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Reposted by Jen C Mars

Aussie Moths @wa-moths.bsky.social · 14h

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 · 18h

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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Keith Ammann 🔜 Gamehole Con @themonstersknow.com · 1d

If you're in Chicago, you can catch me in person this week reading from MAKING ENEMIES:

Friday, Oct. 10, 7 PM at the Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave.
Sunday, Oct. 12, 3:30 PM at Chicagoland Games, 5550 N. Broadway

Hope you see you there!

A hardbound copy of Making Enemies rests on a wooden dining table. On the cover, a huge, pearlescent arthropod bursts out of a subterranean crevice and drives one of its large barbed claws through a dwarf fighter's abdomen, while another dwarf cowers in fear. The book is surrounded by blue and red polyhedral dice.

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 21h

Carolina mantis, found on the tire of a parked car and relocated to our backyard where I hope she finds snacks and maybe leaves us the gift of more mantises

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 22h

Loving the burst of pseudoscorpion posts! Gave this grabby guy some bristles and a bit more attitude 😈 (remember in reality they’re like sesame seeds with attitude) #arachtober

A gray resin sculpture of a pseudoscorpion, sitting in my open hand against a white background.

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 20h

The 7 y/o named her Ophelia after the mantis in Spider magazine

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 21h

Carolina mantis, found on the tire of a parked car and relocated to our backyard where I hope she finds snacks and maybe leaves us the gift of more mantises

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Reposted by Jen C Mars

Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 1d

Happy book birthday to the perfect spooky season MONSTER book!

Here's one of my favorite seasonally appropriate contributions

Black and white line art illustration of what appears to be a massive evil jack o' lantern with spider legs and vine tentacles stuffing a person inside of it's opened top and generally having a good time

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 1d

Happy book birthday to the perfect spooky season MONSTER book!

Here's one of my favorite seasonally appropriate contributions

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Tom Kilian @tomkilianart.bsky.social · 2d

My album cover art for The Toad Folk II by Tales Under The Oak

If you want to give it a listen, you can find the album on bandcamp at talesundertheoak.bandcamp.com/album/the-toad-folk-ii

Album cover art for "The Toad Folk II," by Tales Under The Oak. Depicts a lantern-lit procession of toads in medieval dress towards a cave full of mystical turquois light.

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 2d

I'll get some nice pictures before I release her into our yard, but what a delightful creature and honestly it's been a rough morning after a rough few weeks with more ahead so this was a little ray of sunshine

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 2d

I found this mantis on a car tire in a parking lot and brought it home because aww, but upon closer inspection I think this is a female Carolina mantis which I haven’t seen in my area before

Photo of a green mantis standing on the plastic baggy I was trying to get her into against a background of dirty parking lot

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Geoffrey Cubbage @geoffreycubbage.bsky.social · 3d

A thing I think it’s important for USians not in currently-occupied cities to grasp is that the normal and everyday goes on alongside the violent and unprecedented.

In Chicago right now you can be forced off teargas-soaked streets in the morning and have a peaceful evening picnic on the lake.

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 3d

They are all perfect

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Liz Taysum @liztaysum.bsky.social · 3d

Teeny tiny toad sheltering in my shoe this morning.

#macromonday #nature #wildlife

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Nicole aka Nimasprout @nimasprout.bsky.social · 3d

Working on a print version of this latest piece... This roly poly duo looks like they'd be up for some fun adventures

Cropped detail of two bug characters against cozy background.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 4d

Not my photograph but thought others would enjoy. And if you know what it is, Kenneth Geisert would appreciate an ID. 🌿 #lepidoptera #peru #insects #moths #inaturalist www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Butterflies and Moths (Order Lepidoptera)

Butterflies and Moths from Tambopata, Peru on June 2, 2025 at 10:28 PM by Kenneth Geisert. Finca Las Piedras Time and location approximate

www.inaturalist.org

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 5d

I really love this illustration and my kid loves vaquita porpoises so much!

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CassWArt 🌴 @casswart.bsky.social · 5d

Big news for the vaquita porpoise, the most endangered sea mammal! 💙

The time is now to come together to try and save these animals! I believe fully art can help bring awareness.

Join us on Oct 25th for Save the Vaquita Day!

#SaveTheVaquita #SciArt #MarineMammals

Sketch Comp illustration for a small black and gray marked marine mammal called the Vaquita.

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 8d

This is year four of making bug themed costumes for the kid. We were on track to break the streak until kid asked to watch me play Hollow Knight and decided (rightfully) that Hornet is the best. A lot of work but also badass so

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 8d

Step one complete

Excellent Hornet mask pattern by LilitCosplay

Photo of a foam mask of the character Hornet from Hollow Knight and SilkSong. The mask is gray and unpainted and surrounded by crafting supplies on a wood table

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Arachtober @arachtober.bsky.social · 8d

Join us in celebrating Arachtober by sharing your #spider and other #arachnid photos all month. #Arachtober has spread around the web. We’ve created a basic site at Arachtober.com to explain what this is all about. Banner by @ashleymbradford.bsky.social, inspired by my recent linocut artwork.

Black and white line art of a jumping spider surrounded by morning glory flowers with text Arachtober 2025.

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Keith Ammann 🔜 Gamehole Con @themonstersknow.com · 9d

IT'S ALMOST HERE! Making Enemies: Monster Design Inspiration for TTRPGs includes not only a treasury of ideas for creating your own homegrown abominations but also TWENTY original monsters, illustrated by @jencmars.bsky.social.

Preorder now at spyandowl.com/making... to get your copy on Oct. 7!

A wickedly grinning jack-o-lantern, larger than a man, running around on spider legs. You can tell it's larger than a man, because it's grabbed one with a viny tendril and is stuffing him inside itself, having lifted its own lid with another tendril.

A carriage with darkened windows, speeding through a ghostly mist. Its headlamps are eyelike and glowering, and there's an incriminating bloodstain on the front of it, right where it might impact a person's head.

Some horrible, shapeless thing that looks sort of like a gargantuan nudibranch, plowing through everything in its path, including entire trees. It's such a juggernaut, it's even breaking the frame.

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Mike Pingleton @somuchpingle.bsky.social · 11d

Aside from a few painful stings, I don't know my scorpions very well. Here's one with her offspring from the Great Karoo of western South Africa #inverts #scorpions #NaturePhotography 🌿

Angled down image of a scorpion on red soil, positioned diagonally with head and claws facing the lower right corner. The body color is a deep blackish purple. The most singular aspect are the 17-18 tiny white babies clinging to her back.

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Medusa Dollmaker @medusadollmaker.bsky.social · 11d

💐 Wildflower ✨ Flores silvestres para ti. Fuera de temporada en este hemisferio, pero me apetecía dibujar algunas de mis flores favoritas. Estoy haciendo una serie de diseños brujis, ya os iré mostrando👀 Cuál será el siguiente?
Ya disponible como patrón de punto de cruz en Folktalesmarket.com

Ilustración con diseño de marco art nouveau de formas orgánicas como ramas o raices. En el centro, un ramo floral de amapolas, lavandas, dientes de leon y margaritas. Atriba el texto WILDFLOWER en letras decorativas, abajo HERB WITCH

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Mavis Bickle @mavisbickle.bsky.social · 12d

Considering most of the traps I’ve done lately have been very brown, the first Black Rustic of the year was almost too beautiful to look at first thing, and photos just don’t do it justice.. that and a Sallow- my eyes! Also a White-point and Turnip for the possible immigrants
#teammoth

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