Mark Gurney

Photo montage of Tinamus resonans sp. nov., a new species of tinamou from the montane forests of the Serra do Divisor, western Amazonia, Brazil. The species is distinguished by a unique combination of plumage pattern, vocal repertoire, and ecological characteristics, including a conspicuous dark slate facial mask, vivid rufous-cinnamon underparts, and a uniform brownish-gray back. Its vocalizations are remarkable, consisting of long and powerful songs that echo strikingly across the steep montane slopes, producing a characteristic resonant effect. The species was documented exclusively at higher elevations within a transitional zone between submontane and stunted forests, where the understory is densely structured by root mats. A preliminary population estimate, based on field detections and spatial extrapolation, suggests approximately 2,106 individuals restricted to the Serra do Divisor massif. Although no immediate anthropogenic pressures were observed within its range, the species may be highly vulnerable to climate change and to proposed infrastructure projects that threaten the integrity of this federally protected region. The discovery of T. resonans highlights the biological uniqueness of the Serra do Divisor, reinforces its status as a center of montane endemism, and underscores the critical importance of maintaining its long-term conservation.

Huge News from the Western Amazon: it's the year 2025 and we are still describing entirely new, strikingly-distinctive large-bodied bird species! Behold Tinamus resonans sp. nov. the Slaty-masked Tinamou mapress.com/zt/article/v... #Ornithology @tetzoo.bsky.social 🪶

EARLY VIEW in IBIS

A new species of jewel-babbler (Cinclosomatidae: Ptilorrhoa) from the Southern Fold Mountains of Papua New Guinea | onlinelibrary.wiley....

Iain A. Woxvold, Banak G. Gamui, Leo Legra, Samson Yama, Bonny Koane, Salape Tulai | #ornithology 🪶

🦢 What a swan’s 570km U-turn could tell us about water, wetlands, and a changing climate.... www.linkedin.com/posts/kane-b...

Might be good for plant spp. richness, but I'm not sure mowing field margins every 6 weeks in spring & summer is going to be helpful for other farmland biodiversity. Seems a perfect way to repeatedly destroy every breeding attempt of ground-nesting birds, small mammals or butterflies that use them.

Illustrations of five identical looking small black weevils next to their dissected aedeagus. There are also illustrations of three dissected aedeagi, none of which is an exact match for the illustrations of the five species.

From the paper, the four British species plus betulae, which might be here too. I've added the aedeagus from three specimens I have. My two from willows look like they might be crypticus. The one from hawthorn looks like to me like subaeneus, but the weevil is not metallic so must be oxyacanthae.

A tiny black weevil with its head ticked under its head and large eyes on the top of the head. The antennae look like they come out in the front of the eyes. It is a Rhamphus flea weevil, but we do not know which species. They are cute but difficult.

Exciting news: we have a new British flea weevil.
Less exciting news: it is a Rhamphus.

I still don't understand how to tell them all apart.

Even so, this is a very useful paper:

www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/16...

Six new Palaearctic species and a review of diagnostic characters. #coleoptera

Large citizen science datasets are powerful tools for biodiversity science, but they may have biases. Nice new paper from @louisbackstrom.bsky.social et al. showing that for eBird and Birdtrack lists there is a tendency for rare species to be over-represented
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

One for the occasional series of #ornithology papers you need in your life but might not have read - Common/Spotted Sandpiper flight style as an antipredator behaviour.
academic.oup.com/auk/article-...

Solanum revealed 2 species: nigrum & nitidibaccatum, Black & Green Nightshade. Apart from the obvious berry colour, it always remained possible that Green Nightshade could have been unripe berries.
Green= sepal lobes expand as the berries mature
Black= stays the same

A middle-aged man with a bald head sits in front of bookshelves filled with scientific and academic texts in what appears to be a home office or study. He's wearing a dark grey jumper and has a slight smile whilst looking directly at the camera.

Can species reintroductions harm biodiversity rather than help it? Are we using reintroductions as a distraction from the real drivers of our nature crisis? Listen to my conversation with the one and only @alexanderlees.bsky.social 🌍🦤🧪🪶

➡️ pod.fo/e/32fae6

An Intergeneric Hybrid Between Historically Isolated Temperate and Tropical Jays Following Recent Range Expansion | doi.org/10.1002/ece3... | Ecology and Evolution | #ornithology 🪶

How to find Mogulones crucifer:
The weevil is native to Europe/West Asia, but has been introduced to North America to control its host (Cynoglossum officinale; Hound's Tongue) which is invasive there.

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...

Crazy discovery in ants 🤯🐜

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants | Nature
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"Males from the same mother exhibit distinct genomes and morphologies, as they belong to species that diverged over 5 million years ago."

If you want to identify, well, anything, I recommend this post from @weevil-see.bsky.social. His choice of weevils to illustrate it is of course excellent, but it applies to everything from mushrooms to marsupials. This is how you can be a good identifier of things.

[Link contains spider]

YouTube video by owen reiser LISTERS: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching

Top film. The smartest look at this subject I've ever seen. Also funny and sweary.

youtu.be/zl-wAqplQAo?...

Thought I'd post something about separating Nysius senecionis and graminicola, as both are now widespread. The features to focus on are the extent of the matt field of the evaporatory area (the brown bit) and the length of the 1st hind tarsal segment relative to the 2nd and 3rd.

At #EOU2025 @eounion.bsky.social conference next week, we'll show new evidence implicating forestry in declines of British Marsh Tits during the era of woodland conversion in 1950/60s-1980s.
This was period of steepest decline in Marsh Tits. Why? What was going on back then? #ornithology 1/5

We just published a new issue of #BritishandIrishBotany, our Open Access online journal.
7 papers for you to enjoy inc Lady's-slipper orchid reintroductions; variation in Restharrows; a new Comfrey hybrid for UK; montane plants; sea-grapes new to Europe!
bsbipublicity.blogspot.com/2025/08/brit...

Map of UK and Ireland illustrating broad habitats in the UK and Northern Ireland as classified by the UKCEH Land Cover Map

Broad habitats from the UKCEH Land Cover Map for an area around Norwich in England

Broad habitats from the UKCEH Land Cover Map for an area more zoomed in around Norwich in England

NEW! The latest UKCEH Land Cover Map, describing the UK land surface in 2024, is now available 🏞️ 🌳

See what broad habitats—ranging from broadleaved woodland and arable land to freshwater and urban areas— there are and where in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

#LandCover #LCM

🧵🧪 1/

Also, white stork is doing very well on the continent (partly due to reintroductions), see fe breeding trend in the Netherlands ((c) @sovonvogels.bsky.social ). No doubt this population outbreak will spread to the UK. Better to use limited funding for conservation to species that really need it.

Most weevils have a snout, elbowed antennae & a heart-shaped foot—making them easy to recognise (with a few exceptions). 🪲

Learn more for free with @markgurn.bsky.social:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1491232379...

#Weevils 🧪
@amentsoc.bsky.social @britentsoc.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social

YouTube video by Bill Sutherland's Conservation Concepts Host-specific broomrapes: the role of strigolactone cocktails

How do broomrapes find their hosts? How can they specialise on different hosts? Enter the astonishing world of strigolactones
. youtu.be/mUp9n_RW2eg?...

Absolutely incredible turnout for Budapest Pride! So proud of all the organizers, including some old friends, who estimate hundreds of thousands— major embarrassment to Orban

Front cover of the Field Mycology journal, with a photo of Chromocyphella muscicola by Peter R. Smith

The BMS's Field Mycology journal is now available to all on a new, open access online platform. Find out more, and visit the journal website to read the latest articles and access back issues here: www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/fm-journal.h...

It looks like Lasiorhynchites to me.

Birds of the World - AviList: A Unified Global Checklist of the World’s Birds is Now Available AviList, a unified global checklist of birds, that provides the most current and authoritative taxonomy of birds around the world was released today by experts in taxonomy, nomenclature, and bioinform...

A monumental taxonomy unification effort has just been published - thanks to all those who've collaborated for years to make this happen!
birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/avi...

Yes, it is another Philopedon plagiatum.

Has the Nechisar Nightjar Mystery Been Solved? - American Birding Association The authors of a new study believe they have solved one of the world’s great rare bird mysteries: the case of the Nechisar Nightjar, Caprimulgus solala.

Has the Nechisar Nightjar Mystery Been Solved?

A fascinating summary on the identity of the mysterious single wing found in Ethiopia in 1990.

www.aba.org/has-the-nech...

#birds #birding #ornithology @aba.org

Careful design of Large Language Model pipelines enables expert-level retrieval of evidence-based information from syntheses and databases Wise use of evidence to support efficient conservation action is key to tackling biodiversity loss with limited time and resources. Evidence syntheses provide key recommendations for conservation deci...

We trained 10 large language models with 6 retrieval strategies then compared all of these with our experts with access to literature. Well-trained LLMs won! General LLMs without extra training are likely to perform poorly and misinform decision-makers
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Three common inferential errors when investigating context dependence in ecology. Consider a test of context dependence in its most basic form: a 2 × 2 factorial experiment, measuring an ecological response Y, to the crossing of factors X and Z, each with two levels. The analyst fits a statistical model with an interaction term to the data: Y ~ X + Z + X × Z, to test for and quantify context dependence. Three inferential errors are possible when the measurement scale or symmetry of the interaction are overlooked: detection and magnitude (Type D), sign (Type S) and misidentification of underlying processes (Type A).

Since we are still talking about interactions, I worked with some ecologists a couple of years ago on measurement scale, interactions and interpretation issues. I think some problems arise from failure to distinguish prediction from inference, a chronic problem in ecology imo doi.org/10.1111/brv....