Product Placement
Stranger Things
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taylor price
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2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
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Sweet Seals For You, Always
occasionally subtle
AnasAbdin
NASA
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
#extradirty
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
noise dept.
Mike Driver
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
ojovivo
Cosimo Galluzzi
Monterey Bay Aquarium
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Indonesia
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Malaysia
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Malaysia
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seen from Laos
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@vespulainfernalis
Entomology page!! The website theme is a WIP. Also I’m a statistics major irl
Current isopod species kept:
T. tomentosa
A. nasatum
A. vulgare
P. hoffmannseggii
P. pruinosus
P. laevis
★NEXT UP★ P. werneri
Unique arthropod species observed irl and posted on iNat: 181
I love when mud daubers are building their nests and just go bwehbwehbwehbwehbwehbwehbweh while placing the mud. The sound brings me great joy.
Me, to my most beloved arthropods: stupid fucking little Doo Doo bug
SNOOT
Cheers to Natalie Dale-Skey for this. A treasure of cute parasitoid pictures, some types, from the NHM, London.
Except the eucharitids– those still look stupid; sorry, John, if you ever read this. There’s nothing one can do about it. It’s like a diagnostic character for the family.
Taking big steps (Phaneroptera nigroantennata)
The Mealybug Destroyer (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri)
Its intimidating name speaks for itself. This beneficial lady beetle is often used by farmers to protect vineyards, some are used for smaller scale greenhouses but not as often, to protect plants from the mealybug.
Mealybug feed on the juices produced by plants. This process can cause mold and ruin the plants, destroying the farmers harvest.
However the mealybug destroyers are up against a powerful enemy, ants. The ants protect the mealybugs and in return they produce honeydew.
This constant battle still rains but with hard work and even the help of trained sniffer dogs (yes that’s a thing, look it up it’s great) the farmers can protect there crops without the use of harmful chemicals and pesticides.
I hope they release new bugs this spring
Hes hitting you hes hitting you | source ☹️
Ladybirds – What's the Deal?
People have some very strange views on ladybirds, particularly invasive ones, and I do feel the need to clear some of them up
Ladybirds are in the family Coccinellidae. Every single species in that family can be referred to as a ladybird (or ladybug, lady beetle, whatever you use. Point being, they are all in the same group)
The reason I clarify that is because of these guys. These are Harmonia axyridis, commonly known as harlequin ladybirds, Asian ladybirds or Asian lady beetles. They are invasive in Europe and North America and, as you can see, are extremely variably in their patterning (some people seem to think they're generally more orange than other ladybirds when that really isn't the case). I have seen a significant number of people use that last name in the specific form of "these are not ladybirds, they're Asian lady beetles". They are, in fact, both. Common names are just like that sometimes
This statement also usually comes with the assumption that 7 spot ladybirds (Coccinella septempunctata) are the 'real' ladybirds. In Europe, these are the most common native species but far from the only one. In North America, they are common but they are also invasive, just like harlequins. Invasive status is region specific and these species aren't harming the environment in their native ranges
7 spot ladybird
Harlequins are considered invasive due to their impact on populations of native insects. However, even their wikipedia page is spreading very strange ideas about this
These are not remotely related to them being invasive. These are minor inconveniences to humans which do not concern native species in the slightest. A species being annoying to you does not make it invasive. I have seen some of this same logic applied to mosquitoes when they are also a large family of insects with native species practically everywhere but Antarctica, and it is incredibly unhelpful. An invasive species is one that has been introduced to somewhere outside of its native range and is having a negative ecological impact, no more and no less. They are not there of their own accord (in the case of both of these ladybird species, they were intentionally introduced as biological control for aphids) and they are not 'evil' for being in the wrong place, even if they do have to be dealt with
Regarding dealing with them, I personally do not trust the general public to accurately discern an invasive species from a native one, especially with ones as variable as ladybirds. Individual people squishing insects have very little impact on overall populations, particularly when they are as well established as these. I would rather people leave all of them alone to be dealt with by actual experts than risk killing native species in the process
As for the actual claims about the grievances harlequins cause humans, they tend to be posed as unique to them when they really aren't. Many ladybirds are mildly toxic, which is why they have bright colouration to warn predators that they won't taste good. Many ladybirds will reflex bleed as a defence strategy (bleeding out of their joints to provide a taste of their toxic blood). Many ladybirds are capable of biting people and harlequins just seem to do so at a slightly higher rate. None of these cause any real harm unless you happen to be allergic
And now for a quick fire round of funny claims from the notes of this post that I'm not dignifying with a real debunk I just find them hilarious
I will end this with a recommendation that everyone check out their local ladybird species because I guarantee you there are more than you probably know about. Especially if you, as one of the people above, claim to have not seen a ladybird in a decade 💀. iNaturalist may be a good place to start and also gives you an indication of whether they're native. You might also be able to find identification guides for your area. Bugguide is useful for North American bugs
Thank you for this post!! Before I got into invertebrates, I was definitely victim of some of these common misconceptions/lies about asian lady beetles (Harmonia axyridis). I also used to think 7-spotted lady beetles were native and endangered, and that a common native species was invasive. There is so much misinformation about ladybugs it's insane. To add onto this, here are some species of ladybugs native to the Eastern US that I've found to show that native species do exist, and they're actually quite plentiful in some places!
Saffron Lady Beetle (Mulsantina luteodorsa)
This tiny orange ladybug is endemic to the Southeastern US, and, based on observation records on iNaturalist, of which there are quite few, seems to either be pretty rare or easy to miss. Despite being noticeably way smaller than even the smallest adult asian ladybug, they possess an orange coloration that may make them a target of squishing for the average person. They have no spots, but neither do asian ladybugs sometimes!
Sigil Lady Beetle (Genus Hyperaspis)
A beautiful, but small, black and red ladybug that looks very similar to some of the black and red morphs of the asian lady beetle. This species is native across the Eastern US, and is again much smaller than their invasive look-alikes.
Polished Lady Beetle (Cycloneda munda)
Another spotless ladybug, native across the entire Eastern half of the US. They're slightly larger than the saffron lady beetle, closer in size to the asian lady beetle, but this makes them even easier to mistake for an invasive species. They're very widespread, so anyone in the Eastern US has a chance of finding one—it's just a matter of luck!
Spotted Pink Lady Beetle (Coleomegilla maculata)
A beautiful, common, and hard to mis-ID ladybug that is very commonly found across the entire Eastern US and occasionally in the southwest and throughout Central/South America. These guys are roughly the size of asian ladybugs, but they're very differently shaped and are always a bright, unmistakable pink or red color. From my experience, they're much, much more common in the Northeastern US than the Southeast, but I've still found a few in Georgia, so they do exist here!
Squash Lady Beetle (Epilachna borealis)
A very common native ladybug for anyone who has a garden with squash, gourds, cucumbers, or melons! These guys are minor agricultural pests, eating the leaves of plants in the family Cucurbitaceae as both larvae and adults. They're larger than asian ladybugs are very distinctly yellow, but they are still sometimes mistook for them or another common agricultural pest, the spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata).
Twenty-spotted Lady Beetle (Psyllobora vigintimaculata)
Last but not least, this absolutely tiny ladybug that is native across the entire US! I find them quite often, though they're extremely easy to miss due to their small size. I can't see anyone mistaking one of these for the asian ladybug as their patterns are not very variable and they are, again, very small, but it's good to know what they look like in the case you come across them in the wild.
These are all of the native ladybug species I've personally found and photographed, though in the US there are far more than just these! They're extremely variable and come in all different colors and sizes, some looking very similar to many non-native species. That's why it's important to leave invasive species population control to professional conservationists. The asian lady beetle population is already too established and too large to counteract, and killing a few here and there has no chance of hurting your target species and every chance of hurting the native species you could mis-ID for an asian lady beetle. Please treat all of them with respect, and, if you want to help native species, research them and create an environment where they will want to live and propagate!
Roach belly... Beautiful!!!!
weevil 1105
via
weevil (Polydrusus formosus) attempts to fly off my hand and immediately eats shit
June 2025
grabbing him
Polistes fuscatus ♂
(note: this is a male, male wasps do not sting, don’t attempt this unless you’re 100% sure it’s not a female)
hello my dears... an 'Achilid Planthopper' that i saw in the forest
planthoppers are a very diverse group of bugs and i am therefore unable to provide a specific species id for this guy but i love his little green eye and speckled wings!
Achilid Planthopper
Huge fucking weevil!!!!
And I came across funky weevils of a more normal size:
