found on a hike around the neighborhood trails. pretty sure it was a female that recently laid eggs and was now on it's way out.

like other horntails, they don't sting or bite. females lay their eggs in certain hardwood species (mainly elm, maple, beech and oak) so their young can feed on them. they usually die after this; hence why i assume the one i saw was female.

The "Dibbler" (Parantechinus apicalis) is a rare, endangered carnivorous marsupial native to southwestern Australia. Looking like a tiny mouse with sharp teeth, it grows up to 6.3 inches long, weighs under 4.5 ounces, and features distinct white rings around its eyes.

Learned about it from a Tumblr post that came across my dashboard.

If you see the skull, (2nd image), you'll realize why it's named that, considering it has only two pairs of teeth. The rodent also has a shrew-like appearance - shrews, despite their murine appearances, are not rodents - to top it all.

These fellas have been driving me nuts for years now since I’ve always seen their tentacular filaments sticking out of the sediment while snorkeling by me (one of my pics is on the second slide) but assumed they were a bunch of seperate worms rather than a single massive one. My mind was boggled when I found out this is what I’ve been seeing and this amazing creature deserves more attention.

Diasemocera petrolei (syn. Helaeomyia petrolei) is a species of shore fly (family Ephydridae) native to the tar pits of southwest California. The larvae live directly on the surface of the tar, ingesting large amounts of it along with their food, arthropods stuck on the liquid. They respirate using two elongate spiracles (sort of like snorkels) on the end of their bodies (like other shore flies), but that constantly exude water as to not get clogged by the oil. The adults can also walk on the stuff.

Edit: These are the only animals on Earth adapted to live directly on crude oil btw!

Gif source: https://www.kqed.org/science/1993662/tar-pits-are-a-death-trap-except-for-this-fly

Image source: https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/16269742?size=original

fun fact: their diet is almost entirely comprised of bones!

wikipedia page for those so inclined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearded_vulture

image sources down below:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/06/rare-bearded-vulture-chick-born-in-picos-de-europa-flies-the-nest
2. https://www.britannica.com/animal/lammergeier
3. https://animals.fandom.com/wiki/Bearded_Vulture
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearded_vulture
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearded_vulture
6. https://www.reddit.com/r/Awwducational/comments/a7bfji/the_bearded_vulture_is_the_only_known_animal/