dadrummond.bsky.social profile picture

D. Allan Drummond

@dadrummond.bsky.social

12130 Followers

382 Following

Scientist by day, artist by night. 🔬 (Science: drummondlab.org) Sculpture, drawings, and other works. Obsessed with the details of the natural world.

  1. gettoknownature.bsky.social profile picture

    Get To Know Nature @gettoknownature.bsky.social

    It’s #invertefest!! Go forth and find some bugs! And crabs! And anyone else without a backbone!

    (Jewel-winged Damselflies making more damselflies) #BugSex #invertebrates 🌿

    Two dark colored damselflies are perched on a cluster of leaves. The one in front grips the one behind with its tail.
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  5. wa-moths.bsky.social profile picture

    Aussie Moths @wa-moths.bsky.social

    It's the last week of August so it must be #InverteFest time!

    This praying #mantis was seen in a coastal area north of Perth, likely a Mallee Grass Mantis (Archimantis sobrina) it has impressively spiky raptorial forelegs #ausinverts #wildoz #mantodea #bugsky #inverts

    picture of a small praying mantis sitting on a sand coloured wall. The mantic is facing the camera showing its spiky raptorial forelegs
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  6. bugwizardshloop.bsky.social profile picture

    Shloop 𓅃 @bugwizardshloop.bsky.social

    Leaf insects are one of the rarest phasmids in HK, with no specimens in museums and only a few photos online. They have been high on my wishlist, then I saw what looked like a bizarre assassin bug. I still couldn’t believe what I found.

    Happy #InverteFest !!!!

    A red stick insect with a flat abdomen and lobed legs (leaf insect). It stands idle among brown and green leaf litter.Head shot of the stick insect, with its arms extending forwards. It hangs upside down on a branch.The insect, viewed from the roof on my hand. It’s around a centimetre long.Lateral view of the same bug on a stick, upside down. There are white patches on its legs.
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  7. jopabinia.bsky.social profile picture

    Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social

    And for #InverteFest false crab of the day, Paguropsis! 😍 A hermit crab genus that wears an anemone but stretched out with no shell ever!

    Also called the "blanket hermit crabs" they live in the deep sea, 150-360 m below 🦀🦑🧪

    zookeys.pensoft.net/article/23712/

    Paguropsis confusa. This is a freaking adorable hermit crab face already with big blue eyes, but it has a squishy pink anemone like a snuggie on its rear half to complete the picture. Specimen photographed in situ with ROV, not collected, off Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, DST/NRF ACEP Spatial Solutions Project cruise, sta R45 Echinoderm Extravaganza (photograph: DST/NRF ACEP – Spatial Solutions project team) Paguropsis andersoni, similar but seen from the side. The anemone is spotted and you can just detect the 3rd leg holding it in place. Specimen not collected, ROV, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, DST/NRF ACEP Spatial Solutions cruise, Aliwal outer reef, off KwaZulu-Natal, RY Angra Pequena, sta R50: specimen photographed in situ with ROV, not collected (photograph: DST/NRF ACEP – Spatial Solutions project team)
    jopabinia.bsky.social profile picture

    Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social

    Did you think hermit crabs always live in snail shells? 🧪🦀

    Some deep sea hermit species live symbiotically with anemones that DISSOLVE the shell and SECRETE a new one ("carcinoecium") made of chitin! The carcinoecium has evolved at least 3 times! Photo credits in alt text. @megdaly.bsky.social

    Hermit crab (Pagurus prideaux) on the substrate looking up at you. Instead of a shell it is covered in an orange anemone (Calliactis palliata) with pink spots. Coming off that are neon pink silly strings, which are the anemone's tentacles! Photo by Darryl Meyer https://www.flickr.com/photos/27988477@N02/3992801991/in/photostream/Hermit crab (Sympagurus dofleini) in the deep sea. It is facing to the side, with a purple striped sea anemone (Stylobates) covering its posterior, with the anemone's tentacles facing down. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/waf/okeanos-animal-guide/Paguroidea015.html4 different views of the carcinoecium produced by the anemone Stylobates aeneus, which look exactly like a snail shell. But they are not. Image by Chong Chen https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207492582127068&set=a.10200283324540134&type=3
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  9. wizentrop.bsky.social profile picture

    Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social

    Hemikyptha marginata, the Loki treehopper (relax, I just made that name up), sports long curved horns on his helmet. At 2.5cm he is the largest membracid in the world. Also, he has an army. (of ants)

    ...but we have a hulk. Eurymetopa obesa is a jacked conehead katydid that lacks a cone but has 💪

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