Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Colin Purrington

Nicole 🪲 @fossilforager.bsky.social · 9h

Whale Fall pin 🦀🐋🦑

A photo of a large gold-plated enamel pin photographed on top of a lichen-covered rock. The enamel pin features a whale skeleton covered with various deep sea creatures, such as octopuses, hagfish, a giant isopod, a crab, and chimaeras.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 10h

Throwback pic from October '21 of a female Golden Orb Weaver (Trichonephila clavipes) at Green Swamp Preserve, NC. The background shows a hint of the habitat, longleaf pine savanna. I love this shot because it reminds me of a gorgeous day; I saw only one other person in six hours. #Arachtober 🌿🐙📷

A closeup photo of a golden orb weaver spider, hanging upside down diagonally along a strand of silk. The spider has an elongated orange abdomen, and long orange and black banded legs. The background is out of focus vertical tree trunks in the upper third, with greenery in the lower two thirds.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Megan O’Connor 🍁 @meganoconnorart.ca · 1d

“The Petty King” is finished. Coloured pencil on hot pressed paper. The bird is a goldcrest, whose Latin name is regulus regulus :) #birds #birdart

Coloured pencil drawing of the stone statue of a dog with a crown-shaped collar and an uplifted paw. A small brown and yellow bird with an orange crest is perched on the paw.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 10h

That's it. I'm going to start planning a visit.

Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 10h

I collected some oak leaves with Coptotriche citrinipennella (Tischeriidae) several weeks ago and had grand plans to photograph the larvae inside, but got distracted. This morning I opened one and found a very lively pupa that used rapid body flexes to launch itself around. #moths #lepidoptera #oak

Oak leaf that has thin strip on the margin that is folded over an area that seems browned, with epidermis peeling away.

Elongated brown pupa inside an uncurled leaf fold.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 11h

I couldn't see a groove in the culm. Can you post a closeup? Not that it matters at all but I'm curious given the size. I would so use these to build things.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 1d

oh hell yeah youtu.be/nGZOFyLrCwk?...

Slug Eating Spaghetti Time Lapse (With Stopwatch Timer)

YouTube video by Nature's Fantastic

youtu.be

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 7d

As a primatologist, Jane Goodall was a huge inspiration to me. I admired the way she describes chimpanzee behavior with such detail and empathy, and she’s inspired so many people and advocated for chimpanzee conservation and welfare.

However, I'm dismayed at what her narrative leaves out (1/10)

Photo of Jane Goodall in the center, signing a book, with three women standing slightly hunched behind her. A very young Michelle is to the right, smiling.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 12h

OK, let's see what 3 mL of concentrated Spectracide does. Hub of syringe fits snugly into culm so no support needed. I dispensed maybe 1 mL to fill void but will add more in several days. I think a clear plastic drinking straw might work better, especially for monitoring the herbicide uptake.

Syringe full of brown liquid sticking into a stem of bamboo that has been cut close to the ground.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 13h

Culms of Bambusa oldhamii can get pretty big. Dendrocalamus giganteus, too, but not very common in the United States.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 6d

Millipede fans rejoice: we published our revision of Apheloria! This is the most common cherry millipede genus, but its taxonomy has been riddled with nebulous subspecies names. No longer! We clarify species limits and provide a distribution map. mapress.com/zt/article/v... @apheloria.bsky.social

Revision of the millipede genus Apheloria Chamberlin, 1921 (Polydesmida, Xystodesmidae, Apheloriini) | Zootaxa

mapress.com

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 13h

😮 Do you know what species? That’s awful.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 14h

Several years ago the neighbors set the stand of bamboo ablaze by dumping on the ground a load of fireplace ash that still contained hot embers. I called the fire department and 3 engines came and extinguished the fire. Old thickets of bamboo are so flammable. Took them a long time to control it.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 14h

My neighbor's huge stand of arrow bamboo (Pseudosasa japonica) is 50 ft away but still sends exploratory runners into my yard as well as into two adjacent properties. I wonder whether I could hook up a glyphosate drip directly into a culm. I have hypodermic syringes. #bamboo #invasivespecies

Small bamboo with palm-like leaves near a wooden fence.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Soh Kam Yung @sohkamyung.bsky.social · 15h

"Edited by geoscientists Max Wisshak and Hazel A. Barton, it combines a mouth-watering photographic portfolio with a series of informative essays to share this cave’s spectacular beauty with the wider world."

#Caves #Reviews #Lechuguilla #Books

Book review – Lechuguilla Cave: Discoveries in a Hidden Splendor

Lechuguilla Cave features otherworldly photos and high production values, providing an unforgettable trip into one of the world’s most extraordinary caves.

inquisitivebiologist.com

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Rebecca Wheeler @botanybeck.bsky.social · 1d

Here’s a strange fungus #fungifriends, the Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis. It has 2 growth forms, it can form an attractive rosette but more commonly exists as an amorphous mass which exudes red-brown liquid. Just look at those guttation droplets!!! 😍

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Soh Kam Yung @sohkamyung.bsky.social · 15h

iNaturalist now has options to flag artificially generated content.

"iNaturalist has introduced a new flag for artificially generated content, and a new Data Quality Assessment metric for evidence that is has been edited in a way to make it inaccurate"

#iNaturalist

New tools to flag and assess evidence on iNaturalist

Main points: Media attached to iNaturalist Observations are evidence and should be accurate It’s easier than ever to now generate realistic-seeming but inaccurate evidence iNaturalist has introduced a...

www.inaturalist.org

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 16h

Do independent bookshops buy some of their stock from Amazon?

Front of a bookshop with an open, empty Amazon box on the ground near a sign that says, "Grand opening Oct 4 Saturday."

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 23h

⚡Shocking truth⚡ about fish lice:
I've written a post about Dolops discoidalis, a species of fish louse which also happens to be the first ectoparasite to be documented from the electric eel 🧪
#Invertebrate
dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2025/10/dolo...

<i>Dolops discoidalis</i>

The electric eel , also known as poraquê , is a formidable animal. Not only is it capable of stunning its prey with an electrifying shock, ...

dailyparasite.blogspot.com

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 17h

The displayed image is much better if you post a link to the original. Copies, and copies of copies, suffer from jpg compression. #inaturalist www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Philippine Tarsier (Carlito syrichta)

Philippine Tarsier in January 2023 by lucassamson2012

www.inaturalist.org

Reposted by Colin Purrington

Chris Simms @chrisnsimms.bsky.social · 21h

Naked mole-rat workers may have specific roles, such as cleaning the toilet chamber or transporting waste, rather than being generalist helpers. The findings suggest their colonies are even more complex than we thought. 🧪 #animals #zoology #nature

www.livescience.com/animals/land...

Some naked mole rats are designated toilet cleaners, study suggests

Naked mole rats may have specific roles, such as cleaning the toilet chamber or transporting waste, rather than being generalist helpers. The findings suggest naked-mole-rat colonies are even more com...

www.livescience.com

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Schmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 1d

In celebration of World Octopus Day, we wanted to revisit one of our favorite cephalopod sightings, the glass octopus — Vitreledonella richardi filmed during a month-long #PhoenixIslandsCoral expedition in 2021.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 1d

Oh, wait. I thought you were commenting on a different, much smaller insect.

Reposted by Colin Purrington

Aussie Moths @wa-moths.bsky.social · 1d

Superb fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) mothers sing a special tune to their eggs, teaching them a secret ‘password’ call before they hatch and which the wren parents then use to detect intruder cuckoo nestlings 🪺🪶
#ausbirds #birds #wildoz

Maja Mielke @maja-mielke.bsky.social · 1d

New Beaks & Bones newsletter published! 🥳

Why do fairywrens sing to their eggs? 🪶🧪
beaksandbones.substack.com/p/singing-to...

Why fairywrens sing to their eggs

Superb fairywren moms teach their unhatched babies a vocal password to distinguish them from cuckoo intruders.

beaksandbones.substack.com

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 1d

Fun project!