talkingrootworm.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Great to see western #corn #rootworms #WCR and #Bt-resistance research featured in #Science Magazine. Planting the right amount of Bt corn is not such an easy question. Too much of a good thing: Lessons from compromised rootworm Bt maize in the US Corn Belt | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Something lacy would be nice! The Malayan lacewing, #Cethosia hypsea, is a #Nymphalidae #butterfly active at forest edges & in open sun on #Bornea. Bright colors warn predators it is unpalatable #aposematic. Larval host is passionflower. An easy find at #Deramakot Forest Reserve #Sabah #Malaysia

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Something lacy would be nice! The Malayan lacewing, #Cethosia hypsea, is a #Nymphalidae #butterfly active at forest edges & in open sun on #Bornea. Bright colors warn predators it is unpalatable #aposematic. Larval host is passionflower. An easy find at #Deramakot Forest Reserve #Sabah #Malaysia

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

That's a stunning rove beetle! I had a fleeting in encounter with one like it, alas it escaped beneath the leaf litter!

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

💙a metallic blue rove beetle for your Monday morning💙 fantastic Plochionocerus sp seen during a 2019 trip to Ecuador - which produced some of the wildest Staphylinids I've seen 🙇 www.inaturalist.org/observations...

submitted 18 days ago • 2 comments

That's a bucket list insect right there!

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

If you knew…the rainforest at night was rotten w/ #harvestmen #Opiliones, would you a) dash out ASAP after dark to comb the vegetation for them w/ your flashlight, or b) hide in your room all night, until daylight made things “safe” again? I went thru a lot of flashlight batteries! #Ecuador

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

#Flag-footed #bugs have expanded #tibia that they wave around like semaphore flags for unclear reasons. #Anisoscellis foliaceus (orange flag) & #Dicator bilineatus (blue & orange spotted flag) frequented stinky baits along an #amazonia forest trail #Hemiptera #Coreidae #Ecuador #IKIAM

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

#Rhinocerus #beetle! This #Golofa sp. beetle smacked off the sheet behind the light like a winged-golfball & dropped the ground. Males use their headgear to battle each other for mates. The claws on those long legs are prickly-sharp! #Scarabaeidae #Dynastinae #Ecuador #RioQuijos #Amazonia

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

If you knew…the rainforest at night was rotten w/ #harvestmen #Opiliones, would you a) dash out ASAP after dark to comb the vegetation for them w/ your flashlight, or b) hide in your room all night, until daylight made things “safe” again? I went thru a lot of flashlight batteries! #Ecuador

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

#Flag-footed #bugs have expanded #tibia that they wave around like semaphore flags for unclear reasons. #Anisoscellis foliaceus (orange flag) & #Dicator bilineatus (blue & orange spotted flag) frequented stinky baits along an #amazonia forest trail #Hemiptera #Coreidae #Ecuador #IKIAM

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

#Rhinocerus #beetle! This #Golofa sp. beetle smacked off the sheet behind the light like a winged-golfball & dropped the ground. Males use their headgear to battle each other for mates. The claws on those long legs are prickly-sharp! #Scarabaeidae #Dynastinae #Ecuador #RioQuijos #Amazonia

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

What a cutie!

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Suspended like jewels in the #rainforest. A stunning #glasswing #butterfly #Pseudoscada florula aureola hanging from a flower #Nymphalidae and a sparkling spun-glass-like mesh cocoon of an #Urodidae #moth #pupa. #RioQuijos Ecolodge #Ecuador

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Suspended like jewels in the #rainforest. A stunning #glasswing #butterfly #Pseudoscada florula aureola hanging from a flower #Nymphalidae and a sparkling spun-glass-like mesh cocoon of an #Urodidae #moth #pupa. #RioQuijos Ecolodge #Ecuador

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Hooded mantis (Choeradodis stalii) feeding on a grasshopper in Ecuador. Viewed from above the mantis exhibits incredible camouflage to blend in with the surface of a broad leaf. But underneath the flattened body lies a killing machine, ready to strike at any passing insect!

submitted 11 days ago • 3 comments

Photograph of a midwest-US #entomologist having a great time in #Amazonia. #RioQuijos EcoLodge Trail, Napo, #Ecuador Thanks to #AndrewNeild for the photograph.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Mother Nature often makes her messages very, very obvious. #Poecilotettix panthera, the panther-spotted #grasshopper is distasteful. This spectacularly #aposematic species encourages potential predators to “learn” this by feeding, resting & mating in plain sight. #MolinoBasin #Arizona #Acrididae

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

If “living your best life” means hiding under a personal poopy #parasol, you might be #tortoise #beetle #larva. Predators find the look/taste unappetizing. This #Cassidinae species from #Ecuador can raise & lower their sh*t shield like a fancy man tipping his top hat to lady on the way to the opera!

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

#Truffula tree forest? The wet #paramo of #Ecuador is the neotropical equivalent of alpine #tundra. Here at >3000m, #Espletia, a type of rosette-forming #sunflower, aka #frailejones, were abundant. Seemingly imagined by #DrSeuss, the landscape was astonishing & wonderfully weird in every direction.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

Mother Nature often makes her messages very, very obvious. #Poecilotettix panthera, the panther-spotted #grasshopper is distasteful. This spectacularly #aposematic species encourages potential predators to “learn” this by feeding, resting & mating in plain sight. #MolinoBasin #Arizona #Acrididae

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

If “living your best life” means hiding under a personal poopy #parasol, you might be #tortoise #beetle #larva. Predators find the look/taste unappetizing. This #Cassidinae species from #Ecuador can raise & lower their sh*t shield like a fancy man tipping his top hat to lady on the way to the opera!

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

#Truffula tree forest? The wet #paramo of #Ecuador is the neotropical equivalent of alpine #tundra. Here at >3000m, #Espletia, a type of rosette-forming #sunflower, aka #frailejones, were abundant. Seemingly imagined by #DrSeuss, the landscape was astonishing & wonderfully weird in every direction.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

A #ValentinesDay relationship advice message from my favorite agricultural pest, the western #corn #rootworm, #Diabrotica #virgifera

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

A #ValentinesDay relationship advice message from my favorite agricultural pest, the western #corn #rootworm, #Diabrotica #virgifera

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Lovely #butterflies & more. To cleanse the palate of Sunday's skippers, here’s a few #Nymphalidae. An humongous #owl #butterfly, a fine orange-winged beauty, an Onega #glasswing, & something not like the others, a sneaky stick insect #Phasmida whose wiggling antenna betrayed its hide out. #Ecuador

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Lovely #butterflies & more. To cleanse the palate of Sunday's skippers, here’s a few #Nymphalidae. An humongous #owl #butterfly, a fine orange-winged beauty, an Onega #glasswing, & something not like the others, a sneaky stick insect #Phasmida whose wiggling antenna betrayed its hide out. #Ecuador

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Super Skipper Sunday. …And there are always tropical #skippers (#Hesperiidae)! Plus a sort of skipper-like #Rhetus #metalmark with a long tail #Butterfly #Lepidoptera #Ecuador #Insect #Riodinidae (2/2)

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Super Skipper Sunday. On Super Sunday (or any day of the week), tropical #skippers (#Hesperiidae) are superb. Their colors, spots, speckles & long tails put our mostly brown & boring temperate examples to shame. #Butterfly #Lepidoptera #Ecuador #Insect (1/2)

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Super Skipper Sunday. …And there are always tropical #skippers (#Hesperiidae)! Plus a sort of skipper-like #Rhetus #metalmark with a long tail #Butterfly #Lepidoptera #Ecuador #Insect #Riodinidae (2/2)

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Super Skipper Sunday. On Super Sunday (or any day of the week), tropical #skippers (#Hesperiidae) are superb. Their colors, spots, speckles & long tails put our mostly brown & boring temperate examples to shame. #Butterfly #Lepidoptera #Ecuador #Insect (1/2)

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Mantid flies LOVE the camera! And I love them! #Climaciella brunnea #Mantispidae #Neuroptera #Predator

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

#Mantid flies are gorgeous creatures! #Climaciella brunnea #Mantispidae #Predator

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Aliens on Earth? #Climaciella brunnea is called the #wasp #mantidfly, Fam. #Mantispidae, for its resemblance to wasps. The larvae locate wolf #spider females. They enter her egg sac as it is being formed. From within the protected sac, it will eat the spider’s eggs. #Predation #Lycosidae

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Mantid flies LOVE the camera! And I love them! #Climaciella brunnea #Mantispidae #Neuroptera #Predator

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

#Mantid flies are gorgeous creatures! #Climaciella brunnea #Mantispidae #Predator

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Aliens on Earth? #Climaciella brunnea is called the #wasp #mantidfly, Fam. #Mantispidae, for its resemblance to wasps. The larvae locate wolf #spider females. They enter her egg sac as it is being formed. From within the protected sac, it will eat the spider’s eggs. #Predation #Lycosidae

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

I love this positively angry-looking photograph of my study organism, the western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera). Fortuitous lighting suggests a malice I've never experienced...yet?

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

I love this positively angry-looking photograph of my study organism, the western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera). Fortuitous lighting suggests a malice I've never experienced...yet?

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Former Secretary of Transportation--who was not on The Real World or Road Rules--weighs in on the President's efforts to blame the fatal air traffic accident on DEI.

submitted 29 days ago • 610 comments

Science & observable facts used to take precedence over twisted agendas and blatant falsehoods. I hate being lied to by ignorant politicians w/ biased motives. Climate déjà vu | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

An #assassin #bug learns that dinnertime etiquette is of no concern for #kleptoparasitic #flies. It tries to eat while the flies do their best to slurp up a meal for themselves.

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

An #assassin #bug learns that dinnertime etiquette is of no concern for #kleptoparasitic #flies. It tries to eat while the flies do their best to slurp up a meal for themselves.

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

Happy Year of the #Snake from your friendly neighborhood #Fer-de-Lance, or #terciopelo #Bothrops asper. This chill fellow is from the Pipeline Road in #Panama.

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Happy Year of the #Snake from your friendly neighborhood #Fer-de-Lance, or #terciopelo #Bothrops asper. This chill fellow is from the Pipeline Road in #Panama.

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

How it started, how it’s going! Under the right conditions of heat & humidity, #flies are susceptible to infection w/ #Entomophora muscae which makes them perch up high so when their bodies explode with #fungal #spores, they literally rain death on other flies below!

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Who’d put such designs on #butterflies? Along the #Apuya Tract (#Napo #Ecuador), my humble expectations for sensible #Lepidopteran coloration were shattered again & again. Little brown jobs just won’t do – a given for #metalmarks, but true here even for #skippers!

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments