blorbo from my bugs

When insects have an abnormal amount of red pigment instead they get this pinky look, called erythrism.

This case is actually documented the most in orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts, crickets)

Unfortunately it makes them easy to spot by predators so their mortality rate is quite high. But what a cool mutation!

But ye lions do this once cubs each a certain age. A decent amount of birds do it (for example: flamingos and a lot of penguin, duck, and goose species). Gharials (a type of South Asian crocodilian) form creches with hundreds of babies from multiple nests (they lay under 100 eggs each and sometimes as few as 20). Feral hogs tend to form groups of mothers and young like this, and I saw 3 sows and like 15+ tiny babies the other day and they were so cute

But ye that's how you get pictures like these

A giant ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) uses her extremely long ovipositor to drill into a dead maple tree. Megarhyssa includes species with the longest ovipositors of any insect (up to 11 cm in M. macrurus and up to 14 cm in its cousin M. atrata), which also technically gives them the longest total length of any hymenopteran insect. The ovipositor is used to pierce deep into dead or dying trees to lay eggs on the larvae of a large wood-boring sawfly (Tremex columba).

Her ovipositor acts not only as a drill but as a sensory organ, and is highly sensitive to vibrations in the wood made by the sawfly larvae. Note how the translucent membranes of her abdomen stretch as she applies pressure by curling the base of the ovipositor, then retract when she withdraws to search for a different spot.

Pre-Order Store open for Ancient Arthropods!

If you missed the main campaign, or wanted to see the finished artwork first before committing, now's your chance! Open until April 10th you can get the pins AND you always wanted!

Link is in my pinned post!

Here's all the finished artwork ✨

Mecynorrhina Beetles

Mecynorrhina Beetles are giant flowers beetles very common in the beetle rearing community, and highly popular. A good portion of them have been bred for the colours, and subfamilies mixed together to create different variants - M. Ugandesis and Torquota are the biggest example of it where hybrids are named M. Torquota Ugandesis.

They come in a VAST array of colours from pure blacks, to reds, oranges, blues and purples, and even blended colours together to create beautiful patterns. I would call them the pigeons of the insect hobby.

-land scallop that eats like a venus fly trap

-flower mimic nudibranch

last night I got possessed and simply HAD to draw some crappy beetles so here ya go :)

and there will more stills life drawings of random bs

-land scallop that eats like a venus fly trap

-flower mimic nudibranch