Just wanted to share . . .

[voluptuary_manque]

I don't think there's any plot bunny in this but you have to admit it's a spectacular photo.



http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii177/1volupturary_manque/Praying-Alive-016.jpg

 

[Stella_Omega]

Looks like an instectizoid centaur ballet dancer all ready to pirouette...

A Brian Froud daydream come to life... Gorgeous, gorgeous photo!

Don't forget to visit NASA's picture of the day site, too. This morning it's the MIlky Way as seen from the Southern Hemisphere

 

[jomar]

Great pic and cool bug. I am always amazed at all the wonderful and strange creatures on this planet.

 

[trysail]

I don't think there's any plot bunny in this but you have to admit it's a spectacular photo.



http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii177/1volupturary_manque/Praying-Alive-016.jpg

Agreed.


I presume that it is either a praying mantis or a relation. Are these not the creatures where the females have a rather nasty habit of killing and consuming the males immediately following copulation?

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Looks like an instectizoid centaur ballet dancer all ready to pirouette...

A Brian Froud daydream come to life... Gorgeous, gorgeous photo!

Don't forget to visit NASA's picture of the day site, too. This morning it's the MIlky Way as seen from the Southern Hemisphere

Man, that's even better than the views I've gotten in Africa. Gorgeous sky. Makes me want to move out of the city . . . a long ways out!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Agreed.


I presume that it is either a praying mantis or a relation. Are these not the creatures where the females have a rather nasty habit of killing and consuming the males immediately following copulation?

Sometimes she doesn't wait until he's finished. Not that it matters. If she starts eating at his head while he's still attached, fertilization continues so he's fulfilled his biological function.

 

[trysail]

Sometimes she doesn't wait until he's finished. Not that it matters. If she starts eating at his head while he's still attached, fertilization continues so he's fulfilled his biological function.

Easy for you to say !



There's reason for pre-nuptial agreements !

 

[trysail]

Cool new dino:

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/09/24/talos_custom.jpg?t=1316867086&s=4​

September 24, 2011
Researchers made quite a find this week in Utah: a new species of raptor dinosaur. The ancient creature, a meat-eater, was small and fast, with talon-like toes.

"These animals were incredibly fast, incredibly intelligent and some of them wielded very significant claws and sharp teeth," Dr. Lindsay Zanno of the New University of Wisconsin tells NPR's Scott Simon. Zanno led the dig team that made the discovery.

Zanno named the species Talos Sampsoni after her friend and colleague, Dr. Scott Sampson, also known as "Dr. Scott" on the television series, Dinosaur Train. Talos Sampsoni was feathered and about 5-feet long and about 2-and-a-half feet at the hips, Zanno says. "Definitely an overgrown vicious Labrador retriever-sized animal," she says.

more...
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/24/140752939/scientists-find-a-new-kind-of-raptor

Abstract

Background
Troodontids are a predominantly small-bodied group of feathered theropod dinosaurs notable for their close evolutionary relationship with Avialae. Despite a diverse Asian representation with remarkable growth in recent years, the North American record of the clade remains poor, with only one controversial species—Troodon formosus—presently known from substantial skeletal remains.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Here we report a gracile new troodontid theropod—Talos sampsoni gen. et sp. nov.—from the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation, Utah, USA, representing one of the most complete troodontid skeletons described from North America to date. Histological assessment of the holotype specimen indicates that the adult body size of Talos was notably smaller than that of the contemporary genus Troodon. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Talos as a member of a derived, latest Cretaceous subclade, minimally containing Troodon, Saurornithoides, and Zanabazar. MicroCT scans reveal extreme pathological remodeling on pedal phalanx II-1 of the holotype specimen likely resulting from physical trauma and subsequent infectious processes.

Conclusion/Significance
Talos sampsoni adds to the singularity of the Kaiparowits Formation dinosaur fauna, which is represented by at least 10 previously unrecognized species including the recently named ceratopsids Utahceratops and Kosmoceratops, the hadrosaurine Gryposaurus monumentensis, the tyrannosaurid Teratophoneus, and the oviraptorosaurian Hagryphus. The presence of a distinct troodontid taxon in the Kaiparowits Formation supports the hypothesis that late Campanian dinosaurs of the Western Interior Basin exhibited restricted geographic ranges and suggests that the taxonomic diversity of Late Cretaceous troodontids from North America is currently underestimated. An apparent traumatic injury to the foot of Talos with evidence of subsequent healing sheds new light on the paleobiology of deinonychosaurians by bolstering functional interpretations of prey grappling and/or intraspecific combat for the second pedal digit, and supporting trackway evidence indicating a minimal role in weight bearing.


Citation: Zanno LE, Varricchio DJ, O'Connor PM, Titus AL, Knell MJ (2011) A New Troodontid Theropod, Talos sampsoni gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Western Interior Basin of North America. PLoS ONE 6(9): e24487. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024487


more...
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0024487

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Wow! I think there could be a plot bunny, here. SweetWitch was inspired by cicadas after all. Maybe she'd like to give it a whirl.

Stella: A Froud daydream or wet dream? I have giddy chills just picturing what the master could do with this as inspiration. Did you ever use the cicada wings for a creation? I'd love to see pictures.

Those photos from NASA make me slightly homesick for another place. Stunning!

 

[trysail]

I've been there. Sights such as this are one of the reasons we sailormen go sailing.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1109/MangaiaMW_tezel900.jpg​

 

[estragon]

Wow! I think there could be a plot bunny, here. SweetWitch was inspired by cicadas after all. Maybe she'd like to give it a whirl.

Stella: A Froud daydream or wet dream? I have giddy chills just picturing what the master could do with this as inspiration. Did you ever use the cicada wings for a creation? I'd love to see pictures.

Those photos from NASA make me slightly homesick for another place. Stunning!

Definite plot bunny. Summer evening, Long Island out near Montauk, man meets lady, whole sex thing, lady turns into mantis and dances, man flees but....

Any takers?

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

No plot bunny?

Clearly, none of you watched Buffy, else you'd remember the episode Teacher's Pet, which featured a super hot science teacher/giant praying mantis who preyed on unsuspecting teenaged boys....

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Ewwww . . .


I loved the movie but could never get into the television version. Still, given that parallel world, I'm not surprised by a teenager-vore. Not surprised at all.

 

[TE999]

I don't think there's any plot bunny in this but you have to admit it's a spectacular photo.



http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii177/1volupturary_manque/Praying-Alive-016.jpg

Au contraire, Big Bruin. I wrote a tale about a lady mantis-like creature who preyed on her 'clients'. It didn't go over well with the readers, though. Somehow the idea of getting fucked, then devoured doesn't appeal to most people.

Here it is:http://www.literotica.com/s/mimicry

 

[Stella_Omega]

Wow! I think there could be a plot bunny, here. SweetWitch was inspired by cicadas after all. Maybe she'd like to give it a whirl.

Stella: A Froud daydream or wet dream? I have giddy chills just picturing what the master could do with this as inspiration. Did you ever use the cicada wings for a creation? I'd love to see pictures.

Those photos from NASA make me slightly homesick for another place. Stunning!

You know what? I don't think I ever got the wings! Oh grr.

 

[rgraham666]

Gorgeous pic, vm.

Used to keep praying mantises as pets when I was a kid. Fascinating creatures.

 

[SweetWitch]

Agreed.


I presume that it is either a praying mantis or a relation. Are these not the creatures where the females have a rather nasty habit of killing and consuming the males immediately following copulation?

Sometimes she doesn't wait until he's finished. Not that it matters. If she starts eating at his head while he's still attached, fertilization continues so he's fulfilled his biological function.

As I recall from biology class, the male cannot copulate until his head is eaten. He has to be under the terrible duress of being murdered in order to get a hard-on and release his vital seed. How's that for a plot bunny?

Wow! I think there could be a plot bunny, here. SweetWitch was inspired by cicadas after all. Maybe she'd like to give it a whirl.

Stella: A Froud daydream or wet dream? I have giddy chills just picturing what the master could do with this as inspiration. Did you ever use the cicada wings for a creation? I'd love to see pictures.

Those photos from NASA make me slightly homesick for another place. Stunning!

It was hard not to be inspired when they were coming at my in quadrophonic sound.