Jordan Rainey

Always pleased to shock and disturb!!

A termite faces off with something that looks like a Michelin man pseudoscorpion but is in fact the deformed abdomen of an aleocharine staphylinid who lives as an inquiline in the termite nest

Thanks to Jordan Rainey in the Staphylinid Madness symposium for sharing some full-color photos of the most upsetting beetle I’ve ever seen in my life

Pleased to share our latest contribution to knowledge on West Indian Staphylinidae in The Coleopterists Bulletin!
The first modern revision of West Indian Belonuchus in 82 years — 7 new species, 2 synonymies, lectotypes, illustrated keys + maps. 🌴 🪲
Read more & find paper here: tinyurl.com/3f646nnu

They do overlap pretty extremely! I’m not sure why it’s so distinct in Belonuchus. They are active fast moving predators- maybe it’s something to do with this? Extra grip or piercing power when tackling prey?

Dorsal view of Belonuchus heads. a) B. gagates, showing the impressed fovea (yellow) and the longitudinal impression (red), b) B. tenebros, new species, showing the impressed fovea (yellow).

#LiteratureNotice Rainey & Ivie. Revision of the West Indian Belonuchus Nordmann, 1837 ( #Coleoptera: #Staphylinidae: #Staphylininae) doi.org/10.1649/0010... #Beetle #Beetles #RoveBeetles #NewSpecies

FIGURES 1–9. Microblattellus kakizoei sp. nov., holotype. 1, habitus, dorsal view; 2, ditto, ventral view; 3, head and pronotum, ventral view; 4, habitus, micro-Ct scan, dorsal view; 5, ditto, lateral view; 6, ditto, ventral view; 7, head, micro-Ct scan, dorsal view; 8, ditto, lateral view; 9, ditto, ventral view

#LiteratureNotice Maruyama et al. The second species of the enigmatic genus Microblattellus Ferrer, 2006 ( #Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) from Cambodia: A possibility of termitophily in the genus doi.org/10.11646/zoo... #Beetle #Beetles #NewSpecies #DarklingBeetles .

Join us! The Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History is hiring a curatorial associate! For more information : careers.amnh.org/postings/4529

Leaf beetles that mimic ants and engage in trophallaxis! Incredible!

Really nice!!:)

A mating pair of golden orange and black/white rove beetles on a brown fern

A golden orange and black/white rove beetle on a brown fern

A top down view of a golden orange and black/white rove beetle on a brown fern

Perhaps the most beautiful rove beetle I have ever seen, Rhyncocheilus aureus, from the jungles of Trus Madi Entomology Camp in Borneo.

Dark orange ant-like wasp with long antennae and a pair of tiny silly fairy wings waving

A favorite old friend showed up yesterday evening and made me happy: the silly speedy fairy-winged cricket hunting wasp, Ms Olixon banksii 🧡
The tiny silly wings flutter when she's excited. Also she's capable of making tiny squeaking noises, which I've recorded 👀

📢New Paper: Nature-friendly agroecological practices 🚜🌱🦋can enhance biodiversity and boost some crop yields, but high costs and land-use trade-offs mean most approaches remain financially unviable @ukceh.bsky.social
Full story 👇
www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/agroeco...

For those interested in sustainable farming in the UK- please check these findings out! Happy to see it published and to have been part of this excellent project 🪲🐜🪱🚜

Image of wildflower margin in a farm field and a quote: "Without the introduction of new financial incentives, many farmers will be deterred from adopting agroecological farming practices. This could leave them locked into high input, intensive farming systems and more exposed to the impacts of pesticide resistance, declining soil health and climte change." Dr Ben Woodcock, UKCEH

Lead author Dr Ben Woodcock, UKCEH, said that agroecological methods benefit biodiversity and food security and, long-term, provide more secure farm incomes. But as habitats take several years to establish, subsidies are essential to support farmers in the shift to these sustainable systems.

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Satellite image over one of the farm sites shows difference in oilseed rape slug damage between the different farming methods

✅ Increased numbers of earthworms, pollinators and natural predators that feed on crop pests
✅ Higher soil carbon
✅ Overall increased crop yields on farmed areas due to healthier soils, greater pollination and natural pest control
❌ Cost of transition

www.ceh.ac.uk/press/nature...

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Wildflowers in an in-field strip in an arable field

Nature-friendly farming boosts both biodiversity and crop yields — but scaling it up may need more government subsidies to become as profitable as intensive agriculture, a new study led by UKCEH and @rothamsted.bsky.social has found

www.ceh.ac.uk/press/nature...

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Once, in Gorongosa NP, I thought that I had found Halucinogenia, a near-mythical Cambrian animal with spikes on its back. The creature turned out to be a caterpillar of Acridotarsa melipecta who lives as an inquiline in the colonies of the termite Schedorhinotermes lamanianus. Still cool, though.

REMOTE ROLE FOR ECOLOGISTS, NATURALISTS, AND TAXONOMIC EXPERTS at Pivotal Future in London, UNITED KINGDOM Jan 2, 2025 | Ecologists, Naturalists, and Taxonomic Experts ‍ Can you identify birds, bats or frogs from acoustic data? Or can you identify plants,... | EXPIRES IN 4 DAYS

We are still recruiting Brazilian experts in species ID at Pivotal. It's remote flexible work so a really handy side gig.

If you can identify Brazilian plants or mammals from photos, of frogs, bats or birds from audio, please apply! 🧪

www.researchgate.net/job/1018369_...

Home | Coleopterists Society of Britain and Ireland ColSoc is the Coleopterists Society of Britain and Ireland, dedicated to the study of the 4,000+ species of beetles found on these islands.

We are the Coleopterists Society of Britain and Ireland!🐞, Our aim is to further beetle research, standardise and promote recording, and to develop and encourage public awareness and conservation of the 4,000+ species of beetles found on these islands.

Check us out: www.colsoc.org

A small ring bound notebook with a line drawing of a rove beetle on it. The rove beetle is meant to be from the subfamily ‘Pselaphinae’, so it has quite chunky proportions, with a large, down-turned abdomen and exaggerated antennae (I’ve exaggerated these more than seen in actual species, with a very wide segments and a massive club on the end). The beetle is facing to the left and is lightly shaded with hatching. Above the beetle in bold, outlined writing are the words, ‘Staphylinidae’ and ‘Pselaphinae’.

Beetle doodle of the day

Yep! Spirachtha mirabilis! You are actually seeing the sternites in this dorsal view. The abdomen is recurved with the end touching the head

The side profile is even wilder!

Watch this space!

So the legs you see from above are not legs- actually psuedoappendages! Intersegmental membrane that’s gone wild. The true legs are still there but hidden below!

A velvet worm (Onychophora: Peripatidae) in Chiriqí (Panamá). I was incredibly amazed to find this specimen under a bunch of logs and stones, but had to suppress my urge to frantically turn logs after realizing how dangerous some snakes in the area are...

(Image by Ales Bucek)

Taking Bluesky for a spin. New phd and new platform! I recently completed my masters in Montana and moved to Czech Republic to join the Insect Symbiosis Lab! Check out some of the beetles I’m working with - they’re crazy looking.

Beetle left, termite right.

bucek-lab.org/projects/Ale...