Natasha Taylor

PhD in quantum physics, specifically looking at charge transfer and photosynthesis (#QuantumBiology). Numerous interests, no idea if hashtags here are useful but here goes!

#SocialJustice #MacroPhotography #STEM #History #Language #DnD #Evolution #Queer #Politics (including #AusPol) #Phylogeny #PaleoArt #Palæontology (#Pterosaurs!) #Biology #Space #Physics #Chemistry #Animals (sorry plants)

Pronouns: she/her, but if you prefer using gender-neutral pronouns in general that's fine too.

Public Key

npub1ek9m3etxm0f8jg6nh0r07gfk6x9dlqtpg4xean982shlatwfyvhsegd3fl

NIP-05 Address

TashTaylor@sauropods-win.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsvmzacu4ndh5neydfmh3hlyymdrzkls9s52nv7ejn4gtl74hyjxtcpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qfyhfgk

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

Author Public Key

npub1ek9m3etxm0f8jg6nh0r07gfk6x9dlqtpg4xean982shlatwfyvhsegd3fl

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-10-26 10:34:14 UTC

Before tonight, I had seen three Christmas Beetles (scarab beetles of genus Anoplognathus) in the past dozen years – I saw another three at the train station!
Anyway, here's one viciously mauling me! I rescued it from being upside down and it took exception to being placed somewhere that's less likely to happen.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Beetle #ChristmasBeetle #Anoplognathus
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/506/740/713/432/582/original/77404356fd6efb1b.jpg

2026-09-09 09:17:24 UTC

Planthopper! This individual is from genus Desudaba, which is a fulgorid planthopper (aka a lanternfly). It's an adorable little native Australian animal
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Planthopper #Lanternfly
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/240/319/655/678/559/original/49764e677ef83ef4.jpeg

2026-09-05 08:19:48 UTC

Ropalidia revolutionalis, the stick-nest brown paper wasp! I've probably shared this species before, because I find them utterly adorable – a native paper wasp which have always been fairly docile around me.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Wasp #PaperWasp
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/217/442/698/687/801/original/f3a4ab4f8e323f61.jpeg

2026-09-03 09:15:15 UTC

Pale brown-grey stick mantis, with head and part of the thorax visible, upside-down, as well as just past the first joint of the arms, on a dark background of green leaves.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Mantis #Mantid #StickMantis
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/206/333/325/482/170/original/0cc4531efff26299.jpeg

2026-08-30 04:37:29 UTC

Quiet-calling katydid nymph, specifically Austrophlugis orumbera (no common name).
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Austrophlugis #Katydid
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/182/596/778/599/501/original/07d109935ce63b2c.jpeg

2026-08-29 07:19:01 UTC

It's tough work being a koala, so this one's having a well-deserved rest!
#WildOz #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Koala
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/177/570/075/899/959/original/561665556026b65d.jpeg

2026-08-28 06:05:25 UTC

Ladybird beetle! This little lovely is called Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata – the 28-spotted potato ladybird.
Its name is from the fact it absolutely devours nightshades, including potatoes (and it has 28 spots).
Originally from South-East Asia, it is now widespread across Australia.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Coccinellidae #Ladybird #Ladybug #LadyBeetle
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/171/606/486/840/556/original/078f00eda37e45f2.jpeg

2026-08-25 08:44:43 UTC

This gorgeous giant is a bladder cicada (Cystosoma saundersii)! Lucky to have found this one, since they're typically nocturnal.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Cicada #BladderCicada
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/155/255/993/737/316/original/8152f0b71a9be535.jpg

2026-08-23 06:08:58 UTC

This gorgeous little fairy is a moth fly! Also called a drain fly, they are sometimes seen as pests – in reality they're just a sign that your drains can do with a bit of a clean occasionally.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Insect #Diptera #Fly #MothFly #Psychodidae
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/143/318/466/718/824/original/b2504ce70c8527b0.jpeg

2026-08-22 09:51:49 UTC

Weevil! In a slightly precarious position, because magpies are famously omnivorous and love insects – and not in the same way I love insects, either!
#WildOz #OzInverts #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Weevil #Magpie #Bird
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/138/535/173/514/084/original/e8c3a7e9f4fc637b.jpeg

2026-08-22 02:35:59 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…p02v Yes, that's the one!

2026-08-21 23:55:07 UTC

Café is playing 'When She Loved Me' from Toy Story 2 – it's one of the saddest songs ever written, why would you do that?!
(I am being slightly hyperbolic; I'm not upset they did it, it just strikes me as an odd choice)

2026-08-11 08:45:29 UTC

If one is only going to provide four thousand characters for feedback, one should consider having a less shit form so there's only four thousand characters of feedback to give.
#Census2026 #2026Census

2026-08-02 01:45:42 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…stnm There are churches that are a lot more fun (fewer 'Lord have mercy's than I grew up with), but no – we stopped by our local café on the way home from chores at the market, and there was an older gentleman having fun on the piano. The just-after-mass timing is pure coincidence!

2026-08-02 01:08:24 UTC

Pianist played The Happy Wanderer and nobody else joined in on the 🎶Valeri, Valera🎶! What has happened to society?!
(I love group singing despite being absolutely abysmal at it)

2026-08-01 06:49:33 UTC

Caterpillar of a magpie tiger moth, helpfully chomping down on a weed!
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Nyctomera #MagpieTigerMoth #Moth #Lepidoptera
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/018/908/903/227/836/original/2a4998bbace5c733.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/018/909/558/159/450/original/2acf5634c4066aa2.jpeg

2026-07-28 09:39:24 UTC

Mother looking after her eggs as they finally hatch! Hibiscus harlequin bug (Tectocoris diophthalmus) adult and freshly-hatched nymphs
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #HibiscusHarlequinBug #CottonHarlequinBug #HarlequinBug #Bug
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/996/926/215/973/720/original/e492e1ecaacf2aa7.jpeg

2026-07-22 06:36:51 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…8d9p It's amazing how easily that happens! Thankfully the latter is generally easier to restock than the former

2026-07-11 07:36:14 UTC

'It's just the one entendre, actually'
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/900/186/532/385/486/original/e875abdf0a4c05a3.jpg

2026-06-24 09:16:24 UTC

Sharpe: Trust me.
Cooper: It's very hard to trust a man who wants to borrow your pick-lock, sir.
(Rewatching #Sharpe and I love this part)

2026-06-05 08:07:42 UTC

At that age where you can rock out to the bangers playing at the ice cream parlour 😆😆😆
(They've got an ABBA playlist, it's fun)

2026-05-28 05:54:13 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…wjzk I know that @nprofile…let6 is buzzing with excitement at this!

2026-05-15 06:18:51 UTC

The judgment for Giggle v Tickle is below!
For a TL;DR, Tickle won in a validation of the legal protections for trans women in Australia.
Content warning for transphobia in the link.
https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/full/2026/2026fcafc0064

2026-05-11 20:17:10 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…dklk Yeah, I'm a big fan of physical buttons and dials too

2026-05-11 08:34:55 UTC

Cooking rice pudding.
Need to step away from the stove for two minutes.
Set to lowest temperature.
It was only two minutes.
But I pressed '-' too many times.
Underflow error, now it's max temperature.
Burnt rice pudding.
Sufficient application of sugar and nutmeg masks the taste.
Why can stovetops underflow?!

2026-04-13 07:17:52 UTC

To abbreviate Donne's famous poem:
'No man is an island entire of itself ... any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. '
There is just so much that this is applicable to.

2026-04-11 00:22:36 UTC

I have 'Your Idol' from KPop Demon Hunters stuck in my head. I do love how in the ... whatever the word for 'preamble' is for songs (feel free to tell me!), it has the Dies Irae playing, it really sets the mood.
(I kept this post spoiler free, but cannot guarantee the comments will be)

2026-04-04 09:00:46 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…d4c6 I'm safe, mine's a 'dy' printer!
*Rotates*
Oh. Oh no.

2026-03-31 00:34:05 UTC

Happy Transgender Day of Visibility, all!
Thinking fondly of the transphobe who cowardly deleted their post 'saying "a trans woman is a woman" is like saying "a dolphin is a whale"' because of the dozens of replies pointing out that dolphins are, in fact, whales.
#TDoV #TDoV2026 #TransgenderDayOfVisibility #Trans

2026-03-23 21:09:42 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…07mv Those kids are riding vehicles that are already illegal! Like, they already can't ride them so what does the added requirement of a licence actually do but affect literally *everyone but the problem*? Legal ebikes are limited to 25 km/h pedal-assist.
It's absolutely fucking perverse.

2026-03-23 20:28:22 UTC

Got a medical condition that means you can't drive? Guess what: you won't be able to ride a fucking bicycle either thanks to the LNP.
Like a nice ride through the park? Nope, the LNP wants you on the busy road instead. What's that, almost all of Brisbane's bicycle infrastructure are footpaths and shared paths, not dedicated bike lanes? Well you're de facto banned from all of it.
#Meanjin #Brisbane #QLD #Queensland #AusPol #MotoNormativity #QLDPol #Bike #Bicycle #Ebike
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/queensland-ebike-escooter-ban-children-licence-reforms/106487910?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

2026-03-21 20:58:53 UTC

Just imagining a few years before #LordOfTheRings people being like 'look at old Grima! Trusted advisor to the king, respected throughout the realm. Named Wormtongue – proof against nominative determinism!'
#LotR

2026-02-27 21:39:07 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…em7h I too am fond of the old Bickford's!

2026-01-25 00:09:21 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…saf4 Ah, okay, so it's just a food that contains notably less of at least one amino acid compared to meat providing a comparable amount of protein. Thank you! The name's a bit confusing, but at least I understand now.

2026-01-25 00:03:23 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…w4ya I have not! I shall have to have a look, the only one whose flavour I'm at all familiar with is glutamate

2026-01-25 00:02:07 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…mxnc Pretty much everywhere when I google anything about protein RDI, e.g. https://dietitiansaustralia.org.au/health-advice/protein

2026-01-24 23:04:09 UTC

- reply

And I mean, *obviously* there's just something I'm not understanding – a bunch of sources say it, and I'm not arrogant enough to assume my few minutes of googling overturns an entire field that's foreign to me (I'm not that kind of physicist) – I'm just trying to figure out what's going on so I can keep track of it in my diet.

2026-01-24 22:57:50 UTC

- reply

According to MyFoodData, which pulls from USDA Food Data Central, this is a little over three cups of kidney beans. A lot, but I'm assuming it's my *only* source of protein. It still hits the RDI of methionine while being under (slightly) the RDI of protein.
Okay, so now I'm out of ideas about what 'incomplete protein' means.

2026-01-24 22:57:39 UTC

- reply

So I looked up the recommended amount of protein: 0.75 g per kg of body weight, so for a 70 kg woman (I'm way heavier than that, but I assume these recommendations are made for people nearer the average) that's 52.5 g of protein.

2026-01-24 22:57:24 UTC

- reply

When I looked up its amino acid profile, I saw it wasn't lacking a single essential (or conditionally essential) amino acid. It was low in methionine, though, so I thought maybe they're simplifying things: when they say 'missing', they mean you won't get the RDI of that amino acid if you eat only the recommended amount of protein.

2026-01-24 22:57:10 UTC

I don't understand this whole 'incomplete sources of protein' thing. I googled it, and the results said an incomplete protein lacks at least one essential amino acid. This didn't sound right, and since it listed 'beans', I decided to use the one I eat most as an exemplary bean: the red kidney bean.
#Nutrition #Diet #Health #Protein

2026-01-17 04:00:43 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…hj6c Absolutely adore the Monk and Robot books!

2026-01-16 07:55:16 UTC

It's weevil time! Curculio sp. weevil, possibly C. sulfureosignatus. These are known as 'nut weevils' or 'acorn weevils', because they lay their eggs in tree nuts!
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Weevil #Curculinoidae
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/903/689/288/694/797/original/ce87114f21d0c631.jpeg

2026-01-08 08:15:18 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…pfuj 'You want measurements? Are you a child?!'

2026-01-08 00:49:12 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…d4c6 I'm lucky in that my interests piqued at a time when I have a scheming partner who involved my entire family in a plot to get HoME behind my back for Christmas as a gift from everyone

2026-01-08 00:08:31 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…d4c6 I'm currently in the middle of a Silmarillion re-read! First one of the year – working up the courage to read The History of Middle Earth.

2026-01-07 21:30:08 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…d4c6 On the topic of culmination of a divine plan, it makes me think of 'eucatastrophe', the sudden unlooked-for turn of fortune that forestalls a certain doom. Not itself the eschaton, necessarily, but certainly thematically related.

2026-01-07 08:36:57 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tmg5 Very true, I'm mostly just venting because this made me run into another incompetently-designed feature in another app that made everything take vastly more time and effort than it should.

2026-01-07 07:20:00 UTC

#Samsung, please stop turning off 'Keyboard button on navigation bar' every #Android update. I know you're deeply committed to making your product worse with every patch, but this is deeply frustrating.

2026-01-07 06:19:44 UTC

Just an idle thought, but I love the word 'apotheosis' (elevation to divinity) – the word itself has a sense of gravity befitting its definition. Especially if you're into Fantasy as a genre, where the term can be used way more literally than in real life.

2025-12-30 05:00:50 UTC

Tiger Longicorn beetle (Aridaeus thoracicus)! Found in the summer months, the black banding is supposed to make it look like a wasp, so other animals leave it alone – nobody picks a fight with a wasp when there's easier food around!
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #LonghornBeetle #LonigcornBeetle #Beetle #Cerambycidae
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/806/729/885/814/388/original/ae32e88778495aa9.jpeg

2025-12-30 04:23:11 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…cztt Wish we got blue-winged kookaburras down here! Only ever seen laughing kookaburras

2025-12-28 11:13:14 UTC

- reply

They're not there now and I don't see anything in the news, so I guess that presents an upper bound to how bad it could have been

2025-12-28 04:18:16 UTC

#Meanjin #Brisbane
Nine police cars running lights & sirens at King George Square; don't know why, but since some of them were running it's probably pretty hectic in the bus station right now

2025-12-26 22:18:55 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…e4ry Ooh for me 1 & 3 are easy, but 2 requires research.
1. Killing me Softly (With His Song) –particularly the Shirley Bassey version
2. Song of the United Front – fairly obscure in English, if not in its original German (Das Einheitsfrontlied), my favourite English cover is Kaiser Cat Cinema's.
3. Bad Squire – by Chumbawamba, a song version of the Kingsley poem about the Inclosure Acts.

2025-12-24 22:05:36 UTC

- reply

Not only did she get me that, but my partner also got me Flora of Middle-Earth, which has gorgeous wood-/lino-cut illustrations (I honestly don't have the skill necessary to distinguish them).
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/776/798/089/826/828/original/c9d6a506f5dafceb.jpg

2025-12-24 22:01:57 UTC

I got the last book I needed of #Tolkien's that was published in his lifetime! The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and now finally The Adventures of Tom Bombadil!
If you've not read it, it's a collection of #poetry in the #LotR universe. I do like to rile up other Tolkien fans that the #Silmarillion is a compilation of notes of questionable canonicity while this was very much intended to be published as-is (all in good humour, I love the Silmarillion as much as the next nerd).
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/776/776/378/749/453/original/379feed03f8a7d2e.jpg

2025-12-14 11:03:31 UTC

My partner says I've not been uploading enough vertebrates, so here's a magpie!
#WildOz #Photography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Bird #BirdPhotography #Magpie
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/717/578/054/954/405/original/c3b0409ee52256e8.jpeg

2025-12-14 10:07:47 UTC

- reply

ABC confirm 10 dead (including a shooter) and twelve injured:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-14/active-shooter-bondi-beach-sydney-nsw/106141580?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web#live-blog-post-245818

2025-12-14 09:23:46 UTC

Mass shooting at Bondi. Not much is known: two suspects arrested, multiple people taken to hospital, while motive and target not confirmed there was a Hanukkah event at the time.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-14/active-shooter-bondi-beach-sydney-nsw/106141580?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other
#Australia #News #BreakingNews

2025-12-07 08:21:59 UTC

Eucalyptus weevil (Gonipterus sp. – I think!). A native Australian group of beetles, this genus has about a score species and, as the name suggests, eats Eucalyptus!
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Weevil #Gonipterus
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/677/297/242/877/141/original/29dfaa009b7e8a8a.jpeg

2025-12-04 20:26:59 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qg7n I first saw land mullets on a walk with some more experienced hikers and had no idea what they were! When I was told they were land mullets I had to google – knowing what Aussie blokes are like I wasn't sure they weren't taking the piss!

2025-12-02 07:10:29 UTC

- reply

I bring up the terminology note because this ladybird has an M-shape on its pronotum (the bit of shell behind its head), which US Americans may recognise from another member of the genus: Harmonia axyridis, the multicoloured Asian lady beetle.
That beetle is also a ladybug! But there seems to be a lot of confusion around that fact, particularly in the USA, but lady beetle is just another name for ladybug.

2025-12-02 07:05:57 UTC

Time for a native Australian ladybird beetle! This is the large-spotted ladybird (Harmonia conformis), a beautiful pest-devouring machine and garden protector!
A note on terminology: ladybird [beetle], ladybug [beetle], and lady beetle are all synonyms – the name applies to any beetle in family Coccinellidae.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Ladybird #Ladybug #LadyBeetle #Coccinellidae
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/648/669/608/524/187/original/a1a4e6545ae5b707.jpeg

2025-12-01 01:10:51 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…08vg @nprofile…8488 @nprofile…7apy @nprofile…0xuv It was made more than a decade before Wagner existed.

2025-11-30 10:06:24 UTC

Genus Torbia katydid nymph! I honestly know nothing about these except it's purple and gorgeous and I'm really lucky to have stumbled upon it.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Katydid
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/638/081/448/701/677/original/0160cd5facb4644c.jpeg

2025-11-28 20:58:29 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…7fxg Doing photography has made me pay way more attention to the world around me, and consequently appreciate it so much more. Who would have thought this tiny moving things could be so beautiful, so dynamic, and so intricate?!

2025-11-28 20:56:10 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ttts Yay, it's my favourite Mesozoic animal! It being described in 1997 makes sense – it would have been in the news as I was in my dinosaur fangirl era, and it beat out all the dinosaurs for the top to me!
As a fun additional fact, it's the state fossil of Victoria, although that only happened recently.

2025-11-28 08:20:07 UTC

Australian garden mantis (Orthodera ministralis) nymph, guarding the garden! Like other praying mantises, this is an ambush predator of invertebrates.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #PrayingMantis #Mantis
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/626/335/063/301/053/original/058c9a9e23f70aeb.jpeg

2025-11-27 21:28:03 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ttts Going to guess one of the Temnospondyli!

2025-11-26 07:49:24 UTC

Dendrobium beetle (Stethopachys formosa)! Always happy to see these little things, they're so bright and cheerful!
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Beetle #Coleoptera
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/614/892/351/784/367/original/dac6a3633f6e752f.jpeg

2025-11-24 23:40:37 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…q502 @nprofile…v2jg Yeah, the idea itself sounds absolutely laughable! It wouldn't have even occurred to me to give them common names, and it seems so obvious now that you've said it – but I wouldn't have arrived at it independently.

2025-11-24 22:27:33 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…q502 @nprofile…v2jg Huh, now that is an interesting point I had never considered before!

2025-11-24 20:56:30 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…v2jg TBH my strategy was just to switch iNaturalist to scientific name first, so it's the name I see the most. I'm still not good at it, but it's better than nothing!

2025-11-24 20:07:15 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…v2jg Common names are definitely a cause of frustration – I was so confused about 'daddy long legs' for a while before it turned out I was talking about pholcids, the Americans about Opiliones, the Brits about tipulids, and apparently there's even a plant.

2025-11-24 08:37:28 UTC

This is an #insect rant, but what is it with Americans insisting that Harmonia axyridis aren't #ladybugs?! Ladybug [beetle], #ladybird [beetle], and lady beetle are all synonyms for beetles in family Coccinellidae, but online I am constantly encountering (almost exclusively) Americans who insist that because it's not indigenous to the USA it's not a ladybug.
What is causing this particular piece of misinformation? Because I have seen literally *thousands* of people spreading it.

2025-11-24 07:24:21 UTC

This is a leafwing (Doleschallia bisaltide), so-called because, well, its wings look like leaves! This species extends from South and South East Asia all the way down to Australia.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Butterfly #Lepidoptera
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/603/463/651/425/493/original/c6af718621fa509a.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/603/463/685/875/908/original/47ea3eb2f56dbfbd.jpeg

2025-11-22 07:55:07 UTC

Leaf-footed bug nymph! Often mistaken for assassin bugs, these are harmless plant-eaters. I'm not giving a narrower ID because I honestly don't know – it's probably a Amblypelta sp.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #LeafFootedBug #Coreidae
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/592/253/658/193/382/original/d1563644bef108c9.jpeg

2025-11-20 04:43:24 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…2wtf I put the blu-ray on my Christmas wish-list! So I'm still waiting for thirty-five more sleeps ...

2025-11-19 19:40:02 UTC

Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, where we recognise trans people who died at either the hands of others, or their own after the cruelty of society grew intolerable
Here is a list, the trigger warnings apply doubly.
https://tdor.translivesmatter.info/reports?from=2024-11-21&to=2025-11-20&country=all&filter=&action=memorial_card&sortup=1
#TDoR #TDoR2025 #Transgender #TransgenderDayOfRemembrance

2025-11-17 21:11:20 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…q96e That would be my guess too! It's about the right size and shape for e.g. a Cyrtomyrma sp., which are common around here

2025-11-17 09:21:22 UTC

Some evil changeling ant? No! This is an ant-mimic spider (Myrmarachne sp.), and an ant has just drawn its attention!
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Spider #JumpingSpider #AntMimicSpider #Myrmarachne
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/564/291/795/789/779/original/2c53eb9fd616345f.jpeg

2025-11-15 06:41:18 UTC

Tawny hermit crab! This one was found wandering the beach in Fiji
#MacroPhotography #Nature #Arthropod #HermitCrab #Crab #Fiji
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/552/335/615/379/465/original/1f1b6466b7a236ea.jpeg

2025-11-14 22:24:01 UTC

I still think the funniest #rhyme I've ever heard in a #song is 'hip-hip hurrah for the USSR' sung by a soviet character in 'A Complete History of the Soviet Union, Arranged to the Melody of Tetris' by Pig With The Face of a Boy.
That song is 15 years old now, which surprises me because it means I found it within a year of its release – I'm usually really behind on these things!

2025-11-13 07:37:42 UTC

Phone pic this time! Common assassin bug (Pristhesancus plagipennis) nymph. Good for the garden, don't let them bite you – it's not dangerous but it *hurts*.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #AssassinBug #Reduviidae
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/541/237/098/360/135/original/80756b16e5944871.jpg

2025-11-09 05:56:44 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…6fxv Let's just call it 'mid 2025' and the details are neither here nor there!

2025-11-09 05:46:55 UTC

Finally finished sorting my sixteen thousand photo backlog! Here's the very last image: baby ibises!
#WildOz #Photography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Bird #Ibis
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/518/153/404/381/360/original/49d229d11bdc83f6.jpeg

2025-11-05 06:07:19 UTC

Daemel's spiny ant (Polyrhachis daemeli)! This is an arboreal species, like much of its parent genus.
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Ant #Polyrhachis #Formicidae
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/495/568/623/583/598/original/b15bd3952cbacb85.jpeg

2025-11-03 22:23:03 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…f4v4 I did love that scene, Mace Windu's realisation of his oversight, and the explanation of why the Clone Wars *worked* above merely why they *happened*. All the characters felt much more three-dimensional than they did in the film, too

2025-11-03 09:06:32 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…f4v4 The novelisation for Revenge of the Sith was pretty good, because it provided much-needed context for the film. It was also an incredibly easy read (young adult level), so there was no work to extract the enjoyment out of it. Having read it once, though, I would not read it again.

2025-10-31 06:30:43 UTC

- reply

Here's a closer look at the size difference between the castes!
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/467/363/684/365/284/original/7a70456fb95b101e.jpeg

2025-10-31 06:27:32 UTC

These adorable creatures are Nasutitermes walkeri, the native Australian tree #termite! Accidentally damaged their tube while trying to photograph something else, which exposed them for this photo!
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Termites
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/467/353/795/362/470/original/6f83464fe652be8b.jpeg

2025-10-30 09:09:37 UTC

A particularly attractive feral #pigeon! And a dinosaur what's more, so on-topic for this server (for once!)
#Bird #WildOz #Meanjin #Brisbane
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/462/327/985/859/035/original/96d5dd3606cec7c8.jpg

2025-10-29 07:11:56 UTC

Neat little #PSA ad campaign! I'm an absolute sucker for puns.
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/456/191/374/551/259/original/4ae94c2f86c7a1ff.jpg

2025-10-20 09:30:55 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…lu0c That explains the constant 'You May Have New Messages'

2025-10-13 09:31:51 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…args Oh, I didn't realise she had a YouTube channel! I finished her podcast so I guess I have something new to binge!

2025-10-11 05:10:51 UTC

Every day my Grade 4 teacher would make us do USSR: Undisturbed, Sustained, Silent Reading. After introducing the concept on the board he joked about being having once been mistaken for a Soviet, which went right over my head as a post-collapse child. But it was obviously good enough the concept stuck with me!
#Reading #Teaching #Teachers

2025-10-08 10:11:26 UTC

Phone pic time! Polichne argentata, a species of katydid!
#WildOz #OzInverts #MacroPhotography #Meanjin #Brisbane #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Katydid #Polichne
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/338/001/927/412/705/original/bb82b890e5a834d3.jpg

2025-10-06 20:39:19 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…5pnd I look forward to seeing them!

2025-10-06 09:31:04 UTC

Been a while since I last uploaded – I seem to be the only one using #OzInverts but I am determined to make it a thing – so here's a Loveable Leioproctus (Leioproctus amabilis), a native Australian bee! I'm really quite fond of bees (indeed, all of Hymenoptera really).
#WildOz #MacroPhotography #Naarm #Melbourne #Werribee #Australia #Nature #Arthropod #Insect #Bee
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/115/326/515/608/352/310/original/4c452fa18f862135.jpeg