Colin Purrington
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colinpurrington.bsky.social
Colin Purrington
@colinpurrington.bsky.social
2.5K followers 490 following 2K posts
Nature pics and science. Swarthmore, PA, USA. https://colinpurrington.com
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colinpurrington.bsky.social
Some of the walnut husk maggot fly pupae I've collected in my back yard. Hoping that some will have resident Coptera, sleek black wasps in the Diapriidae that have a fondness for Tephritidae. #flies #wasps #diapriidae #walnuts #insects
Approximately 100 light-brown, rice-shaped, segmented puparia in the palm of my hand.
November 25, 2025 at 12:33 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Charles Darwin's draft title page for "An abstract of an Essay on the Origin of Species and Varieties Through Natural Selection." It was published on November 24, 1859, as "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life."
Facsimile of a letter in cursive that is displayed under glass in dim light. Accompanied by the following exhibit text: Draft of title page for “On the Origin of Species,” sent with letter to Charles Lyell, March 28, 1859. Darwin sent this handwritten title page for On the Origin of Species to his friend Charles Lyell to ask his opinion of it. Darwin liked the phrase "natural selection" because it echoed "artificial selection" — a term that described what dog and pigeon breeders did when using controlled mating to produce desired traits. In his book, Darwin argued that nature (through natural selection) could do the same over millions of years. The final, full title for the first five editions of Darwin's now-famous book was On the Origin of Species through Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. The term "Races" did not refer to human "races" but rather to what we would now call species (of both plants and animals). Beginning with the sixth edition, published in 1872, the title was simplified to The Origin of Species.
November 24, 2025 at 5:22 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
This is where fig wasps get into fig syconia. And where the next generation escapes. It's called the ostiole.
Close-up of the end of a pink fig showing the bracts that line a small passageway that fig wasps use to get in and out.
November 22, 2025 at 4:16 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Puparium of a walnut husk maggot fly (Rhagoletis suavis), backlit to show innards. Was wondering whether I could find parasitized ones but I don't think the light is strong enough. #diptera #flies #tephritidae #coptera
Pupa the size of a grain of barley, glowing slightly from within and revealing the outlines of hundreds of small cells and a darker branching pattern that might be the circulatory system of the metamorphosing fly.
November 21, 2025 at 5:40 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Just a gentle reminder that Friday is the customary time to post about dipterans. Photographs, fun facts, heartwarming stories about bot flies, etc. 🪰 #flyday #flyfriday #flies #diptera #insects
Lawn sign that says "release the flies."
November 21, 2025 at 11:37 AM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Harvested 63 persimmons this year, almost twice the number from 2024. And lost only one to the squirrels, compared to perhaps 10 last year. Will be making the usual array of puddings, breads, and ice cream. Might attempt a jam and a cocktail. Anything left over gets dehydrated. #persimmon #ebenaceae
Transparent, rectangular bin filled almost to top with orange, somewhat flattened fruit, all with calyces still attached.
November 17, 2025 at 6:10 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Preview of the walnut husk residents to date. Details in the post above.
16 square images. A tray of walnuts, the inside of a rotting walnut, a walnut maggot, a group of fly puparia, a puparium on sand, a puparium partially buried in sand, a black beetle, a black wasp, a mottled fly, a red-eyed flied, a dark red mite, another reddish mite, and then four elongate beetles.
November 17, 2025 at 1:53 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
But I sure wish I knew how to culture fungi or id the hyphae in situ. I wonder whether the female Rhagoletis seed the oviposition sites with spores that initiate the husk rot. The walnuts turn very, very quickly and I just can't imagine that it's cause by digestive enzymes alone. Hmm.
Me holding an opened walnut fruit to show the rotting husk that is underneath the green surface.
November 17, 2025 at 10:55 AM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Thank you very much. The juglone-filled maggots might be some of my favorites.
Five cream-colored fly larvae on a slimy black surface. Each maggot has has dark pigment concentrated at the segments.
November 17, 2025 at 10:31 AM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Lichen covered in ice. From a trip a few years ago to Lake Mohonk, New Paltz, NY.
Knobby, semi-transparent sheet of ice covering a rock wall full of lichens.
November 5, 2025 at 6:33 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
I saw a painted bat for sale in Vietnam. 😢
Large spider, beetles, butterflies, centipede, scorpion, and a black-and-orange bat arranged inside glass display boxes in a market.
October 31, 2025 at 10:20 AM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Bjorn Hjaltason, the guy who found the mosquitoes on wine ropes, apparently doesn't submit his finds to iNaturalist. #inaturalist
Screenshot from the website, iNaturalist, that shows a map of Iceland with information on mosquito sightings (there are none).
October 23, 2025 at 1:36 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Fernandina marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus cristatus). Always kind of low energy but particularly so when I visited, in 2015, because El Niño had reduced the abundance of red and green algae near the shore. #ElNino #reptiles #galapagos #iguanas #weather #algae
Several white-crested, greenish reptiles lounging on each other and on volcanic rocks.
October 21, 2025 at 7:08 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Sunrise over Daphne Minor and Daphne Major, treeless tuff-cone islands in the Galápagos archipelago. #galapagos #islands #volcanoes #ecuador #ocean
Two small, flat-topped islands under a cloudy, colorful sky.
October 19, 2025 at 1:47 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Dicyrtomina ornata, a globular springtail. The setae-like structures on the rump are brittle, hollow tubes made of wax. #collembola #springtails #dicyrtomidae #arthropods
Small, six-legged, wingless, yellow-and-burgundy arthropod with a round abdomen that is studded with thin, glass-like projections that make it look like a pincushion.
October 18, 2025 at 12:36 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
This fungus gnat emerged from a pile of rotting walnuts that I have a net over. Possibly Leia bivittata (Mycetophilidae), the larvae of which surround themselves in transparent bags of mucus that are extended whenever they want to move. Would like to see that. #diptera #flies #gnats #fungi #walnuts
Orange fly with black, shiny spots on thorax, black stripes on abdomen, long antennae (at least for a fly), and long legs that have spines near some of the joints.
October 17, 2025 at 5:08 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
I'm not exactly sure of the details, but this web-traffic business seems to be pushing the use of iNaturalist as way to increase ad revenue. One recommendation is to create an account and then direct users to webpages that ostensibly have nature content (and ads). #inaturalist #advertising
Screenshot of a post on Bluesky that reads, "iNaturalist’s community thrives on real discovery, not noise. That makes it a hidden ally for publishers who value depth over hype." Includes an image of a computer with graphs and charts, plus a circle person inside a circle that is labeled, "nature traffic."
October 17, 2025 at 4:43 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
There's a good poem about a fly crushed inside a book. #fly #diptera #book #sonnet
Image of four flies flattened on very old, discolored paper. On the right, a poem. Some hand, that never meant to do thee hurt, Has crush'd thee here between these pages pent; But thou hast left thine own fair monument, Thy wings gleam out and tell me what thou wert: Oh! that the memories, which survive us here, Where half as lovely as these wings of thine! Pure relics of a blameless life, that shine Now thou art gone. Our doom is ever near: The peril is beside us day by day; The book will close upon us, it may be, Just as we lift ourselves to soar away Upon the summer-airs. But, unlike thee, The closing book may stop our vital breath, Yet leave no lustre on our page of death.
October 17, 2025 at 10:37 AM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) missing its hind wings, probably the result of a bird or mantid attack. Seemed to be making the best of the situation. #insects #lepidoptera #butterflies #monarda #flowers
Large, yellow-and-black butterfly with only forewings nectaring on a pale lavender tuft of flowers.
October 17, 2025 at 10:02 AM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
For monarch fans, just a reminder that now is the perfect time to start stratifying milkweed seeds so that they'll germinate in the spring. #monarch #butterflies #milkweed #asclepias
Clumps of wrinkly, brown seeds scattered on wet soil.
October 16, 2025 at 3:22 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
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.
October 15, 2025 at 12:12 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
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.
October 15, 2025 at 10:22 AM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
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.
October 14, 2025 at 6:37 PM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
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.
October 14, 2025 at 11:18 AM
colinpurrington.bsky.social
Underside of a giant waterlily (Victoria amazonica x Victoria cruziana). The spines deter herbivorous fish and manatees but are also thought to shred foliage of nearby plants. Leaves can grow up to 10' in diameter. Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA. 🌿 #botany #nymphaceae #plants #amazon
Large circular leaf with an upturned perimeter, forming a platter. Part of the leaf is folded over the top surface, revealing a heavily ridged, spiked surface.
October 14, 2025 at 10:58 AM