this one surprised me because I don't show any symptoms of anything C. diff usually causes
for the "host" mite:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/205153936
A mite underneath the head of Lasius claviger. Antennophorus? See notes under this Bugguide observation: https://bugguide.net/node/view/775966/bgpage
Tested positive for Corona Virus (3 months ago). Isolated for 10 days with very mild symptoms. All well now. I was infected at work. Location is for the clinic where I was tested. Stay safe folks!
Found in a large clump about 2.5m above the ground on a large tree branch. No doubt waiting for an elephant to pass by.
Squirrel is carrying the skull of a raccoon up the tree where it proceeded to chew on the bone.
ok yeah i admit that was stupid on my part. apparently theyre being hand fed by people here and in trying to see how bold it was it tried to make off with my finger
Mag. 100x
Flatworm? Insect larva? Looks like it has retractable landing gear! :o) (i.e., the 4 objects surrounding the central, vesiculate oval object).
Almost certainly the same male green frog in yesterday's observation.
first waterbear! found in lichen/moss on rock wall in woods
Phoretic nematodes hoping for a ride. I think these should be Rhabditis or Diplogaster. On a very yeasty smelling tree wound.
"Furry" was born in the spring of 2022. Recognized by her very furry tail and her frequent habit of standing up.
Deer shot with copper ammo. I was hoping first mammal this winter would be a Mustalid sp.
Whale carcass which the bears are feeding on
Male human head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis.
Squirrel cannibalism: adult eating juvenile
i have no clue what this thing is and this isn't my photo so i don't have additional info about it. hoping someone can help please
Confirmed with blood test: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/195220461
More phages from the deep water of this tea-stained lake. The first shot is of a bacterium captured at the moment of rupture by tailed phages. It looks like they made a pretty efficient transfer of bacterium to phage biomass. The burst size of 10 (if none were lost) is in line with other observations from nutrient-poor lakes. Next is a close-up of a tailless phage. The capsomeres are clearly evident, suggesting that this one is a single-stranded DNA virus of the Microviridae (I'm just guessing here). Number three has a long, non-contractile tail. That makes it a siphovirus. Four appears to have a contractile tail that will allow it to inject its DNA hypodermic-style. Nice head. Then two attached phages. Many bacterial cells seemed to have attached phages - hard to explain. Finally, an interesting community of viruses, tailed and tailless, on what might be a conjugation tube that is used to transfer DNA between bacterial cells. Conjugation is a handy way to pass on genes to confer immunity to phages. But it comes with a tradeoff - phages attach to the tube to inject their own nucleic acids. I like the curious structure of the lengthened icosahedra (?) of some of the phages.
I thought it would be fun to start putting some unusual records of free-living microbial interactions, made using different sorts of microscopy. This one is from the hypolimnion of a dystrophic lake, Lac Croche, at the UdeM field station. What is going in this photo captured by electron microscope? I think the large cell is a photosynthetic bacterium, I don't remember which sort. I suspect that it is not happy. Its coat is covered with bacteriophage particles. Look at the blow-up and you will see their icosahedral head shape (which looks hexagonal in profile). They're tiny, and tailless, so I'm thinking RNA viruses (Orthornavirae). We don't know if the viruses are coming or leaving - probably the latter. Some other kind of bacteria have docked on the photosynthetic bacterium's side. They might be friends or they might be foes, we shouldn't jump to conclusions. But it sure looks like some kind of savanna-level takedown.
Golden-backed Frog
Mushroom grown on frog body
About 25 mm long. Matthew, I have emailed you re these.
While doing homework on a bench, this chipmunk jumped on to see what I was doing. I let her take a look but she only got to the search bar and gave up. So I put on some of my chipmunk pictures for her to see. Posed for observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129984459
8-9 individuals. transients. t73a1 and t64a present in encounter
No Vitis we're harmed in the making of this observation
Feeding on crustacean (crab or crayfish). In corner of old concrete stock tank with no outlet — prey may have been caught and unable to climb out.
Stuff growing on or out of a small freshwater fish. The fish was swimming around but seemed to have reduced flexibility when compared to similar normal fish swimming near it.
Mama Echidna chewing a bone
I have my Bio 302L students at Northern Kentucky University to thank for this fun find. This amazing bacteria colony grew out of a water sample taken from the Lakeside Commons pond, directly behind the Campbell County Cooperative Extension offices. On 1/17, water and a little sediment was collected from the edge of the pond. On 1/19/2023 my microbiology students diluted a sample and spread plated it onto glycerol yeast-extract media, which is selective for gram-positives such as actinomycetes. This colony grew quietly on a 0.01 mL plate that had been forgotten in the fridge. Actinomycetes often have strange colony morphologies, so that's my guess on an ID for this. Neither I nor my colleagues have seen a colony like this before.
Was introduced here in 1990th by Karen Martirosyan in the area of the Zoo. In 1997 formed a small but stable population. After a local fire in 2000, I haven't seen these lizard here any more.
Adult female.
This population in Avan is extinct due to the habitat loss. Locally lacerta media was abundant in a wet grass and in wooded areas surrounded small ponds and drainage lines. After massive deforestation, drying water bodies, and privatization of this lands Lacerta media got dispalced by somewhat similarly looking but smaller and more dry-resistant Lacerta stigata.
This population of the caspian turtle is extinct due to the habitat loss, as a result of drying local pond.
We found Trichoplax at Portobello Marine Lab (University of Otago) in November 2019, using microscope slides suspended in a display tank. We tried to cultivate them but lost them during Covid-19 lockdown. Found another one today. In total we have found 4, all of them are about 100um in diameter. We have video which makes us confident that this is Trichoplax (not a giant marine amoeba). If we can trap more and/or breed this one we will do DNA analysis to confirm that it is Trichoplax and whether it is a known (e.g. adherens) or new species.
Collected from a glass slide suspended in an aquarium sand and aquatic vegetation for a few days.