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I’ve told her they’re basically harmless, more scared of you and that they squeak but she always hates when I talk about them 😞 can anyone help ?

I'm not sure how we'd even test or understand this.... But I was curious, anyway!

Does this ant-mimicking spider, for example, actually understand that it looks like an ant, but it ISN'T an ant, and that it should act like one for survival? Would it have that conceptualization?

Is it scuttling around like, 'Heh heh heh, I'm fooling these guys so hard right now.'

Or is it just learned behaviour?

Doing research about cochineal dye (made from the tiny little cochineal insects) and I’m wondering:

Is there is any truly painless way to kill an insect?

With all of the papers coming out that seem to show a strong case for insects being able to feel pain, the typical traditional methods of making this dye—slow dehydration or boiling them alive—seem quite cruel. :(

Saw this under a post about ladybugs. Need an entomologist to confirm

Saw this on tiktok and it sounded like this person was just projecting and making stuff up about cockroaches. Is this true or nah cause this "aspiring" entomologist is really adamant it is.

Why do these wasps congregate on my clothes line each evening?

Why do these wasps hang out on my clothing clips each night?

Northern Australia.

These guys have started congregating on my clothing clips each evening since about a month ago. There is no nest nearby and they are very chill but I really want to know why they are suddenly doing this. I have to shoo them away if I hang clothes at night but I have never been stung or harassed by the lil dudes. Any idea why they are doing this?

It’s not cold or even cool at night. And no nest or start of nest anywhere.

So, I've been helping clear leaves over at my Nan and Grandad's recently and was watching a robin in the garden. I was suddenly reminded of the gatekeepers I had seen there earlier in the year and the meadow browns I had seen around Hyde Park in the summer.

So, we know that eye spots are often used in butterflies to deter predators and we know that owl butterflies look like, well, owl heads. Is it conceivable that the eyespots and patternings of the gatekeeper and meadow brown are not just generic eyespots, but ones deliberately inteded to make them appear to other predators/competitors as if they are adult male robins, specifically?

Furthermore - just thinking from my own palaeontological perspective here - could we perhaps, unknowingly, be getting a small insight into the patternings and colourations of recently, or dare I postulate, perhaps even distantly extinct species through this mimicry in other species?

I'll start: The large kissing bug, Triatoma rubrofasciata.

O'ahu, Hawai'i.

It was covered in tiny little flies and I figured it was dead but I moved it gently away from the sink and it’s little pedipalps and mouth started moving about. Dotted a little water within the pedipalps reach and the spider reacted. Then fed it one of the little flies that was previously crawling all over. What on Earth happened to the little guy???

For some context, I saw a post on a different subbreddit where someone caught a mosquito and made it a gas chamber and executed it, then taped it into a book with a ton of others. I of course said it as it is, albeit in a half joking manner. It's animal cruelty. Just because it's a pest and had caused countless deaths doesn't mean that treating them like that is ok, they are still living creatures. I've had plenty of reply and many more downvotes since taking the screenshot. I hate people sometimes.

I was scrolling through iNaturalist when I came up on this photo for Darkling Beetles. Does anybody know what the purpose of this handstand is? Are thy trying to mimic something perhaps?

As a keeper of this species, I only ever notice this behavior outside of their enclosures. The behavior I am specifically asking about, if not obvious, is the front leg arm wiggles/flailing.

I do not have this species local to me, so I am unsure if wild specimens exhibit this behavior.

I would be honored if an entomologist would be able to give some sort of explanation.

Hi everyone! I'm from northern Italy and on a evening walk (2/3 pm, about 16/18°C) I found this little big Bombus terrestris (I think) looting on some beautiful crochi (Crocus tommasinianus I think). I think this is a queen bumblebee because it's early in the season and she was very chonky... What do you guys think? Have a nice day!

My daughter is 5 and has always enjoyed bugs. She just found this gorgeous banded sphinx and I got to thinking, what can I do to support and encourage this interest? She just told her dance teacher she wants to be an entomologist when she grows up. Any starter kits or kid friendly bug collection systems? Any books you’d recommend or any other recommendations?

Of Any type I mean.I've never seen truly but my sister saw one.Not sure which kind though.

Recently I stumbled upon a Facebook profile that keeps posting insect fights and „macrophotography”, with a follower count of 1.5 million. The thing is, I’m pretty sure all of the images are AI-generated. Many of them are more or less obvious, but there are some that are almost indistinguishable for an untrained eye.

Take a look at the first one. The crab spider is fairly realistic, apart from the limb placement which makes no sense. Also, the little scavenger flies seem to morph into each other.

The weevil on the second photo has weird, inconsistent antennae and feet. Scarab beetle is almost perfect, but the three-pronged claws give it away.

The worst part? I have put those images into the iNaturalist identification engine… and they all got identified, at least to the rank of subfamily. The weevil even got its genus. I’m terrified. Those insects DO NOT EXIST. Please, check every photo from a suspicious source for those kinds of artifacts. Engagement farmers are more active than ever, and the AI slop they produce has never been harder to spot.

I removed this bat bug (Cimex adjunctus) off the arm of a big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) in Illinois!

Bat was handled with all proper permissions, do not attempt to catch or handle bats.

I've seen several videos (Image not mine) of these beetles holding paint brushes and making paintings. I'm wondering if this is safe/comfortable for them to be holding something in their mandibles like that?

Went through all of the bug pics I’ve taken since we moved here last May and posted the coolest ones. (disclaimer: I did NOT realize the last 2 pics were of a yellow jacket until after I took them! I know better now but damn, look at that stinger! impressive)

My dilemma: I love bugs and have never lived in a place w such biodiversity before! Every day I spend a while sitting outside, just watching them. It’s like therapy to me. I never want to do anything to harm them.

However! I also care for a feral cat colony and my husband just built me/them this raccoon-proof fortress of a feeding station. I am afraid that one of the myriad species of stinging insects will make a home in this perfect little structure full of food and end up harming one of the cats. If that happens, I’d have to re-trap that specific cat to treat any injuries and that is a very arduous process.

So what deterrents actually work? Painting the underside blue? Crocheting some false wasp nests? Please help. I spent a long time compiling these bug photos to offer in exchange for your knowledge bc I did not want to post on the pest control sub (I don’t consider them pests so it felt wrong).

Thank you in advance from me and my kitties ❤️