iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Gil Wizen

Rain Hayes @rainhayes.com · 21/09/2026

UVIVF portrait of a Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos), a popular Bay Area import from Western Australia. Last day of summer! Wishing everyone a chill and productive week ahead. #flowerphotography #naturephotography

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

Quil @quilbug.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Insectember day 8: Pyrops watanabei Common name: Lanternfly Wick the lanternfly does not hesitate to point its spear at any foe🤺 ✨Adopt Wick here: vgen.co/quilbug/shop 🎨 #insectember2026 #anthro #bugart #adopts

A digital drawing of an anthropomorphized white and yellow lanternfly holding a spear tipped with a sharp yellow crystal. The lanternflies wings drape like a cape around it, and its chitin plates look a bit like knight armour.

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

Rain Hayes @rainhayes.com · 10/09/2026

A pale yellow Rhododendron bud shows off its sparkly sequins under UV, like a disco rocketship. Kind of excited for the supposed AI extinction event. I will enjoy spending more time doing creative and functional projects, unreachable except by landline or post. #flowerphotography #uvphotography

Close-up photo of a rhododendron bud sparkling and brightly colored under UV light.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

This beautiful darkling beetle (Cymatothes hieroglyphicus) was found while digging around in the leaf litter in the Brazilian Amazon. The black pattern on this species mimics the appearance of fallen leaves in their first stages of decomposition. I appreciate the nifty 'X' it has on its back too!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

This giant dark-saddled darner (Gynacantha membranalis) showed up at our basecamp in Ecuador, and it's a thing of beauty 🤩 Photographing dragonflies like this often results in them damaging their wings, but this particular darner was surprisingly very chill and allowed me to get pretty darn close 😂

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

This fulgorid planthopper (Scaralis versicolor) usually sits camouflaged on lichen-covered bark. However, when disturbed it exposes colorful hindwings! The sudden transformation is enough to startle a predator, which gives the insect a moment to deploy its real superpower: a powerful jump to safety!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This Chromacris icterus grasshopper from Ecuador is quite spectacular! Chromacris grasshoppers are often seen aggregating on vegetation. Living in groups helps them to amplify their signal to predators - the bright colors imply that they are distasteful and some species are presumed to be poisonous.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Perhaps one of the most comical of all crab spiders, Epicadus heterogaster packs a lot of character. It looks a bit like Pikachu but has the attitude of Wolverine... Here it is doing its best impersonation of @thehughjackmanprv.bsky.social!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This cutie patootie was one of the highlights on my recent visit to Ecuador. This little guy is a nymph of the beautiful cockroach Rochaina metae. While the adults are brightly colored and flat, the round-bodied nymphs are adorable, running around charismatically on their short legs.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

A couple of months ago I posted a photo of a giant whip spider snacking on something that looked like rainbow candy. It was the katydid Hyperphrona gracilis, a widespread species in South America that serves as food for many predators. This katydid is charming in its own right, so please enjoy it!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

This is Euplectalecia beltii, a small jewel beetle endemic to Central America. Not much is known about them and records are very scarce. They seem to be nocturnal. This beautiful gold nugget showed up at my light trap in Costa Rica and despite multiple visits to the same site I've only seen it once!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

@nhm-london.bsky.social has released a sneak peek of the 62nd Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, and I am excited to finally share this preview of my image “Hidden Dragon.”

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

This brown butterfly that visited our basecamp in the Ecuadorian Amazon looks very unassuming and some might even say boring (I still think it's beautiful), but... there's a surprise!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I'm heading back to Ecuador and one of the species I'm hoping to see again is Hapalopus planetearth, a small tarantula that was only formally described last year and we know very little of. This species is now commonly called Ecuadorian crowned tarantula, a name that does its beauty justice!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

This mysterious beetle showed up at our light trap in the Brazilian Amazon near Manaus. It's a beautiful representative of the shining leaf chafers, the Rutelinae, a group of scarab beetles that are often found feeding on leaves and flower petals. Many species are round and have metallic colors.

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

Rain Hayes @rainhayes.com · 14/07/2026

My friend's garden across the lake is graced with a Cobaea scandens (cup-and-saucer vine). They're so cool in person - no photo can do justice. They are generally white-to-purple but UV light reveals blue, red and pink in there as well. #flowerphotography

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I was excited to find this Odontotaenius bess beetle under bark at our camp in Brazil. These are very friendly and often make cute squeaky sounds when handled by rubbing their abdomen against the hindwings. However, beneath the harmless appearance lies a story of collaboration, effort, and devotion.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Tiger-striped tree frog (Callimedusa tomopterna) from Ecuador. They easily blend in with the plants they are sitting on: The white markings on the frog's back are nearly identical to the lichen splotches on the leaf, and even the frog's bright orange fingers look just like the reddish stem nodes!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Another cool find from the light trap in Brazil. This cute lantern bug (Odontoptera carrenoi) is one of those unique species that look like they're constantly "flipping the bird" 🤣 But wait. ☝ THERE'S MORE Its wing shape and color pattern mimic the head of an anole lizard. can you see it?

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

This common potoo (Nyctibius griseus) made a perch on a post at our site in Ecuador. Because she was right on the trail, we saw her every single day. To be honest, the fact that this bird was just sitting there silently watching and judging us every time we walked past kind of freaks me out...

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Panorpa insolens, a scorpionfly, defends her delicious mystery lump from a patient flesh fly (Sarcophagidae). Wing-flagging in Panorpa is used for both intraspecific and interspecific communication, and in some species studied, these displays are often used to guard food from other scavengers

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

With a stylish look of a black leopard and the mannerisms of a Siamese cat, Phiale guttata jumping spiders are always a treat to observe. Usually their inquisitive nature is what gives them away: These spiders really like to explore their surroundings and often end up finding us before we spot them.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

If you saw my bug photo from a few days ago, this is exactly what I had in mind

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Melanophoxus griffinii, a small conehead katydid from the Amazon region, trying to climb on my lens. This is one of the many challenges in shooting wide angle macro: you have to get very close, and for some animals this is an opportunity for them to go and explore your camera and flash system 😅

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

This frog fooled me. When I dug it out from underneath a fallen log during a night walk in Brazil, I thought I found a poison dart frog. This is a juvenile gold striped frog (Lithodytes lineatus), a mimic of poison dart frogs. Their colors are exceptionally bright at this stage!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

A bug carrying the next round of beers? No, actually something way more exciting! This female Antiteuchus sepulcralis is displaying parental care by shielding her eggs. She can't cover them all so she puts her feelers forward, both as an extension of her body and to sense if someone gets too close.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

The collective mind of the internet has stepped in and reached a verdict on this insect's ID. It seems to be a male giant whitefly, a member of subfamily Udamoselinae! I'm happy to learn something new 🙂

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Dragons exist! This insect showed up at the light trap in Brazil. I humbled to say that I don't know what this beautiful, 8mm-long insect is. All I can tell you is that it is some kind of sap-sucking hemipteran, and that it's likely a male. Hoping that someone can chime in with more information!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Orchid bees are among the insects I always look for when I visit Latin America. I never get tired of them! This beautiful male Euglossa from Brazil is doing a very good job hiding his long tongue.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

That moment when you find a whip spider chewing on rainbow candy in the middle of the Amazon... Heterophrynus batesii, one of the most impressive arachnids in the Amazon area, seems to like feeding on the colorful Hyperphrona gracilis katydids. I see this scene very often on my visits to the region.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Love is all around. Sometimes you just have to look at the forest floor to see 💕 Atta laevigata is one of the largest species of leafcutter ants, and my absolute favorite. Observing the big workers with their shiny heart-shaped head fills me with joy every time! Photographed in Amazonas, Brazil

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Look at this goofball sticking its tongue at you! This leafhopper nymph (Amblyscarta) is one of the most brightly colored insects you can find in the Amazon region. This is a freshly hatched nymph.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

This spectacular cockroach (Panchlora aurora) came to the light trap at Igapó's International Fieldwork Course in Manaus, Brazil. The colors and texture of this species are unreal. The pastel blue & yellow together with the smooth and shiny surface makes it look like it is made out of porcelain!

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Leaf-mimicking katydids like this Cycloptera speculata are among my favorite to encounter when I visit the Ecuadorian Amazon. They really look and behave like a leaf, and if that's not enough they also show a high degree of color pattern variation to depict leaf damage like holes and sunburn marks.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

When you see this fly, be kind. It just wants to hug you and never ever let go 🤗 ever

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

Thomas Barbin @thomasbarbin.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

A funky Pholcid from Mexico. I had no idea that there were Cellar spiders with weird heads. Weird heads are one of my favourite features a spider can have. Modisimus sp. #Pholcidae #CellarSpider #iNaturalist

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

Ed Phillips @ed-phillips.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Always a treat to see; a lovely Ruby-tailed Wasp in our #Staffs garden yesterday. #wasp #CuckooWasp #SolitaryWasp

Macro photograph of a colourful Rub-tailed Wasp in a Staffordshire garden.

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

It is a unique pleasure to have someone send you pictures of a species you described. It's like a report that one of your kids is doing all right. This beauty is Orectoscelis westwoodi, a myrmecophile (probably with Pheidole) described back in 2005 from Queensland, AU. (photo by Jan Pražák)

a beetle glued to a point. Its head points left, with sausage-like antennae attached to large shielding scapes. The body is punctate, dark brown, and the elytra have gigantic, ear-like rounded bulges, with a golden fringe of setae along their inner edge (handles, we believe, for the ants to grab).

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

You need these bebes in your life

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

An amazing artist's rendering of Heterophrynus

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

A change of mood: cloud forest in Boquete, Panama.

Photograph of an intricately busy tropical forest in a color pallet of various greens. Several large tree trunks rise diagonally through the frame, each trunk covered in many species of plants, some dangling roots.

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

Stéphane De Greef @stefdegreef.eurosky.social · 17/03/2026

Let me tell you the magical story of the #TrilobiteMoth, a mystery that followed me since 2002 and has finally been (partially and almost) resolved thanks to the dedication of fantastic entomologists from all over the world collaborating on the fantastic platform @inaturalist.bsky.social ! 1/xx

A dorsal (top-view) photography of a tiny golden moth on white background. It has long filiform antennae, ginger setae on the head, a dark collar of setae on the thorax, and the rest of the body and wings is covered in golden scales. The wings hag long golden fringes. The copyright mentions © Stéphane De Greef 2026.

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Model and mimic: a clever longhorn beetle (Euderces reichei, at right) tries its best to look like a local carpenter ant, Campontous decipiens, as they both feed on a spring dogwood flower. Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Texas.

Macro photograph, in top view, of two insects standing on a cluster of small, 4-petalled white flowers. Both insects have a red head and thorax and black at their back ends. The beetle on the right is slightly broader, and has a narrow white line separating the red and black parts of its body, as to suggest a narrow ant waist.

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Play at 2x speed and you get the Aussie laugh I hear in my nightmares

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Reposted by Gil Wizen

Lindsey Leigh 🐌 @linseedling.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

David Bowie Spider (Heteropoda davidbowie) #febugary2026

bright orange cartoon spider with ziggy stardust makeup

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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Cats! For the cat peopl w...wait Yeah 🤔 I wasn't wrong Cats! for the cat people!

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