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"who said that" is my ult fav thing to say ever after saying something insane

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A Orange ant mimic sac spider that I found at work

#bugblr #tw spiders #arachnids #cool bugs

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Got a new coworker and they're dinging one of my radars. Another coworker bets that they're a furry, Im thinking a form of gay. We're not gonna ask

#work related #gay or european

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A wild Merp appeared

#doodle #furry art #furry oc #sergal #sfw furry #merp

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Smug fella today

#furry oc #sfw furry #furry art #sergal #traditional drawing #doodle

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Lol just got fiber glass shards in my hand :)

#fiberglass #im hurtin #well fuck me i guess

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#bugblr #arachnids #wolf spider #tw spiders

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Every day at work I doodle something onto my cup so people know its my cup and doesnt throw it way or move it. Generally its without thought and usually reflects my mood that morning.

#sergal #doodle #traditional art #trans artist #trans artwork #furry art #sfw furry #furry oc

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MANTISES ARE RELATED TO ROACHES??

yes! while they do have differing ecologies—mantises generally are elongate, diurnal predators and cockroaches generally are flattened, nocturnal detritivores—it’s not so surprising if you take a closer look:

they are one another’s closest relatives, being grouped together in the superorder Dictyoptera, which is revealed by their many shared anatomical features.

if you compare the wing structure on these two, you’ll find the veins are very similar. to get a mantis out of a roach, evolutionarily speaking, all you’ve got to do is elongate the pronotum (roach head shield, mantis ‘torso’), elongate the legs, and enlarge the eyes.

mantises and roaches also both produce “oothecae,” tough eggcases in which eggs are protected from the environment. mantis ooths are often made of sturdy, hard foam, while roach ooths are leathery and purse-like.

the raptorial legs of mantises aren’t too greatly modified from a roach forelimb, either. roaches already have spiny legs for digging and defense; with additional spines organized in rows, there’s a powerful grasping foreleg.

additionally, some of the most basal (least changed from the original ancestor) mantises retain a number of very roach-like features, such as flat bodies, a short pronotum, and long cerci (“butt antennae”). Chaeteessa doesn’t even have the long spike at the end of the tibia segment! although I’m not entirely sure if all of these roachy structures are necessary primitive and not secondarily derived, these two do give a good look at how mantises might’ve looked before they evolved the characteristic spindly green forms you recognize today.

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Eyed Elaters (Alaus)

eyed elater click beetles, like this Alaus oculatus from Florida, are the biggest click beetles (Elateridae) found in temperate North America.

Click beetles are best known for their eponymous clicking ability- a sort of elastic locking mechanism on their thorax can snap open with a loud clicking sound, which helps them startle or escape the grasp of predators and allows them to launch themselves into the air when overturned (you can see that in slow motion at the end of the video)

(more elating click beetle trivia below!)

They live around decaying trees and logs, the adults feeding on sap flows and other sugary liquids while the predatory grubs use their powerful jaws to tunnel in search of other wood-dwelling insect larvae to devour (by contrast many smaller click beetle larvae, often called wireworms, feed on rotting wood itself or other plant matter). To rear these beetles in captivity it’s necessary to keep the larvae in containers made of a hard material like glass, as they’ll chew through plastic and escape (I learned this the hard way the first time I found and attempted to raise a grub).

There are 6 Alaus species in the US, the largest of which can be over 5 cm long. Two are found in forests along the east coast- A. oculatus, the eastern eyed elater (below, left) and its smaller relative A. myops, the blind elater (right).

Even though the larvae don't feed directly on decaying wood, different Alaus species prefer different trees- oculatus breeds in dead oaks and other hardwoods, while myops found in the same habitats only use well-rotted pines.

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Im sad that all my reptiles are gone now but Im lucky to have found her while sweeping the lobby at work.

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Fluffy dog spider

Giant huntsman spider, Heteropoda? Pandercetes?, Sparassidae

Photo by muir

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A bat that was found on my property that was turned over to a bat rehabbers

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a manus and tuffy(on earth) on a minecraft server, both unaware the other is an alien. inspired by that ask i got about their relationships!!

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A little digital art practice

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Might make art of these if allowed

super rough but i just wanted to clear out how it moves (ribcage) when breathing will surely redo this but cleaner later, ref for myself lol

#xenobiology #speculative zoology #kyhuine #anthro #furry #alienart #cool stuff