Robyn

I am delighted that the babies grew so fast I thought that they died (they were pupating in the soil) and today emerged as the first adult purple loosestrife beetles ever in New Zealand! We will work towards gaining final permission to release them in Spring/Summer #biocontrol #weeds #entomology

No, they were sterlised at the USA end. We had to give it our best shot to prevent gregarines arriving at the facility. We have some frozen USA adults if you have time/funding/capacity to compare to the NZ hatched. (or I could bring back more when I go to the USA)

Interesting that they do this, it must be an anti predator deterrent or camoflauge. It didn't appear that the larvae were eating it at emergence.

Frass :( poo :( high chance of gregarines spreading to newly hatched larvae but we've tried our best to bleach clean & transfer to fresh leaves ASAP. Fingers crossed

tiny larvae on a leaf

The takoyakis are hatching! The little octopus tentacles are crawling around! #biocontrol #beetles #entomology

My purple loosestrife #beetle eggs arrived but they look more like takoyaki or profiteroles. Bet you can't tell them apart. #biocontrol #entomology #weedcontrol

New EPA Approvals Exciting news! We have five new release approvals from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

I am too excited to concentrate on work or sleep, because the #biocontrol #beetles for this invasive plant arrive in NZ for the first time tomorrow. I can't wait to meet & work with them. #entomology

Yes, you can store data on a bird — enthusiast converts PNG to bird-shaped waveform, teaches young starling to recall file at up to 2MB/s A music and science lover has demonstrated the capacity of birds to store and retrieve digital image data.

Storing data in a bird.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/yes-you-can-store-data-on-a-bird-enthusiast-converts-png-to-bird-shaped-waveform-teaches-young-starling-to-recall-file-at-up-to-2mb-s

People riding bikes along a canal in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Posts about urban biking in Dutch cities are routinely replied to with something like “well, they have the big advantage of being relatively flat.”

The Dutch also have the big advantage of not constantly making excuses about why they can’t make clearly smarter decisions.

💯 this and this from @peterkdearden.bsky.social: "If you don’t want to spend millions of dollars managing the last of a species- don’t destroy their habitat for a quick buck."

Spending my morning contributing to science and submitting every thing I can find in my yard #CityNatureChallenge #iNaturalist

Lacebugs also eating me out of house and home, luckily they're off to Vanuatu again next month. Look at them twerking! www.landcareresearch.co.nz/news/vanuatu... #entomology #insects #bugs #biocontrol #invasivespecies

Air potato beetle larvae eating me out of house and home. Great natural enemies to fight this tropical weed. Off to Niue again soon! www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications...

Packing up a shipment of flea beetles to send another batch to Tonga to help fight one of the most invasive trees in the world. www.sprep.org/news/arrival... #biocontrol #entomology

Is this the world's first kowhai moth detecting cat?!? I'm collecting larvae at home to rear at the lab for an ecology project. Pepper helps find the ones that drop to the ground. #entomology #predatorfreenz #kowhai #bugs #catswithjobs #indoorcat

Lace bugs under the microscope. I maintain a colony to help fight an invasive pasture weed in Vanuatu. www.landcareresearch.co.nz/news/lace-bu... #entomology #biologicalcontrol #biocontrol #climatechange #vanuatu

Collecting eggs and prepping the air potato beetles colony for the next Niue release www.landcareresearch.co.nz/news/beetle-...
#biocontrol #entomology #niue #weeds #ecology

Still got time to register for the Invasomics 2.0 in Wellington! Join us to find out the latest on the use of genomics to unravel Invasion pathways, mechanisms and detections! Deets-> www.invasomics.com/invasomics2
Rego closes 24 Jan.

I don't mind working through the summer break because I get to look after these beauties! www.landcareresearch.co.nz/news/vanuatu...
#beetles #biocontrol #NaturalEnemiesNaturalSolutions

Photos extracted from the video showing a male Northern Cardinal using pieces of gravel to strike its reflection in the passenger-side mirror of a vehicle parked in the Big Creek Ranger Station parking lot, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee.

From the current WJO issue: Agonistic tool use? A Northern Cardinal uses pebbles to strike its reflection. #ornithology https://meridian.allenpress.com/wjo/article/136/4/492/503146/Agonistic-tool-use-A-Northern-Cardinal-Cardinalis

Trail cam image of a feral cat carrying a kingfisher in its mouth

Advertising for an MSc student to work on a feral cat management project - stipend + domestic fees for research year. @aucklanduni.bsky.social Working with different iwi & community partners. More details here: stanleylab.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/opportunities/

Weed Biocontrol – What's New? Newsletter providing project updates on our applied and underpinning research, and information for end-users to help with the implementation and assessment of biocontrol activities

Latest issue of 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 – 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘄?
This newsletter provides project updates on our applied and underpinning research, and information for end-users to help with the implementation and assessment of biocontrol activities.
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blueish beetle

bronzeish beetle

Some of the pupae from last week have emerged, hungry for some host testing. www.landcareresearch.co.nz/discover-our...
Gathering extra data for the EPA application to release biocontrol beetles for Chilean flame creeper

beetle pupae under the microscope

beetle pupae under the microscope

Today I'm learning how to sex the pupae of Chilean flame creeper leaf beetles (Blaptea elguetai) in preparation for host specificity. I hadn't realised how hairy but cute they are. www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications...