#invertebrates — Public Fediverse posts

Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or 'big greasy' butterfly. Large and conspicuously coloured - it is toxic to potential predators. Toxins are absorbed from the food that it eats as a caterpillar. Seen in Cape York. FNQ.

#nature #photography #australia #wildlife #insects #butterflies #invertebrates

Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or 'big greasy' butterfly. Large and conspicuously coloured - it is toxic to potential predators. Toxins are absorbed from the food that it eats as a caterpillar. Seen in Cape York. FNQ.

#nature #photography #australia #wildlife #insects #butterflies #invertebrates

Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or 'big greasy' butterfly. Large and conspicuously coloured - it is toxic to potential predators. Toxins are absorbed from the food that it eats as a caterpillar. Seen in Cape York. FNQ.

#nature #photography #australia #wildlife #insects #butterflies #invertebrates

Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or 'big greasy' butterfly. Large and conspicuously coloured - it is toxic to potential predators. Toxins are absorbed from the food that it eats as a caterpillar. Seen in Cape York. FNQ.

#nature #photography #australia #wildlife #insects #butterflies #invertebrates

Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or 'big greasy' butterfly. Large and conspicuously coloured - it is toxic to potential predators. Toxins are absorbed from the food that it eats as a caterpillar. Seen in Cape York. FNQ.

#nature #photography #australia #wildlife #insects #butterflies #invertebrates

Here are some hymenopterans 🐝🌿

#bugsky #invertebrates

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:66x6tziyavg3nmt3x46xu2bw/post/3mv6r4n6npk2s

Checked on my free range menagerie. Here are some lepidopterans 🦋🌿

#bugsky #invertebrates

Can you find the grasshopper? New blog post: https://wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/.../09/hide-and-seek.html #VancouverIsland #Insects #Camouflage #Invertebrates #NaturePhotography

The Beginnings of Man -Part 1

https://tonyaholisticblog.com/2026/08/31/the-beginnings-of-man-part-1/

Embrace your inner bug (and stop excusing politicians by labelling them as such)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/20/winner-invertebrate-of-the-year-2026-crowned-leaf-sheep

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/20/humans-bugs-invertebrates-of-the-year-natural-world-chris-packham

#Invertebrates #Lovely #Useful #Attractive #Essential #Environment #Celebration

‘Once I started zooming in, I never stopped’: the mesmerising #art of macro #photography
Converts describe a demanding form of capturing #nature very close up that has grown in popularity in last few years

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/15/once-i-started-zooming-in-i-never-stopped-the-mesmerising-art-of-macro-photography

#142holdheap #invertebrates

‘You’d want one as a pet’: the irresistibly cute solar-powered sea slug
The beady-eyed, Pokémon-like leaf sheep is far more ingenious than us land mammals

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/05/leaf-sheep-sea-slug-invertebrates-of-year-2026

#142holdheap #nature #wildlife #invertebrates #environment

Six mind-bendingly amazing facts about #invertebrates
Just in case you hadn’t already realised how extraordinary the gigantic group of creatures known as invertebrates are, we’ve gathered together five facts that made our brains hurt (plus one more, because we couldn’t choose).

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/04/six-mind-bendingly-amazing-facts-about-invertebrates

#142holdheap #nature #wildLife #biology

Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
--
H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal

Weighing An Octopus Starts With a Laundry Basket 

https://onlinemarketingscoops.com/2026/07/14/weighing-an-octopus-starts-with-a-laundry-basket/

Eager Beavers - Rodents Engineer Czech Wetland Project After Years Of Human Delay [ecosystem engineers]
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/beavers-save-czech-taxpayers-by-flooding-ex-army-training-site <-- shared technical media article
--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver-engineered_dam_in_the_Czech_Republic <-- shared wiki technical page
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https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fine-beavers-czech-treasury-million.html <-- shared technical article
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https://youtu.be/GSTw8qmBP4Y?si=XK2Iy2pAltW91flj <-- shared video (Czech)
--
H/T @ScienceGirl
"We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years," ~ Bohumil Fiser from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
--
“For seven years, planners struggled to complete a $1.2 million wetland restoration project in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic. The goal was to build a dam that would improve water management and bring back valuable wetland habitat, but the project remained trapped in a maze of permits and approvals.
Then a family of eight Eurasian beavers did what engineers had planned… without permits, machinery, or a budget.
The beavers built a network of dams in almost the exact area chosen for the proposed project, naturally restoring the wetland system officials had spent years trying to create. After seeing the results, authorities decided there was little point continuing with the original human-built dam.
Although some reports suggested the beavers completed the work overnight, experts say their construction likely took several weeks. The reason it seemed sudden is that the animals quietly worked away until their finished dams became impossible to miss.
Beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because their behaviour can reshape entire environments. By cutting trees and blocking streams, they create ponds and wetlands that support countless species, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals.
Their wetlands also act as natural water reservoirs, helping during droughts, reducing flood risks, filtering water, storing carbon, and keeping landscapes wetter during wildfires…
Once heavily hunted across Europe, beaver populations have been recovering thanks to conservation efforts, proving that sometimes nature can solve problems humans spend years trying to fix…"
#water #hydrology #KlabavaRiver #Czech #BrdyRegion #protected #CzechRepublic #armytraining #military #beaver #Eurasianbeavers #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #restoration #biodiversity #crayfish #wetland #ecology #benefits #Beavers #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #Agroforestry #EnvironmentalScience #Conservation #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #EcosystemEngineers #nature #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flood #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #agriculture #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #drought #wildfire #valleysreborn #slowdetermination #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #ecosystemengineers #watermanagement

A Global Systematic Review Of The Effects Of Hydromorphological Floodplain Restoration On Biodiversity
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https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.70485 <-- shared paper
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https://zenodo.org/records/20561534 <-- shared open data
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03428-9 <-- shared paper
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https://adriadapt.eu/adaptation-options/rehabilitation-and-restoration-of-rivers/ <-- shared technical article
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https://www.americanrivers.org/threats-solutions/restoring-damaged-rivers/benefits-of-restoring-floodplains/ <-- shared overview technical article
--
#water #hydrology #literaturereview #global #hydromorphology #river #floodplain #restoration #biodiversity #habitat #ecosystem #ecology #naturebasedsolutions #flood #flooding #risk #hazard #birds #fish #invertebrates #plants #amphibians #microorganisms #smallmammals #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #management #planning #policy #riverfloodplain #conservation #results #summary #effectivness

🦗🔬 University of #Sydney researchers found that house #crickets perform "flexible self-protection" by nursing specific injuries, suggesting they experience pain-like states rather than simple reflexes.

The directed behavior indicates a level of conscious experience previously underestimated in #invertebrates. The findings could challenge our approach toward #insects, supporting a growing scientific consensus on their complex cognitive capabilities.

👉 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/13/insects-feel-pain-research

#insects #biology #science #entomology #nature #research #evolution #neuroscience #discovery #ethics #fruitflies

Look at this cutie that posed for me once! 🕷️🤎

From 2023

I spent Thursday morning this week at Ōruapaeroa-Travis Wetland, the largest freshwater wetland in Ōtautahi-Christchurch city, NZ. Once destined for more housing, the local community's protests led to the city buying up the land and restoring it for nature.

I'm helping PhD student Tommy Copeland to monitor the invertebrates of the wetland. Tommy's both repeating traditional survey methods used in a survey in the mid-1990s, and trying out new methods.

Enter Victor Anton from Wildlife.AI, a NZ-based non-profit dedicated to using artificial intelligence tech to improve conservation. On Thursday Victor gave Tommy one of their first field-ready prototypes of a new camera system with app control and built in machine learning image recognition. Tommy's going to be trialling it to see how he, with the Travis community group, can monitor invertebrates with this camera system.

Stay tuned.

https://wildlife.ai/

#EcologicalMonitoring #Conservation #invertebrates #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #nz #TravisWetland #WildlifeAI

Why is #JavaScript so popular? I hate everything about it.

I'm speaking at the #Canberra Field #Naturalists meeting at #ANU next month on #Malaise trapping and the #insects and other #invertebrates that surround us without our noticing them.

I expect most of my slides to be arrays of four or six #microscope images with a header (probably a family name in most cases) and captions for each image.

I don't want to lay out all these images in #LibreOffice (or any similar presentation tool) because I'm a perfectionist and getting it all tidy will take forever.

So, I decided to try out #Slidev, #Marp and other #Markdown-based presentation tools. The Markdown part is very appealing, but they all lean hard into JavaScript. That would be fine so long as I don't have to think about that side of things.

Slidev's AppleBasic theme seemed to be the best starting point, so I started hacking it to add som extra gridded image views. Plain image grids were not too challenging, but I really want captions for each image, so I started trying to understand how the templates use the forest of underlying JS libraries and CSS artefacts to produce the displayed slides.

Frankly, the whole thing is so opaque and would take me much longer to understand than preparing multiple presentations by hand would.

Then I realised I can use #montage on the command line to produce the kind of layouts I want, and I can script #exiftool to extract and prepare the captions which will save time.

So, my new plan is to write a #Python script that processes a #YAML file listing all the slides, titles and image paths. It can generate PNG images that are close to the target 1920*1080 size (give or take a little). I'll then use LibreOffice for a couple of more text-oriented or irregular slides, export those and combine all the images into a PDF.

I'm sure this will be way faster than battling Node.js. Not sure why I felt I had to write it up.

https://fieldnatsact.com/

This female Rhinoceros Beetle was trapped by human infrastructure and artificial lights. When it was freed it made a loud hissing squeak by rubbing its wings against the abdomen. This (6 cm ) female has a shining black armour and golden fur on the belly. The males have huge horns and are said to be the strongest animal on the planet. They are able to lift up to 850 times their own body weight. The strong 'claws' did not want to let go of that hand. It is back in the bush now.

Rhinoceros Beetles
https://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_scarabs/R_Beetle.htm
https://www.lfwseq.org.au/star-wars-beetle-world/
#RhinocerosBeetle #invertebrates #beetle #scarabaeidae #Xylotrupes #mulch #LightPollution #NSW

Meet the smallest animal known to spread #seeds with its poop https://www.science.org/content/article/meet-smallest-animal-known-spread-seeds-its-poop

#Earwigs and #woodlice as some of the world's smallest internal #SeedDispersal agents: Insights from the #ecology of Monotropastrum humile (Ericaceae) https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.10519

"the #woodlouse is the smallest animal yet known to disperse seeds by eating them. It and other small #invertebrates play underappreciated roles in spreading #plants far and wide."

Essex Skipper, Thymelicus lineola Canon 5D3 Sigma 70 2.8 f/4.5 1/320 iso: 100 Prague, Czech Republic 6/24/2024 #Skippers #hesperidae #SaveButterflies #butterflies #insects #macro #grasslands #invertebrates #Sigma

Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/7.1 1/160 iso: 400 Milovice, Czech Republic 5/18/2009 #Skippers #Hesperidae #lepidoptera #SaveButterflies #butterflies #insects #invertebrates #Macro #grasslands

It has repeatedly been shown that the evolution of parental care is related to large eggs and consequently often to small clutches. Kudo et al. conduct the first study clarifying the evolution of parental care linked with small eggs in invertebrates.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730145

#evolution #parentalCare #eggs #clutches #invertebrates

Essex Skipper, Thymelicus lineola Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/5.6 1/100 iso: 200 Srbsko, Czech Republic 7/5/2008 #Skippers #hesperidae #SaveButterflies #lepdoptera #insects #invertebrates #Macro #grasslands

Forest or Chestnut Chockchafer, Melolontha hippocastani Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/3.5 1/200 iso: 400 Celakovice-Jirina, Czech Republic 5/22/2011 #Coleoptera #Scarabidae #Scarabs #Cockchafer #Chafer #beetles #insects #invertebrates #macro #woodlands

Checquered Skipper, Carterocephalus palaemon Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/4.6 1/250 iso: 400 Celakovice-Jirina, Czech Republic 5/20/2011 #Skippers #hesperidae #hesperids #SaveButterflies #butterflies #Lepidoptera #insects #invertebrates #macro #grasslands

Apple Blossom Beetle, Tropinota hirta Cnon 7d EFS 60 2.8 f/6.2 1/320 iso: 160 Milovice, Czech Republic 4/14/2024 #Chafers #Cockchafer #Coleoptera #Scarabidae #insects #invertebrates #Macro #grasslands #pests #invasivePests
2026milo7A24_04_14.jpg

Fairy Longhorn Moth, Nemophora Nemophora prodigella, N prodigellus
Canon 7D EFS 60 2.8 f/7.1 1/320 iso: 125 Srbsko, Czech Republic 6/24/2019 #MicroMoths #FairyMoths #Adelidae #Lepidoptera #Nemophora #Moths #mothsMatter #insects #invertebrates #Macro #grasslands

Checquered Skipper, Carterocephalus palaemon Canon 400D Ef 100 2.8 f/7.1 1/100 iso: 800 Prague, Czech Republic 5/21/2010 #Skippers #hesperidae #Butterflies #lepidoptera #SaveButterflies #Insects #invertebrates #macro #grasslands

Silver-spotted Skipper, Hesperia comma Canon 400D Ef 100 2.8 f/7.1 1/250 iso: 200 Srbsko, Czech Republic 8/10/2008 #Hesperidae #Skippers #SaveButterflies #butterflies #lepidoptera #insects #invertebrates #macro #Grasslands

Forest or Chestnut Chockchafer, Melolontha hippocastani
Canon 5D2 EF 100 2.8 f/3.5 1/320 iso: 600 Celakovice-Jirina, Czech Republic 5/27/2019 #Chafers #Scarabs #Scarabidae #Cockchafer #Coleoptera #insects #beetles #invertebrates #macro #Woodlands

Dingy Skipper, Erynnis tages Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/5.6 1/320 iso: 400 Srbsko, Czech Republic 5/23/2010 #Skippers #Hesperidae #Lepidoptera #Butterflies #SaveButterfles #insects #invertebrates #macro #grasslands

Lissonota lineolaris Canon 7D EF 100 2.8 f/4 1/250 iso: 500 Srbsko, Czech Republic 5/31/2018 #Ichneumonidae #Wasps #parasitoids #Hymenoptera #banchidae #Insects #invertebrates #Macro #grasslands

Sexton Beetle, Nicrophorus vespillo Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/ 4.5 1/80 iso: 400 Radotin, Czech Republic 5/17/2010 #CarrionBeetles #Silphidae #Coleoptera #beetles #AmazingBeetles #insects #invertebrates #macro

Gasteruption hastator Canon 7D EFS 60 2.8 f/10 1/200 iso: 100 Prague, Czech Republic 6/21/2021 #Wasps #ichneumonidae #ichneumon #Gasteruption #insects #invertebrates #grasslands

Silver-spotted Skipper, Hesperia comma Canon 400D EF 2.8 f/2.8 1/160 iso: 400 Srbsko, Czech Republic 8/5/2010 #Skippers #hesperidae #SaveButterflies #butterflies #lepidoptera #insects #Invertebrates #macro #grasslands

Oreina alpestris Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/2.8 1/126 iso: 400 Srbsko, Czech Republic 8/15/2010 #beetles #Chrysomelidae #Coleoptera #leafbeetles #viviparous #insects #invertebrates #macro

Mallow Skipper, Carcharodus alceae Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/10 1/125 iso: 200 Prague, Czech Republic 5/3/2009 #Skippers #hesperiidae #Lepidoptera #butterflies #SaveButterflies #Insects #invertebrates #macro #Grasslands

Amblyjoppa fuscipennis Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/5 1/320 iso: 800 Milovice, Czech Republic 8/11/2010 #Wasp #Ichneumonidae #Hymenoptera #macro #insects #invertebrates

Sexton Beetle, Nicrophorus vespillo Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/4.5 1/80 iso: 400 radotin, czech Republic May 15, 2010 #CarrionBeetle #beetles #AmazingBeetles #Coleoptera #Silphidae #insects #invertebrates #macro

Cerise thought a snake had bitten her. But another creepy critter was to blame Two women were admitted to an outback Queensland hospital for suspected snake bites in one night, but they were both bitten by something else. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-25/centipede-bites-in-outback-queensland/12700036 #Invertebrates-InsectsandArachnids #EmergencyIncidents #WeirdandWonderful #AmbulanceService #Accidents-Other #PestManagement #Entomology #Rainfall #Animals #Offbeat #People

'In this day and age no pet should die of tick paralysis': Warning to pet owners as tick season returns It is the perfect time of year to be out and about in Queensland: blue sunny skies, warm days — but lurking in the shadows for pet owners is the risk of paralysis ticks. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-04/paralysis-tick-season-starting-early/12617442 #Invertebrates-InsectsandArachnids #Pests,DiseasesandControlMethods #VaccinesandImmunity #VeterinaryMedicine #LivestockWelfare #Death