cf. bifasciata
Tidepooling. Very exciting Halgerda-ish find under a rock! When I turned the rock over this critter did the usual thing of immediately heading at top speed for the other side of the rock, but on its way it happened to intersect a patch of little purple tunicates, which it hung out on for a while. I was suspicious it was eating them, and indeed it was! Last two photos show the before and after of the tunicate patch. Those photos are only 5 minutes apart, so it didn't take very long for it to take two whole pieces out of the tunicate pie.
A mating pair of Nepita conferta. The female moth is killed by an assassin bug.
2 Eier auf Lotus corniculatus (Hornklee)
This has got to be the best ant mimic I've ever seen - it's even got a chunky 'petiole'!
What is this?? I think some sort of mold on a small volvate, white Amanita. I know and have found Mycogone rosea but this is much redder and darker, a beautiful color and true as pictured. Also quite wet. Update: It's a bacteria. See below. Last photo, a domestic habitat (shower stall)
The last of springtails! :)
Focus stacks
Dicyrtomina sp. infected with Pandora batallata fungi?
I just looked closer at these pictures and the queen and workers carried by the Temnothorax unifasciatus workers. I already thought the coloration was strange but looking closer, it isnt T. unifasciatus. For me a crazy exciting find for my thesis.
In Lasius flavus (original observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/200704859)
Like a shiny Pokemon.
length 8.8 mm
Based on the "relatively yellow" legs and gaster underside, I IDed the individual as L. flavus. However, please feel free to disagree since I am a layman in ant taxonomy.
The gyne was found at the edge of a mixed forest on rotting Salix branches.
The obs. is about the smaller ladybug. The Harmonia axyridis was walking around nervously opening her wings from time to time but the little guy didn't give up until it fell eventually
Colias myrmidone (ESPER, [1781])
Deutschland, Bayern, Keilberg bei Regensburg, leg. HABERÄCKER
female
in Coll.Dr.H.ZIEGLER, Naturhistorisches Museum Bern (Schweiz/Switzerland)
Kermode or "Spirit" bear (Ursus americanus kermodei) BC Canada
Host tree: Dysoxylum mollissimum subsp. Molle red bean
It's quite similar to T. rathkii. They can be distinguished by the location of the pore fields. While they are close to the margin of the tergites in T.rathkii, they are separated from the margin 2-4x their diameter in T. nodulosus (on pereionites 2-4). The pores are triangular.
Also, according to Schmidt 1997, in T. nodulosus the lateral cephalon lobes surpass the median lobe, while they are of equal length in T. rathkii.
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/121/2/129/2633670
http://biozoojournals.ro/nwjz/content/v11s1/nwjz_e150301_Tomescu.pdf
Found in a beech, oak mixed forest under rotting wood. Northern sloped, not very steep at the location
jumping larvae inside the unopened flowers of echium
Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglans
ex Juglans regia
Crop disease
Plant pests and diseases
not sure - never seen before ....
Auf dem Stamm einer Korkenzieherweide.
Locals claimed it before any measurements could be taken. Photo captured by Gerrie Heyns
This Northern Amber Bumblebee has a small bronze beetle, likely a fungus beetle (Antherophagus species, perhaps ochraceus) traveling on its mouthparts. The best of a series of 4 photos that seem to show that behaviour. Hidden Valley, Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada. 28 July 2022
'A. ochraceus, along with some other members of Cryptophagidae, engage in phoresy. The beetles are transported by attaching to the legs, mouthparts, or antennae of bumblebees. It remains attached by clamping down with its mandibles.[6] It does not release until the bee returns to the nest. A. ochraceus adults lay eggs in bumblebee nests, where the eggs develop into larvae. In the larval stage, the beetles remain in the nest and eat organic matter and detritus. Specifically, they are presumed to consume honey, bee feces, and comb debris.[6][7]'
Link to inaturalist phoresis page:
inaturalist.ca/observation_fields/11626
I have never observed this behavior. I didn't notice the beetle on the photos until now.
Antherophagus as tentative beetle genus
Link to phoresis page https://inaturalist.ca/observation_fields/11626
The previous inhabitants of the home of this crustacean were sradines in a spicy sauce. He seemed very happy in his hypermodern dwelling, even gaining a bonus to his movement speed... at the expense of charisma. :-)