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Alex Wild

@alexwild.bsky.social

15K followers 2K following 7.4K posts

Curator of Entomology at the University of Texas at Austin, personal account. Biology. Insects. Photography. https://www.alexanderwild.com

www.alexanderwild.com

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · Jul 9

The thing about entomology is, there are always weirder bugs than anything you could imagine on your own.

Here's Cysteodemus wislizeni, a blister beetle from west Texas.

Photograph of a metallic blue/green beetle with a very spider-like body, a huge fake "abdomen" that is swollen and dented with even pits over its bulbous surface. It is otherwise ant-like, standing on a pure white stylized background.

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Reposted by Alex Wild

Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 3d

Look at her go!
#invertebrates 🌿

Screen shot of Project Monarch app map of progress of a monarch butterfly from southern Ontario to Oklahoma.

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Reposted by Alex Wild

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 7h

Yeah. TikTok is out. It's an arm of the ruling fascist party at this point.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 7h

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 7h

Is collecting bids from luck hit contractors.

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Reposted by Alex Wild

Gwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 8h

Perhaps you also need a weevil in size 13 trainers this evening. 👟👟👟

Nash Turley @nashturley.bsky.social · 1d

Big fan of this weevil's color scheme, pointy snoot, and huge feet!

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

black and yellow weevil on a green leaf with long thin rostrum and very large foot pads

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 7h

The cat will personally oversee your bad luck.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 13h

Gonna name my new band "Suspicious Package" and never have to do one of those crappy airport gigs.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 15h

A pyrgotid fly specimen, Sphecomyiella valida, in the UT Insect Collection. From an ongoing survey of UT's new Hill Country Field Station.

Microscope image, in great detail of a large brown fly in side view, pinned through the thorax with a black pin. The fly's wings are mottled dark brown and tan.

Reposted by Alex Wild

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 17h

MIT Rejects the Compact!
I am so proud.
"The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief ...

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 17h

Well, I guess it’s off to the Norwegian front with all of us now.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

We have a few drawers of Bostrichids, do you remember what species, what dates/locations? I’ll have a look tomorrow.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

Manchaca.

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 2d

What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

For a long while it was driven by the rich breaking various public assets, buying them cheaply, and profiting until whatever they bought fell apart.

The formal economy was based on those rich people paying for steak in various nice restaurants, making tourists pay to watch tango, and soy exports.

Reposted by Alex Wild

Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 1d

I know this case is all over - & it should be - but Turning Point USA has waged a harassment campaign against faculty for more than a decade. I know of at least a half dozen other faculty, personally, who have received death threats and several of those who felt so unsafe they too left their homes

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 1d

Are we great yet?

Mark Bray, a Rutgers University professor and expert on anti-fascist groups, is fleeing to Spain with his family due to death threats that stem from a campaign by Turning Point USA and other conservative groups to get him fired, falsely labeling him as an antifa member.

Antifa expert at Rutgers University says he is moving to Spain because of death threats

An expert on anti-fascist groups who teaches at New Jersey’s flagship state university is moving his family overseas.

apnews.com

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

These polar bears will be able to afford Lamborghinis.

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

A gallery of fireflies.

Phenomenal Fireflies - Alex Wild

Fireflies are a family (Lampyridae) of about 2,000 beetle species known for their ability to produce light through chemical reactions.

www.alexanderwild.com

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Reposted by Alex Wild

Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 2d

Congratulations to my UT Austin colleague Jason McLellan (@mclellanlab.bsky.social), who’s just received a well-deserved MacArthur Fellowship. His work has been instrumental in developing vaccines for RSV and COVID-19.

Texas Science @texasscience.bsky.social · 2d

UT Austin has a new “genius grant” recipient!

Texas Science professor Jason McLellan has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship — aka the “genius grant” — by The MacArthur Foundation.

#TexasScience @mclellanlab.bsky.social #MacArthurGenius @utaustin.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/accolad...

Virus Slayer Awarded ‘Genius Grant’ by MacArthur Foundation

The award recognizes Jason McLellan’s work to investigate how viruses infect our cells and to develop new treatments for infectious disease.

cns.utexas.edu

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

I did the Pecan yesterday, planning to deep water the oak this weekends.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

So we stay. Contemplating our dust, and/or mud.

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

My current theory is, we try to leave but our path is either blocked by sudden floods or fire tornadoes.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

We have two weathers in Texas: exceptional drought with sweeping wildfires, and flash floods that reduce our population by about a third every few years. I'm not sure why anyone lives here.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

This is terrible news for drought-stricken Texas. We're going to lose a lot of trees.

Reuters @reuters.com · 1d

US National Weather Service says La Nina conditions likely to persist through Dec 2025 to Feb 2026 reut.rs/3VYGBSG

US National Weather Service says La Nina conditions likely to persist through Dec 2025 to Feb 2026

The U.S. National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center published an advisory Thursday on the emergence of La Nina conditions in September, which are likely to persist through December 2025 to February 2026, with a 55% chance of a transition to ENSO-neutral likely in January to March 2026.

reut.rs

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

Not his flight. His tickets.

Reposted by Alex Wild

Aman Batheja @amanbatheja.bsky.social · 1d

As the shutdown continues, all of the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are about to run out of funding, They're all set to close to visitors starting this Sunday—in the middle of a holiday weekend—and won't reopen until the government does.

Screenshot of top of Smithsonian's homepage: "Our museums, research centers, and the National Zoo are open today and will remain open through Saturday, October 11. If the government shutdown continues past October 11, Smithsonian locations will be closed starting Sunday, October 12."

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

Bizarre seeing a fascist organization being treated as mainstream by the U.S. press.

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

While Turning Point is in the news, I will again point out that one of the founding members of the UT Austin Turning Point chapter was later arrested for animal cruelty at a neo-Nazi training camp in Georgia:

Texas man jailed in Rome after cutting Rams Head off

Duncan Christopher Trimmel, 23 of Frisco Texas, was arrested in Rome for animal cruelty charges. Reports said Trammel is accused of shooting and beheading a ram, which had been stolen from a Floyd…

coosavalleynews.com

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