#army ants

[art-of-mtg]

Army Ants (Visions) - Geofrey Darrow & I. Rabarot

More cards with art by Geofrey Darrow on Scryfall

More cards with art by I. Rabarot on Scryfall

[pnkzero]

Fun entomology fact of the day! 2/9

Not all ant species build nests. A group of about 200 species known as army ants have two phases of their life: nomad and stationary. During the colony's nomad phase, the ants travel all day, attacking other colonies and insects they encounter for food. At night, they build a temporary nest and keep moving the next morning. The only time they stop traveling is during the stationary phase when the queen lays eggs and the colony waits for them to hatch. During this time, the worker ants make a nest out of their own bodies to protect the queen, the food, and the eggs.

[r-l02]

Door ants for @martyparty23 I thought it'd be cool to put the two different evolution of door head ant i knew of face to face ! One of my favorite ant sketch since I started. Army ant for ... A bunch of people ! A Major scaring of other ants that were threatening her sister ! I know some of you wanted a queen Army ant, maybe I'll get around to do it one day !

I was gone for a bit because classes started again, but also because I was putting too much pressure on me to do those ant charadesign that I really wanted to do. So I choose to only sketch them because I don't really like adding colors, this way they're out, they're done !

[brokearcade]

picked up a lot of vintage goodness today!

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Maria Sibylla Merian

Maria Sibylla Merian is a German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator from the 17th century.

Maria Sibylla Merian’s journey to Suriname in 1699 was, by any measure, an extraordinary undertaking.

She was a 52 year-old woman, traveling without a male companion, accompanied only by her younger daughter, Dorothea Maria.

Their mission was not to seek fortune or to accompany a husband but to pursue pure scientific inquiry.

At a time when women were largely confined to the domestic sphere and the internal workings of insects were considered evidence of spontaneous generation, her ambition was radical.

She financed the expedition herself, largely from the sale of her paintings and a collection of natural specimens. This financial and intellectual independence was remarkable.

Upon arrival, the tropical world of Suriname opened before her, a dizzying array of colors, forms, and life cycles.

Unlike the male naturalists of her era who often relied on preserved specimens or secondhand accounts, Merian and her daughter immersed themselves in the environment.

They ventured into the fields and forests, observing insects in their natural habitats.

Her working method was meticulous and revolutionary. She would find a plant, note the insects that fed upon it and then collect the specimens, not as dead curiosities but as living processes.

She would raise caterpillars in her home, patiently observing and documenting their metamorphosis into butterflies or moths.

This hands-on approach allowed her to definitively illustrate the specific relationships between predator and host plant, a foundational concept in ecology that would not be formally recognized for centuries.

She saw the ecosystem as a connected whole, depicting the leaf that had been chewed, the caterpillar that did the chewing, the pupa it became, and the final, resplendent butterfly, all on a single page.

Her findings systematically dismantled prevailing superstitions.

She refuted the idea that insects spontaneously generated from mud or decay, providing clear, visual evidence of their complex life cycles.

Her illustrations also recorded the hidden lives of species previously unknown to European science.

She documented the voracious army ants, the intricate nest of a paper wasp, and the stunning metamorphosis of the stunning blue morpho butterfly.

Furthermore, her work was not without a critical social eye. She witnessed the brutal conditions of the enslaved African and Indigenous people on the Dutch plantations and did not remain silent.

In her published writings, she openly condemned the colonial cruelty she observed, connecting the violence of the slave system to the land she was studying.

This moral conviction, woven into her scientific text, adds a profound and often overlooked dimension to her legacy.

After a little under two years, severe illness, likely malaria, forced her return to Amsterdam.

The result of this expedition was her magnum opus, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (The Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname), published in 1705.

The book was a sensation, not only for its breathtakingly detailed and accurate illustrations but for the new scientific knowledge it contained.

It was a work that appealed to both the scientific community and the popular imagination, bridging art and science in a way few works had before.

© She's So Cool

Maria Sibylla Merian (2 April 1647 – 13 January 1717) was a German entomologist, naturalist and scientific illustrator.

She was one of the earliest European naturalists to document observations about insects directly.

Merian was a descendant of the Frankfurt branch of the Swiss Merian family.

[1980sactionfigures]

Flame Thrower Squad - Army Ants (Hasbro)

[bethanythebogwitch]

Australian Pokemon

Another set of fakemon from my Goorda region based on a mix of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Previous posts: single stages, non-natives, regional standards, creepy lines, regional variants, birds, early-game standards, misc 2, misc 1, starter variants, starters.

Plat, the Land Flounder Pokemon, poison-type. These fish Pokemon have adapted to life on land. They bury themselves under sand with only their eyes exposed. When something steps on the hidden Plat, it uses the razor-sharp edges of its fins to inject poison into the prey.

Plat evolves to Plumerang, the Sky Flounder Pokemon, flying/poison-type. Unlike the landlocked, ambush predator Plat, Plumerang has learned to fly through the sky by spinning its body in a strange, looping motion. They chase after flying prey, using their razor-sharp fins to poison them. When the poison causes the prey to fall out of the sky, Plumerang will descend on them. Humans in the past trained Plumerang to act as living weapons.

Plat and Plumerang are based on flounders. Plat is also based on the stonefish, an extremely venomous Australian fish that is easy to step on due to its camouflage. Plumerang is based on flying fish and boomerangs. Much like how Plumerang was used as a weapon, boomerangs were originally invented to act as weapons. Their name comes from "Pleuronectiformes" (the flounder family) plus "flat" and "boomerang".

Tormite, the Termite Pokemon, bug-type. Tormite live and work in giant hives made from soil blued together with saliva. They mix together explosive chemicals in their abdomens. They can release these chemicals from their rear ends, spending them rocketing mandibles-first at enemies.

Tormite evolves to Myrpaga, the Army Ant Pokemon, bug-type. Myrpaga are the primary defenders of the hive. They create tubes out of dirt and plant material glued together with saliva. A Tormite sits in this tube, which is used to fire it at threats to the hive as a living missile. Myrpaga's antennae contain lenses that it uses to help aim.

Female Myrpaga evolves to Myrmartill, the Walking Hive Pokemon, bug-type, if said Myrpaga levels up when the trainer has 5 Tormite on their team. Rarely seen in the wild, Myrmartill only appear when the hive has to relocate. It carries the hive on its back and defends itself with twin turrets that fire barrages of Tormite at enemies. Nothing will get in the way of Myrmartill as it looks for a new place for the hive to live.

The Tormite line are based on ants and termites (which I genuinely thought were related to each other. Turns out they aren't) mixed with military technology. Chemical weapons are commonly used by ants and termites in defense of their hives. Tormite is a living rocket-propelled grenade and takes influence from the bombardier beetle. Myrpaga and Myrmartill are based on army ants. True army ants are native to South America, but a species with similar behavior is native to Australia. Myrpaga is a a soldier holding a rocket launcher while Myrmartill is a mix of armored troop transport and artillery cannon. Tormite comes from "termite", "torment", and "torpedo". Myrpaga comes from "myrmex" (Grrek for ant") and "RPG". Myrmartill comes from "myrmex" and "artillery".

Sparquoll, the Sparking Pokemon, fire/electric-type. When Sparquoll runs, sparks are released from its feet that leave a trail of embers in its wake. It will climb trees to shock bird Pokemon out of the air, then finish them with a burst of flames.

Sparquoll evolves to Sparkinina, the Sparking Pokemon, fire/electric type. Sparkinina has a unique organ that functions both as a flame sac and generator of electricity. This allows Sparkinina to produce both intense flames and powerful electric shocks. It chases down prey and immobilizes it with electric shocks, before dealing a fiery bite as a finishing blow.

Sparquoll and Sparkinina are based on quolls and Tasmanian devils, carnivorous marsupials that are related to each other. Spark can refer both to fire and electricity, so a fire/electric type seems like a fairly obvious combination. Their names come from "spark", "quoll", and "purinina" (the Palawa Kani language word for Tasmanian devils). Also, Sparkinia learns Twister as a shout-out to Loony Tunes.

I have some more fakemon in the works, so another post should come out within a few days

[tomatocraftz]

My Eciton Burchellii page from a while back, I’m really happy with this page and after finishing it, I went all in on drawing insects. (This one’s before I changed my username to TomatoCraftz)