John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 06/08/2026Yesterday I heard about a third fatal cases of venom-induced anaphylaxis this year. It’s especially sad because reactions are preventable with desensitization. As in this case, epinephrine does not always work, so desensitization is really important for anyone with prior anaphylaxis from a sting. 010
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 27/11/2025Decaying vegetation in stagnant water definitely sounds like rat tailed maggots. Very strange looking creatures. The adults are really nice looking, many bee/wasp mimics. 010
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 26/11/2025I’m going to guess that they’re maggots of some kind. Rat tailed maggots are the closest that I’ve seen, but I’m really not sure if those long trailing parts are a breathing siphon or just trailing goop? Did they come out of water, or at least mud, with high organic content? 110
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 26/11/2025Inconsistently! Fall is my busy season with residency interviews so spotty presence on social media until February. But I am checking in on Bluesky every few days 030
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 26/11/2025The Wedge-shaped Beetle, Macrosiagon cruenta, ambling around on flowers near the Mississippi River 0292
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 29/09/2025Aren’t butterflies (and other small wondrous creatures) great reminders that there is beauty in the world? It doesn’t take away from the very hard things going on, but does provide a counterbalance that I find helpful. 💛🖤💛 010
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 27/09/2025Late September is when green leaves turn into yellow butterflies here in New Orleans. 1809
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 27/09/2025😂 Calling a beetle “pale legged” is bound to make it feel judged! 110
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 27/09/2025A pale-legged flea beetle, Lysathia ludoviciana, looking contemplative at the leaf’s edge. 2515
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 22/09/2025I don’t often plan my trips out to the batture and arrive out there midday under the blasting heat of the sun. It is so hot! But- the lighting is great! 020
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 21/09/2025The Bronzed Tiger Beetles (Cicindela repanda) scampering along the Mississippi River beaches have subtle iridescent colors when you look closely. 411120
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 21/09/2025😂 I can imagine a taxonomist of long ago, starting to have trouble with their eyesight, sniffing specimens to tell the species apart. 110
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 20/09/2025A Hibiscus Scentless Plant Bug, Niesthrea louisianica, on the edge of a hibiscus flower in the Mississippi River flood plane 2495
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 19/09/2025A photo from the first Bug Walk in 2013. I don’t always wear a tie. 0140
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 19/09/2025Despite the unusually dry weather we had a successful Bug Walk in Audubon Park and nearby neighborhood to find insects of medical (and non medical) relevance. This year we had folks download @inaturalist.bsky.social (or Seek) to practice documenting the biota in the city. 1192
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 19/09/2025I don’t know what the pokey bits in the back are for- sorry! 010
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 19/09/2025What a beautiful insect, and posing so nicely for this photo! 0333
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 16/09/2025That’s an aphid- but they are notoriously difficult to identify down to species. 110
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 15/09/2025It really is wonderful to see how the ecosystems change over time. Adding in those native plants is going to support some incredible creatures! 000
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 15/09/2025Looking back I didn’t upload any photos in 2013; it was when we did a repeat BioBlitz at Jean Lafitte 2016 that I brought a group of Allergy/Immunology fellows and took my first photo. Incidentally that was the start of my annual Allergy Bug walk for fellows. How it started / How it’s going 0180
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 14/09/2025My first post on @inaturalist.bsky.social was a Metric Paper Wasp (my favorite paper wasp) as part of a National Geographic supported, invertebrate-focused BioBlitz in Jean Lafitte National Park in 2013. And now it is my 20,000th post also! 5401
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 14/09/2025It’s very dry here in New Orleans; plants are crisping up and the insect activity is way down. An exception is this wasp, clamoring over flowers, perhaps using nectar for hydration 0668
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 13/09/2025I finally got a flash for my camera so that I could increase shutter speed. My first subject was one of the frenetically bumbling bumblebees crashing into flower after flower. I didn’t get a great photo of the bee but you can see the pollen floating away from the flower which is really interesting 3523
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 12/09/2025A pretty Thread-waisted #wasp meandering through the vegetation at Bayou Savage in New Orleans 2813
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 11/09/2025A Question Mark #Butterfly sipping Mississippi River water on the sandy shores under an exceptionally bright sun this past weekend 0242
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 11/09/2025There is some really fascinating research on this that I learned about reading The Laws of Connection by @davidarobson.bsky.social with solutions other than brain surgery! 010
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 08/09/2025A Four-spotted Pennant #Dragonfly perches next to the Mississippi River as it bends around the city of New Orleans. 0283
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 02/09/2025I wish I knew! It is definitely a very fancy design… but if hairs? And what function do they serve? There is a whole tiny world that we know so little about! 110
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 31/08/2025Exploring Bayou Savage in New Orleans East I found this weevil posing on the beautiful backdrop of a flowering Saltmarsh Mallow. 2795
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 24/08/2025This afternoon I discovered that my boots are no longer waterproof but that they remain mosquito proof. Tested simultaneously by water in the Mississippi River flood plane and by several Psorophora columbiae mosquitoes that live there. 1230
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 22/08/2025An Anchor Stink Bug instantly before it took flight. Photo taken last weekend on the shores of the Mississippi River. 1495
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 22/08/2025That’s a good thought. Fungal infections can be itchy (ring worm for sure, and rare reports of sporotrichosis). I’ll add that to my list! 010
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 22/08/2025When I see the kids in person, I do give them a pep talk about how amazing it was to experience such an incredible insect. It usually works! 040
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 22/08/2025Of all the crazy things going on in the world, I would not have expected people to engage in more ant smuggling. That’s a whole new kind of ne’re-do-well! 010
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 22/08/2025Two large halictid #bees (I think Nomia nortoni) enjoying some midday sun. 1353
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 22/08/2025Patients with multiple delayed-type allergic reactions are most often reacting to mosquitoes, bedbugs or fleas. There are others but these three are common. Mosquito reactions tend to be cross-reactive at the genus level, so these could still be less common mosquito species, or fleas. 170
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 22/08/2025#EntomologyConsult: a patient has an enlarging, progressively itchy, edematous area on her forearm with similar lesions on skin not typically covered by clothes. Bedbug inspection found no insects. This is atypical of her mosquito bite reactions. What could have caused this? 250
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025Velvet Ants are a group of wasps in a separate family from true ants. Flightless females scurry along the ground, and may use bright aposematic coloration to warn would-be predators (and curious children) that they have painful (but not dangerous) venom. Treat with ice, hugs, kisses and stickers 0171
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025#EntomologyConsult: a child was stung on the hand by an ant, but with pain beyond what is expected for a typical fire ant sting. Is this species more dangerous? My answer ⬇️ 3171
Reposted by John CarlsonJagriti Paul @pauljagriti.bsky.social · 18/08/2025Had the privilege of leading Pediatric Grand Rounds at Ochsner Children’s last week. Presented a preterm case that turned out to be a real zebra—a high-grade bowel obstruction from congenital adhesive bands in a 33-weeker. Not your “bread & butter” NICU day. #NICU #Neonatology #Pediatrics 011
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 18/08/2025A soldier #fly, Hoplitimyia mutabilis, resting under the hot summer sun near the Mississippi River 0361
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 16/08/2025Happy bees! I wonder if Hibiscus flowers may be too much of a good thing for bees. They can get plastered with the sticky balls of pollen! Hibiscus plants grow wild along the Mississippi flood plane and I can spend a lot of time watching these goofy insects coating themselves in the copious pollen. 2552