Ants, fossils, beer. Drone mapping & GIS. Science PhD. Bambu Labs P1S. He/him, will also respond to “Oi you!”. AuADHD - if I seem over familiar in posts etc. that is probably why.
I haven’t posted here for a while so here is an invasive and #AsianHornet (Vespa velutina) that recorded in France this summer. This one was in the Pays de la Loire.
Yellow leg tips, dark head+thorax, thin yellow band on abdomen, yellow/orange 4th segment on abdomen.
Music from James Tatman
https://open.spotify.com/track/2AnO5mrS95btViZ31naXm1?si=twMH2sMgTf-GJq9518NU0w
A crab #spider (Misumena vatia) giving a #fly (Lucilia sericata?) a cuddle!
Ambush predators, this spider moves from bloom to bloom on the rose in our front garden and lies in wait.
My wife bought me my own sewing machine, so I made a new sweep net. 40cm diameter which is enough to get head and an arm in to pooter up bugs!
#entomology #sewing #fieldkit
New year, new lens. The Laowa 100mm 2x macro which on the Canon includes auto-aperture. Canon D90 with an agreeable fly who posed for me. Great detail in the eyes, happy with that!
#macrophotography #diptera #flies #insects
A gentle reminder, when our problems seem too big…
‘Tis the season… so I got the nativity set out!
#ants #entomology #insects
New year, new toys! Having borrowed a garden vac a couple of times last year I decided that I should get one before this year’s ant season starts. Now with it’s D&W filter bag gaffer-taped on I just need the weather to warm up! #ants #insects #myrmecology
There's something comforting about Camponotus, the world's second most diverse ant genus (probably?). There are always species that look very much like ones from home, wherever you go, and wherever you're from.
This is Camponotus innexus, which I encountered in Australia.
It’s chilly out there! Frost crystals on the car looking like little satellite downlink stations and one like a Christmas tree. ~5mm or 0.2” wide #macrophotography
@alexwild thanks Alex. I had been revising my taxonomy top-down and not spotted that!
Because Myrmecia has an “i” in it, while Pseudomyrmex does not.
@stevetypesstuff (families and subfamilies automatically take the name and spelling of the designated type genus)
Ant people of Mastodon (especially any taxonomists).
Why does:
Myrmeciinae have two ‘i’s.
Pseudomyrmecinae have one ‘i’.
@rspfau that supermajor is outrageous. What a species!
Beneath a stone at #TimberlakeFieldStation, I found these #ants. Pheidole tepicana is an uncommonly seen species. They have three worker castes of different sizes: minor, major and supermajor (all three are shown here).
To date, there are only 19 observations of this species on #iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en&place_id=any&preferred_place_id=1&subview=map&taxon_id=266053
Dorylus driver ants are blind, voracious, and extremely bitey insects familiar to anyone who has spent time outdoors in tropical Africa.
It’s not every day you come across a well in a pub toilet! The Masons Arm is one of the oldest buildings in Norham village and one of the oldest public houses in Northumberland. Awesome that they’ve retained so many of the historic features!
