You call a big fat cockroach “Cute” as you gently carry it out of your dining room at 8:00 AM to your compost bins while it crawls all over your hands You think sharpshooters are some of the most adorable animals in the world Your new best friend is the paper wasp that chews your plants’ wooden sup…

when you finally figure out what the hell a “prosternal basantrum” or “pteropleuron” is after cross-referencing Google, since you need to look at it to key out the bug you found :p

That reminds me of Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz, in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and “prostundiary initems”, in That Hideous Strength. But is it really the ventral part of the first thoracic segment?

I live in India and I know how bad they get… (especially in the monsoon)

When you have a pocket full of fidgety insects you’re saving for later because the other people in the camp kitchen already gave you funny looks for photographing ‘cockroaches’ When you get briefly irritated that the resident swallows in the same camp kitchen already ate all the insects you hoped t…

i suggest native plant gardening. its a great way to help the local ecosystem! if you plant them they will come lol

When you are making a time calibrated phylogenetic tree of every family of arthropods. A bit beyond the scope of what is typically considered entomology maybe. But just remember that insects are more related to trilobites than to spiders!

[image] insectilluminatigetshrekt: But just remember that insects are more related to trilobites than to spiders! Really? Most of the arthropod phylogenies I’ve seen have a polytomy at the base separating the chelicerate, trilobite, and mandibulate clades. Maybe I’m missing something.

Well its not fully settled admittedly, but I have seen more recent support for Antennulata (mandibulates + trilobites) than for Arachnomorpha (chelicerates + trilobites).

I was thinking the same thing. And then wondering if I needed to reread it to find the term referenced because I don’t remember it at all.

You Know You Really Love Entomology When:

Nature Talk

afdexter September 10, 2026, 9:01am 158

Huh. Someone else has actually read That Hideous Strength.

INat link missing

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You Know You Really Love Entomology When:

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