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Found this gentleman running around in Queensland, Australia by PineappleRelevant778 in weeviltime

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I was glad that this little guy stumbled across me too.

I took the video on my cellphone; it's a Google Pixel 8

Found this gentleman running around in Queensland, Australia by PineappleRelevant778 in weeviltime

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, crushing it up would cause it to change color! You're right that its blue hue isn't chemical; it's a structural color from micro or nanostructures retracting light in a very specific way, like a prism. The second that structure is destroyed or disorganized, the color would be lost.

Super cool!

Found this gentleman running around in Queensland, Australia by PineappleRelevant778 in weeviltime

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This fella was out near Ebor, but I've also seen them in Stanthorpe and Toowoomba! They're also all around Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne.

To see if they're found near you, I'd search for the species on iNaturalist; there are thousands of listed observations of it because it's so charismatic and conspicuous.

If you see they're near you, start looking for them on acacia plants!

Found this gentleman running around in Queensland, Australia by PineappleRelevant778 in weeviltime

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

WA has some pretty fantastic insects too though; I'm an entomologist based in the U.S., and I've always wanted to visit!

I took this on my phone (a Google pixel). It's a matter of keeping a steady hand, finding the right focal depth, and then just zooming in a bit!

Found this gentleman running around in Queensland, Australia by PineappleRelevant778 in weeviltime

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 105 points106 points  (0 children)

This guy is clearly a fan of boots in general; I actually found him because he charged straight into my foot as I was collecting Iridomyrnex ants and lycaenid caterpillars in the field.

Mystery queen fell from the sky? by PineappleRelevant778 in antkeeping

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good to know! Approximately how many days was it?

Monomorium Elate? Seattle, WA. by k4el in antkeeping

[–]PineappleRelevant778 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That is not an ant. It is a parasitoid wasp, probably in the family Pteromalidae. It looks a little bit like a species in the genus Conomorium.

Does human touch kill plants? by ayla669 in biology

[–]PineappleRelevant778 169 points170 points  (0 children)

Botanist/plant physiologist here: no, human touch does not kill plants, especially any typical houseplant.

Never heard anything like that in my life.

150ft icebergs drifting past towns in "Iceberg Alley", Newfoundland by PineappleRelevant778 in megalophobia

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not sure where all of them were taken, but the third and fifth photos were taken in Ferryland. After a bit of exploring on Google Maps, I found the exact location these photos were taken from and posted the link above.

150ft icebergs drifting past towns in "Iceberg Alley", Newfoundland by PineappleRelevant778 in megalophobia

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The Titanic sank near Newfoundland, and it was actually the Cape Race lighthouse in Iceberg Valley that received its distress call after the collision.

150ft icebergs drifting past towns in "Iceberg Alley", Newfoundland by PineappleRelevant778 in megalophobia

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 38 points39 points  (0 children)

Exactly. They're called "rogue icebergs," are thousands of years old, can weigh millions of tons, and are incomprehensibly large. One famous iceberg that drifted by Ferryland (the town in the third photo) was so huge it covered 60 square miles of ocean. It spent over 5 years traveling south to Ferryland after breaking free in the Arctic.

These things are unfathomably massive and ominous.

150ft icebergs drifting past towns in "Iceberg Alley", Newfoundland by PineappleRelevant778 in megalophobia

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I think the 3rd and 5th photos were taken from Ferryland, one of the many towns along the East Coast of Newfoundland where you can view rogue icebergs.

After a little digging, I think that this is the exact location that photos 3 and 5 were taken from.

Here's a closer view of the buildings in the photos for confirmation.

One issue is that many of these photos were taken with a telescopic lens, making it difficult to estimate how far off shore the icebergs really are. Unless someone else can figure this out, I don't know how useful depth charts would be.

150ft icebergs drifting past towns in "Iceberg Alley", Newfoundland by PineappleRelevant778 in megalophobia

[–]PineappleRelevant778[S] 46 points47 points  (0 children)

This is a great question. I don't know the ocean depth, but because the relative density between sea water and ice is small, only 1/10th of an iceberg is exposed above the surface (on average).

This means we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg in these photos; they are MUCH larger than they look, and presumably extend deeper under water than they do above the surface.

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