Mothmothmoth

So… a bunch of North America is literally on fire but how cute is this orange legged furrow bee I found snacking on my cilantro flowers 🧪

I think these are both goldenrod crab spiders with different colors. The white&pink guy is clearly hanging out near white&pink flowers. So can spiders change color to camouflage?Are there different morphs that find flowers to match their coloring?Does that imply each spider knows what color it is??🧪

"Science AI product is really good, actually" find employees and stockholders of company that makes AI product. 🧪 Peer reviewed by scientists who are founders/ equity holders in other companies selling AI for science. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Look at this fantastic goldenrod crab spider that decided to hitch a ride on my backpack

Plant and/or fungi experts - what on earth is this?? Spotted on Vancouver island in second growth forest. Had similar vibes as ghost pipe but obviously that’s not what it is 🧪

Om nom nom

A weird pet peeve about the deadliest animals: Mosquitoes themselves kill 0 people; the 760k deaths are from mosquito-borne disease. But the 600k attributed to humans is only violent deaths. Human-borne germs (HIV,TB,flu,Covid) kill millions per year, so humans are far & away the deadliest animal🧪🦠

I have to say it does seem like it used to be a bit easier to get published in Nature 🧪 This study has an N of 1, that 1 subject is also the author, AND he remains anonymous - "for reasons which may be self-evident." Amazing.

Whoever was in charge of naming birds really needed to get a grip 🧪

Tiny bug fren (blue green sharpshooter)🧪 Why are they called sharpshooters? Because they fling pee droplets away from themselves at high speeds using a special structure called an anal stylus. Do they carry some (plant) diseases? Sure. But so does a toddler and we still keep them around so

I just love flies pretending to be big scary wasps Happy #invertfest to all who celebrate 🧪

Is it still #invertfest? Got lucky enough to see these fun oak treehopper nymphs. Does anyone know why they evolved into little spiky Mondrian-looking dudes? 🧪

Was having a relatively productive day but then my iPhone macro lens arrived and now it is BUG TIME. This lil friend is a silver spotted tiger moth. They’re native to BC and as caterpillars, they mostly eat conifers (idk how you eat something that hard/spiky when you are basically a tube of goo?) 🧪

The year is 2026. Finally, one newspaper is bold enough to ask the question on everyone’s minds: Are women people? 🤦‍♀️

It’s the first lizard of spring!! As the weather warms up, common wall lizards are emerging from brumation to bask in the sun. I know they’re an introduced species but I still find them delightful. And imho they’re generally doing less damage than humans soooo 🧪

If you are interested in learning more about them may I suggest the excellently-titled paper “Splash and grab: Biomechanics of peridiole ejection and function of the funicular cord in bird's nest fungi” which also has some great slow mo videos

Sooooo the horrors persist but fortunately so do the woods. Look at this teeny tiny birds nest fungus I found this weekend. The “eggs” are peridioles - little capsules of spores - that get launched out of the cup when they are hit by a raindrop 🧪🍄

These birds eat poop, but only sometimes. Why? Poop-eating, or coprophagy, is super common in the animal world, but it's not well understood in birds. Researchers in Germany documented 1422 "excretion events" in alpine choughs (a member of the crow family) & found major seasonal differences 🧪

Guys I think I finally figured out what the finance bros have been talking about all these years

We've all heard the "rule" that evolution favors promiscuous males and choosy females. But not always! Researchers found that in black coucals (pic below, since I'd never heard of them!) females had steeper Bateman gradients than males i.e. a greater fitness gain for each additional mating partner🧪

Disco slugs (for science!) This sea slug steals chloroplasts from the algae it eats, making it one of the few animals that can do photosynthesis. But what kind of relationship does the slug have with these organelles stolen from a different kingdom of life? 🦑🧪

Researchers gave the mousetopia subjects tiny puzzles they could solve for treats (video below!!). About 1/4 of the mice were innovators, i.e. they repeatedly solved the puzzles. Then they tested whether female mice prefered innovator or non-innovator males and found...females didn't seem to care

Hey can any rodent folks tell me why this rat appears to be waiting to be let into my house?? He’s been there for at least half an hour & doesn’t seem to be eating anything, just hanging out. Seems like weird behavior for a rat?? 🧪🦊

Big news about the Toronto Subway Deer! Dug up in 1976 Torontoceros hypogaeus is a prehistoric cervid known only from 1 incomplete specimen. Originally classified as a caribou relative, ancient DNA analysis now suggests it belongs to the genus Odocoileus which includes mule deer & white-tailed deer🧪

Artificial light at night (ALAN) can be bad for bugs - Pacific field crickets exposed to ALAN during development laid fewer eggs & produced fewer viable sperm as adults. But why? Like us, insects have natural rhythms of melatonin production, which can be disrupted by light. 🧪🪲

Researchers change the locations of spider mite "bathrooms," shedding light on important aspects of social evolution.🧪🪲 It seems logical that having a designated place to poop is a key part of group living, from invertebrates to humans. But it can be tricky to demonstrate this empirically.

Browsing through some aquatic ecology papers (as one does) & the authors casually toss in the term "crayfish plague." As someone with a strong (unhealthy?) interest in weird diseases I had to learn more. Apparently, crayfish around the world* are getting absolutely obliterated by this pathogen🧪🦠

This is an Eastern Cape giant cycad. This specimen at Kew Gardens is the world's oldest potted plant* & it is older than the United States. I found this oddly comforting? Certain systems seem deeply entrenched & unchangeable but in reality there are houseplants that have been around longer.🧪🌿