Cynipid

@cynipid.bsky.social

431 Followers 1076 Following

Crystal aka Fairy Gall-Mother Entomologist, artist, and cat lover

The inside of a clothes dryer with 3 wool dryer balls each with a anguished/angry face.
A tiny, brown, spotted tiger shorthair kitten. She has white toes and is looking innocently up at the camera while sitting next to the toy she destroyed. The remains of the toy are some scattered feathers, and a long furry rope attached to a stick. There is a large black and gray backpack in the lower left corner of the photo.
A view of the entire habitat. This cubby has black oak leaves, Spanish moss, and mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. Around the bottom of the cubby there are gnarled branches with leathery, dry leaves that are embroidered with copper thread in various patterns. The back wall had a chalkboard with a deer skull hanging above it and the corners have shelves with specimens and books about Biology/Morphology. In the center there is a table with specimens fire examination. There are two thin dolls next to the table with mushroom heads, tattered wings, and human-like teeth. They are enjoying a book together.
An adorable gray and white cat face poking out between some fake leaves inside of a basket.
4 photos of a gray and white cat looking at bugs on the ceiling. The cat has a lowercase "i" on its chest and matching spots on his inner front ankles.
Three sets of wooden earrings carved from oak. The top set are hoop-shaped with the bottom outer edge with projecting teeth like a serrated knife. The middle set has extensions hanging downwards that give it a comb-like appearance. The bottom has overlapping rounded plates hanging downwards.
A hand holding a bookmark. The bookmark is mostly green since it is made using leaves that have leaf mines from insects. There is a thin leather cord attached to the top of the bookmark and it holds a teardrop-shaped piece of jasper.
Two small embroidery hoops with colorful embroidered beetles on black fabric. The left one is gold with yellow, orange, and red. The one on the right is silver with three shades of teal.
A collage of 4 photos with a buff-colored cat sitting in a basket with pink pumpkins in the foreground and fake oak leaves in the background. The cat is looking at the photographer in the top left and bottom right photos. The to right shows the cat chewing on the background. Bottom left shows the cat looking anywhere except at the camera.
A buff-colored kitty crouched behind a wreath that is surrounded by pink pumpkins. The background is a work wall and trim with wood floors. The wreath is made of oak leaves in autumn colors and is adorned with things like brass-colored acorns, pine cones, and ribbons. The naughty little kitty is chewing on one of the ribbons and is therefore making an odd face.
A gray and white cat lounging on a beige recliner that has a woven blanket draped over the back. The cat looks entirely way too satisfied with himself as he leans against the arm of the chair under the warm glow of a lamp on the side table. The blanket has illustrations of the posterior spiracles of the main groups of forensically important flies (Calliphoridae, Muscidae, and Sarcophagidae).
An embroidery hoop with a black piece of fabric that has a beetle embroidered with patterns in silver, black, and various shades of teal.
The bottom of the photo shows wood cabinets with tall but thin openings filled with sheets of glass standing upright. Above the wood cabinets is a black metal shelf with 3 rows of brown boxes. The boxes are 4x5x16 inches deep and have a small black label on the front indicating the color of scrap glass inside.
A wood pole with metal on one side and the metal forms loops with hooks at either end. There are picture frames all around it.
A slab of red stone with most of the face etched away leaving a shape that looks like a fat cat.
On the front of the white table is a green/black metal candle holder and to the right of that a gray metal candle holder that is bars bent into ornate shapes. Behind them is a collection of brass, black wire, yellow, and teal containers.
A piece of driftwood leaning against a fur coat. The piece of driftwood has an unhappy face carved into it. There is a bible placed near the base of the driftwood.
Wood spools shaped like dumbbells stacked on top of each other. There are some small dishes below.
Another wood spool; this one is lighter colored than the last one. There are many things in the background and next to the spool (deer head, wood carvings, metal "things")
Shelves filled with wood boxes for old glass bottles of soda, beer, and many other items. There is also a "stop" sign and a "no parking" sign on the wall above them.
Glass balls wrapped with rope inside of a large metal tub. Each ball is about 5 inches wide.
A candle holder with a black base shaped almost like a come and it has notches missing. There is a silver plate at the top with a brown candle on it.
A wood rod labeled spool. The base is wider and ridged. There is also a welcome sign hanging to the left and a clear glass oil lamp to the right.
A piece of wood that is a light tan with a blue-gray streaking. The lower edge had bark on it.
Red and cream serving dishes. The center dish is round and surrounded by dishes shaded similar to lungs and with what appear to be branching veins across their surfaces.
A gray carpet isle stretching before you set between shelves on either side, filled with miscellaneous items. The exposed rafters show that the building is a tall metal warehouse.
Two mushroom-headed tooth fairies (with very toothy-grins). The green one on the right is holding up a tiny book with insect illustrations. The orange one to the left seems very excited! There's a tiny deer skull hanging on the wall behind them with moss hanging from the ceiling and copper-embroidered dead leaves all around them. A cozy environment for their studies...
A green and brown tin with a framed image of a house on the lid. The text under the image says "The Original Toll House Cookie".
Lateral view of a male bat fly facing towards the right.. the hind legs are particularly long and his tiny vestigial wings are held above its back. These flies are ectoparasites on bats.
A collage of photos of bearded irises in different colors. The top left (Tango Amigo) is white on top and the falls are tan with a soft violet hew. Top right is Cinque Terre and it ranges from purple to dusty-rose, and gas orange highlights near the base of the falls. Bottom left is Sunrise Splendor which is mostly white with a bright gold in the center and a splotch of purple on the falls. Center is Black Suited which is nearly black with deep purple beards. Bottom right is Be My Honey which has dusty-maroon standards and the falls are a deep gold rimmed with deep wine color.
A collage of columbine flowers. Top: white and lavender+yellow. Middle: white with purple streaks and yellow (with just a hint of pink striping). Bottom: bright purple+white and solid purple.
Two mushroom-headed tooth fairies surrounded by embroidered leaves and Spanish moss while standing underneath mistletoe. Each tooth fairy has a name on its stand (Aria to the left and Moss is to the right). They are dolls with long thin limbs, wings, and a mouth full of teeth 🦷
Tango Amigo bearded iris. This iris has white standards (the large petals that point upwards) and a lovely tan+cream+lavender striping on the falls (the petals that curl downwards).
A bunch of stained glass arthropods (and a random pink cuttlefish) hanging on a white wall. The creatures include various beetles (most being iridescent) some leaf insects, lace bugs, Baseus wasps, tortoise beetles, and pseudoscorpions.
White and pink flowers from a ninebark (top left), yellow tubular flowers of a yellow coral honeysuckle (top right), and the bottom picture shows the large white flower of tufted evening primrose.
A collage of flower photos. Top row, left to right: purple spiderwort flowers, vivid Penstemon flowers, bright yellow Howard's evening primrose, the small white flowers of Apache plume. Middle row: red Cardinal Penstemon flowers, white Cheyenne mock orange flowers just begging to peak out from their buds, orange scarlet globemallow flowers, a deep purple columbine. Bottom row: yellow wallflower with flax, purple Penstemon flowers, a flower spike with the base starting to bloom purple with pink/red stamens/anthers, a few blueish-white flowers of Rocky Mountain sage.
Three cats cuddling on a black blanket. Clockwise: gray cat facing towards center of cuddle-puddle with back facing outwards stretching from 9 o'clock to 1 o'clock. Snowshoe Siamese from 2 o'clock until 5 or 6. Cream/pale-orange cat from 6 o'clock until 8 o'clock. This one is shifted so that his front legs are along the outer edge of the cuddle-puddle and his hind legs are stretched out, pushing into the gray cat.
A small, tan, grain-sized oak gall attached to the bud of a Gambel oak. There is a hole on the side of the gall where the wasp has chewed through the gall wall and is waiting inside the gall to come out. The gall is about 2-3mm long.
A camera with a Gambel oak in the background. A small arm is extending forward from the tripod to hold the tree branch steady in the breeze.
Left: a spike of yellow and pink flowers with leaves in the background. Right: three open and several closed purple columbines with a cement background.
Four tires of bearded iris flowers. To the top left is blue with white beards. Top right is mostly white with a touch of yellow at the base of beards/style arms. Bottom left is pink with purple and orange beards and some lavender in the center. Bottom right is dark purple.
A collage of flower photos. The types named in the post go from left top-to-bottom, then center top-to-bottom, and then right top-to-bottom. The flowers range from white, purple, red, yellow, orange, and blue.
Closer view of the bud gall.
Fingers holding new oak leaves apart so that you can see in the middle of the whirl of leaves is a tiny tan colored gall. It's the size of a small grain and this one has an exit-hole on the right side where the gall wasp emerged after pupation.
Columbines in the early season (like Aquilegia canadensis) and Virginia raspberry (Rubus odoratus) flowering from May-August. Penstemon hirsutus and common milkweed (Aesclepias syriaca) will bloom June-July. Either Monarda or Liatris would flower July-August and goldenrod (Solidago spp.) is important for late season pollinators.
A collage of 5 photos of flowers. Top (large) is wallflowers (Erysimum capitatum) with flax (Linum lewisii) with a gravel background. The bottom row from left to right are a purple columbine (Aquilegia sp.), black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa 'Autumn Magic'), Penstemon cardinalis, and pussy toes (Antennaria plantaginifolia).
A spreadsheet (in dark mode so black = no highlight on that cell) of all the outdoor plants in my yard. In the first column there is the family for each of the listed species/varieties. Bright yellow shows that that species (row) is in the family Asteraceae. Blue shows Fabaceae. The next 2 columns are genus and species with green being the native species, orange are the nativars, and those not highlighted are unknown or non-native. The other columns show common names, varieties, bloom period, and other traits like harvest. The spreadsheet has the shrubs and trees listed first, them the perennials and grasses. At the bottom are some stats including #of each natives/nativars/others and proportion of total diversity.
Yellow wallflowers (Erysimum capitatum) and blue flax flowers (Linum lewisii) with gravel and other plants in the background.
The large snowshoe Siamese cat (~8 yr) is digging around in a child's ball pit searching for snacks. His two younger "brothers" are sitting to the left watching this strange behavior.
Two cats relaxing on a black blanket. To the left is a gray and white cat stretching its leg towards the camera. The cat on the right is a snowshoe Siamese with a dark face except for his white chin and one side of his muzzle. Both are laying on their right sides, the gray/white cat has his head rotated to nearly being upright but the Siamese cat's head is sideways in our perspective.
Gravel with a tuft of grass (Bouteloua gracilis; blue grama grass) in the center of the photo that has a hemiparasitic plant (Castilleja integra; orange paintbrush) growing with it. There is also a branch coming from the left side and it reaches the other plants in the center of the photo. This shrub (Prunus besseyi 'P011S'; Pawnee Buttes sandcherry) has small green leaves and white flowers.
Gravel with a tiny green plant sprouting a tall (comparatively) white flower with a yellow center. It's a very large flower (~1 inch) for such a tiny plant (~1x2 inches).
Close up photo of the ground. Three purple circles show where the tiny Agastache foeniculum sprouts are starting to peak out between pieces of gravel. The sprouts are a purplish color making them blend into the shadows.