restrictions on the use of "Pattie Gonia" to protect against confusion about the source of products or advocacy connected to Pattie Gonia. Pattie Gonia confirmed an understanding that she must refrain from selling PATTIE GONIA-branded products or using fonts or designs that copy, or are substantially similar to, Patagonia's logos.

MaoCat@maocat· May 23

WIP. Probably my most obscure crossover idea so far😂 Inspired by SalomeSomething’s «slug voice» #Pokemon #SilentHill2 #Gastrodon

Screenshot of my Clip Studio Paint canvas with references of the Pokemon Gastrodon (a sea slug that comes in pink and blue-green color variants) on the left and on the right a work in progress of Maria and James from Silent Hill 2 drawn as pink and blue-green Gastrodon, respectively.

MaoCat@maocat· May 20

Some Best of Bees, big and smol 🌺💜🐝 #WorldBeeDay #insect #bee #invertebrates

White-tailed earth bumblebee in side view on a sunflower with soft backlight. Its yellow stripes match the golden shades of the aging sunflower’s curled petals.

Big, blue-black carder bee feeding on a grape hyacinth cluster, with more clusters in the background. Blurry but not forgotten, a red-tailed bee (probably horned mason bee) sits in side view on another cluster to the left.

A small mason bee on softly lit grape hyacinths in the evening sun with lots of bokeh, giving the tiny guy some literal spotlight while sipping from a hyacinth bloom larger than its own head. Grape hyacinths have very small bell-shaped flowers in many rows, ideal to hold for bees of all sizes.

A tiny honey bee in a big, intense pink hibiscus flower bloom that is being backlit by sunlight. The center of hibiscus flowers sheds a lot of pollen which nicely sticks to the bees’ fur.

MaoCat@maocat· May 20

Happy #WorldBeeDay! 🐝 Don’t forget if you see a lethargic bee, many bees are peaceful and can be helped! Mason bees, carder bees & bumbles are very friendly. You can offer them a leaf to climb on and bring them to a fresh flower or offer watered down juice! It works! #insects #invertebrates #bee

A white-tailed bumblebee with somewhat scrungly yellow front stripe sits on a cluster of white flowers that my fingers are holding and sips nectar. I found the little gal on the sidewalk all tired, picked her up with a leaf and she crawled into my hand. I then brought her across the street to a cluster of flowering bushes. Trying out different flowers, I found the white ones were to her liking, so I picked one cluster, let her walk on it, and waited for her to sip herself back to strength so she could climb onto the bush by herself. Best is to place them a little high above ground so they have an easier flight later, some bees you pick up will already appreciate being lifted up and start off into the wind! It is unclear why bees get tired more often, but insecticides, larger distance between food sources and lack of shallow water to drink might be factors.

MaoCat@maocat· May 17

On the upside of much nicer window nesting animals, Mason Bee is onto bamboo number three. She didn’t like the other bamboo house so I gave it away to my neighbor. I’ll try to offer some more in a slightly smaller diameter, I’ve already bought materials. #insect #bee #invertebrates #bambooblebee

The little mason bee with her head in the lowest bamboo stick of three in a pan flute style bee house construction taped to my window frame. She initially tried to bring nest material inside the air vent slit halfway underneath, which was a bad choice because it leads inside my bedroom. So I made her an alternative that can be safely moved away once she is done laying and sealing off the eggs.

MaoCat@maocat· May 3

SUCCESS 😭💞🐝 #invertebrates #bambooblebee

The small mason bee is climbing out of the middle bamboo stick of the contraption I taped here yesterday. I had to add some more sellotape to make it sturdier, but otherwise it is identical to the picture in the previous post.

MaoCat@maocat· May 2

So, a neighbor had the same issue, but their bee ended up accepting a pre-made hotel in front of the window vent slit. I found one bamboo stick in the other house that wasn’t cleaned from marrow, so I did that, cut, & recycled it. Oh bee, please accept my humble offer🙏 #invertebrates #bambooblebee

Three bamboo sticks tied together and sellotaped to a white window frame. The air vent slit behind them is almost invisible now, but the opening of the bamboo sticks is roughly where the slit begins.

MaoCat@maocat· May 1

Waaait the pollen is actually on the belly, just like the mason bees do it. Possibly this is a different species of mason bee? They can probably smell that the others have a collective nest nearby. This is not a very good spot tho 😅

Small bee with bright yellow pollen on the underbelly crawling on my white window frame in direction of an air vent slit. The camera has to peek halfway behind a white flowerpot in order to focus this, so the angle is a bit funky.

MaoCat@maocat· Apr 19

The mason #bees are almost done with their bamboo nests, and the first smaller bumbles seem to be out and about. Today, I saw the first meadow #bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) on my flowers. Violas were their favorite. #invertebrates

A small-to-medium bumblebee sipping from a purple-and-white viola flower. It seems to be B. pratorum since it has two yellow stripes (one each behind the head and on the first segment of the abdomen) as well as a light orange butt.

MaoCat@maocat· Apr 15

They’re doing so good tho?? For having started them too late, I think most of them are on track for the soon-frost-free weather phase. It’s like they were going "Quick! Let’s surprise MaoCat when they come back from their weekend trip!" LOL #gardening 🍅🫑🌿

Left and right center/foreground: Tomato and bell pepper seedlings growing in small seedling containers and mini pots inside my kitchen trolley. Back right corner: Two clusters of basil, of which I had to repot one into the purple pot because it outgrew the paper seedling container already. When I took this photo, the UV lights were off, so they all have their natural fresh green shades. Most of them should move into pots soon, only a few are still too tiny.

MaoCat@maocat· Apr 11

We adopted a new friend! Plushie Korok with rattle, by @mausal.bsky.social !

MaoCat@maocat· Apr 5

Happy Bunny Day or whatever you may be celebrating! I’ve decided to make it Bee Weekend so while my mom was making her annual bunny-shaped carrot cake, I got to build bee muffins. #bees #invertebrates #baking

Close-up of a muffin tray with freshly baked muffins decorated like cartoon bees. The base top coat is a yellow sugar glaze, dark chocolate stripes and smiley faces are drawn on. The wings are round thin wafers cut into halves and then poked into the coating.

Another angle of the bee muffin tray, with each bee smiley face looking a little different. The chocolate was too runny but adding some Nutella and extra cocoa powder made it easier to work with.

MaoCat@maocat· Mar 23

I think we have a new bumble as of today. I’ve seen one nearby before, but not on my flowers: Bombus hortorum (garden #bumblebee)! It looks a lot like an earth bumble, but the yellow belt stripe is split across the thorax and abdomen. #invertebrates

Yellow and black striped bumblebee sipping from a purple and lilac viola. Barely visible is the light tail tip.

Same bumblebee, but on the neighboring flower. It has turned a bit to the side so that it is now clear that the tail tip is white, while the yellow stripes are 1) behind the head and 2) split across the beltline between thorax (chest segments) and abdomen (belly to tail segments).

MaoCat@maocat· Mar 21

Little Guy getting a snacc. #invertebrates #bees (male 'horned' mason bee, the males have floofy mohawks instead of horns though) Probably part of the #bambooblebee fam ?!

MaoCat@maocat· Mar 19

So while I’m here coding things, the female horned mason bees are starting to close off the first longer bamboo segments. That means there’s probably a complete row of egg compartments in there, alongside food for the larvae which will become new bees over fall/winter! #bambooblebee #invertebrates

MaoCat@maocat· Mar 14

Weather sucks again. Watch #bambooblebee groom in the sunlight! She recently closed that bamboo stick, hence seems to be done laying eggs into it. #invertebrates #masonbee

MaoCat@maocat· Mar 12

I analyzed some more photos from my camera and phone and found: my #bambooblebee is a pure mason bee! The larger bees just look a lot like bumbles (similar to the black carderbee, which also bumbles but isn’t a Bombus species). I found out because they behave like Megachilidae (pollen under thorax)

A red-tailed mason bee hanging kind of horizontally upside-down on a purple and orange viola while sipping from it. The orange and red shades almost match, very stylishly.

A bee butt inside a bamboo stick, with some yellow pollen tucked on the underside that shines through between the hind legs.

MaoCat@maocat· Mar 10

First the red-tailed #bumblebee s liked only the openings facing away from the POV, probably because it’s easier to fly away from and land onto, but they have now noticed that I put some more open segments on the other side as well and are checking them out. #bambooblebee #invertebrates

MaoCat@maocat· Mar 9

#Bumblebee bamboo hotel WIP. I’ll hang it up vertically first and see how they like it. Technically red-tails are mason bees so they can close gaps with self-made clay, but I don’t know what length/diameter is best, so I made a mix around what the trellis has that they already use. #bambooblebee

Different lengths of bamboo sticks lined up next to a Japan-style saw and a longer stick with half a cut and some saw dust.

A group of bamboo sticks being tied together with two very long floral wire pieces so that they line up like a pan flute. Next to that, two more rows of cut bamboo sticks and a roll with more floral wire (thin wire with green coating).

All the bamboo sticks tied together in descending length from left to right. In addition to the two wires near the ends, I’m adding another going from one end of the short sticks towards the middle of the long sticks, so that I can tie a V shape… it will look like a big M or zigzag wire pattern, so that the pieces hopefully shift less. I think I will also sand the edges a bit to help prevent bumblebee wing damage.

MaoCat@maocat· Mar 9

Please check if your hole of choice is occupied before entering. Multiple-bee teams may only move in one direction at a time to avoid traffic jams. All bamboo lanes are one-way. #invertebrates #bumblebee

A red-tailed bumblebee coming out of a hole in a house wall. It probably used to be a hole for mounting a shelf, which has been banned now for damaging the insulation.

Red-tailed bumblebee with big yellow pollen panties landing on a bamboo stick opening.

A bumbleebee is looking out from the opening of a bamboo stick while another comes flying into the frame from the bottom left. Sorry for the blur if it bothers you, they are very fast!

Red-tailed bumblebee preparing for take-off from the end of a bamboo stick. It just climbed out of there from storing pollen puffs, but it still has some yellow dust on its fur.

MaoCat@maocat· Mar 8

The direction in which to order things (pollen, bumble butt) has to be very important! It keeps coming out, turning, and going back in, be it backwards and forwards or vice versa. I don’t know what that does, but it’s extremely cute 😂 #invertebrates #bumblebee

MaoCat@maocat· Mar 7

OMG hi!?! I uh… hope it’s cozy in there!