#InverteFest

For #FossilFriday and #InverteFest meet what we can *probably* consider the oldest body fossil of a land animal (until we find more, older fossils) - this is Casiogrammus. It's a millipede preserved in rocks from that are ~430–433 million years old.

#nature #science #Palaeontology

I found 31 species of bugs in mygarden for #InverteFest with #iNaturalist, fun weekend!

For #SciArtSeptember prompt “favourite” & the last day of #InverteFest is the pollinators’ favourite: the ridiculously titled “My milkweed brings all the bugs to my yard”

This linocut print is about the milkweed plant, beloved of the native pollinators. Well-known for its appeal to monarch butterflies, it is also a favourite of the many different native bumblebees & insects like this small milkweed bug. 🧵1/2

#linocut #printmaking #sciArt #MastoArt #pollinators #monarchButterfly #bumblebee

For #SciArtSeptember day 2: battle, it’s my linocut of 2 dangerous invasive beauties & the battle against their spread in eastern North America, the spotted lanternfly & tree of heaven. The Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altimissa) is a deciduous tree native to NE China & Taiwan, which was foolishly brought to Europe & NA in the 1700s where it as become known as a noxious weed & invasive plant. 🧵1/n
#linocut #printmaking #sciart #entomology #botany #spottedLanternfly #insect #ailanthus #InverteFest

See today's update on Tumblr! https://www.tumblr.com/humansbgone/727297493729247232/the-second-scene-is-now-done-in-its-entirety?source=share

#scifi #animation #bug #bugs #insect #insects #InverteFest

#InverteFest friends I made during this morning's walk in LA. Six-legged snek, armored testicle, spider eating her one night stand, and some odd Marvel/DC crossover blue wasp (very dead).

Staphyliniden zeichnen für den Roman. Jedes Kapitel in ENDLING trägt den Namen eines Tiers und beginnt mit einer kleinen Zeichnung von ihm.

Erkennt jemand, wer das ist? 😀
#invertefest

Weeeee
(Stenobothrus lineatus)
#InverteFest

A porcelain crab (Neopetrolisthes maculatus) for #InverteFest! They are decapod crustaceans in the family Porcellanidae, which resemble true crabs but are in fact closer related to squat lobsters. They have flattened bodies as an adaptation for living in rock crevices. They first appeared in the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic epoch, 145-152 million years ago.
#crab #porcelainCrab #squatLobster #sciArt #linocut #printmaking #polkadots #invertebrates #MastoArt 🧵1/2

For #InverteFest - an Opabinia, an extinct prehistoric creatures which lived during the Cambrian geological time period!

The fossils of this soft-bodied 7 cm long animal are found in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale Lagerstätte (505 mya) of British Columbia. Opabinia likely caught prey with the grasping claws on the end of its long tubular proboscis (like an elephant's trunk). Even more astounding are the five eyes on stalks!

#linocut #printmaking #paleontology #sciart #washi #collage

One of my wiwaxia for #InverteFest!

This is a handprinted Wiwaxia, a half billion year old soft-bodied animal covered in scales and spines. These animals lived in the early and middle Cambrian period and fossils are found worldwide, including in Canada's Burgess Shale. The animals themselves were only about 5 cm (2") but my linocut prints are much bigger.

#linocut #printmaking #collage #washi #wiwaxia #paleontology #Cambrian #fossil #MastoArt

For #InverteFest , this idiot hitch-hiked on my car without asking (and was saved by the copilot). Silly Helix pomatia!

Trilobite for #InverteFest! One of a series of prints of the ubiquitous and wildly successful trilobites, prehistoric creatures which lived for 100s of millions of years, carved by hand in linoleum, printed onto lovely Japanese washi papers and collaged with papers in different colours. This trilobite was a Cheirurus ingricus which lived during the Late Cambrian through the Early Devonian era. 🧵1/2

#linocut #collage #printmaking #washi #sciArt #trilobite #paleontology #invertebrate #MastoArt

Funny looking birds. #Insects #InverteFest #BirdGrasshopper #BirdOfParadise

Early alert. #InverteFest , organized by @franzanth is coming from 28 Aug - 3 Sept 2023. Share your photos of invertebrates during that period with the hashtag.

Only have pictures of your pet snail? That's fine, just post it during that time period. 🙂

#iNaturalist #Invertebrates

@xris @davidak The only iNaturalist one I'm familiar with are the various #InverteFest hashtags by @franzanth , which I try to join.

I had more photos for #Invertefest but didn't have time to get them posted in time..lol Here we are instead for #InsectThursday This was the first #WildBee of the year (pre-dated by a few non-native honeybee sightings, and now joined by several bumblebees, but no shots of those yet). The shots were over several days on or near one of the #RockGarden beds in front of the house. I *think* it may be the same one (never saw more than one individual at a time)- but won't swear to it! #bees #Alberta

No idea what this insect is. I just saw a pretty flash of blue sparkle in the light walking through monsoonal forest at #foggdam #nt #australia over the weekend. #InverteFest

A happy pollinator: a black-shouldered drone fly (Eristalis dimidiata) on a daisy.

#fly #flies #syrphidae #diptera #insects #arthropods #invertefest #nature #pollinators #flowers #flowersofmastodon

Woodworm markings I captured in beeswax, from the same log I used to make the piece on my profile pic.

I never finished the project, but seems appropriate for my last post for this year's InverteFest. It's been fun, I hope next year I can share a finished work using this texture.

#InverteFest #WIP #sculpture

Here's the whole millipede from the preceding post. It's headed away from us (they always are!) so we can't see its face.

When they're on their feet, these guys are always in motion. When they feel threatened they curl into a spiral with their legs on the inside.

#myriapods #millipedes #arthropods #invertefest #photography #nature

What you might see when riding a millipede as it zips across the forest floor.

We have a lot of these in our yard. They sometimes get into the kitchen, where they're chased by curious cats.

#myriapods #millipedes #arthropods #invertefest #photography #nature

For #InverteFest a small collection of #butterflies seen last week in southwest #France. Even more tricky to photograph than birds (for me!) so not full complement of species actually seen! Total amateur, but I think…
1. (CW from top left) common blue, black-veined white, small copper, speckled wood, wall & Provençal fritillary & 2. swallowtail, southern festoon & scarce swallowtail.

A Mole Cricket Hunter dries off after the rain next to the Mississippi River in #NewOrleans #insect #macrophotography #InverteFest

Oh, one more #InverteFest thing: Recently I was researching Andreas Kay (RIP) a bit, because since I saw his Flickr stream recommended by Draw A Box as a source of reference pictures for #insects and #arachnids I have been in awe https://www.flickr.com/photos/andreaskay/

Basically, I wanted to find out who owns the rights to his images now, and check in with them to make sure that using them as reference for drawings is ok, even if the drawings might be published or sold.

Ah, and because this is also possibly relevant to #InverteFest, c&p of a toot f mine from a few days ago:

I am becoming a bit frustrated with the lack of resources about drawing animals _other than_ mammals or birds. Can anyone here recommend anything that goes further than just the normal Dynamic Sketching classes? Books, websites, videos, anything?

I mean cats are cool and all but so are #insects, #arachnids & #molluscs, know what I mean?

boosts welcome!

Paper versions of Hopkin’s rose nudibranch, purple and Sputnik urchin as well as a California freshwater shrimp. Each contain gifts to unwrap. #InverteFest #nudibranch #marine

For today's contribution to #InverteFest, I dug up some photos of a mantis eating a grasshopper in our garden a couple years ago.
(Not sure why google photos decided to include a picture of Yang Chengfu doing Single Whip as a hit for "mantis". But here he is in his glory along with the mantis.)

#bugs #TaiChi #taijiquan #YangChengfu #mantis

I can’t resist a fun hashtag. If you’re the impulsive type, you can rip this paper snail apart to find a series of tiny gifts inside. If you can’t bear to destroy him, there’s a way to gently peel open one portion to remove the treasures inside, and afterwards re-stuff the shape with empty paper to make him look plump once more. #InverteFest #snail

@franzanth
I love these posters you've been making so much, and I am glad you're bringing them here and encoraging people to participate in #InverteFest here.

For the last day of #InverteFest: all the slugs I photographed yesterday in High Park!

#Gastropoda #slugs #macro

#InverteFest Directly from my #wunderkammer! A veritable #bookworm in all phases of life. This Helluo librorum was found in a French private #library and prepared by a #museum employee.

The larvae are exceptionally shy of light. Studies by the Page Institute for Global Lignine Research show: Imagines are extremely rare, they only develop with adequate reading. Feeding alternative: #Brain #orchids.

#bookwyrm #bookstodon #BiodiversityShrines #beetles #bugstodon #Bücherwurm #AtelierTetebrec

Last day of the famous and inspiring #InverteFest?! I let my #ants dance!
If you don't want to miss the next one and if you love #invertebrates follow @franzanth .
#AtelierTetebrec #glassBeads #PerlageArt #BiodiversityShrines

I'm hoping it's better late than never for #InverteFest, with this photo of a beautiful globular springtail (Dicyrtomina saundersi)!

#SoilFauna #SoilEcology #SoilBiodiversity #Mesofauna #Springtail #SpringtailSunday #MacroPhotography #Collembola

...and the last page of octopoi.

#InverteFest #Animals #Art #Ink

most of my #InverteFest fun I had with Octopoi though! Such endless variety of forms, so much to learn from drawing them :)

(These were days 81-84 of my 100 days of drawing animals.)

#Art #Ink #octopus

#InverteFest: fun find from today’s shopping excursion to Midtown Scholar Bookstore’s new antique annex: original “MAY-FLY” plate from Our Living World v.3, 1885 (L) - an illustration which was lifted from Brehms Thierleben v.9, 1876 (R).
#naturalhistoryart #scientificillustration #sciart #insects

Giant emerald pill millipedes having a picnic. Each is a bit longer than my thumb. #InverteFest #madagascar

also, this couple of flies, or day 83 of #drawing #animals

#InverteFest #Art #Ink #Insects

interrupting my usual (attempt at a) strictly chronological order of posting drawings because #InverteFest is still going on so the Vertebrae have to take a backseat for now. Instead I present to you these charming lil #spiders, which were days 79 & 80 of drawing animals respectively :)

I picked-up three empty potter wasp nests and left them there, waiting for better light to photograph them. But it rained and the mud dissolved. I kind of like the result.

#InverteFest #PhonePhotography #UrbanNature #PotterWasp #Wasp #Insects

Zoom in, zoom, zoom, zoom. What is that tiny bug? A bark louse. Pretty neat to see details you can’t make out with the naked eye. #InverteFest

Here is my basement buddy, gently relocated to the outdoors. #arachnid Possibly Fishing spider Dolomedes tenebrosus? Thanks for the suggestion #InverteFest

A flat-backed millipede found in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. I love the sunset colors of this beautiful invert. #InverteFest
Apheloria sp.

Empty cicada exoskeleton (exuvia)

#InverteFest #Cicada #Insect #Exuvia #UrbanNature #PhonePhotography

24-gon invertebrate wallpaper tiling to celebrate #inverteFest #spider #MastoArt #MathArt #MathsArt #Geometry #Tiling #Wallpaper

I'm now 14 observations into #inverteFest - nature has been quite sleepy where I am... but it looks like a nice weekend!

#InverteFest #Bug
This foxed me…an owly sulphur (Libelloides coccajus)! Found on my walk in southwest France today. Quite a fearsome predator of other insects apparently.

Celebrating the return of #InverteFest, here is a Purple Shore Crab (Hemigrapsus nudas) in the nearshore zone of Sitka, Alaska. Not only are the seaweed and barnacles key habitat components, they are also the primary foods of the purple shore crab. Although their common name is "purple", they can also be found as olive green or reddish brown. Have a nice day, little crab!

#arthropod #MarineBiology #CrabsOfMastodon #crab #NaturePhotography

A millipede for inverteFEST

#InverteFest #millipedes #arthropods #PhonePhotography #Valencia #Spain

a milkweed bugge friend

#InverteFest #bug #insect #friend #milk #weed

#InverteFest Heres a couple of past invertebrate pieces:

For #TilesOnTuesday + #InverteFest: 100. #Dragonfly - from the ongoing search for all the #animals from the 420 original 1906 #Moravian tile #mosaics by Henry Chapman #Mercer on the #Pennsylvania Capitol floor.
#InsectsInArt #ArtsAndCraftsMovement

I just made 4 observations this morning for #inverteFest - now to my regular digital bug finding...

I was left unsupervised at the fabric store.
Happy #InverteFest! #Sewcialist #Bugs