Janna Layton
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jannalayton.bsky.social
Janna Layton
@jannalayton.bsky.social
65 followers 84 following 100 posts
Writer, cat servant, nature & arts lover.
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Reposted by Janna Layton
toomanywasps.bsky.social
Big news - I’ll be starting an #insect #systematics lab at University of Nebraska-Lincoln this coming academic year! I’m looking to #recruit #PhDstudents to work in #wasp systematics, especially gall systems, to begin Fall 2026. Please help me spread the word — more details on the flyer below!
Graduate student recruitment ad
November 12, 2025 at 12:55 PM
jannalayton.bsky.social
This issue of @grantamag.bsky.social has a genius, but day-ruining, short story by Leopold O’Shea. Carousel.
Issue 172 of literary magazine Granta
November 3, 2025 at 6:17 PM
jannalayton.bsky.social
Finished The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting. I have a new appreciation for wood (not in a Taylor Swift way). This was a random selection from a used book store, and a captivating read.
Paperback of The Sixteen Trees of the Somme
October 24, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by Janna Layton
afterdinnerconversation.com
October 18, 2025 at 4:04 AM
jannalayton.bsky.social
Trying to read more instead of scrolling, and ended up staying up late to finish Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano. Loved it! Fun mystery with older protagonist. Made me want whatever granitas are. #books
My white cat Viola laying by paperback book Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano
October 9, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Janna Layton
becca.gomezfarrell.com
Terrifying.
An image of a tweet that reads "A haunted house but the ghosts recite the poems you wrote when you were sixteen." It is attributed to @ambernoelle
October 3, 2025 at 7:49 PM
jannalayton.bsky.social
Yesterday while hiking at Shell Ridge, I saw this male tarantula out searching for a mate. Since he was crossing a trail popular with mountain bikers, I kept an eye on him until he made it safely across. Almost immediately afterwards, I saw my lifer red-breasted sapsucker!
Tarantula on a dirt trail Red-breasted sapsucker in a blue oak tree
September 30, 2025 at 9:25 PM
jannalayton.bsky.social
It’s cool duck season again! At the Palo Alto Baylands today I saw 30+ species of birds, including these: green-winged teal hen, ruddy duck drake, Northern shoveler drake, and a whole lot of Northern shovelers (with American avocets and hidden willet)

#birds #ducks
September 28, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Janna Layton
rebeccarhelm.bsky.social
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Janna Layton
afterdinnerconversation.com
September 24, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Janna Layton
ramzsullivan.bsky.social
#gall #meme
A meme made from the book cover illustrated in 1972 by Harry Borgman for Dr. Futurity by Philip K Dick: A moon in the shape of a skull watches over a man in a space suit without a helmet peering at a glowing object on an alien crater. "The pervasive rot of existence", is written over the moon and, "Me, looking for a cool gall" is written above the glowing object.
September 19, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Reposted by Janna Layton
penumbricmag.bsky.social
I realize we've totally been AWOL from social media lately. Here's an update: Best of #Penumbric, vol viii, has finally been proofed and is now up on Amazon at www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR9HFPH8. (Yay!!!) Author's copies will go out in the next couple of weeks as we try to catch up.
Best of Penumbric Speculative Fiction Mag, vol viii: June 2k24 to April 2k25
Best of Penumbric Speculative Fiction Mag, vol viii: June 2k24 to April 2k25 [Neomythos Press] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Best of Penumbric Speculative Fiction Mag, vol viii: June 2k24 to April 2k25
www.amazon.com
September 18, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Reposted by Janna Layton
norikonbuchan.bsky.social
Until recently @ymilesz.bsky.social taught me, I didn't know anything about the fascinating synbiotic relationship between fig trees and fig wasps. So I've been wanting to see their work in the wild, and found it on the last day of #September2025GallWeek !
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Common Fig Wasp (Blastophaga psenes)
Common Fig Wasp from Tyler Island, Walnut Grove, CA, US on September 14, 2025 at 11:07 AM by Noriko Ito. On common fig Host observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/313985713 (Last pho...
www.inaturalist.org
September 15, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Janna Layton
iamowls.bsky.social
Gorgeous male surf scoter I saw at the Bay a few weeks ago. He was very close to the beach playing in the surf, riding some waves and diving into others.

#dslr #nikon #birdphotography #birds #ducks #scoter #surfscoter #melanitta #melanittaperspicillata #delawarebay #newjersey
Surf scoter in water facing left. He has a black body, pale yellow eyes, and an orange beak with a pale tip, white sides, and a large black spot near the base. The water is reflecting the sunset. Surf scoter diving into water. He has a black body and reddish legs. The water is grey blue. Surf scoter heading into a wave. He has a black body, pale yellow eyes, white spot on the back of his head, and an orange beak with a pale tip, white sides, and a large black spot near the base. Surf scoter in water facing right. He has a black body, pale yellow eyes, and an orange beak with a pale tip, white sides, and a large black spot near the base. The water is reflecting the sunset.
September 15, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by Janna Layton
norwichbirder.bsky.social
This morning I went on a quick walk to Catton Park to see a scarce gall on a young Oak tree caused by the agamic (asexual) generation of the gall wasp Andricus lucidus. It had been found there recently by @susanweeks.bsky.social . This gall has lots of uniformly thin 'spines' with rounded tips.
A bunch of dark-green Oak leaves with a pale green spherical spiky gall in the centre. A closer view of the gall from photo 1 - lime green and made up of lots of thin spines with slightly swollen tips.
September 13, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Janna Layton
nicolekearney.bsky.social
I've been managing BHL's #Bluesky account for 4 months now. It's an honour to share such beautiful & significant content, particularly at this critical time. BHL's future is uncertain, but hopeful. Follow along @biodivlibrary.bsky.social & on the #BHLblog: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/tag/transition
September 11, 2025 at 4:01 AM
jannalayton.bsky.social
It’s Gall Week!
#gallsky
inaturalist.bsky.social iNaturalist @inaturalist.bsky.social · Sep 10
'Tis the season to search for lumps on plants, aka galls! These growths are created in response to other organisms — often insects, fungi, or bacteria — injecting their chemicals into the plant. 🧵⤵️

Join the gall celebrations: tr.ee/ziMCEH
This gall looks like something you'd imagine a mythical fairy-like creature living in. It's shaped like a mushroom and has a small hole in the front. The stem of a plant has a couple round growths with small holes in them.
September 11, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Reposted by Janna Layton
innerworlds.bsky.social
"Each time I align the jump ignition sequence, I feel the shipsuit respond to my intention, its answer a thrum of power I can hardly comprehend. It opens a rift in space, and I slip through."

Read 'In The Vanguard' by @chloehsmith.bsky.social

inner-worlds.ghost.io/in-the-vangu...

#SFF #SciFi
In The Vanguard by Chloe Smith
When I’m back from a vanguard run, they all say they can’t understand me. My neighbors, my family, my lover, they all ask, how do you do it?
inner-worlds.ghost.io
September 10, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Reposted by Janna Layton
apexmag.bsky.social
Hey, who turned out the lights?? 🕯️🕯️🕯️

The theme for September's flash fiction contest is CANDLELIGHT! You have until the end of this month to submit. Full submission details linked below ⬇️

www.patreon.com/posts/septem...
a bunch of lit candles are on a table
Alt: A ton of flickering candles sitting in melted wax on the ground
media.tenor.com
September 7, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Janna Layton
lunastation.bsky.social
The new issue is out! We are storytelling animals, always have been, always will be. This issue is proof that stories still mean something in our world.

www.lunastationquart...

#ShortStories #WomenWriters #SpeculativeFiction #Fantasy #SciFi #Books #Reading #Writing #Magazines
September 2, 2025 at 3:09 PM
jannalayton.bsky.social
Unisexual generation oak gall season!!! 🥰

Feron pattersonae, Feron gigas, Feron crystallinum, and Andricus brunneus, all on blue or Jolon oak. #gallsky
Flat yellow gall on leaf Saucer-like gall galls on leaf Hairy galls on leaf Bunch of grape-like galls on leaf
August 26, 2025 at 3:30 AM
jannalayton.bsky.social
Saw this adorable weevil today on a coast live oak acorn!
#bugsky #weevils
August 11, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Janna Layton
birdbander.bsky.social
California Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus) is one of the largest cynipid wasps (5mm!) and induces the largest insect galls in the western U.S. Some females emerge August-November, while others may remain in the gall for over a year before emerging.

#cynipidwasps #galls #nature #california
August 2, 2025 at 7:03 PM
jannalayton.bsky.social
Spotted this baby opossum while hiking in Moraga today!
Adorable baby possum on a lichen-covered tree branch.
July 28, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Janna Layton
tacobellquarterly.org
If you're not writing your long book what are you even doing. It's the summer of writing your long book, not the summer of experiencing happiness
tacobellquarterly.org Taco Bell Quarterly @tacobellquarterly.org · Jul 10
I'm going to tell you exactly how to write a book. Do you see that impenetrable brick wall ahead of you? You're going to ram your head into it until long book is long.
July 11, 2025 at 1:52 PM