For #insertAnInvert a print about how monarch butterflies who are fooled into laying eggs on the invasive dog-strangling vine (European swallowwort, Vincetoxicum rossicum) due to its similarities to its host plant milkweed are cursed to hatch larvae which starve and die. Dog-strangling vine unlike milkweed doesn’t serve as a food source for the caterpillars, 🧵1/n

#linocut #printmaking #sciart #monarchButterfly #urbanEcology #invasiveSpecies #speciesAtRisk #insertAnInvert2024 #MastoArt

Another 2024 print for #insertAnInvert: made for the #InsertAnInvert2024 prompt is crawler, about shellfish who can drag themselves over surface like the spectacularly coloured lined chitons (Tonicella lineata), beautiful, tiny marine mollusc of the North Pacific. I don’t usually make reduction prints but I think I might otherwise loose my mind trying to capture the complex patterns.

https://minouette.etsy.com/listing/1686961917

#linocut #printmaking #Tonicella #invertebrate #chiton #sciart #wildlifeArt #MastoArt

For the final crustacean of May and the “really not a crab” prompt for #InsertAnInvert2024 I have opted for a far more common (and frankly less terrifying) little creature than the suggested species (that even our crustacean expert called “absolute abominations”). This little cutie on the other hand, is a freshwater water flea. Daphnia longispina is a planktonic crustacean of the 🧵1/n

#printmaking #sciart #drypoint #etching #TetrapakPrint #MastoArt #invertebrate #crustacean #InsertAnInvert

I’m interpreting #InsertAnInvert2024 a little loosely again. You won’t necessarily find these bees in leaf litter, though you might as they do make nests in the ground or in hollow twigs, but they definitely can be found near our homes, using leaves, so here we are.

This is one of a series of related prints about leaf cutter bees, each unique. 🧵1/n

#linocut #printmaking #nativeBees #leafCutterBee #botanicalArt #leafPrint #entomology #sciart #bees #insertAnInvert #MastoArt