i'm thinking about bugs

these ones are of course based on goose barnacles/barnacle geese, and the myth that barnacle geese emerged from barnacles instead of from eggs. other myths told of barnacle geese growing straight from trees, like the vegetable lamb, which quarantine crystal also features!

i am thrilled every time someone evolves this one and says "wait that wasn't a smiling mouth?? it was all eyes this whole time??"

respectre is a snail whose eyes and feelers mimic a zombie hand rising from a grave. they leave a trail of mist behind them as they creep around graveyards looking for fresh flowers to eat.

respectre is a snail whose eyes and feelers mimic a zombie hand rising from a grave. they leave a trail of mist behind them as they creep around graveyards looking for fresh flowers to eat.

Me and my mutuals

here is a Scolopendra mutilans lapping up mango juice from a spoon

while giant centipedes are mostly predators that feed on insects and small vertebrates, they may occasionally enjoy a sweet fruit treat! several species have been seen eating fruit in the wild, and pet centipedes seem to enjoy it now and then.

If any of you ever feel like what you're doing for Palestine isn't helping anything, I'll tell you right now it's helping me. I know it is fortifying all of us who have been in this fight for years to see so many people willing to speak up. It has never been like this before.

The tide has already turned. The fact that #free palestine will have new posts everyday, that helps me. It helps my mental health knowing that Palestinians are less alone now than ever.

Yesterday I read some verses from the Quran talking about how "the blame" is not with those who wish to help but cannot, but with those who CAN help and do not.

Truly I do not care if all you do for Palestine is post in that #free palestine everyday, that is still more than many people with the means to do even more would do.

We see you. We see you standing in solidarity with us and with Palestinians. We love you. Thank you.

here's another ant-mimicking jumping spider that I encountered in Singapore: Myrmaplata plataleoides, the weaver ant mimic.

while females look a great deal like their ant models, males (like this one) have massive, exaggerated fangs used in territorial and mating displays, which complicate the disguise. however, ants routinely carry their dead away from the nest, so it's thought that a male M. plataleoides mimics a worker holding another ant—his jaws even have false "eyes" on the ends!

his mimicry was clearly good enough to fool the ants; none of them seemed to take notice even as he repeatedly doubled back to guard his territory instead of heading further up the tree. although mimicry like this is often sensationalized as something insidious or spooky, Myrmaplata has no intention to eat the ants. rather, the spider hides among them for protection: weavers won't eat nestmates, and other predators know that weaver ants bite, spray acid, and attack in hordes. running with the ants might be risky, but he's always alert, watching their every move with his big eyes. what a life that must be, always living on the margins of a colony of hunters that would devour him, yet also keep him alive without ever knowing it

It's been a long day.

You're exhausted.

And while your eyes are usually incredibly sharp, for this ability, your ancestors traded away every. last. scrap. of night vision.

Nevertheless, the dark is full of predators. So, on the underside of a leaf, a Lyssomanes jumping spider mom remains awake, vigilantly listening and feeling for any threats to her spiderlings.

(this is part of @franzanth's Insert An Invert project, meant to get y'all curious about bugs and other Invertebrates, so you try including em in your art. February's theme is "Relationships")

QUARANTINE CRYSTAL 0.8 RELEASES THIS SATURDAY

guess it's time to start posting these! i'll be posting a line each day until the dex is complete, then the final sheet. this is the grass starter line for quarantine crystal! they are cigar caterpillars, loosely inspired by tobacco hornworms. they are irresistibly drawn to flames, incurring damage but releasing more toxic smoke the more they are burned. if you choose this starter you might suffer with the early-route birds but they're an investment that pays off!

our early route bugs, based on parasitic wasps and mosquitos, and the medical mummy. since injectoid develops from the eggs laid on buzzling's back, technically buzzling is not part of the same evolutionary line!

one of our early birds, based on my favourite bird, the hoatzin! they hatch with fully formed clawed hands, which they climb with. the hands metamorphose into regular wings as they grow. they smell like manure and are also known as "stinkbird"! go look them up, they are beautiful!

wanted to share my favorite art pieces from the google drive collection of 300 free-to-use palestine-related posters by Artists Against Apartheid

poster numbers: 10, 102, 128 226, 20 34, 204, 127 158, 176, 26

hi hari 💚 i just want to say thank you for never shutting up about palestine and wanted to ask if you were willing to share a little list of where you get your updates/news about the situation (and current events in general)? what sources are the most misinformation-free that you would recommend? i hope you have a lovely day xx

In terms of news sites, I’m really only trusting Al Jazeera’s coverage of the situation. I’m also following pages like Times of Gaza and Eye On Palestine. But mainly, I’m following Palestinian citizens/journalists who are sharing live updates: Muhammad Smiry, Hind Khoudary, Motaz Azaiza, Wael Al Dahdouh, Plestia Alaqad, Yara Eid, Ali Jadallah, Abdallah Al Attar, and Mohammed Al Masri and probably a few more I can’t remember right now.

If anyone has any other reputable sources that I may have missed please add them to this post.