Serpent silk moth, Loxolomia serpentina, Saturniidae

Found in Brazil

Photos 1-3 by ronaldperet, 4-5 by carlosvidigal, 6-7 by pedroalvaro

Hunger Games didn’t really eat holes in my brain the way that it did for some other people but god the opening lines. The opening lines. Katniss wakes up in bed and immediately, instinctively reaches beside her, only to find the bed empty and cold. Before we even know her name – before we know literally anything about her or this world or her place in that world – we know that she loves someone. We know that she is reaching for where Prim should be, sleeping safe and warm beside her, but Prim is not there. She is not there, and her half of the bed is cold and empty. People talk about characters being “doomed by the narrative” when most of the time the character was literally just a well-foreshadowed death, but Prim WAS doomed by the narrative. It’s the very first thing we learned. It’s the most key, integral, important piece of information we’re given about everything that is about to happen: Every single choice Katniss makes is to protect her little sister, and it isn’t enough. In the end, Prim still dies. Prim was dead before the story even started. Katniss, reaching. Prim’s side of the bed was cold and empty. There is no version of this story where Prim could have been saved. Katniss, reaching. The very first thing she does in the series. She wakes, and she reaches, but Prim is already gone. THAT is how you do Doomed By The Narrative. Edit: Also it is key that there was literally nothing Katniss could have done differently. If she had not acted to save Prim, Prim would not have survived the Hunger Games. But by acting to save Prim, Katniss accidentally kicked off an entire rebellion and ultimately massively increased the amount of danger Prim was actually in. The key is that this is irrelevant. If Katniss had done literally anything differently, Prim still would have died. If Katniss had faltered or changed course at any point, Prim still would have died. There was never a point where Katniss could have changed Prim’s fate. There’s no version of this story where Prim lives to see the end of it. She’s dead before the story begins. That’s doomed by the narrative.

horrid little cat saved me from my devil's nap by putting her paw directly into my mouth

my favorite personal dragon headcanon is that like birds they also can't see glass, but it just isn't an issue for them

truly cannot overstate how important it is for everyone to do research into local insect species and just try to notice them when you go outside. there are beautiful metallic blue mud dauber wasps where i live and they’re common in the summer but i just never noticed them until this past year. there are so many dragonflies at the local park. in one walk this june i found ebony jewelwing damselflies and an enormous stinkbug and an emerald-coloured tiger beetle and there is honest to god so much beauty in the insect world if you are willing to look for it

albatrosses will wipe the floor with any species of bird you choose to compare them to. they’re the Most, or at least Extremely, by almost every metric

must we finish fic??? is it not enough to write unconnected 300 word snippets with no beginning or end, forever, until we die?

Weevil photographed by @frankcanon_image_in

finally got around to renovating the Cynortoides quadrispinosa. after the roundup, turns out I have over 70!

they’re a lovely armored harvestman from Jamaica, now introduced in South Florida where they appear to replace the native Libitiodes (formerly Vonones), a visually very similar genus with two species found from Ohio south to about where Cynortoides start.

they are peaceful animals, spending most of their time tucked into crevices with as many friends nearby as possible. also surprisingly sturdy, and can’t drop their legs like other harvestmen, having gone the beetle route of having a tough shelly body and equally sturdy limbs.

Bugs should immanetize the eschatron