Elli Klaus

Amazing picture!

No animal alive today is ‘primitive’ – why are so many still labeled that way? All species alive today, from chimpanzees to bacteria, are cousins that each have equally long lineages, rather than ancestors or descendants of one another.

Good one for understanding how evolution works.

theconversation.com/no-animal-al...

This monkey slug caterpillar (Phobetron sp.) from Ecuador has evolved to look like a discarded tarantula molt. This one mimics the tarantula Avicularia juruensis (see my previous post) so accurately, down to the pink toes and yellow bands! The hairs cause skin irritation, just like Avicularia hairs.

I'm heading off to my next adventure in Ecuador so I will be quiet here for a while. In the meantime, I'm going to leave you with this video of a fringe tree frog (Cruziohyla craspedopus) I found on my previous visit to Ecuador. I never get tired of seeing them, such an iconic species!

Another cool find at Emerald Arch in Ecuador was this membracid treehopper (Anchistrotus sp.) with its enormous helmet. While much more sluggish compared to other treehoppers, this species is quick to break off and drop its helmet when disturbed, allowing it to take off swiftly to escape danger.

A brown jumping spider with yellowish pedipalps facing the camera.

A Longleg #Dandy (#Portia cf. schultzi) from #Choma, #Zambia.

#jumpingspider #salticidae #spidersky #bugsky #inverts #macrophotography #spiders

It might have been able. But we didn't find it anymore around the next morning, so it might have been found by local people... 😬 with so much food it should have not been able to move much...

Close-up macro of a tiny spiny red-and-black insect with horn-like projections and bright red eyes standing on a green leaf.

Enjoy this little demon, #Bugsky

At first I thought this was just a small fly, but when I got my macro on it I found this alien creature. I think it's in the genus Poppea, a type of treehopper. Found at @casabentbill.bsky.social #CostaRica #nature #insects

A scrub hare is entangeled by a medium sized python.

A lucky find: A southern #African rock #python caught itself a nice dinner.

Seen in #Choma, #Zambia in November 2025.

#herps #snake

Brown jumping spider facing the camera. The pedipalps are half white on the bottom.

One of the jumping #spiders I found in the leaf litter at #Choma, #Zambia. Any ideas for an ID?

#spidersky #inverts #macrophotography #inaturalist

An #Amegilla #bee resting on the stem of a lavender.
Seen in #Choma, #Zambia in November 2025.

#bugsky #inverts #inaturalist #macrophotography

A burrowing wolf spider with her #spiderlings at the entrance of her hole.
Seen in #Choma, #Zambia

#spidersky #bugsky #wolfspider #inverts #inaturalist

We love jumping spiders because they are smol, cute, active, friendly and always looking around curiously with their huge eyes. But do you know they’re also masters of mimicry? Check out the bugs they pretend to be (and some of those are really good)!💚💚

Oh wow, that's amazing work! Love it 😍

Generally black jumping spider with a striking red abdomen with a vertical black stripe. The legs have white hairs which for the four front legs range to orange. Also the hairs on the pedipalps are white. Head and cheliceres are dark black. View from front top onto the spider.

Just because I just found this picture and I find them pretty. So lets see who else likes it!

This is a male #Philaeus chrysops, a #jumpingspider. Discovered in #France, #Camargue in Mai 2024.

#salticidae #spidersky #inverts #inat #bugsky

Wtf they are not supposed to be sold but left in nature for the few that are left in the wild. This is a #rareinsect!

Wasps are great, and like all little critturs, greatly appreciate clean fresh water in hot weather. #inverts 🐙

A macro photo of two beetles attacking another insect, on a pale, crystalline rock. The beetles have dull dark bluish abdomens and orange head/legs/thorax. Their prey is a similar-sized, orange-brown insect, probably a termite alate (an alate is a winged, reproductive male or female termite or ant that leaves to form a new colony; this one has lost its wings, which they do after their short nuptial flight; in this case, it might also have been due to the beetles' attack).

Two bombardier beetles (Brachinus sp.) attacking a termite. Many insects defend themselves with smelly/irritating chemicals; these beetles go to 11. They mix chemicals in their abdomen, and the resulting reaction reaches near boiling; the noxious mixture is emitted with an audible pop. 🐙🌿 #insects

Watch: Huge stick insect discovered in Australia A new "supersized" species of stick insect that is roughly as heavy as a golf ball has been discovered in Australia.

Watch: Huge stick #insect discovered in #Australia

www.bbc.com/news/videos/...

Love it!

This one is a syrphid 🤗

A lateral view of a green caterpillar with white spots surrounded by black. It has a brown and black spike at the end of its abdomen directed upwards. The head is light brown and black on top. It is sitting on a little twig of spurge.

Quite a colour explosion in European regards 😅 This is a Leafy Spurge #Hawkmoth ( #Hyles #euphorbiae) eating it's host plant, a Cypress Spurge. It's a young one, it will be double its size. Seen in the #Binntal, #Valais, #Switzerland

#bugsky #insects #inverts #macro #photography #inat

Jumping spider facing the camera generally brown in colour with rings of shades of brown on the legs. The front eyes have right and left white strikes extending to the side of the head.

Just a little jumper - a female #Aelurillus v-insignitus from the #Binntal in #Valais. They are quite common in their habitat but easily overlooked. This individual was 2-3 mm tall. Love to find them! 😍
#bugsky #salticidae #inverts #spiders #spidersky

GREAT movie on the village pasture of Pufesti, Romania: predatory Emus hirtus fighting down a dung beetle.
Filmed by Josepha Hirsch.

SPEECHLESS BEFORE / AFTER #BLATTEN

The magnitude of destruction after the 3:24 pm collapse of Birch Glacier is immense! 😱

All the forest has been razed and the ice/wood/debris dammed the Lonza river 🌊

Some buildings of Blatten are buried 🏠

📷 Pomona

Drawings of orchid seeds from 1863 book; photo of orchid seed germinated on synthetic, sucrose-containing medium; logo Botanical University Challenge.

🌱🌾🌍🍄🌺🌳🌿#SeedDispersal Another way for seeds to disperse themselves is to be tiny to drift through the air. #Orchids have taken this to an extreme, with most seeds much less than a milligram, abandoning food reserves, and relying on finding a fungus to nurture germination. #BUC2025

How David Attenborough’s Ocean exposed ‘violent’ bottom trawlers Somehow, this documentary is our first close-up look at the way commercial fishing wrecks the sea bed. One of the directors says it’s like watching Nemo flee for his life

How Attenborough’s Ocean exposed ‘violent’ bottom trawlers.

“We were aghast, it was a shock,” said producer Toby Nowlan, recalling the first time he saw video of the destructive fishing practice, where weighted nets are dragged across the sea bed.

👇
www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Die Megaherbivoren-Hypothese schön illlustriert und erklärt.
charlotte-hintzmann.de/giant-plant-...

A solitary bee (I don't know the species) sitting on a monkeyorchid (Orchis simia) with a pollinion on its front

For #InsectThursday I want to show you this #solitary #bee (I don't know the species) sitting on a #monkeyorchid (Orchis simia) with a pollinion on its front. This is how orchids spread their pollen, so cool! (France, 12.5.2024)
#bugsky #macrophotography #inverts #insects #pollinators

Dead honey bee caught by a (relatively) big grey female jumping spider. The male is on her and is probably trying to fertilise her.

It's #Worldbeeday! So here is my contribution: it's the #solitary wild #bees we care about - not the honey bee. It is those that we depend on for our food and all wildlife around. I like honey bees when they are good food for others, e.g. for this jumping #spider couple of #Asianellus festivus