Alex Wild

Entomologist, Natural History Collection Curator, and Photographer based in Austin, Texas.

Photography: https://www.alexanderwild.com/

Last Notes

2026-05-11 16:04:45 CEST

An Azteca ant inside her brood nest in a hollow Cecropia tree stem.
What she is holding is not an egg or a larva (those are the lumpy things with the interior dark patch) but a food body produced by the tree specifically to feed the ants, as they protect the tree from caterpillars. Colombia.
#Ants #Azteca #Ecology #Evolution #Cecropia #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/116/556/318/170/778/013/original/e52f00ec98131bcc.png

2026-04-13 02:57:22 CEST

Found some common buckeye caterpillars (Junonia ceonia) on our snake herb this afternoon. #Caterpillars #Nature #JunoniaCoenia #Lepidoptera
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/116/394/674/346/633/443/original/f53ef11ad938e2d4.png
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/116/394/674/988/306/641/original/1ee817ae4e5beacb.png

2026-03-15 13:48:04 CET

An incipient paper wasp nest built under the shelter of a large, partly curled leaf. Guanica dry forest reserve, Puerto Rico.
The different eye colors of the two insects are age-related; the individual with black eyes has only recently emerged.
#Wasps #Mischocyttarus #Insects #Photography
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/116/233/264/218/049/291/original/29c90c7de7908a5a.png

2026-01-29 03:03:46 CET

- reply

A couple.

2026-01-29 02:58:25 CET

A green tree ant stands guard on a leaf nest. Oecophylla smaragdina. These little guys are everywhere in the humid tropics of southeast Asia and Australia and have a lemony flavor. Cairns.
#Ants #AustralianWildlife #Insects #Oecophylla
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/975/906/228/995/342/original/580039c1be6022f4.png

2026-01-24 17:35:13 CET

Dear Europe,
I know you're having a tremendous time yelling at Americans, and fair enough for that, but get your houses in order because what happened in the United States is being orchestrated in your countries, and it may prevail as long as you let this sort of thing grow.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/24/a-lot-of-fear-the-families-bearing-brunt-of-swedens-immigration-crackdown?CMP=share_btn_url

2025-12-07 00:43:26 CET

Post a photo of an animal that looks Gen-AI but is 100% real.
Hegemona lineata, Belize.
#Tenebrionidae #Photography #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/675/272/578/972/249/original/b830b7a7af693798.png

2025-11-17 18:43:29 CET

This is such a cool study. A parasitic ant queen tricks worker ants into murdering their own queen, so the parasite can take over the colony.
#Ants #Science https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parasitic-ant-matricide-queen

2025-08-24 17:42:27 CEST

An immature Phidippus jumping spider, Texas. #spider #Photography #salticidae
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/084/499/580/928/470/original/39b6983c193618f2.png

2025-05-04 16:31:36 CEST

The enemy. So pretty. So hungry. Eating my tomatoes and looking gorgeous. #insects #hornworm #lepidoptera #gardening
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/450/042/610/849/454/original/5c3e612926f79875.png

2025-04-16 18:17:11 CEST

A tumbling flower beetle, Mordella sp., feeds from an aster at UT Austin's Stengl Lost Pines Field Station. #Beetles #Mordellidae #Coleoptera #Pollinators #Insects
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/348/537/138/435/340/original/51ed519826933be7.png