TiffanyDoesntKnow

I'm Tiffany. Whatever it is, I probably don't know. (she/they)

[tiffanydoesntknow]

Hiii! I guess it seems to be the thing to do to make a pinned post about yourself so, here goes!

I'm Tiffany (Tiff is fine too); I'm a full time student in my 20s (working on my PhD, hooray!). This blog is just a personal blog so I'm kind of going to just put whatever here, I'm not sure there's any rhyme or reason to it.

I like poetry. I might even try and post my own (bad) poetry. I like books and bonfires and hiking and cool bugs and snowy days and falling in love and thunderstorms and Plato and comfortable clothes and... well, a bunch of stuff with no particular pattern so we'll see what I end up dumping here.

Gimme your music suggestions, I like all sorts of stuff (and love discovering things I wouldn't normally listen to) but especially if it makes you feel the eternal longing of it all.

Oh and I don't have any answers I fear, just questions. But I think that's a good thing.

[offonaherosjourney]

Suddenly got hit with the concept plus a very detailed visual of Moist von Lipwig donning his famous Postmaster General suit via magical girl transformation. And now I am supposed to go about my day? As if I hadn't just experienced what I can only describe as a divine vision??

[tiffanydoesntknow]

Never in a million years would I have thought of that and yet now that the concept is in my head it seems shockingly in character.

[herpsandbirds]

Red-sided Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis), family Colubridae, Manitoba, Canada

A) normal phase (86%) B) hypermelanistic (12%) C) melanistic (2%)

These snakes were all found within a polymorphic (multiple color types) population at a den site in Manitoba, Canada. Normally, den sites are just one of these color morphs. The non-standard morphs are usually known from islands and other fragmented populations, but not usually found in these numbers from populations like this, with genetic in flow.

photographs and findings by Owen Edwards

[polychaete-of-the-day]

Today's worm is the interesting split-crown feather duster, Anamobaea orstedii.

Photos by sea-kangaroo and Hans Hillewaert

[sea-slug-daily]

Carronella pellucida

Image source: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/102498933

[tiffanydoesntknow]

I will once again ask: how the actual heck do you tell if someone is flirting with you?!?

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Hornet Moth (Sesia apiformis)

Also known as the Hornet Clearwing, the hornet moth is no hornet but a species of sesiid moth that is native to the British Isles, Germany, Holland, and Austria (it has also been introduced to North America). This species is quite similar to the Lunar Hornet Moth (S.bembeciformis) but is distinguished by its yellow head and shoulders and black collar. Like the lunar hornet moth S.apiformis will overwinter as a larvae once or twice and adults will fly from June to July and sometimes August. Adults are often seen on poplar trees as these are their larval food plant.

Phylogeny 

Animalia-Arthropoda-Insecta-Lepidoptera-Sesiidae-Sesia-S.apiformis

Images: Ab H.Baas and Gyorgy Csoka

[sea-slug-daily]

Today’s sea slug is Elysia aowthai. A very pink bean.

Image source: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/93032387

[sea-slug-daily]

Elysia coodgeensis

Image source: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/316294584

[waspdaily]

Today's wasp of the day is Kikiki huna!

Credits

With a name that comes from Hawaiian and basically means "tiny bit", this is the smallest known flying insect! At her size, flying is more like moving through water so she makes due with feathery threads instead of clunky paddles for wings. She's smaller than some single celled organisms even! And yet she still retains all the complex functions of larger wasps. Researchers are interested in what this micro-wasp could possibly teach us about micro-robotics

[waspdaily]

Give it up for the itty bit!!

[orpheuslament]

if you keep referring to engaging with art & fiction as "consuming media" im beating you to death with a rock

[tiffanydoesntknow]

Everyone knows that art consumes you, not the other way around!

[tiffanydoesntknow]

Why do breakups have to be ugly... It's more than a year on now since I broke up with her and goddamnit I just miss my friend. I wish we could have still been friends.

[polychaete-of-the-day]

Polychaete of the day is the absolutely gorgeous Odontosyllis polycera.

Photos by Luca Davenport-Thomas [1, 2]

[waspdaily]

Today's wasp of the day is Ibalia anceps!

Credits: photo 1, photo 2

Ibaliid wasps are the sister group to gall wasps, except instead of living a life of horticulture they decided to follow the true wasp way of being parasitoids and mostly target their much more distantly related cousins, wood-boring sawflies (Siricidae).

You may remember from a previous WOTD mentions of a wood boring sawfly known as the pigeon tremex (tremex columba). Well they can't catch a break because that's exactly who I. anceps is after as well. Instead of a super long syringe like Megarhyssa has, Ibaliids have a hinged ovipositor that swings out. Despite being in the same area after the same resources, the two wasps don't need to compete much: Megarhyssa are equip for getting the tremex that are waaaay deep in the wood while I. anceps can reach the ones closer to the surface.

[northerlyy]

Ichneumonid Wasp (Theronia hilaris), female, taken March 20, 2026, in Georgia, US

A beautiful orange wasp inspecting the aphid colonies on the flowers of this plant! She was one of many parasitic wasp species flitting from aphid bunch to aphid bunch, all looking for a suitable host. This species is known to parasitize moth caterpillars, so she was likely looking for some hiding amongst the aphids. Sadly for her, there were none, so she will have eventually been forced to move on. The same can't be said for the myriad of smaller wasps on this bush that do parasitize aphids!

[sea-slug-daily]

Antiopella capensis

Image source: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/291234640

[tiffanydoesntknow]

I think I want to fall in love?

But, like. I want somebody whose hand I can hold on the bus. I want somebody I don't hate sharing a kitchen with. I want to stay up to 2 AM yapping about anything and everything with the person I love. I want somebody who sends me all the music they listen to even when they know it's not my taste. I want to lean on each other by a campfire after a day of hiking. And maybe kiss once in a while.

And I mean. I don't think anyone else is going to claim that those things aren't love, but what I've had to realize is that it's sometimes hard to communicate that no, what I mean is that those on their own are love. I'm not looking for "that special other thing" that those are a symptom of, I'm looking for that. It's annoying because anyone I've been in a relationship with or been at risk of being in one with, they've been looking for something else that I can't be for them. It's a bit lonely and I think part of me is scared of being left behind, especially as a bunch of folks I know move in with long term partners or get married.