neville park (@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy)

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 12, 2026, 1:56 AM

paging @sundogplanets https://live.acarsdrama.com/@acarsdrama/117425447152256869

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 11, 2026, 6:36 PM

#Arachtober 11: this juvenile male running crab spider (_Philodromus_) is almost all right. Get it

(The bulbs at the ends of his pedipalps, the short appendages on either side of his jaws, are enlarged but still unformed, indicating he has some more growing […]

[Original post on flipping.rocks]

A small brown, somewhat flat-bodied spider (built for running, ambush hunting, and fitting into low spaces, with a crab spider-like eye arrangement) rests on a wooden surface. He is missing three of his left legs (his left, our right) but has all of his right legs. The ends of his pedipalps are quite large and bulbous, but homogeneous and undifferentiated, not the complex organs they will become in adulthood...if he makes it that far.

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 11, 2026, 12:25 PM

@futurebird the model is Camponotus I think

@futurebird.sauropods.win.ap.brid.gy Oct 10, 2026, 10:48 PMReposted by @nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy

The Ediacaran is the best low key almost as interesting as ants.

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 10, 2026, 8:36 PM

@futurebird the tabloid headlines would be glorious.

@futurebird.sauropods.win.ap.brid.gy Oct 10, 2026, 8:29 PMReposted by @nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy

This store on etsy sells felt cicadas that come in a little tin with various plants and a little wooden bed so you can tuck the bug in for a nice nap. This is just so cute. The shop name is little green fern, but it's also just a neat gift idea for the right sort of kid... or adult...

A felt cicada, altoids sized tin, felt leaf, and little bed.

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 10, 2026, 7:15 PM

#Arachtober 10: 10/10 is #InternationalJumpingSpiderDay! °OO°

Jumping spiders have a pair of large, keen eyes that give them their distinctive appearance. These eyes can see colour and fine details, whereas the smaller, simpler eyes that ring their heads are […]

[Original post on flipping.rocks]

A bold jumping spider eating a midge as it peeps out from a hole in a metal railing. It has green-blue chelicerae and banded orange-brown and black legs.

A female jumping spider being courted by a male on a worn log fence. They are both mottled brown, with the male being a warmer lighter shade. I'm not sure of the genus or species...

A black-and-white zebra jumping spider eating a small midge on a green park bench.

An ant-mimic jumping spider that looks similar to a carpenter ant, on a stone wall.

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 9, 2026, 11:20 PM

#Arachtober 9: eh whatever more sumo mites

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Trombidiidae

Six red velvet mites of various sizes, scrambling around on a tree root in the grass. One is eating a dead midge.

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 9, 2026, 7:51 PM

New blog post: arachnids of Toronto's newest park, Biidaasige! Especially featuring thin-legged wolf spiders (_Pardosa lapidicina_). https://nevillepark.ca/2026/10/09/arachnids-of-biidaasige-park/

#bugstodon #arachnids #spiders #Araneae #Lycosidae

@c-9.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy Oct 9, 2026, 5:10 PMReposted by @nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy

City of Toronto's tree of the year ballot much more intuitive than the mayoral ballot.

Sample ballot with cartoon-drawn leaves from the five candidate trees: Basswood, Paper Birch, Red Oak, Sugar Maple, and White Pine.

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 9, 2026, 4:00 PM

Also there are zero tree debates scheduled

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 9, 2026, 3:59 PM

So here in Toronto children get to vote for Tree of the Year but adults have to vote for humans?! https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/kids-vote-weekend/

#TOpoli

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 9, 2026, 1:17 PM

👎 numbers 👍 numbats

@timtfj.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Oct 9, 2026, 3:07 AMReposted by @nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy

Bring back þe letter þ. How can you þrow out þe only rune in your alphabet? Also bring back ð. But ðis time, except in very common words like þe which look nice þe oðer way round, don't treat ðem as interchangeable. Use ð for þe voiced one and þ for þe unvoiced one, like ðey do in Icelandic […]

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 9, 2026, 3:24 AM

#Arachtober 8: a twofer with bonus #LichenSubscribe, why not. A sumo mite (_Allothrombium_) encounters a spiderling, probably some kind of cobweb spider?

At up to like 3-4mm in body length, sumo mites are considered very large mites. (Any mite you can easily […]

[Original post on flipping.rocks]

In a shady, lichen-encrusted crevasse on a tree trunk, a tiny almost translucent little spider reaches out a leg to a large fat vaguely peanut-shaped red mite that has tripped a silk line. The mite dwarfs the spider.

@potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Oct 7, 2026, 6:54 PMReposted by @nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy

After working with Zulu potter, Jabulile Nala from South Africa, I began to wonder why #ceramics has become an expensive hobby requiring extensive tools and equipment when originally, it was just earth and fire which are free. I created this workshop series for those who are interested in clay […]

@dantheclamman.scicomm.xyz.ap.brid.gy Oct 8, 2026, 7:12 PMReposted by @nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy

Avoid anti-goldfish language! Be aware that when you accuse someone of having the memory of a goldfish, you are actually saying they have a prodigious ability to remember places and the overall spatial layout of their territory, allowing them to expertly navigate […]

[Original post on scicomm.xyz]

From the paper: Interestingly, goldfish are able to use not only the information provided by con- spicuous objects in the environment, but also the geometrical attributes of the surroundings for spatial navigation, and conjoin geometric and nongeometric information to reorient themselves.35-38 In summary, these findings re- veal that teleost fish can reach the goal location by learning its position relative to the land- marks and other features of the environment, by using any available spatial information and by encoding the reciprocal metric and geomet- ric relationships relative to the goal, thus indi- cating distinctly they have the capacity to use relational memory mechanisms (Fig. 1).

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 8, 2026, 11:46 PM

@dantheclamman What!!!!

@dantheclamman.scicomm.xyz.ap.brid.gy Oct 8, 2026, 10:47 PMReposted by @nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy

New solar-powered clam just dropped, part of a small club that partner with algae in their bodies for food! Geloina expansa lives in mangroves in South Asia and farms algae called zooxanthellae in its gills, the same type that corals partner with in a process […]

[Original post on scicomm.xyz]

photo from the paper (Catherine et al. 2026) showing Geloina gills, which have a brown area that is full of dinoflagellates called Symbiodinium

picture of G. expansa by the legendary Guido Poppe, who literally wrote the book on shells. it has a greenish tinged periostracum. it is shaped quite a bit like a venus clam and is in the same order as them.

@nev.flipping.rocks.ap.brid.gy Oct 8, 2026, 11:43 PM

No, it requires a login :( What kind of mite was it? please, give me the hot goss