was photographing a turtle yesterday when a Habronattus decorus male hopped on top the turtle and searched around a bit

#salticidae #jumpingspiders #arachnology #herpetology

!!!

initially thought they were an oribatid beetle mite... then freaked out upon taking a few photos - realizing they were BAEUS - a *tiny* (~600µm) parasitic wasp!

Lost them after trying to stop lens down for a bit more depth of field! Underneath a log, NE Oklahoma

Baeus! The impossibly cute (and small at ~600µm BL) spider egg parasitoid wasp - found beneath a stone in my backyard, Oklahoma

name that butt!

this Synemosyna was LOVING these little yellow flies - even got one while it was mating!

two more showed up while I was shooting…

🪰ID help appreciated - I’ve got them at an unconfident “Nematocera” on iNat:
www.inaturalist.org/observations...

squinting my eyes, blurring my vision, just looking at coarse silhouettes and values... comparing Synemosyna formica's 🕷️ first leg to Camponotus subbarbatus' 🐜antennae...

both seen around 1PM 4/9/26 woods NE Oklahoma (unsure of plant ID - maybe young Verbesina?)

went bug hunting this morning after a rainy night - saw MANY horse flies on a sun warmed fence 👏

cropped macro photo of the eyes of a horse fly. thousands of little reflective lenses - metallic green, orange, red

if you don't fly away, i WILL go to 2x and open up the aperture a little so I can crop 😤

two festive tiger beetles on sand - flashy and colorful beetles with big eyes - their bodies metallic green to gold to red!

☀️went out looking for Cicindela scutellaris, and found Cicindela scutellaris🙇

🏖️here's a pair on sand, near a river🪲

🕷️four Argiope species🕸️

Argiope flavipalpis(?) (A. levii?), Mozambique
Argiope trifasciata, the "Banded Garden Spider", Oklahoma
Argiope florida, the "Florida Garden Spider", Florida
Argiope aurantia, the "Yellow Garden Spider", Oklahoma

photo of a stone centipede with a glossy, vaguely snake-like head shape

view of a ghostly pale pseudocentipede with a snake like head shape

photo of a coiled up soil centipede among damp leaf litter. warm colors.

some myriapod portraits with snake vibes 🐍

Microstylum morosum or the "Giant Prairie Robber Fly" living up to their name - what a HUGE fly! 🫡

NE Oklahoma, iphone video (wish it would've locked the color balance while filming!)

Portrait of a fancy globular springtail from a hunt yesterday morning - Ptenothrix marmorata!

NE OK, in situ, Fuji xt3 + Laowa 25mm @ 5x f/5.6(?), diffused flash, handheld stack of 12 shots (w/ gaps!), stacked in Zerene Stacker, cropped in Photoshop...

Sesiidae, the "Clearwing Moth" family, might be one of my favorite lep families

I've only seen 5 species so far, but they've all been BEAUTIFUL👏

1 Euryphrissa sp, Colombia
2 Synanthedon scitula, Oklahoma
3 Synanthedon chrysidipennis, Montana
4 Vitacea scepsiformis, Oklahoma

Check out "Revision of the comose flame moths of the genus Sosxetra Walker (Noctuidae, Dyopsinae), with descriptions of a new genus and three new species" (Martinez et al., 2026) zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1382...

These fluffy pink moths were a highlight of the Belize BugShot workshops 💗

...some portaits to prove they're not turds 🫡

Exema (beetle)
Publilia (treehopper)
Bolbonota (treehopper)
Beata (jumping spider)

💩🥬this is why I can't pass up little turds on leaves - they could be frass mimics! 😰

mating Exema sp "warty leaf beetles", Oklahoma
Publilia reticulata treehopper, OK
Bolbonota sp treehoppers, Costa Rica
Beata sp jumping spider, Peru

...a few more to illustrate the morphological diversity of staphyliniform beetles 🤩

🐜ant-like stone beetle, Scydmaenus, under log, Oklahoma
🫓flipped Eurylister carolinus, a flattened hister beetle, OK
✨sleek scaphidiine "Shining Fungus Beetle", OK
🤏TINY Ptinella sp feather-winged beetle, OK

some beautiful rove beetles for your Monday!

🤎Mycetoporine on grass, Oklahoma
💙brilliant metallic blue Plochionocerus sp, Ecuador
🖤coupled Stenus alacer in small creek, Oklahoma
🌈unbelievable Phanolinus sp, cloud forest, Ecuador

Transform Your Macro Skills: Insect Photography Workshop with Top Experts — BugShot Join Clay Bolt, Danae Wolfe, and John Abbott at Black Rock Forest for a 4-day macro workshop. Photograph butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, and more through hands-on field sessions, black lighting, ex...

Registration is open for this year’s domestic BugShot macro photography workshop. I’ve attended a bunch of them, (both domestic and international versions) and have enjoyed every one. The instructors are awesome and I’ve made many friends among fellow attendees. www.bugshot.net/bugshot-new-...

🙏📯a few non-spider arachnid orders🎺 🙇

Amblypygi - (w/ young!) feeding on a cricket, in cave, Belize
Solifugae - under rock(?), Anza-Borrego, California
Pseudoscorpiones - forest floor, Oklahoma
Schizomida - under log, forest floor, Costa Rica

found these moth people I drew back in 2022 while searching an old hard drive for hoverfly videos🙏

the people NEED roach pix 😤

Pseudomops septentrionalis "Pale-bordered Field Cockroach", Oklahoma
Balta notulata "Small-spotted Cockroach", Oahu
Panchlorinae, Tambopata, Peru
Paratropes, Tambopata, Peru

Synemosyna formica, an ant-mimicking jumping spider waves around his first pair of legs on a green leaf

Myrmecium, an ant-mimicking corinnid spider with antenniform forelegs, peru

ant-like jumping spider feeding on a springtail, costa rica

Brasema leucothysana, a Eupelmid parasitic wasp that looks like an ant (to me at least) on lichen, oklahoma

it’s amazing how diverse ants are 🙇🐜

Macro Photography in COLOMBIA - Ep 2: SPIDERS, Flies, Orthopterans and more! YouTube video by Thomas Shahan

Enjoy a lovely walk through a Colombian mountain-top forest with @tshahan.bsky.social! We suggest watching the whole video (youtu.be/sgGlXNOct9I?...), but if you want to skip to the flies 🪰 you can click here: youtu.be/sgGlXNOct9I?...

Amazing!

my modest collection of flies with WIDE heads 🙇

a hammer-headed Richardia (Ecuador),
a stalk-eyed Chaetodiopsis (Mozambique),
a pointy-eyed Ophthalmoptera (Colombia),
and an antlered Richardia (Colombia)

why though? male-male competition? sexual selection? chime-in if you know!

Been having good luck finding Symphylans recently! Here are some scolopendrellid close-ups - maybe in the genus Symphylella?

Those white spots behind the antennae are Tömösváry organs: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_o...

mileage rolled to this just as I parked for a bird-hike this morning 🫡

A collection of handsome tortoise beetles (Cassidinae) 🐢🪲

1 Ischnocodia annulus "Ringed Tortoise Beetle", Belize, 2015
2 Aspidimorpha sp golden tortoise beetle, Mozambique, 2018
3 unknown metallic green tortoise beetle, Colombia, 2023
4 Deloyala guttata "Mottled Tortoise Beetle", Oklahoma, 2020

🪲some fine tortoise beetles found during the Colombia trip:

1 HOT red Spaethiella sublaevis
2 unknown metallic green cassidine
3 wonderfully smooth blue n bream Imatidium thoracicum

(PS sorry about not posting more here - can barely make myself post to twitter - and keep forgetting about bsky)