Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 5h

This resonated with me because our entire block was planted, courtesy of the Swarthmore Tree Committee, with thornless honeylocust trees that pump out hundreds of *thorned* offspring and suckers into our yards. I accidentally herbicided mine one night, and convinced my new neighbor to kill his, too.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Ann Finkbeiner @annfinkbeiner.bsky.social · 6h

Eric's black locust tree shades his neighbor's tomatoes. This situation often doesn't end well but in Eric's case, everybody kind of forgot about it and the neighbor moved away so fine. But not before Eric and trees have to come to terms. www.lastwordonnothing.com/2025/10/13/t...

Photo of a feathery tree among evergreens, shot from below, backlit by the sun.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Armando Rosario-Lebrón @rosariolebronentomology.com · 2d

Learning the spiders of the UK for Halloween season! This Linyphia triangularis (correct me if wrong) was beautifully posed in its delicate web on a cool day.

#ukwildlife #bugsky #Invert #Linyphiidae 🌿

Close-up macro photograph of a Linyphia triangularis, a small sheet weaver spider from the family Linyphiidae. The spider is perched in its fine, tangled web against a dark background. Its long, slender legs are pale yellow-green, with joints slightly darker in tone. The abdomen is oval and patterned with a pale cream base marked by darker brown bands and patches, giving it a marbled look. The cephalothorax is light brown with darker markings and small black eyes visible near the front. The spider’s fangs and mouthparts are bright orange, contrasting with the rest of its body. The web glistens faintly in the light, showing delicate geometric strands and tiny specks of dust or pollen clinging to the silk, all set against the soft, dark blur of the background.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 9h

Eye arrangement in spiders is fascinating.

Head of an orange-and-white spider showing the arrangement of eyes. There are 4 in the center of the head, then tight pairs on the lateral sides.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 11h

Marbled orbweaver (Araneus marmoreus). Plump (gravid), orange females are sometimes called pumpkin or Halloween spiders. Rose Valley, PA. #spiders #arachnids #halloween

Rotund orange spider on a layer of brown tree leaves.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Tom Iwanicki @iwanicki.bsky.social · 1d

Kailua Beach, Hawai’i: The first time I laid eyes on a By-the-wind sailor, I stopped dead in my tracks, dusted the sand off my hands, grabbed my iphone and...

close-up of a by-the-wind sailor on a white background

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 11h

How about cheesecakes, instead? www.jta.org/2025/08/24/n...

How many Junior's cheesecakes can a Victoria waterlily hold? Now we know. - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

The Jewish-owned bakery supplied the weights for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's entry into an annual lily pad competition.

www.jta.org

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 12h

The larvae look like plump legless sheep. www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Planthopper Parasite Moth (Fulgoraecia exigua)

Planthopper Parasite Moth from Goshen Trail, Newtown Square, PA 19073, USA on August 25, 2016 at 09:37 AM by Colin Purrington

www.inaturalist.org

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Eric R. Eaton @bugeric.bsky.social · 19h

Fulgoraecia exigua is the Planthopper Parasite Moth, a diminutive creature, the caterpillar of which lives as an external parasite of planthoppers, sucking the host’s hemolymph. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, October 14, 2025. #bugsky #moth #moths #insects

Very small, dark gray moth with elliptical wings and comb-like antennae, sitting on window screen, head up.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Michael Eisen @mbeisen.bsky.social · 15h

Finally, someone has solved a real problem with AI! No more having to take a paper in the format for a journal that rejected you, and reformat it for a new journal. Well done!! formatmypaper.com

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 12h

I'd been wondering about the greater chestnut weevil (Curculio caryatrypes) so it was fantastic to read that it is being found ... and in areas I regularly visit. www.inaturalist.org/observations...

large chestnut weevil (Curculio caryatrypes)

large chestnut weevil from Hockessin, DE, USA on August 27, 2024 at 09:01 PM by Katie Bird

www.inaturalist.org

Reposted by Colin Purrington

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 12h

Just posted: 'Resurrecting fallen giants', a short piece on the past and future of the American of the nearly-extinct American chestnut.

mscaterino.pika.page/posts/resurr...

Resurrecting fallen giants - Value in nature

When waves of colonists were fleeing Europe following the ‘discovery’ (I know, very much previously discovered!) of the New World, they escaped more than just religious oppression. They left behind...

mscaterino.pika.page

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 23h

Velvet Ants are not ants, but solitary wasps. Only males fly; females like this one are wingless. They run almost nonstop, looking for burrows of other ground-nesting wasps and bees, which they parasitize. They can sting but are not aggressive. She was small, under 1 cm. Pryor Mountains, Montana 🐙🌿

A macro photo of a female velvet ant (a type of fuzzy, wingless wasp) on pale orange sand. The insect's main color is dark orange above, with dark legs and black sides & belly.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Steve "Whistling Joe" Everett @whistlingjoe.bsky.social · Sep 11

Pompilid Spider Hunters are busy @rspbminsmere.bsky.social
youtu.be/8WBEQ0iQQrQ

Pompilid Spider Hunter

YouTube video by Steve “Whistling Joe” Everett

youtu.be

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 1d

prepping some ~bloodsucking insects~ for a spooky 21+ museum night this Friday, you bet we're going to be playing Jen Zaspel's horrible calpine erebids on repeat youtu.be/ZEZNcLNGMZE?...

Vampire Moths Discovered | National Geographic

YouTube video by National Geographic

youtu.be

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 1d

Today I finished grubbing out the non-running bamboo that had nevertheless taken over a corner of my back yard. Sharing in case anyone might need a nudge to do the same. #bamboo #gardening

Large clump of unearthed bamboo, culms cut close the ground, next to the business end of a yellow-handled mattock.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Dr. Heather Hinam 🍁 🇨🇦 @secondnaturemb.bsky.social · 1d

After the sun came up, the fog rolled in. Chilly, but lovely morning on the lake that I thought I'd share a moment from. You can hear a raven calling from the shore.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 1d

For reference, here's a white-marked tussock moth egg mass. You definitely have something with gregarious larvae, so I'm not sure if that's what it is. www.inaturalist.org/observations...

White-marked Tussock Moth (Orgyia leucostigma)

White-marked Tussock Moth from John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge At Tinicum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States on October 1, 2019 at 11:23 AM by Colin Purrington

www.inaturalist.org

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 1d

Tussock moth seems likely but I'm not sure about spongy moth. What type of tree and where observed?

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Soh Kam Yung @sohkamyung.bsky.social · 1d

A White-crested Laughingthrush (Garrulax leucolophus) spotted at Mount Faber Park, Singapore on 2 March 2025. Gregarious birds and can be approached as they are used to humans.

On iNaturalist [ www.inaturalist.org/observations... ]

#iNaturalist #Nature #Photography #Singapore #Birds #Aves

A bird with a white crest, head and chest with a black face band across the eyes. The back portion of the bird is brown. In this picture, it has a spider in its beak.

The same bird, but now see from the side. It is facing to the right.

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Reposted by Colin Purrington

Derek Binns @arnoldtortoise.bsky.social · Aug 28

A beautiful female Mymar pulchellum parasitoid wasp of the Mymaridae standing over a tiny female Megaphragma noyesi parasitoid wasp of the Trichogrammatidae. They were both found in the old meadow at Great Dixter this morning. Wasps are wondrous!

#UKWildlife #wasps #HighWeald #Trichogrammatidae

A very small orange wasp with long spindly legs and antennae, and remarkable spoon-shaped half-shaded fringed wings on long stalks. Beneath the orange wasp is the tiniest wasp, yellow bodied and black eyed, it has blade-like fringed wings. Both wasps are facing to the right of picture.

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 1d

The spikes on a giant waterlily are first used like a military flail to clear away other plants prior to unfurling, then as treads to methodically crawl over and smother anything that remains. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWSF...

The giant water lily is VICIOUS! 😱 The Green Planet 🌱BBC

YouTube video by BBC

www.youtube.com

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 1d

Even the seeds ("water corn")!

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 1d

Cute!

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Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 1d

Here's a better view of the underside of a Victoria waterlily. The purple pigmentation has been hypothesized to maximize photosynthesis by reflecting certain wavelengths back to the upper surface but I couldn't find any experimental support for that in the literature, so perhaps just a fun myth.

Underside of a large, circular leaf with thick yellow support ridges that are studded with sharp spines. Floating in dark-colored water.

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