「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」 @The_Episiarch Twitter profile

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

3 years

Hey y'all, if you're a new follower or just passing through, here's where you can look on my works, ye Twitter: You can find me writing about parasites here: And sometimes I draw Parasite Monster Girls (and other things too) here:

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 months

Thank you Japan, for making gashapon toys of ectoparasitic insects

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

Every time one of those "alpha male" dudes eat raw flesh from a wild animal

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

Transversotrematid flukes have free-swimming larvae which are just lil' dudes - - -

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 months

Look - it's just a lil' guy! This is the larval stage of Transversotrema hafniensis, it belongs to a family called Transversotrematidae and the adult fluke lives underneath the scales of fishes

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

This year is the tenth anniversary of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. As a long time fan, this is my take on how a lot of people and the anime industry seem to have responded to it.

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

There it is. The Giant Permian Pizza-Cutter

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

went for a walk and came across this black parade of goth emo sawfly babbys

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

Apparently WaPo has asked a 16 year old nihilistic edgelord to write an op-ed piece about biodiversity

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

i lied. i dont like sex. put your clothes back on. i just wanted an excuse to visit Hotel Artia DInosaur, the dinosaur-themed love hotel

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

Sea cucumbers have all kinds of things living in them (usually up their butts), but here's a sea cucumber that lives on a deep sea anglerfish. This single, short paper is the sum total of humanity's knowledge about this species

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

Just a reminder that there's a parasitoid wasp out there which has a fake ant on its butt

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

❌❌Friendship ended with Jurassic Park franchise,❌❌ 🤝 Now DINOSAUR SANCTUARY is my best friend 🤝

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

So, I've been reading about the history of Project OXCART and the Blackbird

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

Epomis beetle larvae, essentially

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 months

The sculpt of this crab louse is so good

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

Siphonophores, such as Portuguese man o' war, are colonial organisms made out of an aggregate of multiple individuals, each of them differentiated to serve a different function in the colony. Here's how sharks would look if they are like siphonophores.

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

5 years

Hey so when someone with lycanthropy gets infected with hydatid tapeworms, does the tapeworm treat them as the definitive host or an intermediate host? I NEED TO KNOW AND THE CDC WON'T TELL ME

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

Frogs are the hottest new accessories this season for all the fashionable buffaloes out there

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

6 years

Why does it look like this velvet worm either: - wants belly scritches - is trying to seduce me

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

...and they infect their hosts (fish) by performing this gymnastic routine

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

Sign me up for Bathynomus patting sessions plz thnx

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

10 months

Snakes are commonly parasitised by ticks, but this particular species - Amblyomma nitidum - is a specialist on sea snakes and has followed its hosts into the sea, making it one of the few species of marine ticks

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

Told my students about swimming feather stars and crawling crinoids today because more people should appreciate them

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

This monogenean parasite (Diclidophora merlangi) looks as if it's nervously asking you out 😳👉👈

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

5 years

"LOOK AT THESE EGGS" "..." "THEY'RE GOOD EGGS"

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

I'm gonna be explaining flatworm phylogeny to zoology students in a few months

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 months

@JackS_1919 It's from a gashapon toy line called "harmful/pest insects" and the full line-up looks like this

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

I've written a post about Leucochloridium passeri - a lesser known (but still visually striking) cousin of Leucochloridium paradoxum, i.e. the "Zombie snail parasite" or "Green-banded broodsac" 🐌

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

This whole paper is literally just: "CHECK OUT THIS FREAKY TICK IT'S GOT TWO BUTTS"

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

Hate ticks? Well, you're gonna LOVE Ixodiphagus hookeri - it's a parasitoid wasp that does the whole xenomorph chest-burster trick on those blood-suckers. (they also seem to inadvertently inject the ticks with Wolbachia bacteria too?)

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

That hyped-up Thylacine "reveal" is gonna be like

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

11 months

Elephant seals can dive to ludicrous depths (~2000 m below sea level) and their lice (Lepidophthirus macrorhini) can also survive the crushing pressure that comes with living on such a host

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

Putting together this fresh seafood platter...

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

When someone post photo of cute bug, 🐛🐞🪲🕷️🦗 And you respond by "BURN IT WITH FIRE", 🔥 ~ That's a- CRINGE ~ 😑

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

6 years

Hey y'all, it's a goddamn DINOSAUR TICK Hold everything because this is THE palaeontological discovery of the year right here

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

If I was a big shot prof studying C. elegans at a prestigious university, I would simply grow a sense of humour

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

@franzanth @MaureenBug @foodskop @ChelseaHerps @millerlab @nuDocES @webmz_ @Barr_lab All those times when I've feared for my safety because of a passing car full of hooligans yelling slurs at me, or when I was being ridiculed because of my ethnicity, I should have thought: "Wow, this must be what it's like to be a C. elegans researcher"

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

6 months

Mimomyia elegans is a generalist mosquito that sucks blood from a variety of different animals. But when it is feeding on frogs, it only sucks blood from their nostrils 🐸🦟

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

I've written a post about Dendrogaster nike, a parasitic crustacean named after Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. It lives inside the body cavity of sea stars from the deep sea - from almost 2 km below sea level.

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

Sure, it's fun to talk about carcinisation and evolving into a crab, But they don't tell you about the next stage of carcinisation, which is where you end up living up a sea turtle's butt 🐢🍑🦀 - - -

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

6 months

Oh look, it's Gregor

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

Women want me Fish want me Tunicates want me The entire Chordata phylum has placed a bounty on my head I must seek refuge among the invertebrate phyla

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

@MaureenBug This is not a typical specimen, but I've come across a paper which is basically "we found this one freaky tick that's got TWO butts"

「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

This whole paper is literally just: "CHECK OUT THIS FREAKY TICK IT'S GOT TWO BUTTS"

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

Snail- but make it parasitic, 🐌🐌🐌🐌 I've written a post about Caledoniella montrouzieri - a parasitic snail that lives on the mantis shrimp, and how it turned from a discrete roommate into a clingy blood-sucking parasite.

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

Jurassic Park (1993) #kemono_friends #けものフレンズ

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

I gave a lecture about nematodes today which can best be summarised as this

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

Meet the spider-attacking parasitoid wasp that has what appears to be a fake ant's head on its butt

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

"What if rare and iconic Yangtze River animals - but they CHUB? Just absolutely total MEGA-CHONKERS?"

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

Since people are talking about scientific diagrams that look like shitposts, allow me to introduce you to the glorious goldmines that are Claude Combes' wonderful parasitology books

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

The dinosaur palaeoart community is just like mobile game and anime fandom in that every time a new popular character is announced, everyone rush to make fan art of that character until they move on to something else a two weeks later.

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

Oh hai there, fellow nudibranch! *SLURP*

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

People have this image of "savage carnivores & peaceful herbivores" - when it's often the opposite. Carnivores have to kill to eat, but they spend the rest of their time chilling. Meanwhile, herbivorous animals are some of the most angry and most dangerous MFers on the planet.

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

8 years

TFW a bee flew up your nose

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

6 years

A guide to Twitter: Tweet = things you want your followers to see right now, but they might see it 7 hours later RT = things you want your followers to see, but they might not end up seeing it Likes = things you didn't intend your followers to see, but they'll see it anyway

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

8 months

Essentially, the tapeworm body plan is a head (the scolex, which is also its attachment organ) followed by a series of reproductive organs at different stages of sexual maturity

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

Always be checking out some WAP Weird Ass Polychaetes - - -

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

Gastric-brooding frog

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 months

@FreyaTheWolf I have an isopod gashapon toy too, but mine doesn't curl up

「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

9 months

When it's Real Isopod Hour again

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

Sclerodermus is a genus of parasitoid wasps that engage in parental care. Sometimes a few female wasps would get together to raise their offspring on the body of beetle larva, like in a co-op crèche - - -

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

You might be a big badass swordfish speeding through the ocean and slashing through everything in your way, But that doesn't stop this copepod from burrowing into your noggin tho

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

I've written a post about Rickia wasmannii - a fungus that manipulates ant behaviour. 🍄🐜 Unlike Ophiocordyceps, it doesn't zombify or kill ants, instead, it makes them less aggro towards other ants

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

6 years

Not Spicy Mild 🌶️ Spicy 🌶️🌶️ Extra Spicy 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Bombardier Beetle 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🤮

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

still one of my favourite tumblr posts

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

Cancelling plans is okay. Taking time off is okay. Liking tentacles is okay. Having a temporary exoskeleton is okay. Radical morphological transformation after contacting a conspecific is okay. Melding your body into that of a fecund partner is okay. do what u need to do to cope

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

an amazing sight to see all those majestic rolls of toilet paper returning to their natural habitats on the shelves. nature is healing

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

Ah, the two personalities: Introvert and Ribs of papillae

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

THAR SHE BLOWS!! 🐳 I've written a post about Stenurus - a genus of nematode worms which dwell in the lungs and sinuses of whales. 🪱🪱🐬🪱🪱

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

I've found it - the nematode version of Kot. It's called Heth pivari and it lives in the intestine of millipedes

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

YEEEEEAAAAH Golden Kamuy is BACK

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

Despite the meme, the most common body form for crustaceans to evolve into is in fact NOT CRABS, but ELDRITCH COSMIC HORRORS. - - - -

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

5 months

Looks like this is going to be the year when I lose respect for palaeontologists for using Generative AI garbage instead of hiring an artist. Hell, just find a Creative Commons or Public Domain picture off WIkipedia ffs

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

@BiologyCarly when I was hanging out at the lab until about midnight in order to get my hands on a bag of whale guts from the back of a pick-up truck

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

5 years

Kemono Friends (2017)

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

Alpaca #RPK16 #GirlsFrontline

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

5 years

When I read a paper about a newly described species of dinosaur

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

is this how that meme works

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

@bedupolker @franzanth feeling like pure shit just want her back

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

Worms?! NO, CLAMS Shipworms are worm-shaped bivalves that have evolved to feed on wood - they have symbiotic bacteria in their gills, which allow them to produce enzymes that digest wood.

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

"A series of laugh and grow fat"

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

Roses are red These isopods are blue (or violet) That's because they're infected With a type of iridovirus (or two)

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

What if a fish has evolved to live like a mesoparasitic barnacle? #SundayFishSketch #SpecEvo

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

Hagfish up the blowhole: not sure if accidental or just another new dolphin kink

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

Picture an Isopod - so like a woodlouse or Bathynomus or whatever, right? This (Entoniscus creplinii) is also an Isopod, because evolution doesn't give a fuck. [D is the isopod extending its tendril into the host crab's leg]

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

Melonopods? Cephalopodemelons? 🍈🦑🍈🐙 Whatever you call them, I love these melon + cephalopod hybrid creatures created by @PonkichiM !

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

The Hooded Nudibranch (Melibe leonina) would like a few words with you about those uninspired alien creature designs

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

"Dinosaur"

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

7 years

I'm just an ordinary parasitologist who blogs about parasites & draws them as Monster Girls

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

4 years

OMG OMG you can do a virtual tour of the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno now!!!!

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

2 years

this monogenean parasite (Neoheterobothrium affine) just evolved into those sticky hand toys?

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

8 years

Once in a while, I remind ppl that scientists once found a pair of eels in a shark's heart

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 months

Heard you like worms, so here's a worm that lives in a worm. I've written a post about Veneriserva pygoclava - a polychaete worm which has evolved a tapeworm-like body in order to live inside sea mice, which are another type of polychaete worm

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

6 years

Parasitic copepods: still on their bullshit being total weirdos

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

3 years

@troodonvet @franzanth yeah so Anthrax does this tricky thing where they promote grass growth and so attract herbivores into grazing near their spores

Interactions between Bacillus anthracis and Plants May Promote Anthrax Transmission

Author Summary Anthrax is a neglected zoonotic disease affecting livestock, wildlife, and humans in developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, and it occurs regularly in rural parts of...

journals.plos.org

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「VεεLoΧΧγ・BITΞƧ」

@The_Episiarch

1 year

Immunologists at unmasked immunology conference/covid superspreader event listening to a presentation about how t-cells respond to viral infections