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Last Notes

2026-03-13 01:42:06 UTC

A small Lasioglossum in the spiderwort, which is blooming now around central Texas. #insects #bees #Bloomscrolling
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/116/219/321/194/506/848/original/b278b2c27257fbf2.png

2026-02-26 18:44:57 UTC

The emergence of spring bees here in Austin also means the emergence of somewhat rarer bee parasites. I caught this Sapyga nevadica wasp yesterday; it lays eggs in solitary bee nests.
#Sapygidae #wasps #Sapyga #Insects #Parasites
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/116/138/407/989/608/103/original/ca0185b3b66d4c37.png

2026-02-26 17:31:51 UTC

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@nprofile…srt2 Presumably, yes, though I don't think anyone has studied it in this particular species.
See: https://www.biotaxa.org/mn/article/view/66728

2026-02-24 17:51:35 UTC

One of my favorite pollinator photos, and the bee isn't even in focus. Which is why I love it. (Bombus sp., Illinois)
#bees #Bombus #pollination #Solidago #Nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/116/126/874/272/009/072/original/d1f0016d797bdc5f.png

2026-02-06 02:49:37 UTC

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@nprofile…pfuj That is an adorable one. They almost look stackable.

2026-02-02 16:17:59 UTC

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@nprofile…djfr Ants do a ton of communication & defense with chemicals, with fast-evolving variation among even closely-related species. Alarm pheromones, trail pheromones, defensive sprays, etc. Many have quite distinct odors and flavors.

2026-01-29 03:12:00 UTC

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@nprofile…pfuj This is not the only lemony ant I've eaten, either! Atta sexdens is a good citrusy South American species.

2026-01-29 03:11:08 UTC

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@nprofile…8uk6 @nprofile…6ey5 Avoid things that are brightly marked or have spines. Otherwise, you just sort of try them.

2026-01-24 18:40:11 UTC

I wrote to both of my Senators and asked them to resign.

2026-01-24 16:39:41 UTC

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This fight does not follow international borders. It's a global fascist network, they are coordinating with each other, and the resistance to it must also be global and coordinated.

2026-01-21 22:48:35 UTC

Pay attention to Minnesota.

2026-01-20 17:49:39 UTC

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@nprofile…rqqd They're under a petri dish until they calm down, then I slowly remove the dish and hope for the best. Repeat until I get something.

2026-01-18 17:27:30 UTC

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I understand why some nonpolitical writers might be there, but people who are supposed experts on history and authoritarianism? It makes them look like grifters.

2026-01-18 17:23:28 UTC

Why are so many people still on substack?

2026-01-15 19:33:02 UTC

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@nprofile…x05g Yeah, and all the people around him who want things: mass deportations, for example, or Greenland, are going for it.

2026-01-15 19:05:46 UTC

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@nprofile…m9q3 Yes. But also, no. Read the article. It's even weirder.

2026-01-15 16:55:37 UTC

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@nprofile…5xv5 It is highly annoying, and they really don't want them released. But that's not what's driving their shitty foreign policy.

2026-01-15 15:51:18 UTC

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@nprofile…djfr You should care about what Americans think, though.The generally pro-Europe sentiment among regular people here, and the perplexity that Americans are expressing about this imperial expansion that most of us- even most Trump voters- did not ask for are one of Europe's strongest assets in fighting this.

2026-01-15 13:50:37 UTC

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@nprofile…2s9r I don't think it matters. Republicans are fine with murder, with rape, with fraud. If regime thugs murdering American citizens isn't going to move the needle, nothing will. This government will need to be removed using a mechanism that doesn't involve appealing to the ethics of people who have been revealed to have none.

2026-01-13 16:44:10 UTC

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@nprofile…unzj True. But trying it in a nation of 30 million (1860) is going to have different dynamics than a nation of 350 million.

2026-01-13 16:43:07 UTC

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@nprofile…djfr While we are doing far-flung scenarios, the Capitol will be moved inland from Washington because sea level rise renders the city unsuitable.

2026-01-13 16:03:09 UTC

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the primary division is between rural areas and urban areas. Both sides occur in great numbers across the entire country. The states are all blends of multiple cities sprinkled across a rural expance, and they will not secede in either direction without making at least 40% of their populations violently angry.

2026-01-13 13:28:09 UTC

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@nprofile…hvky Yeah, I get that.

2026-01-13 03:21:09 UTC

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@nprofile…u2q0 No, I'm saying that ignoring the US is going to make your own problems worse, because they are connected.

2026-01-12 20:18:14 UTC

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@nprofile…djfr Also, sanctions on particular officials most responsible for violations of international law.

2026-01-12 20:07:55 UTC

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@nprofile…04xh See, for example: https://www.fes.de/en/study-the-radical-rights-international-networks

2026-01-12 20:04:38 UTC

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@nprofile…04xh That's just wrong, though. They attend conferences with Orban's people, they accept campaign help from Putin. This is well documented. They are both unabashed fascists, *and* they are part of an international network.

2026-01-12 20:03:08 UTC

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@nprofile…qvu8 While true from a causal standpoint, that is not relevant when trying to calculate the most effective strategy going forward.

2026-01-12 15:14:46 UTC

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@nprofile…djfr The propaganda here is thick, all the main channels are designed to cocoon Americans into thinking nothing is wrong. But it's hard to hide.

2026-01-12 15:14:11 UTC

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@nprofile…djfr As the regime gets less restrained and takes more risks, more people here who hadn't been paying attention are noticing.

2026-01-12 15:13:13 UTC

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@nprofile…pfuj Both darker and more hopeful; the regime is pushing forward with multiple wish-list items (end Fed independance, invade Greenland, kill protestors, etc) in very destructive ways all at once, but it also feels like they've gone over the end of their skis and more normies are starting to notice.

2026-01-12 15:08:35 UTC

Feels like something has shifted in the United States

2026-01-04 15:53:52 UTC

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@nprofile…76km On my browser the alt tag is on the other side, but on my phone app the tag cover it.

2025-12-25 21:20:20 UTC

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@nprofile…ydg2 @nprofile…n76q they’re on hybrid Asian/American chestnuts

2025-12-20 23:08:06 UTC

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@nprofile…e4ry they’re really marvelous animals

2025-12-20 23:01:07 UTC

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These are also a real challenge to photograph. Fast, unpredictable, and seemingly existing across enough dimensions to make finding and focusing on the eyes near impossible.

2025-12-01 15:23:36 UTC

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@nprofile…pu4e There's no need for that. I can assure you the mosquitoes are being very well cared for.

2025-11-30 18:26:19 UTC

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@nprofile…pu4e Fortunately, I was able to use the mosquito researchers who regularly feed the lab mozzies anyway. They apparently don't mind?!

2025-11-18 21:51:28 UTC

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@nprofile…e9yr I already have too many Lasius. But maybe I'll swap out aphidicola for orientalis.

2025-11-17 15:15:54 UTC

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@nprofile…05w7 Thanks! This was taken with the Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro, at about 4x. Manual focus. The lighting is a twin flash diffused through Roscolux tough white diffusion.

2025-11-17 01:25:15 UTC

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@nprofile…e4ry I'm jealous you got to see this in person!

2025-11-15 15:55:47 UTC

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@nprofile…cmqc I was only going to include one nigerrimum-group Tapinoma, which tentatively is nigerimmum itself. But, is there a good case for making T. magnum the rep for the group?

2025-11-14 19:19:49 UTC

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@nprofile…e4ry I'm guessing the editors will shunt the extinct ants to the chapter on ant evolution, instead of being part of the species profiles. But, both excellent suggestions.

2025-11-14 19:18:49 UTC

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@nprofile…e9yr Yes! I have added that one to the list.

2025-11-14 19:18:31 UTC

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@nprofile…xvzf It will have a far more up-to-date taxonomy, I can tell you that.

2025-11-14 16:47:42 UTC

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@nprofile…9lkp On the list!

2025-11-14 16:11:24 UTC

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@nprofile…uhaa @nprofile…e4ry That one's currently on my marginal list. I have too many Myrmecia, probably need to cut it down to like 5.

2025-11-14 16:01:44 UTC

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@nprofile…q502 It is the ant installment of this series: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo19341340.html

2025-11-14 16:00:57 UTC

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My strategy so far has been to pull the top 10-15 species on iNaturalist from various regions, to replicate what the audience for this book are likely seeing in their own yards, for about 1/2 of the species. For the other 1/2, I've balanced by including interesting taxonomic oddballs and species with unusual behaviors.

2025-11-14 15:12:12 UTC

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@nprofile…6ulg Suspended Sarah Kendzior for quoting Johnny Cash, and Patton Oswald for making a hyperbolic statement about how pedophiles should be punished, both of which were clearly interpretable from context.

2025-11-14 14:48:05 UTC

BlueSky really choking on its terrible moderation decisions this week

2025-11-13 13:33:03 UTC

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@nprofile…hjwv The lead author is still a working at Arizona State University, though retired.

2025-11-08 13:39:36 UTC

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@nprofile…e4ry She's gonna have some back pain tomorrow morning

2025-11-03 23:41:27 UTC

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@nprofile…sljv @nprofile…e4ry Drinks. Tending these for honeydew.

2025-11-01 20:52:20 UTC

I think where it started going downhill was when we allowed dudes under the age of 25 to write a hit song called “Reelin’ in the Years”. No consequences.

2025-10-22 21:25:13 UTC

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@nprofile…e4ry Oh, not these. They'd happily eat me if I sat still. Protein is protein.

2025-10-18 21:21:17 UTC

Just want to give a shout out to my 83 year old dad- normally conservative, a former SCOTUS law clerk for Rehnquist- who protested out in the rain this morning in St Louis. #NoKings

2025-10-16 15:30:43 UTC

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@nprofile…e4ry Photos in the exhibit itself, too, I think. Though I haven't seen it.

2025-10-12 23:47:17 UTC

One of the midwest's most iconic insects, a goldenrod soldier beetle sits in a mid-summer aster. Indiana Dunes National Park.
#Cantharidae #Nature #Insects #beetle
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/363/858/855/129/691/original/e63294c1d21dce8b.png

2025-10-11 19:01:40 UTC

We decided the word for arranging Halloween skeletons into various scenes in the front yard is “Necroscaping”

2025-07-06 14:01:13 UTC

I love how this queen Lasius arizonicus ant is smooth like glass. She’s a social parasite who , after dropping her wings, sneaks into existing ant colonies, kills the resident queen, and takes over.
So much drama. #Lasius #Ants #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/806/650/402/899/920/original/3467768c755a6efb.png

2025-04-06 14:15:56 UTC

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Particularly happy that a few of these male Labidus army ants arrived to the blacklight. #ants #insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/291/434/521/791/004/original/18ac36aad0f42cf7.png

2025-04-06 12:34:03 UTC

I don’t usually photograph vertebrates, aside from the occasional wedding or some such, but this Panamanian agouti was irresistible. #agouti #panama #wildlife
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/291/035/342/914/241/original/f5d128313ec3ddf3.png

2025-03-27 21:52:27 UTC

A few years back I got this photo of a honey bee in flight, returning to her hive.
Had to shoot a few hundred photos just to land this one.
#bees #insects #nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/236/608/999/178/937/original/90b6a7dedf04bb3f.png

2025-03-20 17:35:23 UTC

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@nprofile…args They're similarly bitey, I'd say. Timid unless around the nest. These ones nest in soil, though.

2025-03-11 17:12:24 UTC

Here's one of the few North American butterflies whose numbers are actually increasing: The Gulf Fritillary, Dione incarnata (previously known as Agraulis incarnata, or Dione vanillae, or Agraulis vanillae, taxonomists are awful, this thing doesn't even eat vanilla anyway) #butterflies #Dione #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/144/911/379/105/329/original/4f03c453e3c1b415.png

2025-03-09 13:05:59 UTC

A Sceliphron mud dauber wasp carries a glob of mud back to her mud nest, the weight of her load counterbalanced by her unusual petiolate abdomen. Texas. #sceliphron #sphecidae #wasp #insects #flight
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/132/617/393/139/202/original/9dc903a063379280.png

2025-03-07 03:03:19 UTC

On a research trip to Argentina many years ago, we were unexpectedly delayed several hours to clear permit paperwork at El Palmar National Park.
So I poked around with my camera instead and found a trail of fire ants being harassed by an ant-decapitating fly. #Ants #Phoridae #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/118/923/651/847/675/original/504f1276c60667b5.png

2025-02-28 00:58:03 UTC

Death by Fungus: a photo gallery. #Cordyceps #fungi #insects
https://www.alexanderwild.com/Insects/InsectKilling-Fungi

2025-02-25 03:09:02 UTC

Had a few minutes to do some photography today. Pleased with this shot of a Texas leafcutter ant in our lab colony, standing in the fungus garden. #ants #atta #insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/062/322/665/755/977/original/a67f40b0e05cceca.png

2025-02-16 17:54:13 UTC

I've been imaging some of our searcher wasps (Ichneumonidae), in a futile attempt to stay ahead of the hyperdiversity. There are seemingly endless variations on these wasps. This is Tromatobia notator, found in a marsh along the Texas coast. #Insects #Ichneumonidae #wasps #Entomology
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/014/842/932/121/395/original/a0811650b94b78c6.png

2025-02-15 23:07:47 UTC

When we said “Keep Austin Weird”, we meant artists and eccentric musicians and stuff. None of this Alex Jones, Elon Musk creepy incel loser weird.

2025-02-12 22:37:34 UTC

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@nprofile…m947 Nice! It's a young katydid. Not sure beyond that- immature forms are hard. Maybe Scudderia?

2025-02-10 15:23:42 UTC

Texas sky update.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/113/980/276/551/226/749/original/711b1468f4054686.png

2024-03-15 19:17:55 UTC

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@npub1e4e…p2wk Why is anyone who isn't a neo-Nazi still over there anyway?

2024-02-20 17:28:46 UTC

The lack of moth research is kind of shocking, especially compared to the sheer amount of butterfly work.

2024-02-19 15:26:35 UTC

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@npub15cm…j93m I'm hoping June is only minor heat disaster.

2024-01-29 18:52:42 UTC

Please don't make me have to figure out what the latest Taylor Swift thing is.

2024-01-19 22:14:06 UTC

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@npub1zdp…vqv8 @npub1dct…u0ww Looks like a Pseudomyrmex ant queen.

2024-01-19 19:50:42 UTC

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I mostly work in a different building, with the dry collection, so I'm not directly impacted, other than having to devote a few days to helping move jars and books around.

2024-01-11 00:40:41 UTC

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@npub1l72…3szq ouch

2024-01-01 18:23:30 UTC

The presidential primary system of oddly sequenced caucuses and regional elections is the dumbest possible way to select a candidate. It’s like a reality TV show, but for actual stakes that impact millions of people.

2023-12-15 01:20:27 UTC

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@npub1qmc…v6gx my daughter’s Apple Watch is bricked because she can’t remember her Apple ID

2023-12-07 04:03:17 UTC

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@npub1wnn…0j59 What a coincidence! Superintendent Mike Miles would have received an F from Houston teachers, parents, and students, were they allowed to speak without getting fired or locked up in a detention center that used to be a school library.

2023-12-07 02:32:32 UTC

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@npub1hjh…7vxf Yes, this. But one has to recognize the vast power and wealth imbalance between the two. They are not equal warring sides, and they cannot both equally bring the same resources for peace.

2023-11-15 01:02:57 UTC

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@npub19fc…ay3c @[email protected] This reads like an inauthentic account. I’d just block it.

2023-10-25 20:29:09 UTC

It says a lot about how much Republicans despise Americans that they'd select as House Speaker a guy who tried to tell us to fuck off and accept an unelected dictator instead of the person we voted in for president.

2023-10-25 17:57:29 UTC

What are the odds of a government shutdown now?

2023-10-25 17:54:05 UTC

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@npub1xyp…dqxw I did not attempt to overturn a national election with violence.

2023-10-25 17:46:40 UTC

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@npub1ccz…7l0l That's optimistic, but fair.

2023-10-25 17:44:04 UTC

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@npub178r…qekt I dunno. Attempting a coup sorta is baggage.

2023-10-25 16:36:18 UTC

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TikTok has a number of videos that look like they were taken before the cell towers shut down, and those already show storm surge in the streets and considerable damage to buildings.

2023-10-25 16:33:56 UTC

We're not hearing much about Hurricane Otis's effects on Acapulco because almost all communication is down and many of the major roads have been blocked by landslides, apparently.

2023-10-25 16:18:40 UTC

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@npub1skv…aky3 @npub1a7m…j0p9 Rice's press release looks like it was written by ChatGPT

2023-10-25 16:08:37 UTC

I was going to rant about GOP speaker nominee Mike Johnson's core philosophy that the point of American women is for breeding cheap labor to enrich the oligarchs, but honestly, that's the entire GOP now.

2023-09-05 13:36:53 UTC

If you listen closely to the Starlink satellites as they go overhead, you can hear them cry out “nationalize meeeeeeeeeee”

2023-09-05 13:14:05 UTC

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@npub1nup…9uxw some real stunning photographs in there

2023-09-05 03:13:10 UTC

Hearing a lot more scissor-grinder cicadas in Austin now, a sign we are headed into fall even as the heat dome persists.

2023-09-04 22:30:36 UTC

Texas is not what y’all think it is.

2023-09-04 16:20:15 UTC

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@npub1twh…5j6z
For a while, our Texas populations went under the name Pheidole ridicula, but that was synonymized under absurda. I still feel a little sad about that.