the land knows you

Cladonia didyma

Southern soldiers

Sometimes I can be a little hard on Cladonias since they are like, the pretty, popular girls of the lichen world. And the perpetual loser in me balks at the attention they get over like, more typical looking lichens. But like, I get it. C. didyma is STUNNING, after all. I just hate her cause I ain't her, ya know? This fruticose lichen has a basal/primary thallus made up of small, incised scales, and a secondary thallus made up of scaly, cupless podetia often topped by bright red, globose apothecia. The surface is usually powdery green or brownish in color. C. didyma grows on soil and rotting wood, and can be found in a lot of different habitats worldwide. It can be easily confused with C. macilenta which also has bright red apothecia, but C. didyma has a scaly podetial surface whereas C. macilenta has a dusty surface.

images: source

Social velvet spider, Stegodyphus lineatus, Eresidae

Closest match: Sabra harpagula genome assembly, chromosome: 4 Common name: Scarce Hook-Tip

Just wanted to make some cicadas <3

Absolute unit of a robber fly found by eldoia87 on Reddit (posted with permission)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Muller’s Termite Frog (Dermatonotus muelleri), family Microhylidae, found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay