alexwild

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

Ran an insect blacklight during the totality, with a control run the evening before. Got a ton of insects during both, but very different species. Fascinating. More later.

#Entomology #eclipse2024

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

Texas sky update.

alexwild, 2 months ago to climate

Study: butterfly species that overwinter as eggs are experiencing more climate-change related seasonal mismatch with the plants they feed on than other butterflies, and are declining faster.

#Butterflies #ClimateChange #Entomology #science

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.14543

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

“The Beekeeper” (2024)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-accused-unleashing-bees-deputies-serving-eviction-notice-massach-rcna53087

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

The iconic World of Insects calendar is now accepting submissions for next year’s edition.

#Entomology #Insects

https://entsoc.org/publications/world-insects-calendar

alexwild, 2 months ago to australia

A gallery of Australian ants, the animals that pretty much run the entire continent.

#Ants #Insects #australianwildlife #australia

https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Regional-Ant-Faunas/Australian-Ants

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

Once again, I note that Cancel Culture is real. Republican Party officials and activists continue to purge viewpoints they dislike from college campuses.

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/02/university-texas-austin-firings-dei-ban/

alexwild, 2 months ago to Texas

UT Austin bows to political pressure from white supremacist state senator Brandon Creighton and begins to purge staff involved in equity and diversity work.

#Texas #HigherEd #GOPExtremism #UTAustin #txlege

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/state/2024/04/02/texas-senate-bill-17-anti-dei-ut-fires-four-staff-related-positions-two-sources-confirm/73179902007/

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

Heterponera relicta, a poorly-known predatory ant from Queensland, Australia.

#Ants #australianwildlife #Insects

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

A queen rover ant, Brachymyrmex patagonicus, has a brief antennal conversation with a worker. Austin, Texas.

#Brachymyrmex #ants #insects #QueenAnts

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

The weather forecast in Austin during the April 8th eclipse is not looking great. Rain, thunderstorms.

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

Kind of amazing that Republican propaganda just needlessly killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, and it’s not even a campaign issue.

#uspol #covid

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/25/1189939229/covid-deaths-democrats-republicans-gap-study

alexwild, 2 months ago to nature

The highlight of my Easter was this amazing mimic that showed up in the yard. Spilomyia texana, the Texas hornet fly.

#Syrphidae #Insects #Nature

alexwild, 2 months ago to Texas

The always lovely Texas Redbud Borer beetle is not even slightly boring. It's visiting a spring buttercup. New photo from the new wildflower patch.

#Texas #Buprestidae #Insects

alexwild, 2 months ago to Texas

There will be first amendment lawsuits if students are expelled from public universities because they failed to show sufficient loyalty to a small foreign country on the other side of the planet.

Fuck Greg Abbott, Fuck Israel, and Fuck anyone who tries to hurt my students for daring to stand against an ongoing genocide.

#Texas #UTAustin #Gaza #FreeSpeech

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/texas-abbott-executive-order-antisemitism-universities/269-d9d438f5-a45f-4d9b-98ba-a63090893f81

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

Joe Lieberman was one of many rich Americans who used his status to make life harder for almost everyone else in the country.

His death is preceded by the preventable deaths of many he could have helped save, but didn’t, because doing so might make billionaires less wealthy.

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

Found this sleeping Nomada bee yesterday, clamped to a yaupon holly leaf. Those eyes!

#NativeBees #Bees #Insects

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

Few things betray the wasp ancestry of ants more than ant males. A gallery:

#Insects #Ants

https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Natural-History/Male-Ants

alexwild, 2 months ago to random

A silver lining of all the generative AI is that the spammy YouTube accounts that used to infringe my copyrights now just use crappy AI images.

alexwild, 2 months ago to Florida

More autocratic political interference in Florida, with faculty being investigated for sharing opinions about a ruling party-funded propaganda program.

#GOPFascism #Florida #HigherEd

https://www.chronicle.com/article/u-of-florida-investigates-whether-professors-interfered-with-western-civ-center