I think there’s more than one.
Lanternflies vs. Tree of Hell? I don’t think I am betting on the lantern flies.
Nice photo!
Xenos peckii
A parasite of Northern paper wasps - turns them into zombies. I’ve been creeped out ever since I found this:
Thank you, but it’s not mine.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3717484
Someone with trypophobia would likely be horrified by this toad.
I may be a bit trypophobic. That toad is giving me nightmares!
Even if you didn’t take the photo, I don’t think I ever would have seen it if you hadn’t posted it. So, thanks!
yeah probably, but i know of a specific one (not its name) lol
i know almost nothing about fungi
Was it Cordyceps?
the first picture of the taxon page is so cute! its a headshot with the tongue sticking out(?) lol
The only bat I ever took out of a mist net that actually turned when it was my hand and looked straight at me was a vampire bat. It was spooky because only then I realized it was not a “regular” bat. I’ve not been in their roost caves but I understand it’s kind of a horror show with digested blood on the floor and walls.
It can be spooky when animals look straight at you with no fear. And not in an island biogeography / naïveté way.
King cobras are also known for doing this. They are sizing you up.
Xenos peckii, absolutely! I found one wasp with at least 10 of them on board
The Hand of the Wicked Witch of the South. Coming for a poacher near you
Yeah, twisted-wing insects have one of the more bizarre and disturbing reproductive methods.
There’s a project collecting observations of hosts (since often users do not create a separate observation for the parasite): https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/hymenopteran-hosts-of-strepsiptera
dead man’s fingers! idk if it has another name, but the grey-black mushroom(?) that grows around dead wood and looks like a bunch of rotting fingers