It's been four months since we came back from Greece, I wanted to tell you about beetles.
Beetles species represent 25% of all described animal species.
The basic number of wings in insects is 4 but in a few groups, adaptations can be observed. For example Dipteran (flies & mosquitos) have their first pair of wings modified in halteres used to balance their flight.
Beetles have their first pair of wings modified in what we calle elytra, they are hardened wings and are used to protect the second pair of wings used to fly (pic 7) .
They are often colorful (Ladybugs) and can be shiny due to structural coloration or simply pigmented.
Pic 1: Morimus funereus, member of the Cerambycidae family and probably the most gorgeous beetle I've ever seen. Cerambycidae can be associated with wood or flowers, their larvae are flat-head borers and feed on rotting wood. You can recognize Cerambycidae (Capricornes) thanks to their long antennae.
Pic 2: Carabus coriaceus: member of the Carabidae family, also called ground beetle. They are nocturnal hunters, have often very long legs and hunt on sight.
Pic 3: Agapanthia genus, a couple of Cerambycidae probably doing adult things.
Pic 4 - 5: Scarabaeus variolosus: a very pretty dung beetle !! You can see its head has a pointy flat shape, that's because it uses it as a shovel to dig into dung or in the ground. Dung beetles are often represented rolling a perfect sphere of poo, they use this feces ball to lay their eggs and ensure the development of their offspring.
Pic 6: another dung beetle doing its thing
⚠️SPIDERS/ARAIGNÉES⚠️
This post contains exclusively pictures of spiders beside my head on the first one. Shout out to my arachnophobic friends
I had the chance to meet a lot of cool spider species during the fieldtrip in Greece! The first pic is a female of a species from the genus Eresus. The males are ladybugs mimics that's so sick! They're harmless otherwise I wouldn't have picked it up (Thanks Madeleine for the pic!)
The small one that caught a fly is a jumping spider (Salticidae), Philaeus chrysops. That's the most colorful jumping spider I've ever seen.
Credit to Max for the last two pictures. The spider you can see on them is a false black widow.
Spiders are gorgeous and fascinating creatures
Quelques jours magiques à Cannes pour assister au 75ème festival international du film en compagnie de @hugo.mxeght le crack. J'ai pu croiser des stars comme @ilo_jve ou encore Shakira et Park Chan-Wook ( stars classées de la plus à la moins connue).
J'ai pu assister à la cérémonie de clôture et voir 10 films dont trois dans le Grand Théâtre Lumière !
J'ai déjà hâte d'y retourner
L'ornythorinque possède un aiguillon venimeux sur les pattes postérieures. Le venin est assez puissant pour paralyser la jambe d'un Homme ou pour tuer un chien.
Sur la quatrième photo vous pouvez voir un ornithorynque entrain de faire caca.
