Meet these amazing #Antarctic Bathysciadium sea snails. They live and feed on the beaks of dead #squid !!! Many squid live fast & die young (after breeding)! The beaks are recycled by these little #limpets ! The beaks are made of chitin, like skeletons of shrimp and insects!

If you catch any robber flies this season AND if you want my undivided appreciation, please DM/email me for help in gathering specimens for my PhD work!

And here's Riley's 13-year #cicada ( #Magicicada tredecim), the more common, larger species. It has more extensive orange on the belly and an orange stripe between the eye and wing base.

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I haven't seen a live periodical #cicada on my own (though I hear them every day) but Alvin Braswell was kind enough to collect 2 spp. from his Raleigh property for me!

First up, Cassin's 13-year cicada ( #Magicicada tredecassini), a smaller, less common, mostly black species

My new shop is finally here! With new merch including polymer clay figurines and acrylic standees and more, thank you all for your support I am so happy to own my own store instead of selling on Etsy now! Link in bio💕

an undescribed Megacina from far northern CA that actually has very little 'Mega' in it's cina ...

Apparently there were leafcutter bees nesting in our porch railing and something (probably woodpecker, possibly squirrels) came and got them for lunch 😳😬 Not sure if the rot was there before or after the bees...

Sometimes bug sucks, I mean literally sucks; but still pretty cool as a living organism and masterpiece of revolution!

Btw I’ve got some red frames for this piece and I really love how it turns out! Plus a bonus “smashed mosquito” piece in the 3rd picture 👏🦟🩸

New video today! CAT FLEAS! all the slow motion shots of adult fleas jumping & larval fleas crawling you can handle. PLUS some timelapse sequences of flea eggs hatching! (link in reply)

some recent ants😎

One of my favorite specimens I have collected. The '7 year old birthday cake spider'.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park - USA 07/2023

Do you have cicada anxiety...or excitement? Either way, you don't want to miss our TWO expert guests for this week's #LunchTimeDiscovery show. It's Matt Bertone 🪰🕷️🪲 and Kelly Oten live on 5/1/24 noon EDT: youtube.com/watch?v=LRXm3W… 'Periodical Cicadas and the Rare Double Brood Event'

Tim Buckley Hey Tim, FYI on our #LunchTimeDiscovery this week: youtube.com/watch?v=LRXm3W… Features Matt Bertone 🪰🕷️🪲 and Kelly Oten They're Baaaaack: Periodical Cicadas and the Rare Double Brood Event

Myrmicholeva (L) and Eublackburniella (R) - first iNaturalist records uploaded just now. Someone has to take pictures of the small brown and black beetles. Leiodidae.

PhD IN AMBROSIA BEETLE SYSTEMATICS!
A fully-funded degree available at the University of Florida Forest Entomology Lab. This is a part of our 4-year NSF funded project, based on the main UF campus in Gainesville, FL. Please share widely pitchtube.org/phd-degree-in-…

New paper out! We describe three new species of giant mealybugs from Mexico & Guatemala. You think spiders have a lot of eyes until you look at male Puto mealybugs. Some species have 18 eyes in total!

Pictured alive is Puto decorosus from California.
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Giving away insect art posters from our Nat Geo project tomorrow, in the lab NC Museum of Natural Sciences from 10-5 (while supplies last!). Come say hi and grab one!

We've just been thinking about Neotrichozetes mites.
Hasn't everyone?

giving away free art posters of this project THIS SATURDAY, 10-5 in my lab NC Museum of Natural Sciences come get one!

.NC State BioSci Entomologist Adrian Smith worked with photographer and artist Xavier Bou to turn images of insects in motion into photographic works of art.

See more of the photos in the latest edition of National Geographic magazine. ➡️: ncst.at/ouQu50RnuGH