It was a relatively nice day, so I went out to take some photos. Here are some bugs I found.
Not sure what the black fly is exactly, could be a mosquito, could be a kind of midge.
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#arachnids
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Pseudoscorpions, maybe genus Paratemnoides, feeding on an ant that they had caught. Spotted at Thomson Nature Park, Singapore on 22 Dec 2024.
Pseudoscorpions are small arachnids with pincers that resemble scorpions (hence the name) and considered beneficial as they feed on ants, moths, booklice, mites, etc.
On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/255849595 ].
I almost forgot it was #MiteMonday! From under one of my reliable dead logs just a few days ago, a mesostig with its prey, a tiny white springtail; a slug for scale; and a smaller, paler mesostig crossing paths with another springtail (which it did not try to eat).
I did not expect to read the phrase "males have terminal nuptial gift sacs on their penises" today but here we are
A delightful paper comparing mating behaviour across _Leiobunum_ harvester species which have, or lack, nuptial gift-giving, out of Mercedes Burns' lab at the University of Maryland Baltimore County: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123150 
Detalle de la pequeña araña Thomisus onustus, araña cangrejo.
#invertebrados #invertebrates #macro #spider #araña #aracnidos #photography #nature #naturaleza #fotografia #arachnids
The other day when I finally got around to cleaning the computer out, and literally the cobwebs, I wondered to myself wtf spider is the one that always makes webs inside the case and is never seen. I think I might have found the subject. I just saw it crawling along but after taking the photos I noticed there was a random array of the fine webs on another loop of cable above this that look like what was inside.
During this recent spate of warmish weather I've been checking my go-to sumo mite (_Allothrombium_) trees. It's still too early for a dense population, but there are definitely a few out and about!
Here's an earlier video I took of sumo mites wrestling: https://youtu.be/qZ0Ml6VXujg
Flipped over a piece of log on a big dead stump and there were tons of those little iridescent blue-purple springtails, but also several mesostigs. I was watching them hoping one would catch a springtail, and one seemed to be questing about for something. Then it chased after one of the other mites, flung itself on its back, and after some tumbling around ended up clinging to its underside. Then, this. I'm not even sure what's happening, I don't even know what appendages these mites use for sperm transfer.
edit: oh yeah I forgot to add they're totally having sex
RKeller Photography
The joy of photography is having infinite subjects. The tragedy of photography is not having enough time to photograph them all. This is from two yrs ago. Definitely need make some time to look for more jumping spider's in my garden this year.
The first #MiteMonday in a while! The wet dead leaves are a bountiful source of predatory mesostigmatid mites.
A #CrabSpider has been relocated from inside of the house to woodpile beside backyard gardens.
#MiteMonday: wintertime rock flipping turned up some penthaleids and those iridescent purple springtails, not quite sure what they are. They were about the same size (see third photo).
