He’s fancy !! Crazy, one of the more common and widespread species in MX!
06.03.2026 03:21 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0He’s fancy !! Crazy, one of the more common and widespread species in MX!
06.03.2026 03:21 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Meet Belonocnema mesoamericana, a new species of Belonocnema that we described on Mexican live oak! This is a fun little critter that makes velvety root galls, a great find by @scottpegan.bsky.social and Alejandro Zaldívar-Riverón's team at UNAM.
jhr.pensoft.net/article/1851...
I was thrilled to find this Habronattus cambridgei hopping through leaf litter in Mexico.
#Habronattus #Salticidae #iNaturalist
Yes ! 😊
04.03.2026 16:08 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A collage of STEM elements including an orca whale, giant ground sloth, dinosaur skull, and more with text, "Adventures in Nature."
🪲 Another exciting season of Adventures in Nature Day Camp is nearly here! Whether it’s exploring dinosaurs or the nature all around us in new ways, our programs have provided decades of unique, hands-on experiences for campers.
Summer's sessions begin June 29—register today: go.nhm.org/adventures
Brown recluse spiders exonerated! In Florida, recluses are rare, much less likely to bite than other spiders, even when provoked, and the one verified bite did not produce necrosis.
10.02.2026 13:52 — 👍 190 🔁 49 💬 12 📌 3
The first article is an amazing bit of taxonomic work by David Maddison and a host of collaborators: ssbbulletin.org/article/id/5....
26.02.2026 20:21 — 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
We also provide a handy article in The Conversation!
doi.org/10.64628/AA....
I wonder indeed 😟
23.02.2026 20:47 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Looking for something Marsh-velous to do this weekend? Visit the Alabama Museum of Natural History on February 21 from 1-4 p.m. for “Family Day”! This event is a free hands-on exploration of subjects studied by The University of Alabama’s Graduate Students.
Video: UA Student Anna Mullins
One can't write about ecosystem services for long without giving dung beetles their due. So, here's my inevitable attempt to Make Dung Beetles Great Again:
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/dung-b...
#biodiversity #nature 🌐
Don’t miss the 15th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 21. 12 museums or collections will be open. A free and family friendly event, a Super Science Day, where you can talk one-on-one with the scientists. Download a map on website
biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu
Review on The Chemical Ecology of Arachnids - Morphology, Behaviour and Semiochemicals now out as PREPRINT
doi.org/10.32942/X22...
with Kirk Hillier, Lise Roy and @nicolettafaraone.bsky.social
We are grateful for any feedback to improve the review during the submission process
Map from ECMWF ensemble showing cooler than average temperatures across most of the western United States over a 5-day period about a week from now.
The first storm of the much-anticipated pattern shift brought widespread rain to CA, with some modest mountain snowfall in Sierra Nevada and points east. After a couple of quieter days, a sequence of much colder storms will follow (with much larger mountain snowfalls).
13.02.2026 20:46 — 👍 120 🔁 32 💬 3 📌 2
In my backyard this morning
Somehow makes me so happy!
The most wonderful time of the year @sandiegostate.bsky.social, when we get to celebrate the one and only Chucky D, and his incredible contributions to science. Can’t wait to visit him at Westminster Abbey next month! A few glimpses from today’s celebrations. Happy Darwin Day everyone!
13.02.2026 00:17 — 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Fellow Dipterists / systematists / ecologists, if you have not yet heard, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada is planning to eliminate the Diptera Unit at the Canadian National Collection of Insects, supposedly for financial reasons. The open letter below has been prepared by Dr. Art Borkent. If you agree with the letter, and would like to add your name in support, please follow the directions below. Message is as follows: ********************* The following is an “Open Letter” that will be presented to the Canadian press by a Member of Parliament, Ms. Elizabeth May. If you can support this petition, please send your name, full affiliation and address (including country) to Art Borkent’s email: artborkent@telus.net Your name will be added to a supporting list that will likely never be seen publicly but needs to be noted by our member of parliament. Please consider helping to stop the removal of the Diptera Unit in Ottawa, Canada. Please remember that we are writing this for the press – someone gave advice that it should be written at about the level of an intelligent 14 year old. If any of you are members of another society of specialized Dipterists or otherwise, please feel free to send this on to your other colleagues. I am hoping to have this submitted to Elizabeth May with all the signatures by Friday, Feb. 13. Time is of the essence. best wishes, Art Borkent and David Grimaldi
(Message too long for alt-text): the text of the first page of an open letter to support keeping the Diptera Unit open at the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Nematodes.
(Message too long for alt-text): the text of the second page of an open letter to support keeping the Diptera Unit open at the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Nematodes.
A sampling of output from the Diptera Unit at the CNC
From Chris Borkent: Fellow Dipterists/systematists/ecologists: Agri./Agri-Food Canada plans to eliminate the Diptera Unit at the Canadian National Collection of Insects. Dr. Art Borkent has prepared an open letter to support keeping the unit open. To sign, please read & follow the instructions here.
11.02.2026 16:53 — 👍 29 🔁 23 💬 0 📌 4
Subterranean ecosystems are key to water, climate, biodiversity & culture. But to what extent?
As part of @biodiversa.eu DarCo we demonstrate that they contribute to 75% of classified ecosystem services. Read OA in Biol Rev:
doi.org/10.1002/brv....
Illustration @jmalumbresolarte.bsky.social
Medical doctors have no particular expertise on spider bites, and absent the patient bringing in the spider in a jar, and/or a venom test, 99% of "spider bites" are something else.
Medical doctors, in the absense of knowledge, will pass along folklore just to avoid admitting they don't know.
This is great!
08.02.2026 21:10 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Interested in the ecosystem services provided by leaf-litter arthropod communities? Read all about it in the latest 'Value in nature' post: 'Hidden treasures'. #biodiversity #nature 🌐
mscaterino.pika.page/posts/hidden...
i found this little jumper yesterday in east San Diego County, and she has the most wonderful eyelashes!
08.02.2026 19:20 — 👍 118 🔁 15 💬 3 📌 0
See you all at Darwin Day next week on our beautiful @sandiegostate.bsky.social campus, featuring Dr. Jim McGuire's keynote lecture on "Darwin, Wallace, and my Own Studies on the Magical Island of Sulawesi, Indonesia"! Deets in the flyer - but please DM me if you have any questions.
05.02.2026 23:01 — 👍 11 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0Rocks ? 😂
03.02.2026 02:39 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 1
Skeleton shrimp: superior snackers
This amphipod in the family Caprellidae, has feather-like setae line several of their 18 appendages for collecting food — amphipod translates to “feet on all sides” in Greek.
#argentiniandeepseeps ~1200 meters
infographic for an insect macrophotography workshop featuring photo of a wasp
Interested in insect macrophotography? If you are in the midwest, think about attending this workshop put on by @ageofarthropods.bsky.social and myself, 2-3 May 2026 cvent.me/qK5bOo
02.02.2026 20:32 — 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0A man, with his logs, in the woods.
03.02.2026 00:14 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Siskiyou County is the best !
02.02.2026 19:35 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Reminds me of a Star Wars character that you perhaps once battled?
01.02.2026 20:33 — 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
