Mastodawn

Guinea Paper Wasp (Polistes exclamans)

A wasp has claimed the nest box.

#GuineaPaperWasp #Wasp #Insect #Insects #Arthropods #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #Nature #Photography #NaturePhotography #iNaturalist #Tulsa #Oklahoma

Michael Ingles 2h ago

I'm glad this mourning cloak posed so well for me, kind of annoying though that it chose to pose on some dung. Still, looking beautiful. Albany County, New York, April 2026
#insects #arthropods #butterflies #NymphalisAntiopa

Inat Repost Bot 1d ago

https://inaturalist.org Observation of the Day for Apr 2, 2026: Paramantis natalensis [Insecta], by user: nishthi
[via @inatrepostbot]
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/346153351
Kwadukuza Municipality, South Africa
2026-03-30T12:38:30+02:00
Credit: (c) Nishthi Singh, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
See more: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/inat-observation-of-the-day
#inaturalist #inaturalistorg #citizenscience #paramantisnatalensis #paramantisnatalensis #kwadukuzamunicipality #southafrica #insecta #animals #arthropods #hexapods #insects #wingedandoncewingedinsects #mantises #extantmantises #mantids

RDN 2d ago

A fossil found in 1981 in Utah has recently been identified as a chelicerate--a relative of spiders and horseshoe crabs--and pushes the origin of that group back by 20 million years, from the Ordovician to the Cambrian.

Summary: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1121624

Original paper (not open access): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10284-2

#Science #Paleontology #Arthropods #Chelicerates #Evolution

A 500-million-year-old clawed predator rewrites the origin of spiders and horseshoe crabs

Harvard researchers reveal the earliest known Chelicerata in a new study published in Nature. The 500-million-year-old fossil, named Megachelicerax cousteaui, provides unequivocal evidence of chelicera, a feature never before seen in Cambrian arthropods. The discovery pushes back the origin of chelicerates by at least 20 million years and proves their distinctive body plan emerged during the Cambrian explosion.

EurekAlert!

Ryan Hodnett 3d ago

Six-spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes triton)

#Spider #ArtWithOpenSource #CCBYSA #Darktable #Arachnid #Arachnids #Spiders #Animal #Animals #AnimalPhotography #Arthropod #Arthropods #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Nature #NaturePhotography #Photo #Photography

michael 3d ago

1-Apr-2026
A 500-million-year-old clawed predator rewrites the origin of #spiders and #horseshoeCrabs

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1121624

#science #evolution #ecology #arachnids #arthropods

A 500-million-year-old clawed predator rewrites the origin of spiders and horseshoe crabs

Harvard researchers reveal the earliest known Chelicerata in a new study published in Nature. The 500-million-year-old fossil, named Megachelicerax cousteaui, provides unequivocal evidence of chelicera, a feature never before seen in Cambrian arthropods. The discovery pushes back the origin of chelicerates by at least 20 million years and proves their distinctive body plan emerged during the Cambrian explosion.

EurekAlert!