Dryas iulia (Julia longwinged butterfly) - adults slowly die of malnutrition no matter how well-fed they are; nectar simply isn’t adequate sustenance.
They’re also black and orange.
That’s so sad, not sure if it’s better or worse than adults with no mouthparts at all.
There’s also a certain phase of the garden tree boa, known as the Halloween phase. Here’s an observation of one: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/116468
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Halloween Pennant - Celithemis eponina
Hygrocybe conica - Witch’s Hat
Rafinesque’s big-eared bat Corynorhinus rafinesquii - if you think bats are spooky?
Marble orb weaver / Araneus marmoreus I like calling it the pumpkin spooder because it looks like that to me.
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In case anyone’s wondering, any writer that calls the red things at the antennal bases eyes is either a liar or a pea-brain.
To us, orbweavers look like Ritz crackers, so this would be a Halloween edition: https://www.ritzcrackers.com/recipes/ritz-peanut-butter-spiders-216633.aspx
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I only have seen a lot of “cute or terrifying?” type coverage, which I found a surprising angle, but I admit I do not know what the red things are even as I know they are not the eyes, being familiar enough with ants to know that much, at least. What are they?
I’m not entirely sure myself. Seems to be a rarely mentioned anatomical feature.
Thanks, Marina!
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You’re welcome, it’s a terrifying photo!.)
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AGREE. I was bitten by an ant on my thigh the night before that photo hit the news. I immediately put Colgate on it (I do not know the science but the original formula, not whitening or gel or anything extra) which took the sting out and lowered the itch tremendously but of did not completely remove it like it does with mosquito bites. When I saw the photo, I showed my husband and said LOOK. HOW CAN COLGATE COMPETE.
Terrible photo, stuff of nightmares, hahaha.
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And on that note, I’m surprised nobody mentioned guarana, also known as the eyeball vine:
(https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/10986512)
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Aaaaaaaand then we have semelparous salmonids!
For a long time I kind of just assumed that salmon dying after reproduction just Quietly Passed Away From Sudden Aging. Not true.
Metabolic self-poisoning kills them. Their organs begin shutting down from sheer stress and fungi grow all over them and it’s horrible. One research paper even dared to say it was p much Cushing’s Disease.
…Rather intriguingly, a number of non-semelparous salmonids show milder but analogous symptoms during reproduction.
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Sounds like a bobcat to me
Or it could be a mountain lion if you want to be controversial (or a ghost of a mountain lion if you want to be spooky and sad)
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I’m a bit surprised no one’s mentioned evolutionary anachronisms yet.