Akito Kawahara

Guy wearing an insect camera trap that says ask me about the open source mothbox

If you are curious about the Mothbox, I'm around #entsoc2025 talking about #openscience hardware!

Our lab is on our way to the @entsocamerica.bsky.social meeting in Portland! Very proud of all of the students in the lab who will be presenting amazing talks and posters! If you’re there, come check out their presentations!

Really great to see Jay Cheon-Sohn, former lab mate during graduate school @umaryland.edu and Smithsonian. An amazing microlepidopterist and fossil insect expert, who is visiting the McGuire Center @floridamuseum.bsky.social this week! It’s been 13 years since we last saw each other

And also our amazing international collaborators!

A few pics from our recent trip to #CostaRica to study…. #bagworms! Was super fun trip with my @floridamuseum.bsky.social students and postdoc, and @ajmongue.bsky.social and his lab. They are all so great! Would love to go again soon!

Why Does This Endangered Butterfly Thrive After Hurricanes? For Schaus’ swallowtail butterflies, the powerful storms mean clear skies and bright futures

Very cool article by Sarah Steele-Cabrera in Smithsonian Magazine on butterflies in South Florida. www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu... @floridamuseum.bsky.social

Just listened to an amazing @radiolab.bsky.social episode on Jo Nagai, a 10-year-old from Japan who made a major discovery on how butterflies learn. Touching story- his work is at university level. He speaks to me in fluent english- truly impressive for a native Japanese kid npr.org/podcasts/452...

I love this!

McGuire Volunteer Spotlight: Bob Belmont If you need any confirmation that passion is priceless – look no further than volunteer research associate Bob Belmont. After retiring from a long career in pest control, he turned to the Florida Mus...

Really nice to see this article written by @floridamuseum.bsky.social about the amazing volunteer, Bob Belmont, who donated his collection and continues to help the McGuire Center as an expert of geometrid moths! www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/support/insp...

Do you remember we found this humongous mystery caterpillar on our expedition in Cerro Hoya? Apparently, scientists don't totally know the larva or host plant of the White Witch, but Sol and Forrest just got it to pupate and proved it!! This is the WIDEST Moth on earth!!!

a vintage black and white photo of a woman in a lab coat in a small lab space handling several jars from a collection neatly lined up on work surfaces

several people are leaning over a long table in a public space, looking at the shallow wooden drawers that seem to hold rows o preserved butterflies

two women sit across a table from each other in a public space as if talking about the books of butterflies and a tray of preserved butterfly specimens

Jackie Miller’s career grew from urban warehouse to butterfly bank to jungle laboratory to largest U.S. Lepidoptera collection, but she is often appreciated for drawing people into her world of butterfly research.

🦋 More about Jackie and her husband Lee: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/reme...

Global hotspots of butterfly diversity are threatened in a warming world - Nature Ecology & Evolution Butterflies are a large, functionally important and charismatic invertebrate group. Here, the authors characterize global macroecological patterns of butterflies and project shifts in their bioclimati...

A major milestone of our >4-year effort to bring #butterfly diversity and its threat to global attention. We show most species and hotspots cluster in mountains, with #climatechange projected to erode up to 67% of the thermal niche supporting this diversity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We're hiring an education/outreach assistant to promote butterflies/moths! No need to be a student, just someone who enjoys working with the public +likes insects. Position based on UF main campus. Please forward: explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53... @floridamuseum.bsky.social @ufatwork.bsky.social

Stop collaborate and listen! 😀Yesterday was a great day for science! Thank you @standupforscience.bsky.social !The real work begins now. People are listening! We need to challenge misunderstandings and show that investment in science is crucial for our health for our economy and for our future!

The Lepidopterists' Society annual meeting will be held this year in beautiful Arizona, July 30-Aug 3! Information below about how to register. Should be a great meeting with opportunities to see rare #moths and #butterflies only found in Arizona! www.lepsoc.org/2025-annual-...

If you like butterflies and moths and want to learn more, check out the Lepidoptera Course in Portal, Arizona this summer! Information on applying can be found here - www.calacademy.org/lepidoptera-...