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Reposted by Craig B

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Please repost! Drexel announced that it will close the Academy of Natural Sciences public museum- the oldest nat history museum in the US. There are 2 petitions to support the academy. Please sign both & come to our rally Tues. actionnetwork.org/petitions/pe... www.change.org/p/the-academ...

A poster featuring the T-Rex at the cognitive natural sciences, which says save the Academy natural sciences, museum rally in front of the academy 1900 Ben Franklin Parkway, Tuesday, September 8 10 AM. The T-Rex is saying tell Drexel keep the museum open. There’s an RSVP QR code and then the logos of Philly Science Action Skype scientist In Philly on the bottom.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Sweet!! Many thanks, Alex. I've been getting a nice variety of ants in my Malaise trap. 👍

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

— Does anybody with more ant knowledge than me (so most people 😜) want to help out with an ID on this beauty? @alexwild.bsky.social , this is from your neck of the woods...collected in the Hill Country. I love the flanges over the antennal bases! — #NaturalHistoryCollections #FocusStacking

Left lateral (-ish) view of a point-mounted, winged ant against a light grey background. The ant is quite dark, with slightly lighter areas of reddish brown. The antennae and legs are a lighter yellowish brown. It's more heavily sculptured than most ants (that I see, anyway). There are short pale setae scattered across the body; they are distinct against the dark integument.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Mutilla Timulla Tallium Atillum Tilluma The top three are valid genera. 🙃

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Yes! And as ex: leaf litter, this is squarely in your wheelhouse, right? Fun fact: the person who brought this in originally thought it was a "beetle or collembola" (before being able look at through a decent 'scope). 🙂

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

— Have you ever wished you could see a wingless megaspilid wasp? Now you can check it off your bucket list. Happy (early) #WinglessWaspWednesday to those who celebrate! 🤓 FYI, its body length is ~0.8mm — #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #Megaspilidae

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

— MicroNugget — I (fairly frequently) think about tiny wasps that go through their entire life cycle—egg, larva, pupa, adult—inside the eggs of other insects. #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #Hymenoptera #Scelionidae #Parasitoid

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

— Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi! For your viewing pleasure, I present this fine selection of female velvet-ants I from Western Australia . 🙂 — #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #Hymenoptera

A 2×6 grid of 12 mutillid images. All are females, collected in Western Australia, and are shown against a grey background. They exhibit a wide variety of shapes, colors, sizes, and sculpturing. I love them. 🧡

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

— "Crazy antennal modifications you say? Yeah, we got those. Tell you what, I'll throw in some slightly deflated eversible organs for free." — #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #Melyridae

Dorsal view of the head and thorax of a soft-winged flower beetle (Melyridae) against a black background. The first two antennal segments have crazy modifications. The head, pronotum, and legs are reddish; the humeral angles of the the elytra are metallic green. The body is quite pubescent with lots of appressed pale setae visible.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

. You probably remember Pale Male, but are you ready for Scale Male? #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #Dactylopius (?)

Dorsal view of a weird pinkish insect against a dark grey background. I think this is a male scale insect. It has a pair of membranous wings and its antennae are black. There are dark markings on the body. The small red eyes are bulging out from the sides of the head.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Sweet...I'll see you there. Do you like any color in particular? 😉

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Hey Stelios! I haven't reached the point of selling anything (yet?). Are you going to be at the ECN meeting in Columbus?

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Yes…yes you can. 😀 (This kit includes more of a soft grip style of forceps.)

Curatio kit card, printed in red filament and sitting on a white background. The kit includes parts to make a specimen manipulator and a small box for holding insect pins. It also includes a label pinning block and a pair of larval forceps.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

We certainly saw plenty of immature insects during our recent aquatic sampling trip, but we also found lots of adults...like this sweet riffle beetle. #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #Elmidae

Close up of a point-mounted riffle beetle against a black background. The body is dark, with pale dense scales and setae throughout. It has long legs with long claws—no doubt useful for clinging to rocks and debris in stream riffles.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

If this specimen had showed up during a practical in one of my taxonomy courses (lo those many years ago) I probably would have been screwed. #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #Calliphoridae #NWS

Close up of a white fly larva (= maggot) against a black background. It's a lovely creamy white color with some darker yellowish areas. The darker mouthparts are visible on the right (head) end.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Yep, gills! They look rather fragile, but when the larvae are crawling around on rocks under water the gills (and other appendages) are well-protected by the large oval dorsal side of their body.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

With pre-made hand sanitizer and careful squeeze bottle use of for the liquid EtOH, I usually get very few bubbles. 🙂

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Thanks for the tip...I'll give it a try!

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Are caddisfly naiads the best homebuilders in the insect world? I think a case can be made... #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #TricopteraTuesday

Right lateral closeup of a caddisfly naiad and the front of its case against a dark background. The head and legs of the naiad are visible—it's dark orange-ish brown, with darker spots. The case is made of small pebbles in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Yes! That's the challenge. Put a dab (or dollop, depending on size) of hand sanitizer in the center of the glass and place the specimen. Then carefully cover the specimen with EtOH. If you don't slosh it around too much, you'll have enough time to take the stack before the sanitizer dissolves. 👍

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Here's the working prototype of my setup. It's a 3D-printed black block with a socket to hold a watch glass, and a 3D-printed diffuser that sits on top of the block. Recessing the glass greatly reduces stray light & glare. #NaturalHistoryCollections #Macrophotography #FocusStacking #DIYImagingStage

This is a close up of the imaging set up I made to image the water penny. There's a 3D printed black block with a socket to hold a standard watch glass on the left, with an actual watch glass sitting atop the block on its right edge. On the right edge of the block is a off white 3D-printed diffuser, roughly shaped like a hollowed out hemisphere, with large circular openings on the top and bottom. The bottom rim of the diffuser fits into a recess on the top of the block holding the watch glass. The pieces are setting on a light grey bench top in front of a white wall.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I've been working on a better setup for capturing focus-stacked images of immature insects in alcohol...and it's working well. 🙂 #NaturalHistoryCollections #Macrophotography #FocusStacking #Psephenidae #APennyForYourThoughts

Ventral view of a water penny larva (Psephenidae) against a black background. The six legs, antennae, and the feathery gills are all clearly visible—and would be well protected from above when the larva is clinging to a rock underneath the water.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Just hear me out... ...Hexagenia naiads are the mole crickets of the benthic realm. #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #Ephemeridae

Dorsal view of a mayfly naiad, facing left, on a nearly black background. The legs are clearly fossorial (modified for digging). Large paired feathery "gills" are extending backwards from each abdominal segment side. There are a pair of up-curved tusks or prongs on the face, a diagnostic feature of this burrowing mayfly.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Yeah, they can get CRAZY small. What's even crazier is we have hundreds of double-mounted and SPREAD micro-leps. That's Antispila sp. on the left and a nepticulid on the right...with a U.S. dime for scale. #NaturalHistoryCollections #FocusStacking #MothWeek #MicroLeps #GetMeBackToHymenopteraPlease

Dorsal view of two extremely small moths; both are double-mounted and have their wings spread. Both have mostly brown and white front wings with paler, fringed hind wings. the edge of a U.S. dime is encroaching from the top of the image. You could easily fit four or five of each moth across the diameter of the dime, without overlapping.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I'm gathering specimens to display at the Wisconsin Insect Fest on Friday. These may not represent the smallest or largest species in the world, but they illustrate the size range in #Lepidoptera fairly well, I think. #NaturalHistoryCollections #MothWeek #Tischeriidae #Saturniidae #AttacusAtlas

Angled view of a micromoth in front of a large Atlas moth in a foam-bottomed insect drawer. The Atlas moth's wingspan is about 230mm while the micromoth's is ~9mm.

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Reposted by Craig B

Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Wacky Wingless Wonder Wednesday #PhantasticPhorid #NaturalHistoryCollections #Macrophotography #FocusStacking #I'mNotProcrastinatingYouAre

Lateral view of a very small phorid fly against a white background. The wings are two short pads with a dozen or so long bristles extending from each. The body is tannish overall; the head and thorax are brown. The palps are quite large and there are more long erect bristles on the head.

Anakin and Padme four-panel meme, as follows:
upper left, Anakin: Flies have two wings
upper right, Padme: All flies, right?
lower left, Anakin: [knowing smile]
lower right, Padme: ...right?

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Thanks Matt! As Kermit would say, "Time's fun when you're having flies!" [don't tell Dan, but if I didn't focus on wasps, I'd probably study flies... 😉 ]

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Microhymenoptera are incredibly diverse and many are remarkably small! (hence the micro- part 😀 ) There are typically scads of them in most Malaise trap samples and I wish I could take and share images of each and every one of them. #NaturalHistoryCollections #FocusStacking #TeenyTinyTigerStripes

Right lateral view of a teeny tiny yellow microhymenopteran, against a dark grey background. There are lovely brownish markings on the body, so (in my mind) she looks like a little tiger. Rawrrr...

A small watch glass sits on some white card stock. A standard #2 insect pin is spanning the top of the glass and sticking out beyond either side. The tiny speck in the dish is scarcely larger than the pin head.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I'm not saying spiders are awesome, but... Scratch that. I am saying spiders are awesome. #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #ThomisidThuesday #FocusStacking #Cosmic

Frontal view of a pale crab spider against a dark bluish-black background. Its entire body and legs are pale yellow, with slighly darker yellow areas on the carapace and abdomen. Whitish blobs are also visible through the abdominal wall and there's a white smileyface-shaped area around the eyes. The white area has hints of pink...it is extraordinarily cute.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

To brighten my day (and hopefully yours) a little, I'm returning to my roots with a velvet-ant on this #MutillidMonday! Very few mutillid hosts are known; some species of Ephuta are thought to parasitize spider wasps. #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #EphutaSudatrix

Lateral view of a small point-mounted velvet-ant female against a dark grey background. Overall, her body is dark reddish-brown, with lighter reddish legs and antennae. The head is also lighter in color, and covered with short golden setae. The first couple of metasomal tergites have apical bands of whitish setae and there are two small spots of whitish setae on the second tergite. Her body is uniformly punctate; the punctation is clearly visible through the short setae on the body. The tip of the white card point extends from the right (back) of the body and out of the top of the image. Finally, a lighter grey, blurry line extends roughly from top to bottom on the left side of the image—it is the insect pin.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I saw and saved this chart online several years ago. I just found it on my computer and decided to fix it. 😀 [Sorry original sharer, I don't remember where it came from 😬] #EntomologyHumor #ItsFunnyBecauseItsTrue #TeamFerruginous

Chart with about thirty circles arranged vertically in various shades of red, brown, and gray. On the left of each circle is the different name for each color, starting with flame-colored, ruby, roseate at the top and finishing with dusky, sooty, and black at the bottom. On the right, there are three brackets, grouping the 30 some colors into Red, Brown, and Grey. There's the silhouette of standing man with one hand on his chin and one pointing to the colored circles; above him the label "BIRDERS" has been crossed out and the label "ENTOMOLOGISTS" has been added underneath. Finally, there's an image of a little boy in shorts and a plaid short on the right, also pointing to the circles. Above him, it says "OTHER PEOPLE".

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

bug nymph: why are the other insects making fun of me? bug mom: they're just jealous, sweetie #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #Heteroptera

Teeny tiny bug nymph floating above a grey background. The body is mostly brown, with lighter colored legs. There are distinct, erect all black and all white setae scattered across its dorsal surface. The erect setae are flared and flattened at their tips. It has long thread-like antennae that are brown at the base and pale on the distal two-thirds.

This image shows the bug nymph in a small watch glass that's about one inch in diameter. The watch glass is sitting on a square of white paper, which is sitting on a grey desk top. The tip of a standard #2 pencil is also on the white paper next to the watch glass, for scale. The nymph is barely larger than the tip of the pencil.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

If one wanted to post an image for #FlyDay or #FlyFriday and it’s only Monday, can one use the hashtag #MondayMurderFly instead? Asking for a friend… #Asilidae #Laphriafernaldi #PhonePic #Colorado

Dorsal view of a large fuzzy robber fly perched on a rough piece of grey and brown bark. It is doing its best to mimic a bumble bee with its yellow and orange fuzzy body.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The world is a sh*tshow right now so I'm posting this #WaspWednesday image a day early. It's Conura sp., collected in central Texas, and I'll add the obligatory "never missed leg day at the gym" comment. #NaturalHistoryCollections #FocusStacking #Hymenoptera #Chalcididae

Left lateral view of a small point-mounted wasp, against a dark grey background. This parasitic wasp is predominantly yellow, with orangish tints on the legs and metasoma. There are also a few scattered dark brown markings. As a chalcidid wasp, it's characterized by ridiculously enlarged hind coxae and femorae.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Happy #ThynnidThursday! Hold on a sec... *holds finger to earpiece* Breaking update—apparently #ThynnidThursday is not a thing?! Anyway, it's still Thursday and this is a female of Methoca stygia (Thynnidae). #NaturalHistoryCollections #FocusStacking #Hymenoptera #MorWasps

Dorsolateral view of a point-mounted wingless wasp, against a grey background. This wasp is decidedly ant-like in appearance. Overall, it is reddish-brown in color with darker spots dorsally on the abdominal segments. It is also very smooth and shiny; the reflection of the lens opening in the hemispherical diffuser that was used is clearly visible on its abdomen.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

A perfect little nugget to share on this #WaspWednesday. It's in the genus Holcencyrtus and was collected in AZ in the company of some Pheidole ants. #NaturalHistoryCollections #FocusStacking #Hymenoptera #Encyrtidae

A teeny tiny point-mounted wasp against a grey background. Did I mention she's tiny?! Its body is metallic green with purplish tints. The legs are brown, transitioning to yellow at the feet. The antennae arise low on its face and are clearly geniculate (elbowed).

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Although this might look like an AI-generated bug, I assure you it is not. All* images I share are guaranteed to be fat-, sugar-, and AI-free! #NaturalHistoryCollections #FocusStacking #TrueBug #Membracidae #Wut (it's certainly true all of the images I personally take and share)

Lateral view of a pinned planthopper in the family Membracidae. I think this is the genus Cyphonia. Membracids are known for having crazy pronotal projections, making them look like thorns in many species. This genus has even more ridiculously ornate projections, with spines and nodes that may be an evolutionary attempt to mimic ants. This specimen is reddish brown overall, with pale yellow markings. There are large spine-like projections as well: a pair on top, a posterior pair, and single median spine pointing down and back from the apex of its pronotal projection.

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Reposted by Craig B

Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

If I'm not occasionally taking breaks from the Sisyphean task of curation to capture and share images of amazing insects in the collection then what am I even doing here? #NaturalHistoryCollections #FocusStacking #Coleoptera #Meloidae

Close up of a crazy looking blister beetle: Cysteodemus wislizeni. The elytra are greatly expanded over the abdomen and look like a purple brain on top of the rest of the body. The body is deeply punctate and is metallic purple overall, with bluish and greenish tints. The image background is white; this focus stacked image was taken inside.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

How many adult pygmy backswimmers can dance on the head of a(n insect) pin? Apparently just one, but look how adorable it is! #NaturalHistoryCollections #FocusStacking #Pleidae

Small, point-mounted bug on the left and the head of a #2 insect pin on the right, against a white background. The bug is tan overall, with slight darker legs. Its dorsum is bulbous and rounded and its eyes are dark. It is about the size of the head of the pin on the right.

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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

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