I just wish the world was twice as big...

Yeah hi I'm Andrew from astronomy-to-zoology. I'm a self proclaimed naturalist, birder, amphipod taxonomist, and lover of invertebrates. This blog will be filled with stupid stuff about animals, amphipods, and other stupid things I find...

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[khake-deactivated20200615]

A comic I made last December! 

Rekindle, Part 1 / 2

Part 2 here

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Feeding time!

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It SNOWED in MISSISSIPPI!!! It ended up being the heaviest snow since the 1880s! Anyway I saw a lot of people making videos of their dogs experiencing snow for the first time so this happened

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I love that snails can cringe so hard their entire face disappears

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Get Ready: Can You Handle This Grouse Marathon?

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a handy diagram for your office or classroom

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Alex Wild is the Curator of Entomology at the University of Texas, and has been photographing insects since 2002. 📷: http://ift.tt/S9ib5X #science #museum #sad #sciencealert http://ift.tt/2iofH7l

[typhlonectes]

Munnopsid isopods are often found walking along the abyssal plain.

These “Daddy Long Legs” of the deep have long walking legs and antennae making them well-suited for this habitat, but they can also swim by paddling their legs.

This species, Paropsurus giganteus, can get quite large. Lasers mounted on the ROV’s camera housing (the red dots you see) measure 29 centimeters (11.4 inches). This species lives deep on the seafloor, over 3,000 meters, but there are other species of munnopsids that live in the water column with feathery legs that are well adapted for pelagic life.

Munnopsids are a type of crustacean, in a totally different class than the sea spiders (Pycnogonids) with which you may be more familiar. Learn about this and other munnopsid isopods at our Deep-Sea Guide: http://ow.ly/n1OT30gJEMh

via: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)

[typhlonectes]

Lavender Burrowing Crayfish, Fallicambarus byersi, SE United States

photograph by Dick Bartlett

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Conical Spined Sea Star (Echinaster sentus)

Saint Mark’s NWR, Wakulla County, Florida

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Please look at this species of roly poly isopod people are calling the “rubber ducky” isopod.

[acryptozoo]

My 1st manuscript was published today!

After a couple months in editorial purgatory, my manuscript was finally published today! It describes a new spring-endemic species of Gammarus from Texas and includes an illustrated key to the genus in North America. The first comprehensive key ever made for North American species! 

I can officially call myself a taxonomist now! I have a couple other manuscripts in the works right now, here’s to their hopeful publication as well! 

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Nutritional Shake-Up: The FDA Now Recommends That Americans Eat A Bowl Of 200 Eggs On Their 30th Birthday And Then Never Eat Any Eggs Again

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Possible Game-Changer: ESPN Has Been Cryptically Advertising An Event It’s Calling ‘Horse Eruption’ All Week

Okay ESPN addicts, get ready for what might just be the sports event to end all sports, because the network’s upcoming special broadcast might be poised to shake up the entire world of professional athletics: ESPN has been cryptically advertising an event it’s calling “Horse Eruption” all week.

If you consider yourself a sports fan, you probably won’t want to miss whatever Horse Eruption is!

Throughout the past week, ESPN has been aggressively promoting the mysterious event during commercial breaks on all of its channels and on enormous billboards across the country, only offering scant hints as to what viewers can expect when they tune in or what exact role horses will be playing in said Horse Eruption. According to the ads, which are filmed in night vision and set to droning didgeridoo music, the event will be broadcast live from “an as yet-to-be-determined quarry and also Hawaii” at 3:24 a.m. on Tuesday.

Read more

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[typhlonectes]

More Than 70 New Species of Water Mites Discovered via DNA and Color Markings 

Acarologist Ray Fisher, Ph.D., recently published a monograph describing more than 70 new species of mites in the genus Torrenticola. Fisher discovered that many color markings can provide highly useful characters for identifying and delimiting species…

Read more: Entomology Today

image originally published in Fisher et al., Zookeys, September 2017