Evelyndroid's Aperture Science

[apsciencebylyn]

Any artists who like creating creatures and need inspiration from time to time, please feel free to peruse my bugs! I would be delighted.

For the record, encyrtid wasps are perfect creatures, and you may not have heard of them, because they're tiny, and wasps. But LOOK 🖤

Encyrtids are important biocontrol agents, pretty much always tiny (biggest one I've found is a few millimeters long), and the most ridiculous, goofy, gorgeous, harmless things. I will get people to love them.

[apsciencebylyn]

Anole Sex

Jerry, you put 'anal sex' here; these are lizards--green anoles--having sex; they're not having anal sex

...

Yes, they have a cloaca & you might say all lizard sex is anal sex, but that's not the point, Jerry

If we had two crocodiles having sex, you'd call that anole sex as well?

...

Idiot

[apsciencebylyn]

Large An't performing Ant for a passing ant 🤎

(Sarinda hentzi, ant mimic jumping spider)

[apsciencebylyn]

Large An't performing Ant for a passing ant 🤎

(Sarinda hentzi, ant mimic jumping spider)

[apsciencebylyn]

Guy for whom two antennae aren't adequate to find the number of ladies required for all the love he has to give

(Argidae sawfly)

[apsciencebylyn]

I'm contractually obligated to regularly post this picture of the smallest known jumping spider species in the world (Neonella camillae) on the head of a pin; so, here we are.

[humanbyweight]

I've been stuck indoors with the flu all week, but on the plus side I've now contributed over 80,000 IDs for other users on iNaturalist. (most not this week lol)

Go outside, take some photos of bugs, upload them to iNat, and @ me if you want help with identifications!

iNaturalist

iNaturalist is a social network for naturalists! Record your observations of plants and animals, share them with friends and researchers, an

[apsciencebylyn]

Ya girl just expanded the known range of the world's smallest salticid (Neonella camillae, aka the Smol-ticid) by a couple 100 miles by finding this little guy here in Jacksonville - in a place I've spent hundreds of hours looking for tiny creatures?? 😍

I have no idea how I missed them there, beyond the fact that I wasn't expecting them to be there, and they're SO DAMN SMOL (~1.5mm full grown). I have over 140k pictures taken at this site, in nearly 5 years. Previously they were only known from central Florida (Titusville, Lake Wales Ridge area, etc) to the Keys, so Jacksonville is quite a jump!

[apsciencebylyn]

She ordered the Bug Bowl at the local ramen joint

(young Phidippus with a stinkbug nymph of some kind)

[apsciencebylyn]

Oh yeah, now it's Spring 👀

(Big-headed fly sex. Real Acrobatic Stuff)

[apsciencebylyn]

Little Lord Sauron the Salticid

(Maevia inclemens lad, spiky crown morph)

[apsciencebylyn]

Just a very normal paper wasp (with Grabby Hands) 👀

I did not know that the brown wasp mantidfly (Climaciella brunnea), which mimics Polistes paper wasps, can come in various morphs to mimic different species within Polistes (thanks @humanbyweight) - possibly P. metricus here! 😍

Just solid creature design

[apsciencebylyn]

I made Scorp Dice! For my game-loving younger brother's birthday. Very pleased with how they turned out.

(no scorpions were harmed in the creation of these, I carefully poke through pine bark to find their old molted exoskeletons)

[apsciencebylyn]

I made Scorp Dice! For my game-loving younger brother's birthday. Very pleased with how they turned out.

(no scorpions were harmed in the creation of these, I carefully poke through pine bark to find their old molted exoskeletons)

[apsciencebylyn]

Throwback to the time This Thing appeared 👀 (giant mayfly, from 2021)

[apsciencebylyn]

Baby grizzled mantis, anyone? 🤍

[apsciencebylyn]

*clack-clack of tiny teef*

PERILAMPUS 😍 I hadn't seen one of these stunning blue nuggets in like 3+ years. Perfect, perfect creature. 💙

(they're parasitoids of parasitoids, and so damn cool enough on that merit, but also they can look like this)