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mossynewt.bsky.social
Newton
@mossynewt.bsky.social
79 followers 100 following 1K posts
☘️ Nature lover 🪴
🍄‍🟫 Enjoyer of moss and ferns 🪲
🌾 Gay 🌱
🌳 He/they🌲
🪻 Woke botanist apparently 🌿
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Reposted by Newton
blathin384.bsky.social
Good Morning ☀️ Bluesky

The theme for Today's #BirdOfTheDay is all about #Reflections and I have a bunch of those 😁

A Great Egret in the early morning

#EastCoastKin #PhotographersUnited #photography #birdphotography #birds
Photo of a Great Egret standing in shallow water. There is a beautiful reflection there as well as the water was smooth and the bird stood still
December 1, 2025 at 1:09 PM
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apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
Day 31 of my 2024 favorites: Polyergus oligergus!
I learned of this rare Amazon ant after finding their cousins in 2022 via the gynandromorph: this species kidnaps Formica archboldi (known, accurately, as the skull-collecting ants). Happened to witness a raid, then found their nest!
#InverteFest
Large shiny red ants (Polyergus oligergus) furiously swarming the unseen entrance of a nest of black ants (Formica archboldi), carrying away the eggs of the black ants One of the Polyergus ants running into the entrance of their nest, a hole at the base of a clump of wiregrass Top view of a Polyergus oligergus worker. Shiny red all over. K8 Face of the creature, showing off her fearsome mandibles
January 1, 2025 at 3:23 AM
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Day 30 of my 2024 favorites: BLUE
I'd been aware of Sphodros abboti (one of our local mygalomorph species) for a few years, and that the males looked like this, but seeing one for myself was a bucket list event. This boy absolutely did not disappoint 💙
#InverteFest #AmericasAss
Lean black mygalomorph spider lad with giant chelicerae, and that iconic deep purple-ish blue abdomen Closer shot of his blie booty. One of a kind ass. America's ass, even
December 31, 2024 at 4:53 AM
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Day 29 of my 2024 favorites: Snootflies
The mourning scorpionfly (Panorpa lugubris) ❤️
There's a part of my favorite haunt which occasionally spawns one or more of these silly Snootflies in my path. Didn't see many this year, but this little man put on a show.
#InverteFest
Handsome black fly like creature with a long scorpion-like red tail, which he's exposing by spreading his black wings. His face possesses a long snoot
December 30, 2024 at 5:30 AM
Reposted by Newton
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Day 28 of my 2024 favorites: Eye-stalk boy
A relatively small number of spider species have evolved to have eyes on "stalks" on their heads, and it's very silly. I didn't know we had any to be found locally though, until this derpy boy showed up in sifted leaves. 🧡
#InverteFest
Small orange orb weaver-esque spider boy, with a small stalk on his face containing 2 of his 8 eyes Closer shot of his silly stalked eye cluster
December 29, 2024 at 5:08 AM
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Day 27 of my 2024 favorites: Pair of rarely-seen acorn ant species!
Found an unfamiliar ant on a live pine one day, and scientists on iNat told me what it was; then told me of a rarer species which lives on standing dead pines, so I found them too!
Temnothorax bradleyi & smithi
See alt for more
Temnothorax smithi, the species which lives on standing dead pines (a burnt pine here); slender red ant with a rough textured head and thorax with an orange gaster Studio shot of Temnothorax smithi, slurping sugar water Temnothorax bradleyi, the one who lives on live pines; very similar in appearance to smithi Bradleyi, slurping on sugar water
December 28, 2024 at 3:26 AM
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Day 26 of my 2024 favorites: Mangrove crabs in actual mangrove 💛
Little grabby hands politely snacking on the flowers while maintaining eye contact with the weird bipeds 🥹
Mottled dark boxy little crab with small grabby claws pinching at the yellow mangrove flower the creature is straddling
December 27, 2024 at 3:23 AM
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Day 25 of my 2024 favorites: Festive Friends ♥️
Phidippus cardinalis aren't particularly rare sights here, but they're gorgeous, and sweet lumps.
Don't particularly care for the day's holiday, but as another day to appreciate brightly-colored creatures? Sure, I can do that.
#InverteFest
Perky dark red Phidippus jumping spider boy, peering up at you from a blade of grass Top-ish view of the lad on his house of grass, in his full red uppers garb Top view of a lorge lass who was found guarding her egg sac. She's more orange red than her male counterpart. Perky young individual of the species, more pale, with a black mask over her big eyes; peering up at you
December 26, 2024 at 4:07 AM
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Day 24 of my 2024 favorites: the snootiest of snoots, the chestnut weevil
Look it's just a beetle with a ridiculously long snoot, what more is there to say 🤎
Brown weevil with a snoot longer than the rest of its body, on a cluster of purple chaffhead flowers Top view of the creature on the purple flowers, clearly showing the size of the snoot in comparison to the body
December 25, 2024 at 4:56 AM
Reposted by Newton
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Day 23 of my 2024 favorites: Zygoballus nervosus lad 🖤
Nervosus is the rarest of our 3 Zygoballus species, and, though I see the lasses fairly often, the lads had eluded me for several years. His appearance did not disappoint. 🤎
Perky boxy bronze-y jumping spider with large 1st leg pair, peering at you The lad, navigating a galvanized metal fence post Top view of the lad. He's dark bronze, with a white stripe around his booty
December 24, 2024 at 5:04 AM
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Day 22 of my 2024 favorites: Small-headed fly! Acroceridae
This was my first sighting of the accurately-named family, found deep in a cypress swamp. One of those bizarre creatures that my brain saw and recognized but refused to process for a minute, because they're just weird chonks.
Very large thick black and orange fly with a head which looks like it belongs on a creature a fraction of the size - a pinhead on a peanut The creature facing you, chonky body towering over the tiny black head which is all compound eye Side view of the hunchbacked looking creature
December 23, 2024 at 4:05 AM
Reposted by Newton
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Day 21 of my 2024 favorites: a stunning (and very large) Tunneling Teddy Bear, rabbit botfly (Cuterebra buccata)
Lots of flies have a bit of a macabre life cycle and botflies certainly fall in that category, but this is a truly magnificent creature all the same. 🖤
Face of a chonky fly; white below, reddish brown uppers. Eyes sort of a blue-gray, with a red marking in each like an exclamation point written in blood. Two dark structures on her back behind her wing attachment point loom like the ears of a cat. Side view. She's very soft-looking. Her legs gave some red as well as the eye marking. Her chonky abdomen is white, speckled with glitter-like iridescent spots showing blue from this angle Close view of one of her eyes and that red exclamation point. The dot is shaped like a drop of blood Top view as I found her, on an oak shoot. Reddish brown uppers, and dark wings swept back.
December 22, 2024 at 3:37 AM
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Day 20 of my 2024 favorites: Tiny Ms Attidops nickersoni!
At some point I want to share a series of fun creatures I've only seen once in spite of my nearly obsessive attempts to find them again. This shy little nugget found deep in a cypress swamp certainly qualifies. 🖤
#EmotionalSupportSpood
Little dark jumping spider with a brown booty and two horizontal yellow stripes, cautiously navigating a bit of bark The creature peering at you with very large eyes
December 21, 2024 at 4:49 AM
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Day 19 of my 2024 favorites: Habronattus alachua courtship!
H. alachua is a lovely and rarely-seen species here in Florida, and they're always a treat. Spotted the red-faced male first, who was prancing for a female I noticed shortly after. Got to watch his dance, though the lass wasn't into it. ♥️
Fuzzy habronattus jumping spider boy, doing a high-stepping preliminary prance along a stem. His face is crimson red, body is black and white. The excited lad, floofy pale 1st leg pair spread wide as he dances on the ground The lass, a pale creature with reddish-brown stripes on down across her big eyes, peering at you from a grass stem The little man under a fuzzy stem, peering up at you
December 20, 2024 at 3:03 AM
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Day 18 of my 2024 favorites: Scorpion mums!
I'd seen so many of our native Centruroides hentzi scorpions over the years, but somehow hadn't seen scorpion motherhood until this pair in the fall. Invertebrate parenthood always brings joy. 🤎
Large brown scorpion covered in little pale babies clinging to her back as she roams a burned log Scorpion mum coveres in babies, at rest on a log
December 19, 2024 at 3:17 AM
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Day 17 of my 2024 favorites: Trabeops aurantiacus wolf spiders!
These tiny adorable Lycosids may appear deep in swampy grasses if one is rooting around (one should). That one giant eye pair is comparable to jumping spiders in size relative to their bodies. I was delighted to learn of them. 🥹🤎
Dark bodied wolf spider boy with pale legs and an absolutely giant pair of eyes peering at you. His head is sort of mushroom-shaped to accommodate the eye size Female of the species, a little more filled out and proper wolf-shaped, but the eyes are still giant. She's on my finger tip peering at you
December 18, 2024 at 3:27 AM
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Day 16 of my 2024 favorites: Velvet ant mimic ant lions!
I'd seen one of the velvet ant mimicking larvae a few years ago but none since, until this silly creature showed up above ground one afternoon. ❤️ The adults are Very Long. They're delightful.
Red-orange ant lion larvae with a black and white striped booty which makes it look like a velvet ant in the sand. The face features those signature long fearsome mandibles Closer shot of the creature in the sand, mandibles at the ready for snacks Graceful grey ant lion adult with mottled wings and an extremely long and thin booty, nearly twice the length of its wings.
December 17, 2024 at 3:48 AM
Reposted by Newton
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Day 15 of my 2024 favorites: Big-headed Fly Sex
There's just something about these silly tiny creatures floating around in the air as they mate that makes me happy, and always will. ❤️
#BugSex #ApertureScienceAfterDark
Pair of small flies with large heads which are nearly entirely red compound eyes, mating, in mid-flight.
December 16, 2024 at 3:31 AM
Reposted by Newton
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
Day 14 of my 2024 favorites: introducing @jencross.bsky.social to this magnificent Sphodros rufipes lass
The red-legged purseweb spider is one of our native mygalomorph spiders and quite a sight if you can coax one out of their tube. I recommend delivering snacks if you do. Fair trade. 🖤
Very large thick-legged black and dark purple-ish red mygalomorph spider with giant chelicerae, on a shroom crusted log
December 15, 2024 at 6:01 AM
Reposted by Newton
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Day 13 of my 2024 favorites: Pitcheresque
My favorite local haunt has a few patches of pitcher plants in various spots and they always make me happy. On a particularly rough mental day early in the year I caught a patch blooming at sunset. They were lovely. 💛
Patch of pitcher plants blooming with large yellow flowers, against the dying sun through pine forest. The flowers are glowing softly in the fading light View from the ground up at the yellow pitcher flowers, which droop over and point downwards. Each flower has 5 petals. Tall pines stretch up above you, sureal against the grey sky
December 14, 2024 at 1:19 AM
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Day 12 of my 2024 favorites: Longspoods 🖤
I had been aware of this Very Long species (Marpissa pikei) for a few years but somehow they eluded me (probably by looking like Grass). Finally managed to find a couple, of both sexes. They're very sweet and silly and I love them.
Extremely long pale brown jumping spider, like if a Hentzia spent a little time getting spaghettified close to a black hole like humans do with the sun to get a tan. She's traversing my hand The lass and her thick 1st leg pair, on my hand, peering intensely Longspood male, nearly identical in shape, just dark grey and a little thinner. He's also on my finger The long lad on my fingernail, peering
December 13, 2024 at 3:31 AM
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Day 11 of my 2024 favorites: Iso-plotting
My lorge flat children found behind a shed in North Carolina last year are still going strong, and are always up to something 👀
3 large flat isopods, pointing inwards arranged like the spokes of a wheel; facing each other as if plotting
December 12, 2024 at 3:44 AM
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Day 10 of my 2024 favorites: Following one of my favorite nugget wasps (Aenasius sp. Encyrtid) through the grass until she found her quarry, a tiny scale insect. Watched her ovipositing. I had not seen an encyrtid find their host before. This creature is the most adorable biocontrol agent. ♥️
Red coppery little nugget wasp, on a pine needle grooming her antennae The sculpted nugget-y up, on the move on the pine needle The creature on a blade of grass, ovipositing into a tiny white scale insect
December 11, 2024 at 4:07 AM
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Day 9 of my 2024 favorites: Watching a trapdoor spider grow up!
Early March I happened to notice a small inhabited trapdoor burrow in a recently burned forest, and stopped by many times over the year to bring her snacks. She's very large now 🥹
(2nd shot is the 1st sighting, 1st shot is from today)
Large dark reddish brown mygalomorph spider, at the entrance to her burrow, trying to close the silk lid (my knife blade is holding it open, briefly) The lass as a child, in a small burrow, peering out before she closes it
December 10, 2024 at 4:27 AM
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Day 8 of my 2024 favorites: Finding representatives of all 4 of our ant mimic jumping spider genuses the same day!😍
This was a silly side quest I had given myself years ago but struggled to achieve. Pictured: Synemosyna petrunkevitchi, Peckhamia americana, Sarinda hentzi, and Synageles noxiosus 🖤
Silly long and slender (though she's a little pregger so she's chonky for her species) bright orange ant mimic jumping spider, Synemosyna petrunkevitchi, in the middle of a palmetto frond peering at her lumpy marshmallow floof egg sac Handsome red and black (booty) ant mimic jumping spider, Peckhamia americana, on a dry oak leaf peering intensely at something Dark reddish brown ant mimic jumping spider male, the Sarinda hentzi, on the tip of a dry leaf's stem, peering Dark red and black ant mimic jumping spider, the Synageles noxiosus, on black mossy fence post wood waving his 2nd leg pair as antenniforms
December 9, 2024 at 1:49 AM