The Xenobiologist

The reason nothing else can replace bloodsucking mosquitoes in a natural nutrient cycle is twofold!

First, their larval development: mosquito larvae “snorkel” for air, so they don’t need oxygenated water, and they filter feed on nothing but bacteria, so they don’t need to share water with any plants or animals in order to have a food supply. A bottlecap’s worth of liquid in the crook of a tree branch is all they need to thrive.

This allows the majority of larvae to develop where there is virtually no competition from predators. Some will also develop in ponds, lakes and streams, but these are constantly being consumed by fish, frogs and their fellow invertebrates.

Second, the blood feeding itself: the protein from blood allows a female mosquito to produce thousands of eggs, and it’s also why the larvae can get by on so little food of their own! In non-biting mosquitoes, the larvae are carnivorous in order to obtain protein on their own, but that means they need pools of water with abundant prey and eventually cannibalize one another until only a handful remain. And that’s another thing: except when a disease like malaria uses them as a vector, a mosquito obtains all these nutrients and makes all these young without actually having to kill another organism. So the ability to develop in literally ANY water, period, and obtain all the protein they need by nonlethal means, is an almost unique formula that floods an environment with millions and millions of insect bodies almost unimpeded. You think flies make a lot of flies? They still have to find a rotting corpse to reproduce in, and millions of the maggots still get eaten by other insects, spiders, reptiles and birds before they can ever metamorphose and carry their nutrients much farther. You think there’s a lot of moths and butterflies? They’re still only the caterpillars who survived a constant onslaught of predators while devouring foliage that had to deprive some other herbivore of a meal.

It's Kaiju's SEVENTH GOTCHA DAY! Yes, seven years ago on this Very Day, I received a box in the mail containing one confused swamp criminal.

Even then, she was gentle and curious, and I got to watch that curiosity bloom into confidence and a wonderfully inhuman intelligence. Today...

Well, today she's officially "about eight" years old! She's still the sweetheart she was when we met, although she trusts me so much more now. I can get this lizard to do anything, because she knows I'm not going to hurt her.

For her treat, I made her a 7 from quail eggs, blueberries, and some incredible local honey.

The birthday girl arrived wearing a party hat, which was swiftly discarded.

She managed to get her entire front half drenched with honey and needed a dunk in the sink and some gentle scrubbing after.

The Lybia crab is a species of small crab in the family Xanthidae. It is also referred to as Hawaiian boxer crab, pom-pom crab, cheerleader crab, mosaic boxer crab among many other nicknames. The crabs are known for their signature move of always carrying a small living sea anemone around in each of its claws. 

By waving sea anemone into different routines its dances its way to a free meal, gathering debris and food particles from the ground around the crab’s hiding place. 

Self Loading Catzooka 

this thread-waisted sand wasp (Ammophila sp.) i encountered on 9/8/19 is carrying a paralyzed Datana caterpillar to one of her burrows to be consumed by a larva.

I’m unsure why she climbed to the top of a grass stalk and rested there for several minutes, but it could’ve been related to assessing her surroundings or breaking up the scent trail left by dragging the caterpillar.

Interestingly, sand wasps and other digging wasps memorize visual landmarks to remember where their burrows are located. This diagram shows an old experiment where moving a circle of pine cones previously placed around the burrow temporarily confused the wasp:

It’s since been shown that visual landmarks (as well as the position of the sun to remember the general location of the nest, something even ants with their poor vision and heavy dependence on scent trails sometimes use) also play a role in the navigation of similar insects such as honeybees. But unlike social species, solitary wasps can’t afford to also locate their nest using scent, since leaving an odor would make the unattended burrow vulnerable to predators (and other sand wasps of the same species who will commandeer another’s burrow given the chance). Using memorized landmarks ensures that only the wasp that made the burrow knows where it is.

So, it seems thet digging wasps are entirely reliant on visual and tactile cues to find the exact location of their hidden nests (I’ve witnessed them covering their burrow with rocks and soil to conceal it, then rake through the soil with their legs to find it again).

Sand wasps are also among the few animals documented to use tools- they grab small stones with their mandibles and use them to tamp down the soil they dig up to make their burrow location less obvious.

Ive seen a lot of these little yellow falcons on the expedition now, usually darting between trees, though sometimes I am lucky enough to spot one in the act of diving down on a smaller bird, not unlike the falcons we know from Earth. I asked Treep, one of our Kakroum hosts, what they call these creatures; the local name from what I could parse is something like “Zhuufwip”, perhaps a reference to the whistle of air on their wings as they dive?

They strike with the aid of the long talons on their forelegs and a single, elongate chelicera (the other is small and tucked into the mouth for mastication). The yellow integument is striking against the sky, but among the yellow foliage they dwell in it’s actually fantastic camouflage. I’ve noticed these beasts share the wide-spaced, downward oriented rear eyes of other avian predators, likely an aide to scanning for prey far below since their heads are nearly immobile. Many of the smaller birds they prey on bear skyward-angled eyes, no doubt to spot these threats lurking above.

so much care put into housing this aging spider. why are my eyes wet

Desert-Living Dinosaur Had Extraordinary Vision and Hearing

Bacillaria paxillifer, AKA the carpenter’s rule diatom. 

This diatom is unique in that it can slide and retract relatively quickly using a mucilage layer. They’re fun to watch!