🦋 Roura 🦋 (@pterouras) · DIRTY

🦋 Roura 🦋

@pterouras

real butterfly | Learning lepidopteran raiser | aspiring entomologist | 🧡 @cekrophia.bsky.social 🧡 | they/them 🏳️‍⚧️, 20 (NSFW DNI) Pfp: @softysapphie.heartlodged.xyz, banner: cekrophia All photos are my own unless credited otherwise

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🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· 23d

I did find it!!! On the first night at the last field station! #bugsky #mothweek #nationalmothweek

A large moth on a branch with a hand to the left for scale. The moth has broad borders on the edges of its wings, with violet and black stained glass patterns on the inside of the wings. On the hindwings the brown bands transition to red, marked with small black eyespots located by the start of tails jutting out from the end of each wing.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· 24d

Kicking off National Moth Week posts with not one… but three Erinnyis sphinx moths; all from the same location! #bugsky #mothweek #nationalmothweek

A large sphinx moth resting on a hand. It is almost entirely a very light beige color, but its abdomen is mottled with black and its hindwings show hints of bright red encased in black borders. The edges of each forewing are also noticeably jagged.

Another sphinx moth resting on wood. This one has more variable colors, being mottled light and dark gray across most of the body. A thick black line runs down the middle of the head, which at the thorax splits into two lines that continue to run down the middle of each forewing. Like the previous moth edges of each forewing are softly jagged.

Yet another sphinx moth resting on a light trap. This one has much more of a black coloration on the outer halves of the forewings and down the head, with a smaller black line on the thorax as well. These black colors elsewhere blend into a mottled mix of light brown on the thorax, mized in with thin wavy black lines on the thorax. The abdomen is mostly a darker brown color. Like the previous two loths the edges of the forewing are distinctly jagged.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jul 13

The folks over at iNat really liked this tarantula… hopefully you guys will too ^^ #bugsky #inverts #tarantulas

A small tarantula crawling on the rim of a bug net, about half the size of the fingers to the right for reference. The tarantula itself is almost entirely black, with the notable exception of the opisthosoma being orange and lined with rows of black diamonds.

The same tarantula, but on a green leaf atop browner leaf litter. It is better illuminated in this photo, and each of the hairs that line its legs and opisthosoma have an orange tint to them.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jul 9

Been really busy lately, but I still want to start posting!! So here’s a really cool insect from my very first night! Arachnoscelis is one of the few rare carnivorous katydids, with shockingly vibrant colors ✨ #bugsky #insects #orthoptera

A strange katydid resting vertically on a plastic vial on a wooden surface. The katydid’s head and thorax are brown, but all of its legs are green and its abdomen is striped green, yellow, and red from top to bottom. This katydid’s forelegs are unusually long and are lined with long sharp spines on each side, hinting at its predatory nature.

The same katydid seen from the side. This view reveals the katydid’s exceptionally long head, almost resembling that of a mecopteran. From inside the plastic vial it still rests on, a blurry moth about the same size can be seen.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jul 2

Last post was a lie btw here’s a couple trap-jaw ants from this morning I should start using tags tbh…

An all-black ant pulling a large hollowed out seed with its notable mandibles. The ant has a relatively thin thorax and abdomen, but a wide head, complete with guillotine mandibles that in their current position pulling the seed are shaped like bunny ears.

Another trap-jaw ant nearby that isn’t pulling anything. It looks pretty much the same, but its mandibles are not being used and are wide-open, perpendicular to its body. It gives the impression of a walking bear trap.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jul 2

First insect observation in CR!!! I didn’t expect it to be an ichneumon wasp tbh… but it’s quite a pretty one regardless ^^

An ichneumon wasp with long antennae wandering away on some palm fronds. The wasp is mostly a bright orange color on its body and wings. The head and legs past the coxae however transition into a deep black color, and a similar transition can be seen on the posterior ends of the forewings, which fold over the back and hide the hindwings and abdomen.

The same ichneumon wasp, seen roughly from the side. From this angle its thorax and abdomen can be better seen. The abdomen is patterned the same way as the wings, being mostly bright orange and transitioning to black at the posterior end. In this photo the wasp is using its antennae to probe the palm fronds for prey.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jun 14

HAPPY WORLD SWALLOWTAIL DAY!!!! I LOVE SWALLOWTAILS!!! my favorite family in my favorite order of insects! It’s a fitting day to share these three spicebush swallowtail caterpillars I found yesterday - my own species hehe

A first instar swallowtail caterpillar sitting near the end of a leaf on the middle vein. It is a very light greenish brown with light yellow ends, and is miniscule in size albeit with little frame of reference in the photo.

A second instar caterpillar of the same species. It is hiding on the edge of a leaf folded in a taco shape, which has been unraveled by a thumb on the edge. This caterpillar is a little larger, and is more uniformly brown, but with symmetrical white markings on the middle and end of its body.

Another second instar caterpillar. It looks nearly the same as the caterpillar from the previous photo, and is hiding in a similarly taco-shaped leaf that has been unfolded by fingers.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jun 12

holding damselflies is funny (do be gentle with them though)

A light brown damselfly facing forward, suspended in the air with its wings being held by a pair of fingers. The light reflecting off her compound eyes appears to create the illusion of a shocked expeession with two pupils.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jun 2

I’m a little late but happy pride month!!!! Thought sharing one of the more colorful butterflies I’ve seen would be fitting hehe

A lycaenid butterfly with seemingly four legs resting on a knuckle, with blurry cycads in the background. It is primarily black-colored with many iridescent azure spots scattered across the ventral wings and body. The abdomen is a vivid orange, as is a small portion of the ventral wings closest to the abdomen.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· May 26

Unfortunately still not many bugs of note to share, it’s been raining for a while, but I did want to share this huge snapping turtle I saw in my neighborhood!

A large adult snapping turtle at the top of a grassy slope. Its crocodilian-like tail is curled close to the vaguely spiked, plated shell, which has a few long white streaks across it. The feet are hidden in the grass and the head is facing away from the camera, but only at an angle.

Close-up of the snapping turtle’s head. Its eye is staring back at the camera, and it holds more grass in its beaked mouth.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· May 17

last final is finally dealt with

A man in a purple coat holding a plastic bin and a massive amount of insects flying around him inside a classroom. Kids are running and screaming throughout and one kid in the front appears to be crying

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· May 1

Recently I got a camera to use to take photos of insects with!! Here’s my first photo ^^ I need to learn a lot more about it though to get better photos

A small ladybeetle resting on bark. The bark is pale gray with a large brown split to the right. The ladybeetle is almost completely black, with two conspicuous red spots on each elytron.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Apr 20

New bug from a while back… found under the bark of a rotting log :D

A beetle larva on the palm of a hand. It is similar in shape to an earwig and has similar light brown/dark red colors as well. It is vaguely worm-like in length, but has a caterpillar-like head with two short antennae poking out next to its bulky mandibles. Its legs are also quite short, but its earwig-like cerci are prominent.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Apr 4

Bugs may be coming out earlier than anticipated… here’s a winter firefly! The “winter” in its name tells you how cold it gets up here

A firefly resting on an arm with blurry greenery in the background. The firefly is almost completely black, save reddish-yellow outlines along the pronotum.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Mar 3

Trying to get back into art again… have the butterfly for now

An unshaded fullbody of a black anthropomorphic butterfly. They are a spicebush swallowtail with white markings on the body and white, blue, and orange markings on the wings. They have a beige shirt with a silhoette of a swallowtail on it and short jeans with frayed white ends.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jan 26

This was a bug I’ve always wanted to see; my first ever scorpion! It’s a pretty blurry photo, sorry, but if you look for the claws you should be able to make it out!

A blurry photo of a scorpion within scattered detritus and stones. The scorpion is a uniform light brown color and blends in well with the ground, but its shape can be made out in contrast to the white sticks littering the ground.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jan 14

According to wikipedia, the chemical compound 3-trans-caffeoyl-muco-quinic acid is important in the lifecyles of spicebush swallowtails like my bugsona. This is a subtle reference to the fact that I am trans

Extracted text: "In a recent study, 3-trans-caffeoyl-muco-quinic acid was found to be the substance that compelled spicebush swallowtails to lay their eggs on members of Lauraceae. However, 3-trans-caffeoyl-muco-quinic acid is a component of the extract from sassafras plants but not from spicebush, redbay or camphor tree, the other top three host plants of spicebush swallowtails. This substance is not-". The excerpt is cut off from there.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jan 14

More bugs!!! Here’s a silly grub

A beetle larva resting on the palm of a hand. It has a mostly white body, with orange head and legs. The posterior half of the body curves inwards and develops a gray sheen to it.

The same grub, but facing the opposite direction.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jan 10

Now here’s an interesting bug! Ironclad beetles are known for having some of the sturdiest exoskeletons of any insect. They’re so so cool in many ways: these photos show them playing dead!

An ironclad beetle resting in the palm of a hand. It has a wide thorax and long elytra. The color is mostly light black, with marbled white borders at the edges of the thorax and elytra.

The same beetle flipped upside down. It has the same uniformly black color, but is lined with light yellow stripes on its tergites and legs.

Three more beetles of the same species resting among woodchips and soil. They bear an overall very similar appearance to the first beetle.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jan 7

I bring new buge

A woolly bear caterpillar on multicolored pebbles. The caterpillar has almost uniformly black fuzz, but red spots run along its length

The same caterpillar crawling on a hand, revealing its length

The same caterpillar from a front view. The head is similarly black to the rest of the body.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Jan 2

Back from my trip finally… gonna start posting bugs I saw now, starting with these two butterflies! Happy new year!

A skipper butterfly perched on and surrounded by yellow grass. Its body is mostly very dark blue with white ringing the eyes; the wings are spread out, and are a base brown color with many white checker spots dotting the wings.

A sideview of a small sulphur butterfly resting amidst pebbles. The body and hind wings are a dark yellow from shadow discolorating, but the forewings are illuminated by the sun showing a brighter yellow color with blackish broad edges. The forewing is slightly clipped.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Dec 24

Got some time to post now that I’m on break… here’s a silly mantis from September :D

A large brown mantis facing at the camera, resting on a thumb. It is uniformly light brown, with pale green eyes. It is cleaning its right raptorial using its mouth.

The same mantis on the top of a hand. It faces away from the camera, offering a better look at its pleated, but still brown wings.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Dec 16

Explain your username:

A dark colored swallowtail butterfly on some bright purple flowers. The edges of its wings are lined with white spots and its hind wing has a turquoise cloud-like pattern.

A bright yellow swallowtail butterfly. A broad black stripe runs down its body. Along the anterior wing edges are several even broader black stripes, and at the posterior edges are black borders lined with blue and yellow spots.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Nov 12

Breaking my silence to share this summer fishfly I stumbled across :D I LOVE megalopterans and I’ve always wanted to see one in-person; it’s been dead for weeks in this spiderweb but I’m happy regardless

A large winged insect hanging from a spiderweb next to a window. The body is mostly varying shades of grey all over. The wings are exceptionally long with a pleated texture to them; one wing is hanging down perpendicular to the other wings and is damaged.

The same insect with a finger for size comparison. Its wing is a little over twice the length of a fingernail.

An angular view of the same insect. Its face is somewhat visible, revealing shiny grey damselfly-like eyes on the sides of the head, and an angular, boxy head shape.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Oct 18

Finally hit 500 observations on iNat though :D I should probably have more though, I’ve had this app for maybe four years now

A snippet of a screenshot from my inaturalist page (pterouras), having hit a milestone for 500 observations

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Sep 27

The functionality should be there I believe? Works for me, unless something’s acting up for you

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Sep 7

Lil dragonfly I caught,,,

A dragonfly held by the wings. The dragonfly is mostly a sickly brown color with deep red eyes and a partly gray abdomen. What can be seen of the wings is a vivid orange.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Sep 7

I love sharpshooters,,, they remind me of the local Graphocephala where I live

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Aug 30

Did some last minute bug catching,, noticed a scoliid wasp swarm and snagged a few!!!

A sideview of a scoliid wasp being held by its wings by a pair of fingers. The wasp is primarily black all over, with the exception of most of its abdomen, which is orange with a yellow spot. One of its antennae has been severed.

The same wasp but freed from the grip and crawling onto the finger. The now exposed wings are a dark blueish to dark orange, and the edges are very slightly tattered.

🦋 Roura 🦋@pterouras· Aug 24

I was demotivated to go for insects for a bit of this summer bc I had lost my special bug net, but I’ve got it back now!! Made a strong return by catching this cicada with it right away

A large cicada resting on a hand. It is mostly green, but has clear wings and a black thorax and abdomen. The boundary between the thorax and abdomen has two parallel white spots.