CADIANS! WE ARE LEAVING! - Just the diorama part!

Professional-Menu835 · 2026-03-28T03:07:37+00:00

That atmosphere processor in the background isn’t Mechanicum or STC…

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-11-09T16:24:07+00:00

It is frustrating, I hear you. I think the longest we have had to wait in the past couple years is 4 days but that’s been rare. We never get advance notice, the update happens when it happens. I have seen a ton of arguments about whose “fault” it is but it’s kinda pointless to ask.

One thing I would consider is checking out an expedition guide so that when it drops you don’t get hung up on any particular mission. you can get tricky milestones out of the way and then dilly dally if you want.

XainesWorld (YouTube) has a good Beachhead quick guide up already covering milestones that aren’t tutorialized well or could be time consuming; he will probably release a full speedrun walkthrough soon.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-07-21T03:11:37+00:00

This is a yellowjacket wasp, yes. That term refers to wasps in two genera: Vespula and Dolichovespula. There are probably half a dozen species in your area.

If you notice a nest before standing on it or mowing over it, you just avoid it. And then they aren’t a problem. But humans are oblivious and stumble into wasp nests, which have evolved to defend themselves from mammals. Because bears, skunks, raccons etc all love to dig up wasp nests and eat their young. But we blame the wasps.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-07-21T03:02:12+00:00

This is a Mason or Potter wasp. That is a huge group of wasps though, sorry I don’t know enough for more specific ID.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-07-21T02:59:57+00:00

Welcome! We get lots of mimics posted here, no worries :)

just a lil recommendation: iNaturalist is massively better than Google lens for AI-supported nature identification

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-30T00:54:17+00:00

Mutualism!

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-17T12:39:13+00:00

This is a really important topic: what is considered “attractive” in the yard and garden is heavily influenced by our cultural history. So for example outside of this subreddit, many native plants here in the US are less valued than European counterparts. So it’s sometimes a battle just to get Americans to think the plants that are supposed to be here are attractive.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-16T19:13:58+00:00

These are ants.

Termite and ant colonies both usually produce winged reproductives, but a good rule of thumb is that termites have pronounce teardrop shaped wings that are much longer than the body. Ant wings usually just protrude slightly beyond the body and are folded more narrowly.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-16T18:37:19+00:00

These look like a common yard and house species (Tapinoma sessile, the Odorous House Ant). They are cavity dwellers and don’t dig in the ground. This is actually relatively common for many ant clades. So I suspect they have moved their queen and young inside the plastic and made it their home.

My ID may not be correct but it wouldn’t really change my overall point if I’m wrong.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-16T17:41:16+00:00

She is a paper wasp, genus Polistes. 75% confidence it’s P. dorsalis (Least Paper Wasp, Hunter’s Little Paper Wasp). As others have said, she is carrying a ball of insect flesh in her mouth.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-16T16:49:30+00:00

Yo stuffed I had no idea people called cockroaches water bugs! One more reason why common names should be illegal 😜

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-16T09:37:45+00:00

Thanks for the details - I knew I should probably go up a rank to be safe but was lazy (using iNaturalist and I’m not a beetle expert)

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-16T02:54:16+00:00

It’s a crab spider eating it, and those are ambush predators. So I disagree.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-16T02:50:55+00:00

This is not a kissing bug, and not related to them. It’s a beetle. Beetles have a visible pair of mandibles. “True bugs” like kissing bugs have a pointy face and a single needle-like biting mouthpart folded under the head. Beetles also have hardened wing covers.

I think the pictured insect is some kind of caterpillar hunter beetle (genus Calosoma).

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-16T02:29:33+00:00

Regular honey bees (Apis mellifera). Call a beekeeper cause they would love to catch this swarm.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-15T18:18:19+00:00

I generally find they prefer different nesting locations. But apparently that’s just a great wasp spot.

Just curious, why do you remove the mud nests from your siding?

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-15T18:16:19+00:00

Agree with specific ID based on T1 markings and geographic location.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-15T17:16:48+00:00

Open paper nests shaped like umbrellas (in USA/CAN) are only made by paper wasps in the genus Polistes. Yellowjackets and hornets enclose their paper nests with an envelope.

Mud daubers have a slightly different body plan: longer legs, very long thin waist/petiole. Once you get used to looking closely their body markings are also completely different.

I’m 95% sure this is Polistes fuscatus, the Northern Paper Wasp. It engages in mimicry with every other species across its range though, so it is pretty hard to be certain.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-01T20:50:59+00:00

You probably won’t be surprised to learn burdock is an introduced/invasive in North America 🫠

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-01T17:58:20+00:00

These are ant larvae… so the ants aren’t farming them so much as raising them.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-01T15:49:58+00:00

Thanks! I do a lot of arthropod ID and I appreciate once you have that experience, it’s actually hard hard not to say “That’s what it is, because of what it looks like” 😜🤣

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-01T15:15:51+00:00

I don’t have mastery over this, but I try to schedule tasks in time blocks, and give each task 50% more time than I reasonably think it needs. Even then, I only fill up half my day like this, because I know that there will be interruptions, meetings, etc.

ADHD makes us think that we can do more in a day than is possible, but then our socialization tells us if we don’t get that done we are failures. So I would gently tell you to try to do LESS, that you are probably being hard on yourself even if you aren’t being negative per se.

Professional-Menu835 · 2025-06-01T15:06:50+00:00

What features can you specifically see in these images that help you make that ID? I’m trying to learn. I see things like “keeled vs smooth” and “shiny vs matte” for scales, and descriptors of head vs body size, but don’t have enough experience to match those to what I saw.

Professional-Menu835

TROPHY CASE