Millipede mating; or 101 legs over!

Millipedes (class Diplopoda) may not be everyone’s ‘cup of tea’, but they do have fascinating love lives! Some giants from Madagascar even ‘sing’ to each other; a form of stridulation that males use to try and persuade females to uncoil and mate with them! Coiled millipede. Image by Martin from Pixabay In most, if not all animals, from humans to millipedes, the interests of the two sexes are…

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Hanging on for dear life! Bee lice

If your life depends on clinging on to a bee, you better have a very good means of staying attached! Attachment is a key element in the relationship between a parasite and its host, including ticks, mites and unusual flies like bee lice, discussed here. Like most organisms, honeybees, Apis mellifera L., can be afflicted by a variety of parasites and diseases. Perhaps the most familiar one, to…

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Another visit to the National Gallery!

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Pin and thrum: two types of primrose

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Long Covid and ME

I have not been on an aeroplane or done any travel outside the British Isles since before the pandemic. The reason is that I have been on a long road of recovery from a Covid-19 infection. By Alexey Solodovnikov (Idea, Producer, CG, Editor), Valeria Arkhipova (Scientific Сonsultant) – Own work. Scientific consultants:Nikitin N.A., Doctor of Biological Sciences, Department of Virology, Faculty of…

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Commas and question marks

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A short visit to the National Gallery

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Bees saying 'back off or get stung'!

Bumblebees sometimes raise a leg, or two, when they feel threatened. I first came across this phenomenon myself when following a cuckoo bumblebee with a camera, trying to get a good close-up shot (below). Field cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus campestris) male, Spain, with raised midleg. Photo by Raymond JC Cannon Macro photographers like myself are usually very respectful of our targets, but sometimes…

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Bees wings: strong, flexible and fast

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The Monument of the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos)

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Poema del Mar, aquarium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Poema del Mar, aquarium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

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Poema del Mar, aquarium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

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Orb-weaving spider colonies

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Pond-skaters: the water clean-up squad!

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Pollination of hedgerow flowers

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Cast skins: evidence of rebirth

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The Willow Emerald Damselfly - a recent colonist

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