bee fly - bombylis sp. mojave desert, oct 9 2021

agapema homogena

rocky mountain agapema

location: north america

There’s this really nice client at my work and he’s taken to calling me “bug girl”. He means it in a nice way, I’m sure. At first I thought he was making fun of me but he began asking me questions about insects and he actually listened!

For example, I told him that the large, green beetles we get around here are not Japanese beetles— they’re fig eater beetles! He told me that he had them all over his yard so I asked him if he had fruit trees. He then told me that he neighbor had a peach tree. I told l him that fig eater beetles adore fruit so that’s probably why.

Fast-forward to a month later and he told me he had put fruit out on his porch and watched the fig beetles enjoy. (And he got the name right— he didn’t call them Japanese beetles lol.) It was so heart-warming and delightful that he had actually remembered what I told him. And now I look forward to when he comes.

🐞My micro wet specimen🦂

• (top left) Giant Resin Bee

•(bottom left) Common earwig x4

•(Right) Juvenile Black Widow

Specimens have all been ethically obtained and stored in 70% iso fixative.

me: *lifts up big rock*

all the bugs underneath it:

entomologists are the most fucking wild people ive ever met

i pointed out a cool wasp to one and she just picked it up with her bare hands and started showing me different features she was using to identify the species

on a walk with another one he just paused, turned, violently shoved his hand into some rotting wood and offered me a tunnel web spider like oh okay i guess-

Caria chrysame psittacus, a type of metalmark butterfly known for its shimmery green markings. Photo credit: Kim Garwood

gothic garden entomology vintage book covers

I've been seeing some WASP NEGATIVITY lately so just a reminder that insects are important and interesting whether you find them "cute" or not. Which btw wasps are cute actually but anyways... (also sorry for the US-centrism)

Natural History Museum.

Carpenter ants: a known problem with known solutions.

Plumber ants: weird but manageable.

Electrician ants: this is where the trouble starts.

acraga infusa

yellow furry-legs

location: south america

I just! Love my snail! So! Much!!!

Algernon 🐌♥️

Red Moths

live laugh love ? oh I thought you said lift that log... anyway look at all these bugs I found

One morning when I woke from troubled dreams, I found myself transformed into a beetle 🪲 😳 Luckily, upon turning over in bed I saw that it was the same with my handsome lesbian partner 😌 🌈

Ether, 2006, Stephanie Valentin

alcides aruus

Handful of Bess Beetles! Their little squeaks are so cute