Beetle #Clytra #laeviuscula (#Chrysomelidae) is #myrmecophilous. Its juveniles carry cases of feces for #antprotection. F. A. Agrain et al. (2015) state that myrmecophily in #leafbeetles only appears in #Clytrini and #Cryptocephalini within #Cryptocephalinae. Numbers of origins of the strategy are unknown, but there were preadaptations as e.g. feces cases.

© This sci-com. text #StefanFWirth 2025

Reference

F. A. Agrain et al. (2015):
https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.547.6098

#Photos
© Me, Bln, new edits 2025

#Terraristics and its #pettrade can increase people's sense for responsibility and #biodiversity. But even strictly protected species are traded illegally, harming their populations. M. Auliya et al. (2025) point to the #illegaltrade with #Galápagosiguanas, e.g. Conolophus subcristatus.

© This sci blogarticle #StefanFWirth 2025

Reference

M. Auliya et al. (2025)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111104.

Photo
C. subcristatus, by Haplochromis, 2008, Creative Com. 3.0 Unported, 2.5, 2.0, 1.0 Generic licenses

The #broadclub #cuttlefish #Ascarosepion #latimanus lives e.g. along the Australian coast. Matteo Santon et al. (2025) studied its striking #camouflage #hunting, in which it extends two arms to each side, with up to down moving dark stripes, #unsettling the #prey. #behavior
© This text #StefanFWirth Berlin 2025

References:

Matteo Santon et al. (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr3686

"New Scientist" YouTube (2025):
https://youtu.be/BTNfDMYb5Qg?si=qWZq9i3UL_H8AmqM

Photo:
by Nick Hobgood, 2006, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

My #SEM shows a female of the #mite #Histiostoma sp. (H. feroniarum-complex, special fixation) on #rottenlemon from Italy, #feeding a mixture of #fungi and #bacteria. It is seen from above and displays the symmetrically #fenestrated #proterosomashield that i.a. stabilizes muscle origins and still needs research. I published research information on that mite as poster #publication.

© #StefanFWirth Berlin (2006-) 2025

Poster S. F. Wirth, FAO, Global Soil Partners. (2024)
https://www.fao.org/global-soil-partnership/gsid24/posters/en/

#Halictus #subauratus (#Halictidae) is a wild #bee widespread in the Palearctic and is still common enough to not require a protection status. The #species is #eusocial with only a few #auxiliaryfemales and builds underground #nests in sandy soil. It is not picky about the plants, where it collects pollen (#polylectic). The conspicuous #brush on the #hindlegs is used to collect #pollen. Photos: on a dry meadow in #Berlin in 2020, new edit 2025. #biodiversity #evolution #macro
© #StefanFWirth

#Forsythia are #ornamental #shrubs in Central #Europe that are originally native to #Asia. The shrubs planted in #parks in Germany are the hybrids Forsythia x #intermedia. It is a hybridization of the species F. suspensa and F. viridissima. As a result of €globalwarming, the flowering period in Central Europe is shifting further and further forward. The flowers are #sterile and therefore of no interest to #pollinating insects.
© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2025, photo 2022

#Helix #lucorum (#Helicidae) is a land #snail #species with a noticeably large shell that is originally distributed in Asia Minor and the Black Sea region. Like Cornu aspersum, the species is popular as a #delicacy in Europe, but is rarely bred and is instead taken from the field. Author I. Ekin (2023) deals with the #reproductiveprocesses of H. lucorum and studied them in the field for several years. #biodiversity

© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2025

Ekin, I. (2023): https://doi.org/10.1080/13235818.2023.2201904

Although February is the #meteorologically last month of winter, there is currently a #coldfront over #Germany with unusually much #snow in #Berlin on the night to 02/14/2025. The further outlook also points to an unusually cold February due to polar air from the east. But despite this exception the trend towards warmer Feb. temperatures due to #globalwarming has been particularly noticeable since 2020 at the latest and reached a peak with the #warmthrecord in 2024.

© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2025

A big #city like #Berlin is a priori not necessarily well suited to accommodate a large #diversity of #species; #streets can be barriers to the spread of animals. The buildings are hostile to many species. And yet #urban #biodiversity in Berlin is high, thanks to extensive fallow land, thanks to the large urban #forestareas of Grunewald and Tegeler Forst and thanks to the dense network of urban #parks with species preservation #managements.

© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2025, photo 2020, newly edited

#Cuckoowasps (#Chrysididae) always have a close relationship with other insects, mostly other #Hymenoptera, they can be brood parisites, which kill the host larva but mostly feeding their #foodsupply. They can also be #parasitoids that feed on older larvae or pupae. I previously identified the species shown as #Hedychrum #rutilans, but it may be H. #gerstaeckeri, the #hosts would then be: #Cerceris rybyensis and C. ruficornis. #biodiversity
© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2020, new edit & text 2025

My current #artproject on #Behance deals with the #philosophically and #epistemologically interesting #question of how an alien, who has met #mankind on #earth, would describe these #humans to another alien, who has never seen them before . But the descriptions of the #humanityknowing alien don't seem entirely convincing to the other alien.
© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2024/2025

https://www.behance.net/gallery/215809871/The-Aliens-Assessment

#Paintings: #digitally and handmade 2024 © S. F. Wirth

The #snail #Arianta #arbustorum (#Helicidae, #Gastropoda) is a land snail (#Stylommatophora) that is quite common in #Berlin, especially in urban #forest areas. However, the snail is flexible in terms of its #ecological requirements and can also be found in open areas. It is widespread in Central Europe and northwestern Europe and primarily requires #moisture. It also appears in #mountainous areas of up to 2700 m. #biodiversity #Mollusca
© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2025

#Aerialphotography not only allows the #landscape #photographer a #perspective that is otherwise reserved for birds. #Dronephotography also provides an impression of #ecological #contexts. For example, my aerial photo from the north of #Berlin clearly shows the natural corridors between agricultural areas, which allows #biodiversity to spread and find #refuges for hibernation.
® #StefanFWirth Berlin 2024

Photo: northern Berlin 2020, new edit 2024, © Stefan F. Wirth

The weaver's #fritillary #Boloria #dia (#Nymphalidae, #Lepidoptera), is #endangered in #Germany ( #IUCN Red List). It's distribution area is Europe up to Mongolia. Pictured here is an individual from North Berlin (2019). The butterfly occurs on #drygrassland, the caterpillars develop on violets, blackberries or Prunella vulgaris. The fritillary flies in Germany in two generations per year. #biodiversity
© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2024

#Photos: #Boloriadia in Berlin, 2019/edited 2024, © S. F. Wirth

The #rustic #sailorbeetle #Cantharis #rustica (#Cantharidae, #Coleoptera) belongs to the #soldierbeetles, which are characterized by a #softbodied appearance due to a soft cuticle sclerotization (apomorphy). The #species is widespread throughout #Europe and often occurs on #drymeadows, forest edges and lowland #grasslands or #arableland. Larvae and adults live as #predators from other insects. The individual was #photographed 2020 North #Berlin. #biodiversity

© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2024

My photo from 2019 shows a #treetrunk in the #Berlin #winter, which has not fallen off all its dried #autumnleaves. In autumn, many #deciduous #trees cork the xylem connections of their leaves so that they do not evaporate more water than the tree can absorb through its roots. The #withered #fallenleaves serve as a #microhabitat for specialized #decomposing #soilorganisms. If old leaves remain on the tree, the organisms there will begin #decomposition processes.

© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2019/2024

The fly #Ectophasia #crassipennis (#Phasiinae, #Tachinidae,) has a Palearctic distribution and prefers #warmth. In Germany, warmth-favored areas are populated. Contrary to older literature referring to southern/southwest #Germany, the species also occurs in #Berlin. The #brood lives endoparasitically in #truebugs, often on #Pentatomidae. #Globalwarming favors the expansion of the original distribution of #warmthloving#species. #Biodiversity
© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2024
(#photos my © 2020-24)

The #antbagbeetle #Clytra laeviuscula (#Chrysomelidae, #Coleoptera) is a #phytophagous #beetle #species widespread in Europe with a #myrmicophilic relationship of the #larvae and #pupae to #antnests of the genera #Formica, #Lasius and Camponotus. The larva lives mainly from the food of the ant larvae. It is protected from ant attacks by own dropping pieces (#skatoconches). Pupation also takes place in this protected manner. #evolution #biodiversity

© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2024

The #clickbeetle #Agrypnus #murinus (#Agrypninae, #Elateridae) is #phytophagous as #adult #beetle, while the #larvae are soil dwellers and feed on roots, but also as predators, particularly targeting the larvae of other insects.
The species is #widespread in the Near East, the #easternPalearctic and the Nearctic realm. White and brown #scales give the species it's impressive look. The base color is darker. #Biodiversity #entomology
© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2024

Creation of #biodiversity: the #Berlin #lake "#Lietzensee" is part of a chain of #iceage lakes. However, it is no longer directly connected to the neighboring lakes, but is "fed" exclusively by #groundwater. The result is poor #waterquality, a hostility to life that has been exacerbated by the previous open bank design. They are actually in order to improve that landscape and the water quality.

© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2024

Photo: Lietzensee, © S. F. Wirth