Author | Lightnews

Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 1d

Reading a paper on aerodynamics of insects. One author is from the "Institute of Unmanned System". Might be a usual term in aeronautic or a rough translation from Mandarin, but it's cute to consider an insect to be an "Unmanned System".
It surely isn't manned hehe

#insects #InvertebrateShitposting

Reposted by Max Aubry

Freischreiber:innen AT @freischreiberat.bsky.social · 1d

Wenn in Redaktionen Stellen gestrichen werden, trifft das auch jene, die nie einen fixen Schreibtisch hatten: die freien Journalist:innen.

Diese Krise betrifft uns alle – ob fix oder frei. Aber freier Journalismus ist kein Hobby – ohne uns wären viele Zeitungsseiten weiß!

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 1d

So this species doesn't build a funnel, right?
Where is it present?

Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 1d

Oh my I'm not disappointed I came back to check what it was. I freaking love antlions, they're so cool.

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Reposted by Max Aubry

Evelyndroid's Aperture Séance and Spooky Spood-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 6d

A few of y'all did indeed Find the Creature, and that is awesome ♥️

Brachynemurus nebulosus is an antlion whose larvae mimic velvet ants, and can occasionally be spotted scooting across the sand before quickly burying themselves almost completely to wait for prey. 10/10 creature 🧪

Close shot of the quoted picture, showing the little wide-set blackberry eye clusters peering out of the white sand

The creature just beginning to burrow ass first into the sand. It's burnt orange/red and hairy, roughly pear-shaped, with 2 large curved mandibles straight out in front of its head

The creature nearly totally buried, just the face and large mandibles visible

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 2d

I went on a hike yesterday. It's a bit late for insects, but perfect time and weather for fungi! Also TONS of salamander #nature #mushrooms #fungus

A close up shot of a small mushroom growing on a relatively dry, cleaning cut tree stump. The mushroom is a mix of orange and dark brown in color, and a mix of velvety and fluffy in texture.

A orange jelly fungus growing on a cleanly cut tree stump. It's covered in tiny grey invertebrates, probably spring-tails. the fungus looks like a bright orange mush, with irregular shapes surrounded by mini-domes on the surface of the wood.

A fire salamander climbing a very steep slope. It's black and yellow, with shiny skin. The ground is a mixture of rocks and clay with a bit of vegetation.

A fungus growing on a tree stump. It looks like a colony of small beige spheres. Maybe 50 of them.

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Reposted by Max Aubry

Earl GreyGory (he/him) @earlgreygory.bsky.social · 3d

Getting close to that home stretch, stay tuned!

#sciart #bugsky #artsky #gardening

A partial gouache painting of a katydid. Green has been applied to a magenta background. Very light green has been used for the wings. Wispy shadows extend away from the subject.

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 3d

I am starting to follow a class about #scicomm and #poetry
part of it is to write some poems!
So what I will write probably won't be very good, but expect to see some of that here anyways

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Reposted by Max Aubry

Adel | La Bestiologie @adeldm.bsky.social · 7d

Rappel apparemment nécessaire : les insectes sont des animaux.

Deuxième rappel apparemment nécessaire : le principe de l'alimentation végétarienne est de ne pas consommer de chair animale.

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 6d

Pas très pertinent dans le sujet mais bref

Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 7d

Hmmm egg
#insects

A great green bush-cricket, eating a piece of egg white held by human fingers.

A close up shot of the Bush cricket. It's standing head down on a tree trunk.

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Reposted by Max Aubry

Framasoft @framasoft.org · 8d

Le 14 octobre, #Microsoft mettait fin au support de #Windows 10.

En attendant de passer sur #Linux, voici une liste d'applications Libres à utiliser dès aujourd'hui !

👉 framablog.org/2025/10/16/q...

#FOSS #FreeSoftware #LogicielLibre #OpenSource #EndOf10 #tutoriel

Quelles applications Libres utiliser sur Windows

En attendant de passer sur Linux...

framablog.org

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 8d

I deleted to be etra safe.
I'd be very curious to know what arthropod this is!

Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 8d

Butt-based taxonomy = best taxonomy

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 8d

Taxonomists have noticed this too, dividing the genus into two subgenera: Orthocrema (no butt) and Crematogaster (butt).

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 8d

I always think it's really cute how they come to catch the sun. There were several males t this location, fighting for the best spot!

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 8d

The second insect is a damselfly, similar to one that can be seen a bit everywhere in Europe, but showing reddish colors. This is Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis, the Copper demoiselle. The name is a bit unfortunate I think 😅
#insects

A damselfly is catching the sun, on a rock. A river can be seen in the background.
the damselfly has dark wings with a white spot in the middle, and a red/coppery body.

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 8d

I was super interested to see a small fly (~3mm) was sticking very closely to the wasp as it was moving around the soil. It was never more than 10cm away. My guess is that the fly was waiting for the wasp to go back to its nesting spot, to parasitize it! Probably a Houdini fly or relative.

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 8d

More southern European #insects! Although the first one is present all the way up to Belgium and Germany, just not as easy to observe.
This big wasp with hornet color code is Delta unguiculatum, a potter wasp (Eumeninae). It was harvesting material for its nest pottery.

A relatively big wasp, landed on the ground and looking down. It has the same color than a European hornet: fawn thorax and upper abdomen, yellow elsewhere. Its wings are also
Compared to a hornet, it is much slender, with a very long petiole.

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 8d

damn I never noticed Crematogaster having a tiny butt on its post-petiole before. The more you know 😏

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 9d

Huh. Apparently I have a photo in the NYTimes today.

(Licensed not to the Times, but to the museum exhibit it covers, which is allowed)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/a...

What Does an Ant Smell Like?

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Max Aubry

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 9d

Huh. Apparently I have a photo in the NYTimes today.

(Licensed not to the Times, but to the museum exhibit it covers, which is allowed)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/a...

What Does an Ant Smell Like?

www.nytimes.com

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 8d

I wonder if people think I'm being pedantic when I point out they confused pupa/chrysalis and cocoon.

And I blame pokemon for this confusion btw

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 9d

I spent a lot of time developing an insect-themed workshop for children with @krawall-verein.at in the last month, and part of this work was illustrating the material we came up with for the kids.
It's around 20 illustrations total, here's just a small sample of two I really like!
#insects

A vector graphic illustration of an ichneumon wasp laying eggs in a larva in dead wood. The larva can be seen inside the tree, it's chonky and cute.

A vector graphic illustration of ants tending to aphids on a plant. One ant is drinking honeydew from an aphid. The aphids are all pretty cute.

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Reposted by Max Aubry

Ahhhhh @nerdjpg.com · 9d

My favorite way to make myself depressed is Soviet time capsule messages

www.russiabeyond.com/history/3266...

Soviet time capsules: messages from the past with lessons to teach us in 2017
"We're a little jealous of all you who are celebrating the centenary of our Soviet motherland"
Arkhangelsk
"You are talking with representatives of other galaxies about scientific and cultural collaborations"
Novosibirsk
"You have eliminated harmful bacteria and viruses, ageing and sickness"
Tiraspol
"We address you, those who don't know what war is"
Okulovka

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 10d

But so far, the evidence it actually has a negative impact on other plants than ornamental non-native plants is quite slim...
It's a species to check for if you live in Southern Europe, and it's also a good motivation to prefer native plants to exotic imports! #invasion #biology #ecology #insects

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Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 10d

The species is Cacyreus marshalli, the geranium bronze. it's now widespread in France and Mediterranean Europe. It's considered invasive because it damages ornamental plants, and could also pose threats to native biodiversity by eating Geranium species and competing with species who develop on them.

Max Aubry @strepsipzerg.com · 12d

On my way back to Austria, in the center of Paris, I saw this tiny butterfly.
It struck me as "out of place" in a way. I wasn't wrong, this species wasn't present in Paris before the 2010s. #insects #butterfly

A small butterfly on a green leaf. More leaves are seen in the background.
the butterfly has marbled grey-brown wings, with little tails around the back. The wings also have fringed, white and brown. I think it's quite cute.

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