Antonia 🦋🐞

Chocolate plants may have parasitoid wasp pollinators!!! Wow!!!

Black-and-white portrait of an elderly man with a bald head and a long, full white beard. He faces the camera directly with a serious, contemplative expression. Deep lines mark his forehead and cheeks. He wears a dark, heavy coat, and the plain, softly lit background keeps attention on his face. The photograph has visible scratches and wear,

"There is grandeur in this view of life - that from so simple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." Happy birthday to the only and only Charles Darwin. 🧪

Very cool!

Volara Polyethylene Foam Lining display cases, drawers, shelves, boxes and other storage containers with our Type A Volara will protect your collection for years to come. Volara is an archival safe polyethylene foam, crosslin...

The supplier we previously used doesn't seem to be in business. We haven't tried this company but they might have the foam: www.carrmclean.ca/volara-polye...

Leafcutter bee visiting a pink flower to collect nectar (photo taken by Sage Handler)

New DNA metabarcoding results show the distribution of cavity nesting #bees & #wasps, & their food sources, from schools across 🇨🇦. This community science work, led by Sage Handler, reveals network links among plants, #pollinators, parasites, predators & prey doi.org/10.3897/mbmg... @mbmg.pensoft.net

I’m a Toronto East ender too!

Snow covered picnic table, shed, yard, fence and trees

#toronto, #snowstorm won’t be using the back door anytime soon! The front isn’t any better

The new dinosaur exhibit is open at the @romtoronto.bsky.social and it's very cool! My friend saw this picture and asked if the dinosaur on the left was licking the one on the right, and while it's actually his tail, tbh I like the idea of defeating your enemy with the power of being super creepy

Black background with white text and an elephant wearing a mask towards the upper left-hand corner: “Spotlight: Masking as an Equity Practice Let's talk about the Elephant in the Room...high-quality masks are a tiny tool with big equity energy this respiratory illness season. Coughing, sneezing, fever, chills, and aches... Ontario's wastewater confirms that it's rough out there! Take it from the Middlesex-London Health Unit (Nov. 25 2025): "Staying home when feeling unwell and encouraging others to do the same helps us protect each other from viral illnesses. Frequent handwashing, covering coughs, socializing in well-ventilated spaces and wearing well-fitted face masks all contribute to reducing the risk of infection." Well-fitting respirators (N95s, KN95s, or equivalent) significantly reduce the spread of illness. That matters not just for individual health, but for equity..”

Text continues: “Not everyone can afford to get sick. Missed pay, caregiving responsibilities, disability, chronic illness, or precarious work mean that "just catching a bug" can have very real consequences. Masking helps keep shared spaces safer for everyone - especially those most impacted when illness spreads. When we choose high-quality masks in crowded indoor spaces, we reduce barriers to participation and help make meetings, classrooms, workplaces, and public spaces more accessible. Not only are they effective at helping to prevent illness, but wearing a mask is also a visual indication of a commitment to equity. Practical, protective, and prosocial. Keeping our campus safe during respiratory illness season also depends on having enough CUPE workers and resources to maintain clean, well-supplied, and healthy spaces. Access to soap, paper towels, clean washrooms, masks, sanitizer, and properly maintained buildings is essential to preventing the spread of illness.”

The @uwofa1 - University of Western Ontario Faculty Association - is quickly becoming a leader in post-secondary education messaging about the equity implications and importance of masking as an integral layer of C19 and flu mitigation.

Let’s show them some love, folks!
❤️🙏

This was before Christmas! Almost afraid to ask what it is now 😬🤧mask up 😷

1. Sometimes, the absurdity of the situation we're all in just hits me. Going forward, ongoing and continuous transmission of SARS-CoV-2 will lead to an ever-increasing percentage of the global population developing chronic illnesses due to sequelae of infection.

Annex businesses tell Ford to back off Bloor bike lanes Stores in the Annex say the Bloor bike lanes have been a big boost to business. As Michelle Mackey reports, the neighborhood's BIA wants the province to back off its new bill that could see the lanes ...

WATCH: Seriously, if you’re following ANY bike-lane debate, you HAVE TO WATCH this news story. You actually can’t make this up. Ford claims without evidence that bike-lanes are bad for small business, and THE ACTUAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATION obliterates him with data.

Safe bike-lanes mean business.

YouTube video by Elle Cordova For our scientists

This.

Thank you @ellecordova.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/shorts/AYm9w...

I am convinced in the future we will look back and realise the sheer unimaginable folly of letting a virus that can cause immune dysregulation and cognitive dysfunction in humans infect and re-infect the global population over and over again. Worse still, that we encouraged it.

The Fall newsletter is here! Check it out for info on society updates, events, and postings!

www.entsocont.ca/uploads/3/0/...

#entomology #outreach #bugday #eso

From ROM volunteer to Wildlife Photographer of the Year When Beckett Robertson’s email about volunteering came through in 2022, Antonia Guidotti, a seasoned ROM entomology technician, had every reason to say no. First, there was no official volunteer posit...

Thrilled for a former volunteer/summer student @romtoronto.bsky.social, Beckett Robertson, recognized in 15-17yo category of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, for a whip spider photo www.rom.on.ca/magazine/rom.... Congrats! #arachnids #photography #WPY

Masked woman with Keyence imaging microscope setup. Bee face on the screen

🧪🐝 imagining beautiful #bee faces using the Keyence today. This one is Augochlora pura collected in #Toronto

The Grift Bubble A Political Theory of American Collapse

"The Grift Bubble: A Political Theory of American Collapse"
"Those who work against the grifters... may be acting from love, or from law, because they know that these things are real. And so they should also know, in acting thus, that they are the patriots."
snyder.substack.com/p/the-grift-...

Flu season is here somewhat early. Be careful out there, masks in crowded indoor spaces are a good idea, and get your flu (and Covid) shots asap.

24 pieces of amber containing insects, all slightly different sizes and shapes, but all small and pinned to a clear plastic board

Imagine a drop of ancient resin. Inside is an insect, trapped for 53 million years, so well preserved it looks like it might twitch back into life. These amber fossils offer us a breath-taking glimpse into long vanished ecosystems.

But there’s a catch

The ROM archivist is looking at other samples of his writing.

very old book with splotchy pattern on the cover. Probably 1800s

Cursive text: Sections on Entomology. " The Animal Kingdom is divided into serveral Departments, the Second of who A..... is divided into 3 classes: Insects, Crustacea and Annelida for worms. .... Lepidoptera

page from book: Header is Lepidoptera. Section I. Rhopalocera, or those with clubbed antennae, contain the butterflies. The Diurnal Lepidoptera or Butterflies, correspond with the Linnaean genus Papilio. Thier caterpillars are furnished with 16 feet (6 thoracic, 8 sentoral, 2 anal)....

🧪🦋Found this really old book in the @romtoronto.bsky.social entomology collection. Probably from the 1800s. Looks like the draft of an early Canadian entomology textbook. Trying to figure out the author & year. Any thoughts?🪰🐛 (E.M. Walker was the 1st curator @ROM, might be his?)

Collections Specialist 2: Birds & Mammals - Royal Ontario Museum - Career Page Apply to Collections Specialist 2: Birds & Mammals at Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, ON, Canada.

🧪@romtoronto.bsky.social is hiring! Looking for someone to work with bird🦜& mammal🦇collections royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/0SYvkr...

Curator of Plants & Sustainability - Royal Ontario Museum - Career Page Apply to Curator of Plants & Sustainability at Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, ON, Canada.

🧪@romtoronto.bsky.social is hiring, yay! 🐦,🌱curators in our Deparment of Natural History. Come work with us! royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/Sf2iAO... royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/XBR2Yc...

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Minimize risk: swim when there are likely to be fewer people in the pool. (Morning for me) Mask before & after in change room. Pools usually have lots of air volume & ventilation so risk of transmission is low. Hope you go for it! 🏊‍♀️🏊🤿

Many things will affect how well a student will do in school. Some you can control, others you can't

One that affects every student (and teacher), and that we can control, is indoor air quality

In this video I walk through how and offer some solutions
t.co/sSU5efGhHr

Yes, thank you for putting it so simply. Wish my family understood this, they claim masks are too uncomfortable 😷

Separated Bike Lanes Means Safer Streets, Study Says — Streetsblog USA Cities that build protected lanes for cyclists end up with safer roads for people on bikes and people in cars and on foot, a new study of 12 large metropolises revealed Wednesday.

Never forget, a 13-year study found that protected bike-lanes led to a drastic decline in fatalities for all road users.

ALL ROAD USERS.

And painted bike-lanes? No safety improvement at all.

For sharrows, it’s actually safer to NOT have them.

Via @usa.streetsblog.org @nyc.streetsblog.org

Let me be clear. As someone who has been professionally involved with the biodefense / biosecurity sector for nearly 20 years, and has worked on biological risk analysis for Covid-19 since early 2020, reducing one's risk of being infected is not health anxiety. It's just smart.