Another candidate for Invertebrate of the Year. A bit scary, but only if you're smaller than it is.
The fen raft spider (Dolomedes plantarius) is a magnificent ambush predator: harmless to humans but lethal if you’re a pond skater, tadpole or even adult dragonfly.
And, while it was almost driven to extinction in Britain like every other slightly scary species, this brilliantly ingenious hunter has made a remarkable comeback.
#Karstmas Day 13
Working in a lab means students come and go. Today, Jared successfully defended his thesis on work in caves of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska doing both visual surveys and working with eDNA (environmental DNA - see a post of mine last month for more info about that).
An excellent researcher, caver, quick learner, and a conscientious person, he will be missed in the lab! But this is how things go, and he is on to more fun in the next chapter of his life.
#cave #caves #caving #biology #alaska #tongass #forest #geology #invertibrates #field #fieldwork #karst #nature #explore
#octopus and #squid #streetart spotted in #bologna #italy
#graffiti #graffitiart #streetphotography #italia #cephalopod #kraken #tentacles #invertibrates
New Paper! 
About a new cave silverfish - not just a new species but a new genus - that we discovered here in Alabama: Spinanycta alabamensis
https://subtbiol.pensoft.net/article/119986/
#cave #caves #biology #nature #science #queer #queerscientist #cavescience #karst #karststudies #silverfish #invertibrates
A new genus and species of troglobiotic nicoletiid (Insecta, Zygentoma, Nicoletiidae) is described from northern Alabama, USA. The type species was collected from three caves in the Highland Rim section of the Interior Low Plateau physiographic province on the northern side of the Tennessee River Valley. Morphological and genetic analysis using the mitochondrial 16S rRNA locus show that Spinanycta alabamensis sp. nov. is quite distinct from related nicoletiids in North America. The species differs from members of other genera by its urosternum I, which in males is modified with a central pointy extension. The new species significantly extends the distribution of cave-dwelling members of the family into the southeastern United States and suggests that additional nicoletiid diversity remains to be discovered from karst regions of the eastern United States.
What's this under a #strawberry leaf?
The legacy of the #TorySewageParty and #WaterCompanies
#River Lim in #Dorset now considered "ecologically dead" as no #Invertibrates have been found, which are the bedrock for the diversity and #ecology of the river. No #Birds, no #Fish, no #Wildlife, dead #Nature and #Waterways
#ToryPartyUnfitToGovern
#ToryBritain
https://www.dorset.live/news/dorset-news/beautiful-river-lim-ecologically-dead-8436588
Janet Fraser
Wolfy
Sunguramy 
NeurOnToSomething
A land fit for all our futures
HiCoo 💙🇪🇺🏴🏴