Genus Notosacantha tortoise beetle

One of the craziest beetles I've ever seen, genus Notosacantha

📍Madagascar

#Entomology #Coleoptera

We have discovered a new type of steroid with contracted A-ring, the batrachane skeleton, in the gular scent glands of Odontobatrachus frogs. See the identification and synthesis of various batrachodienes, potentially used as signals, in Angew. Chem.
t.co/rmoLRDW0bC

Male sweetpotato weevil (Cylas formicarius) on hand

Visiting a restaurant and was surprised to see this little fella (adult male sweetpotato weevil) land on my hand…

…then I remembered that I prepared sex pheromone lures for this insect last week for a field trapping trial 😅

fuzzy fly on in all white space (studio shot) from the side, black with yellow thorax, thick body shape very similar to bumble bee, can see a bit of a rounded proboscis sticking out of face

what a beautiful bumble bee... oh wait, that's a fly!

a robber fly that that is a predator of bees and wasp, so cool!

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

A front view of a male kākāpō, standing upright on the forest floor in daylight, with head turned to one side. Credit: Andrew Digby.

Kākāpō 101 No. 1. All 244 #kakapo in the world live in the wild, on 7 island sanctuaries across New Zealand. Three of these are breeding sites; three contain only males. They can't be kept in captivity for long periods because they need a varied diet and lots of space. #conservation #parrots #birds

A macro photo taken at night of a green-glowing, bioluminescent click beetle larva, partially outside its burrow in a red-dirt termite mound. The beetle larva has sharp, wide open mandibles, ready to snap shut on any insect that ventures too close, attracted by the light.

A photo at night of a tall termite mound on a grassland. The cloudy sky is faintly blue in the background. The termite mound is dotted with a few dozen green pinpoints of light, all from tiny bioluminescent click beetle larvae living in the mound's surface, giving the termite mound the appearance of lumpy, red-dirt Christmas tree.

An amazing sight from my recent Brazil trip: bioluminescent termite mounds in Emas National Park. Tiny larvae of click beetles (Pyrearinus termitilluminans) glow steadily, hoping to attract flying insects (like winged termites & ants), which they then grab with their sharp mandibles. #insects 🐙🌿