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tjalamont.bsky.social
Writer & nature photographer, especially macro photography of arthropods. Desert Tortoise conservation advocate. Fan of California, Montana, the rest of the planet. Photo website: https://www.tomastlephotography.com/
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A small juvenile anole (possibly a young Anolis lionotus), with a body length of under two inches, found at night in the rainforest. Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. 🌿🦎

submitted 5 hours ago • 0 comments

Excellent thread on my city.

submitted 7 hours ago • 0 comments

Looking almost straight up at a Northern Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni), high overhead in Costa Rica. I saw two sloths while there, both well up in trees, but did manage to find this one's sleepy face through a gap in the branches. 🌿🦥

submitted 9 hours ago • 5 comments

Got a new op-ed in LNC/LancasterOnline this morning, on the importance of the curiosity-driven science the National Science Foundation is supposed to support lancasteronline.com/opinion/colu...

submitted 11 hours ago • 2 comments

One of the prettiest (and most skittish) jumping spiders I've had the joy of photographing Anasaitis canalis, Costa Rica #invertebrates

submitted 22 hours ago • 2 comments

🐙🌿🕷️ Ever see a spider yawn? Well, now you have. Okay, not yawn as in draw a big sleepy breath - spiders don't breathe with their face - but this one is stretching its chelicerae (mouthparts that end in the fangs) wide, making them look like a Yosemite Sam mustache. Also, it's grooming its eyes--

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

🐙🌿🕷️ Here are your Saturday Spiders. I saw what looked like an ant on a leaf, but it was running in circles in a non-antish way, and a closer look revealed an ant-mimic jumping spider. While others were shooting it (proper bug-photo etiquette says one should always share one's bug finds), it caught--

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

when visiting my pops recently I suggested, "let's see a badger family today". yeah right. well, while out we ran across a mom and her kits. we first saw the kits 25 yards away, then remarkably, they bumbled straight for us! snorting and hissing along the way. practicing their badassery.

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

Guess what? Fireworks butt. Here's a tiny planthopper nymph (not sure which family) from Costa Rica, one of several kinds we saw. The fibers are a waxy material; if a predator attacks from behind, they can break off harmlessly and let the nymph escape. Alternatively...Coachella-ready. 🐙🌿 🎆 #insects

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

One more for #FridayFlyday. I only managed one shot before it zoomed off, and had to crop a fair bit, but thought it was worth a share because I'd never seen one before. I think it's a Quasimodo fly, family Curtonotidae. I love the shape, and how it stands on tippy-toes. (Costa Rica) 🐙🌿 🪰 #insects

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Here is your #FridayFrog. I saw several of these big, common frogs in Costa Rica. Leptodactylus sp., I think Savage's Thin-toed Frog, Leptodactylus savagei. Shot at ISO 64 for maximum dynamic range, with weak diffused fill flash so that the pale, shiny highlights wouldn't be overexposed. 🐸📷 #frogs

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

#FridayFlyday! Here are two flies: one happy, one not. While I was photographing this robber fly with ruby eyes, it darted off for a split second then returned to the exact spot with a meal - a pretty purple mosquito. Robber flies are amazing predators. (Unlucky mosquito is Psorophora ferox). 🐙🌿

submitted 2 days ago • 8 comments

Itty bitty bebe Northwestern Garter Snake (Thamnophis ordinoides) also takes advantage of natural trails and hidey holes in lava. They aren't eating the chipmunks! These beauties specialize in chowing down on slugs and earthworms (spaghetti with slime sauce). #HERper #herps #becurious🐍

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

An amazing amblypygid, I think a small juvenile, with a body barely a cm. long. These are arachnids, but despite being called "whip spiders" or "tailless whip scorpions," they are neither spiders nor scorpions. They have no venom and are harmless unless you're a moth or other bug. 🐙🌿 #arachnids

submitted 3 days ago • 5 comments

A big adult male common basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus) in Costa Rica. They're sometimes called Jesus or Jesus Christ Lizards for their ability to run on the surface of the water, which is quite fun to watch. For film history fans, I also propose the name, "Chauncey Gardiner Lizard." 🌿🦎 #herps

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

Lizards bite bugs, but sometimes bugs bite lizards. Here's an anole (I think an Osa/Lion Anole, Anolis lionotus) at rest in early evening, being stalked by a tiny biting midge, guessing Forcipomyia sp. (lower right). Some midges even bite other bugs, like stick insects & katydids. (Costa Rica) 🐙🌿🦎

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

There’s almost nothing cooler than seeing a massive strangler fig in a primary rainforest. Strangler figs can be a number of species of Ficus; they germinate on other trees up in the canopy, then grow downward and eventually root. If the host tree dies, it leaves a hollow scaffolding like this. 🌿

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

🧵🐙🌿Here is your Wednesday Wasp, one of the most fascinating things I saw in Costa Rica. It's a silk wasp, Microstigmus adelphus. They're ant-size, ~3 mm. This nest was maybe the size of a pea. Females produce silk from their abdomen (almost like spiders) to bind organic material for the nest, and--

submitted 4 days ago • 5 comments

Please enjoy this ridiculously cute butterfly, which was about the size of my pinkie fingernail. It's in the butterfly family called metalmarks (Riodinidae). Males, like these, have reduced front legs and perch using only the rear 4 (females can use all 6). Sarota acantus; Costa Rica 🐙🌿 #insects

submitted 5 days ago • 41 comments

I'm a little late getting to my yearly bug-themed Pride flags, so in the meantime please accept some somewhat rainbow-y birds, a pair of Scarlet Macaws seen recently in Costa Rica. 📷🦉🏳️‍🌈

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

🏳️‍🌈Happy Pride y'all!🏳️‍⚧️ Be bold. Be fabulous. Be you! 🎨🐡🪳🪲 LindZeamays.com/printshop

submitted 6 days ago • 3 comments