May is crab month for #insertaninvert2024 - here, a humble farmer rides his lollypop crab to market.

I would love to give my children a Covid booster shot but they get it so fast from daycare every three months it’s basically impossible. I can basically schedule it at this point. #covidisnotover #covid

"Choose your own adventure in mental anguish and suffering" WILL YOU -count nearly invisible tarsomeres on a 2mm beetle? Turn to... COLEOPTERA -count individual bristles on a made-up sounding body segment? Turn to... DIPTERA -not be able to ID anything that's not spread? Turn to... LEPIDOPTERA

Managed to snap a few more #Invertefest shots, favorite is definitely this goldenrod leaf mining beetle. #coleoptera #chrysomelidae

Want a nice, fact-filled overview of this year's periodical cicada emergence? Here you go #InverteFest 🧪https://entomologytoday.org/2024/04/25/periodical-cicadas-2024-brood-xix-xii-entomologists-prepare-six-week-serenade/

My first #Invertefest shot: nice little hover fly cooled down too much to fly away. Probably Allograpta but not sure. iNat Observation here: www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Dear parents of one sick child who insist upon sending them places to spread their disease: Don’t. Sincerely, a parent of twins who just spent a whole week without sleep dealing with dual Upper Respiratory and Ear Infections. #twinparenting #nosleep

HELL YES I GOT IT HOLY SHIT 🔭

The Chinook got shook when their truck got cooked. Now the salmon are swimming — but in the wrong brook.

Since periodical cicadas are trending again, I've copied a thread I originally posted to Twitter in 2021 that answers the question "How loud would a periodical cicada be if it were the size of an F-35?"

Close-up of a pellucid four-tooth moss (Tetraphis pellucida) showing the disc-shaped propagules (gemmae) that form inside splash cups at the tips of shoots. The species can also reproduce sexually. 🌿 #botany #moss

WHAAATTT??

“CSU Management Walks Out of Bargaining.” So we doing this thing…the California Faculty Association will begin a 5-day, systemwide strike in the Cal State system starting Jan. 22. To be clear, that’s a systemwide strike (23 campuses) in the largest public university system in the county.

We’ve survived the first week of 2024! Now what’s going to define the year ahead? CICADMANIA of course! Who’s excited for 17 yr and 13 yr cicadas to emerge simultaneously for the first time in 221 y? #cicada #entomology #bugs

Looks like Dr. Johanne Brunet, of the Brunet bee lab, is finally out from the USDA. This comes years after she left UW Madison in 2019 after they initiated a dismissal for cause. For background see: web.archive.org/web/20230221...

She's so flat 🥹 (forgot to post more grizzled mantis pics from the other day) 🌿

Me, all December: we don't need Spotify Wrapped-like retrospectives for everything, please Also me, January 1st: but #InverteFest Wrapped though?

#InverteFest recap: This is what our map looked like at the end of the event. We had 54 participants upload 1245 different animals, at least 672 of which were unique species. Thank you for everyone who played along! The next event will be in April, which coincides with Northern Hemisphere spring.

As I deal with twins sick with RSV, this reflection, shared with me by my dad, meant a lot to me. I hope it helps any of you dealing with sick children over the holidays. #RSV

Finally got a chance to go out for #invertefest - not much out even on a warm Tennessee day but was able to find one adult beetle and some stunning translucent fly larvae. Collembola abounded under bark.

We begin on MONDAY. I'll be mostly offline except for #InverteFest stuff. Don't forget to join the iNaturalist project to participate in community science! www.inaturalist.org/projects/inv...

RIGHT NOW, GBIF is highlighting the BEST image/specimen they've EVER highlighted! www.gbif.org to check it out: Screenshot for those who miss it:

For those of you who like #entodesign this rug is on point. Seriously it has an identifiable #rhipicerid ruggable.com/products/iri...

Posted a meme here from FB that went uncredited in the other place. Folks here shared that it was from @whysharksmatter.bsky.social! So if you liked it, follow him cause it's cool. (I nuked the original cause I couldn't update the alt text to reflect this.)

I guess I'm on this place now too? Have a monotomid. #monotomidae #beetles #coleoptera