alexwild

alexwild, 1 year ago to space

I personally don't find this acceptable.

#SpaceX #Biodiversity

https://futurism.com/wildlife-starship-explosion

alexwild, 1 year ago to random

Not terribly impressed with SpaceX's wanton destruction of south Texas's coastal habitats.

alexwild, 1 year ago to science

This was always my favorite speculation on why insects are attracted to porch lights- that they accidentally spiral in while trying to maintain level flight relative to the sky- and now there’s some empirical support.

#Insects #Entomology #Science

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2369508-we-finally-know-why-insects-are-attracted-to-lights/

alexwild, 1 year ago to random

The bluest known bioluminescense of any insect is produced by larvae of a predatory keroplatid gnat, Orfelia fultoni, which lure flying insects to a sticky silk trap. Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA.

#Bioluminescence #Keroplatidae #Diptera

Close-up photograph showing a glowing blue worm in green moss.

alexwild, 1 year ago to random

Content mills are a never ending source of fail-related taxonomic humor.

Did they read their own article? No. No, they did not.

(These are weaver ants, whose ancestors diverged from those of fire ants 100 million years ago)

#Ants #TaxonomyFail

alexwild, 1 year ago to science

Mammals: 6400 species
Fish: 34000 species
Insects: 5000000+ species

The sheer scale of insect diversity is such that you’ll never run out of marvels and delightful oddities, even if you see 100 new ones per day for the rest of your life.

This is a stalk-eyed fly from South Africa.

#Biology #Insects #Diptera

alexwild, 1 year ago to random

One wonders if the scale insects get nervous when one of their neighbors suddenly collapses into a bloom of zombie fungus.

#Ophiocordyceps #Fungus #ScaleInsects #Death

alexwild, 1 year ago to punk

This is an assassin bug, and it is so metal.

#punk #reduviidae #insects