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InvertebratePosting

@invertposting.bsky.social
55 followers 85 following 498 posts

Bug nerds posting about invertebrates a few times a week invertposting.blogspot.com/ invebrateposting@gmail.com for inquiries or suggestions Banner by @serpenillus.bsky.social

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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 25/04/2024
Some older interpretations suggest that its calyx was filled with gas and it floated along, dredging its arms along the seafloor, but this is likely untrue, as summarized below in this blogpost by Christopher Taylor - coo.fieldofscience.com/2010/02/crin...
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 25/04/2024
The ammonites, or at least the coiled ones, should have eight arms and two long hooked tentacles, similar to those found in squid. These ammonites also spew ink when threatened, something that has been questioned in recent years, as seen in Klug and Lehmann, 2015
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 25/04/2024
Starting off with the ammonites - they have an operculum, which we know they did not have based on fossil evidence and phylogeny. This is an old idea, based on the aptychus, as discussed below
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 24/04/2024
Its anatomy is quite poor, as shown in the image below, and its behavior is very inaccurate. Anomalocaris would not be capable of processing hard prey - unable to manipulate it with its front appendages, nor eat it with its mouth cone. It instead was a suction feeder, hunting soft-bodied prey
Unsure of where this image originates from, found it on Discord. If anybody knows who drew it please let me know.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 16/04/2024
I've had the privilege in participating in a speculative evolution project as of late and my entries have spun off into their own little thing too.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 16/04/2024
Prehistoric Planet is also in the pipeline. I'm also going to share snippets of a personal Prehistoric Planet-related project I've been working on and discuss the science behind those
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 16/04/2024
Also been working on sketches and art pieces for some big threads, hopefully of use to paleoartists, but these are a bit far away
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 16/04/2024
And many, many more topic that I intend to cover in the very near future
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 16/04/2024
I've got a few threads that are maybe halfway done that I'm slowly working on completing, those are the priority at the moment
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 12/04/2024
Caster gave an immensely detail breakdown, comparing and reinterpreting every little detail to be sure. He also further proved that the Paramphibius deposits were marine, and that the tracks were incredibly similar to those of mating/competing horseshoe crabs
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 12/04/2024
The tracks certainly looked shockingly like those of a vertebrate, but that's because tracks from the "pusher legs" became heavily distorted, while other traces were too delicate to be preserved, or simply misinterpreted based on the previous misconception
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 12/04/2024
Happy #FossilFriday! These are the tracks of a waddling, maybe bipedal amphibian. The tracks were clearly a monumental discovery for our understanding of how fish came onto land and the evolution of terrestrial locomotion... ...except none of that is actually the case
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 12/04/2024
Thirteen miles south of Marienville, PA, on the side of a dirt road sat a bizarre fossil, to bediscovered by Mike Kosanki over the weekend of November 19th 1948. Mike made casts and sent them to the Carnegie Museum where his brother, James Kosanki, was a preparator.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 10/04/2024
Small ammendment/update to yesterday's thread, here are the actual images of the arrow squid interacting with a shark bsky.app/profile/inve...
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 09/04/2024
Research published in October of 2023 suggests predatory interactions between deep sea squid, potentially even the giant squid, and great white sharks around Guadalupe Island, Mexico.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
Happy #FossilFriday! This is MPEF-PV 3137, a titanosaur egg from Cretaceous Patagonia. This egg is quite special as there are eight wasp cocoons inside (known as MPEF-IC 517-524)
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
Furthermore, Venomoth is cute and serviceable as an early game bug design.
Adorable, ain't it?
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
Looking at the code of the games themselves, Venomoth's index number is very far removed from Caterpie. Caterpie's line is all right next to each other.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
Butterfree has much more in common with Caterpie than Venomoth does.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
These are partially due to hardware restrictions, forcing designs to be simplified or modified in order to fit in a 56x56 sprite. This design simplification is even evident in Venomoth itself, spots on the back of its wings were removed.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
These are all just very clear design trends; stylistic choices that are repeated in multiple designs. This is evident elsewhere in Kanto - multiple simple bodyplans are reused repeatedly.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
Weedle also has a similar nose/mouth to Butterfree. Bugs with "horns" are also pretty commonplace - look at Yanma and Scizor, for example.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
Butterfree and Venonat do share a lot of features, but many Bug types, especially in the first two generations have similar features. Paras and Ledyba have similar eyes to Venomoth, while Ledian generally has a similar bodyplan to Butterfree.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
 Were Venomoth and Butterfree really swapped during the development of Pokémon Red and Green? I’d argue no; this theory relies on very shaky evidence that at times completely ignores the context of Red and Green’s development.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 29/03/2024
It appears that these ammonites died but did not immediately lose all buoyancy, instead slowly losing it and sinking, being propelled forward simultaneously. The shells may have also rotated as they came into contact with the seafloor Art by James McKay
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 29/03/2024
tests such as rolling a model ammonite shell across sediment have confirmed the identity of these track makers. Both images here are from "Trace Fossil Analysis"
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 29/03/2024
Happy #FossilFriday! This is MCFO 0492, a very interesting fossil, also known as the “zombie track”. This 8.5 meter long specimen, recovered near Solnhofen, Germany is the dragging trail of a dying Subplanites ammonite, a form of mortichnium
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 26/03/2024
Kani is a fully arboreal species of crab, relying on phytotelms (water-filled cavities in plants) for water and food. These crabs feed on plant material and small invertebrates; natives noted that they are preyed on by owls and mongoose.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 26/03/2024
Kani maranjandu is a species of gecarcinucid crab native to the rainforests of the Sahyadri mountain range in India. If you were to simply look at this crab you probably wouldn’t think it’s anything spectacular, but you’d be wrong. academic.oup.com/jcb/article/...
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 25/03/2024
The main issue with merging the two, and the reason why this merging was voted against, was the potential dubious nature of Palaega. Palaega has been suggested to be a “form genus”; a group of species with similar morphology but no confirmed phylogenetic relationship.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 25/03/2024
Word was sent to the ICZN a few months later, and the issue was discussed for roughly three years. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/partpdf/30690
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 25/03/2024
The deep sea isopods are a very charismatic and well-known bunch of crustaceans. Not everybody has an in-depth knowledge of em, but those that do call it Bathynomus and have since 1879, but that was potentially subject to change at one point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_isopod#/media/File:Bathynomus_kensleyi_and_Bathynomus_doederleinii_NMMBA.jpg
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 23/03/2024
There is a single bivalve, potentially interpreted as an encrusting suspension feeder.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 23/03/2024
Ichthyosaur, thalattosuchian, long-necked plesiosaur, and pliosaur specimens were studied, many of which either had animals associated with them, or traces of animals on the bones. Evidence of urchins, nautiloids, belemnites, crinoids, and vertebrate scavengers are preserved.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 20/03/2024
White sea urchins off the coast of California attacked and ate both red and purple urchins, but “when given a choice between injured purple urchins or fresh kelp, white urchins overwhelmingly chose kelp”. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
https://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/Echinos/Lytechinus.htm
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 20/03/2024
Their grazing apparatus, called an “Aristotle’s lantern” can grasp, pull, scrape, grind, and tear with ease, and has even been the inspiration for the claws of a Mars rover www.engadget.com/2016-05-04-s...
https://themarinedetective.com/2020/09/13/aristotles-lantern/
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 20/03/2024
Some in Antarctica give “live birth” as a response to uneven substrate, while others on rocky coasts are capable of surviving for hours at a time completely out of water
Antrechinus mortenseni broods juveniles inside a pouch.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01632814
https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=image&tid=160780&pic=1631The shingle urchin (Colobocentrotus atratus) can survive many hours out of water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colobocentrotus_atratus#/media/File:Colobocentrotus_atratus.jpg
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 20/03/2024
Studies have proven a correlation between predator reduction and kelp loss (caused by an increase in urchins). A 2018 study found that the mass mortality of the sunflower star led to “a 311% increase in medium urchins and a 30% decline in kelp densities.” royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/endangered-species-conservation/infographic-sunflower-sea-star-wasting-syndrome-pandemic
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 20/03/2024
One major factor is almost certainly predation. Off the western coast of North America, for example, humans have hunted sea otters and lobsters in great quantities, while many sunflower stars have died out due to Sea Star Wasting Syndrome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_otter#/media/File:Sea_Otter_(Enhydra_lutris)_(25169790524)_crop.jpghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_spiny_lobster#/media/File:California_spiny_lobster.JPG
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 19/03/2024
These caves are threatened by invasive predators such as the black rat (Rattus rattus) and introduced spiders. A few places were sheltered, primarily thanks to climate, but as that has changed in recent decades those sanctuaries have all but disappeared completely
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rat#/media/File:Roofrat_Hagenbeck_02.jpg
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 19/03/2024
Schrankia isn’t the only moth native to the twilight zone; on undescribed species of Orthomecyna also lacks pigmentation and apparently eyes, grubs of this species have been found in the dark zone of caves. Members of Pseudoschrankia and Mestolobes wander throughout caves
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 19/03/2024
A great diversity of troglobitic moths would be found living inside the caves themselves, likely the same ones alive today. These include two members of the genus Schrankia; S. howarthi and S. altivolans. These moths can be monochromatic, flightless, and have heavily reduced eyes
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 19/03/2024
The ‘apapane nests in the entrance and twilight zones of roost caves and plucks moths at its leisure. When these moths emerge at night the Hawaiian Hoary Bat comes to feast, in the past the extinct Synemporion would as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_hoary_bat#/media/File:Hawaiian_hoary_bat_Lasiurus_cinereus_semotus.jpg
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 19/03/2024
The diversity of these trogloxene moths was likely much greater than what is currently known. Sites in Hawai‘i suggest the presence of several Peridroma species and possibly some Agrotis as well. These roosts were consistently exploited by the ʻapapane (Himatione sanguinea).
Agrotis infusa - Bogong Moth (Australia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogong_moth#/media/File:Agrotis_infusa.jpghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BBApapane#/media/File:Pezzillo_Hosmer_%CA%BBApapane-2.jpg
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 19/03/2024
These swarms became restricted to high altitudes, where they were observed primarily by R.C.L. Perkins in the late 1800’s. Since these populations were only briefly observable, information is lacking, especially for islands other that Hawai’i and Maui. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...
https://www.thegardenisland.com/2013/03/31/lifestyles/island-histroy-scientist-robert-perkins-on-kauai/
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 19/03/2024
Four species of native moths were historically known to use lava tubes as communal daytime roosts; Hypocala velans and three species of Peridroma. This has expanded in recent years to include three species of Mestolobes.
H. velans - https://v3.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxid=970562Peridroma saucia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peridroma#/media/File:Peridroma_saucia_FvL.jpgMestolobes miniscula - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mestolobes#/media/File:Mestolobes_minuscula.jpg
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 18/03/2024
Rabbeinu Tam also determined that they were kosher, even if they were born from trees, and should be prepared the same way any other bird would be. These theories were not wholeheartedly accepted everywhere - for example, Albertus Magnus criticized this idea multiple times.
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 18/03/2024
Somewhere along the way, scholars thought that these birds, particularly the Barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis), hatched, hibernated, or underwent metamorphosis within these barnacles
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Barnacle-Goose.jpg
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 18/03/2024
Barbaracle's design in particular may be inspired by the French name for these barnacles, "pouce-pied", which apparently translates to "thumb-foot". Barbaracle may also take inspiration from barnacle trees; part of a larger myth about migrating birds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnacle_goose_myth#/media/File:Gerald_Wales_BL_MS-1.jpg
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InvertebratePosting @invertposting.bsky.social · 18/03/2024
These Pokémon are distinctly colonial; several individuals make up a singular body, something reflected in real life goose-necked barnacles.
from Bulbapediahttps://buenavistaseafood.com/percebes-gooseneck-barnacles
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