Alex Wild
@alexwild.bsky.social
Up close with a pygmy mole cricket, Neotridactylus apicalis. Stengl Lost Pines Biological Station, Texas.
November 24, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Up close with a pygmy mole cricket, Neotridactylus apicalis. Stengl Lost Pines Biological Station, Texas.
The genus name for American harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex, means "bearded ant", and it refers to a basket of hairs on the underside of the head that helps these desert ants carry dry sand.
Monahans Sandhills State Park, Texas.
Monahans Sandhills State Park, Texas.
November 23, 2025 at 3:04 PM
The genus name for American harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex, means "bearded ant", and it refers to a basket of hairs on the underside of the head that helps these desert ants carry dry sand.
Monahans Sandhills State Park, Texas.
Monahans Sandhills State Park, Texas.
Sure, but I’m guessing the drum beat for this new track won’t be as good as “50 Ways to Leave your Lover”
November 20, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Sure, but I’m guessing the drum beat for this new track won’t be as good as “50 Ways to Leave your Lover”
Here's a different species, from Ecuador.
November 19, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Here's a different species, from Ecuador.
If you know the tropical ant genus Holcoponera, you know they are not all that fuzzy. But this Colombian species, Holcoponera pilosa, is positively frizzy compared to its congeners.
November 19, 2025 at 3:37 AM
If you know the tropical ant genus Holcoponera, you know they are not all that fuzzy. But this Colombian species, Holcoponera pilosa, is positively frizzy compared to its congeners.
A female cattle-poisoning sawfly, Lophyrotoma interrupta, lifts off. Presumable to poison some cattle? Who knows.
(Australia).
(Australia).
November 17, 2025 at 4:32 PM
A female cattle-poisoning sawfly, Lophyrotoma interrupta, lifts off. Presumable to poison some cattle? Who knows.
(Australia).
(Australia).
The distinctively-patterened Caribbean Banded Carpenter Ant, Camponotus zonatus. Panama.
November 17, 2025 at 2:07 PM
The distinctively-patterened Caribbean Banded Carpenter Ant, Camponotus zonatus. Panama.
It's that time of the year when the rotting Halloween pumpkins start delivering tremendous bug content.
I got these shots of Pheidole dentata ants successfully hunting fruit fly adults and larvae in the muck.
I got these shots of Pheidole dentata ants successfully hunting fruit fly adults and larvae in the muck.
November 17, 2025 at 2:34 AM
It's that time of the year when the rotting Halloween pumpkins start delivering tremendous bug content.
I got these shots of Pheidole dentata ants successfully hunting fruit fly adults and larvae in the muck.
I got these shots of Pheidole dentata ants successfully hunting fruit fly adults and larvae in the muck.
Guess who we’re about to see?
November 16, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Guess who we’re about to see?
I do like taking the occasional bug photo that gives the subject space in the frame.
Here's a Liometopum luctuosum tree ant in Arizona, taking home a gall midge it has caught.
Here's a Liometopum luctuosum tree ant in Arizona, taking home a gall midge it has caught.
November 15, 2025 at 5:38 PM
I do like taking the occasional bug photo that gives the subject space in the frame.
Here's a Liometopum luctuosum tree ant in Arizona, taking home a gall midge it has caught.
Here's a Liometopum luctuosum tree ant in Arizona, taking home a gall midge it has caught.
Not as big as it looks.
November 14, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Not as big as it looks.
Up close with a Texas cave scorpion from UT Austin's Brackenridge Field Lab.
November 14, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Up close with a Texas cave scorpion from UT Austin's Brackenridge Field Lab.
Another gem from the archives that I'd missed on the first round through. Camponotus aeneopilosus, the golden-tailed sugar ant, carrying a pupa through the brood nest. Victoria, Australia, 2012.
November 13, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Another gem from the archives that I'd missed on the first round through. Camponotus aeneopilosus, the golden-tailed sugar ant, carrying a pupa through the brood nest. Victoria, Australia, 2012.
A closer shot, also newly processed from the archives:
November 11, 2025 at 3:49 PM
A closer shot, also newly processed from the archives:
An Oxytrigona cagafogo fire bee launches from her nest in subtropical Brazil.
When I took this photo in 2012, the resources available for species IDs were sparser than now, and I often left images unprocessed if I couldn’t figure it out.
Turns out I’ve got buried treasures!
When I took this photo in 2012, the resources available for species IDs were sparser than now, and I often left images unprocessed if I couldn’t figure it out.
Turns out I’ve got buried treasures!
November 11, 2025 at 3:43 PM
An Oxytrigona cagafogo fire bee launches from her nest in subtropical Brazil.
When I took this photo in 2012, the resources available for species IDs were sparser than now, and I often left images unprocessed if I couldn’t figure it out.
Turns out I’ve got buried treasures!
When I took this photo in 2012, the resources available for species IDs were sparser than now, and I often left images unprocessed if I couldn’t figure it out.
Turns out I’ve got buried treasures!
Trying to identify African Crematogaster is a mess. I *think* this photo I took in 2012 in Uganda shows C. nigrans, but there are a zillion published species names with inadequate descriptions and no modern research that ties these names to real world populations.
November 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Trying to identify African Crematogaster is a mess. I *think* this photo I took in 2012 in Uganda shows C. nigrans, but there are a zillion published species names with inadequate descriptions and no modern research that ties these names to real world populations.
Kudos to this little lemon tree, one foot tall, somehow producing three massive fruits in its first year.
November 8, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Kudos to this little lemon tree, one foot tall, somehow producing three massive fruits in its first year.
A Texas leafcutter ant, Atta texana, hauls spring Prunus buds along a tree branch on her way back to the nest.
November 8, 2025 at 1:22 PM
A Texas leafcutter ant, Atta texana, hauls spring Prunus buds along a tree branch on her way back to the nest.
This tiny hemerobiid lacewing, Sympherobius occidentalis, arrived to the porch light last night. With magnification, we can see its hypnotic wing venation.
November 6, 2025 at 2:26 PM
This tiny hemerobiid lacewing, Sympherobius occidentalis, arrived to the porch light last night. With magnification, we can see its hypnotic wing venation.
Why yes, I never progressed beyond the mental age of 14. Here's the epicenter of public lice in the U.S., according to GBIF:
November 5, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Why yes, I never progressed beyond the mental age of 14. Here's the epicenter of public lice in the U.S., according to GBIF:
Say what you will about crusty old museum collections, but in regards to pubic lice, collections are leaving iNaturalist in the dust.
November 5, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Say what you will about crusty old museum collections, but in regards to pubic lice, collections are leaving iNaturalist in the dust.