It could be a gummy worm with bristles. The early instar Atala caterpillar is less than 1/2” long with aposematic coloring—rusty orange body marked with paired yellow dorsal dots. Zamia integrifolia, its host, has thick, leathery leaflets from which the younger instars eat the green flesh, leaving a brown framework. Later ones consume entire leaflets.

Atala caterpillar in a Miami streetside swale 3/29–hosting on N. America’s only native cycad, toxic Zamia integrifolia, commonly Coontie. This butterfly was thought extinct until the 1970’s.
Photo @rmj827.bsky.social
#NativePlants #Inverterbrates #Butterflies #Naturalists

Longrock SSSI Whitstable Kent 9/11. Saw this striking fly which looks good for Ectophasia crassipennis a recent addition to the British list but have been seen in more frequently in the county @kentfieldclub.bsky.social #flies #insects #tachinid #inverterbrates #ukwildlife

#inverterbrates

An 8 Spotted Forester Moth. I have never seen one of these before. It was on my front door glass, and very small. They fly during the day, one of the few moths that do that. Western PA 5-20-25
#inverterbrates #moths #photgraphy #nature

On a sandy beach, three small worm tubes, built out of sand, stand alone. On the sand, there's a dusting of brownish alga fragments, and near the top, a blade of brown alga and a good amount of torn green sea lettuce.

There are worms down there! New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/05/tube... #VancouverIsland #Inverterbrates #IntertidalInvertebrates #MarineLife

A photo of the head and front legs of a velvet worm. It's a pudgy brown and purple invertebrate with bumps all over its skin. This and more photos of mine of this animal are at https://inaturalist.nz/observations/265922713

Here's another velvet worm from the same night walk. This one looks like it's waving.

Kia ora!

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/265922713

#Onycophora #inverterbrates #nz #nature

The female Vapourer moth has tiny stubby wings so cannot fly, neither can she feed. Her life is brief. In this shot she has just eclosed and remains on the cocoon in which she pupated. Immediately she emerges she begins to emit pheromones, the sex hormones which attract males.

The Orange brown male with his impressive antennae is now in attendence. He arrived 9 minutes after I took her outside and they mated for 9 minutes.

This is a tight crop of the dark ovipositor and the first egg which has been laid on the cocoon.

This shot shows many eggs and there are many more to come. If you look closely you can see eggs in the lighter rings without scales in the abdomen. They are present at eclosion and fertilised by the male during mating. She will lay 200 or more and will die after about 5 days, exhaustion and starvation are her lot. But her short life brings forth more. I've used several cameras and these are not all the same female.

060125 Mrs Vapourer #savebutterflies #macrophotography #muchadoaboutmothing #teammoth #inverts #inverterbrates #entomology #ukbutterflies #ukwildlife #gardenmothscheme #bugsky #uknaturalists #wildlifephotography #aurelians #OMSystem #bugmacrophotography #macro

#RiverflyPartnership #Inverterbrates #RiverSampling
#Nature #Wildlife #Freshwater #Conservation #Rivers #Environment

So it is apparently #Arachtober time to spend more time here than the other hellsite. #Inverterbrates #Invert #spiders

There's two feeds on Bluesky great for insect pics, #Inverterbrates and #Bugsky, just use the hashtags and they’ll show up. Also, this week is #InverteFest, this way more people can see your pics. 😊

Yellow with black stripes, butterfly on stalk of white florets

The bottlebrush buckeye calls to butterflies ... Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 🌱🦋 #Inverterbrates

A ‘Double Brood’ of Periodical Cicadas Will Emerge in 2024 The U.S. will see two adjacent broods of periodical cicadas emerge this spring

YOU get a cicada and YOU get a cicada and YOU get a cicada and www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-do... (🧪 and #Inverterbrates)

Collage with five sunflower photographs that all have at least one insect on them

Sunflowers and bugs 🌱🌿 #Inverterbrates

Orangey-brown small dragonfly with fancy reflection

Orangey-brown small dragonfly with reflection making it look as if it has an extra set of wings

Eastern Amberwing dragonflies can have special reflections - I do not know why, but they can look like they have an extra set of wings or even an extra body! #Inverterbrates 🌿

Common buckeye with brown, orange, cream and what look like eyes

Common buckeye on gravel 🦋 #Inverterbrates