I don't think that sawfly, likely Allantus viennensis is resting in a comfortable position. In fact, it reminds me of bugs infected by zombie fungus, which I think should be rather referred to as an entomopathogenic fungus. I will keep monitoring. Fungi are having the time of their lives this season, just ask my apples... #biodiversity#insects#parasites#inthegarden
Researchers said the study is the 1st to look at [how] the…variety of #environmental problems can compound #disease risks. It combined hundreds of studies & thousands of observations of …— #humans & other mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, worms & arthropods — & all kinds of #pathogens, such as #viruses, #bacteria & #fungi.
The analysis reinforced…findings…: a hotter world of ravaged #ecosystems is one that is more hospitable to many #parasites, & less so to humans & other #life.
I remember folks in the web community shunning me when I first started speaking out against Big Tech – because I was criticising their friends who worked at Google, Facebook, etc. – saying I was exaggerating things.
I wonder what the same folks think now given what we know about these very same corporations; given a number of them are actively enabling a genocide.
Am I still an alarmist?
(I understand if some of you are too busy working at one or debating the minutiae of CSS syntax to reply.)
The bee parasites are out en force. Blood bees, nomad bees, and worst of all, the bee body snatchers: conopid flies. It’s tough to be a busy bee minding your own business…
Seafood Products Association was getting ready to dispose of stored cans of seafood (salmon) that it had store for years. Before doing so, it decided to ask the University of Washington if it wanted stacks of dusty boxes of long-expired canned salmon. Researchers were able to recover parasites and reconstruct how infection burden that has changed over the course of 42 years in four salmon species and their effect on #marine mammal infection. #water#parasites#oceanhealthhttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/decades-old-cans-of-salmon-reveal-changes-in-ocean-health/
The larvae of these flies are all internal parasites, "most of aculeate (stinging) Hymenoptera. Adult females aggressively intercept their hosts in flight to deposit eggs." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conopidae
Interested in #honey#bee health? Come do a #PhD in our group in University College Dublin on 'Protecting Irish bees through field trials and genomics-informed strategies'
Primarily supervised by Dr Julia Jones in the School of Biology and Environmental Science, in collaboration with Drs Dara Stanley and Nicholas Brereton
1/2 We (re)rediscovered Manica parasitica in the Sierra Nevada. Originally, this ant species was thought to be a free-loading parasite that uses the nests and brood care of its host Manica bradleyi for its own survival.
Instead, "Manica parasitica" is tapeworm-infested Manica bradleyi.
2/2 We also confirmed the observation made by the Wheelers back in the '60s that Manica parasitica is really "shaky". Maybe this is an "adaptive manipulation" by the parasite?
Ant biologists thought the small, strangely-shaped Manica parasitica from the Sierra Nevada was a social parasite of another ant species, but the truth is even stranger.