Madeleine Fabušová

As we approach the end of a tumultuous academic year I’m thankful more than ever to lead an amazing and talented group of researchers who are committed to the best of science @nclneg.bsky.social

Genome sequencing progress for Lepidoptera. Stacked bar charts represent the cumulative number of lepidopteran species with a reference genome per year. The colours represent the different levels of genome assembly quality, ranging from contig to chromosome-level. Numbers in brackets represent the range in numbers of species that have a given assembly level per year. Data derived from GoaT on 05.09.2025.

(1/6) 🦋 We are thrilled to announce the release of the 1,000th reference genome of Lepidoptera species found in Europe!
This goal was reached with the release of Stenoptilia islandicus, also known as the mountain plume moth.
Read the story below!👇🏽

Newcastle's finest ecologists pointing at wild goats up the hill!

Top left to bottom right: Potentially a Crimson Waxcap Parrot waxcap Meadow coral Jelly ears (aka the best fungus) Appreciation for the abundance of rowan berries this year Pretty moss

The Cheviot wild goats!

A day out for our office- a bunch of ecologists looking for wild goats, fungi and birds. Doesn't get much better than that!

First flocks of fieldfares too. Attempt at fungi ID in alt- happy to hear any suggestions!

A white-fronted bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) decides whether to consume a warningly colored white-barred acraea butterfly (Telchinia encedon). Photo (c) Mike Rowe

📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org

We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Interested in mitigating the impacts of light pollution? Join the Knowledge Network! #ALAN

We're leading work on evidence synthesis across biodiversity, road safety and energy impacts and we need your help!

Read more below and join us: www.ncl.ac.uk/nes/our-rese... 💡

An overview shot of a portion of the collection: a long window box with wooden frames filled with glass models of plants carefully arranged and labeled on white backgrounds, as though part of a 3D herbarium. From this distance, they are indistinguishable from real plants.

Glass model of maple leaves, featuring blended molten glass that mimics the red hues of autumn foliage

A glass model of a Columbine (Aquilegia) with parsley-like leaves and pendulous, faintly red and yellow flowers that look like swans huddled together, necks touching and wings flared out.

Glass model of a Potentilla with almost ferny foliage and simple, open-faced yellow flowers with fuzzy centers.

Recently visited the Glass Flowers at Harvard, a collection of 4,300 extraordinarily realistic glass models of plants crafted by the Blaschkas, a father and son team of sculptors

That’s right, these are all made primarily of GLASS — a fact difficult to accept given how accurate & lifelike they are

BehaveAI is live!

Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.

Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.

Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI

The cognitive ecology of wild bumblebees

New #PhD ad alert!
Interested in wild #bee #cognition and #brains in different #bumblebees? Want to live in #Newcastle and the beautiful north-east of England?

Check out this project with me, @lenariab.bsky.social and Sarah Scott. Contact me for further information.

iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

Come join our lab and explore the fascinating bird ecoacoustics 🐦🔊

PhD advert below!

If you can, please consider donating to this appeal, to help us install as many swift boxes in as many churches as we can. www.durhamwt.com/appeals/durh...

Installing the boxes. Credit to: Durham Wildlife Trust (Mary-Anne Rielly)

Completed swift box apartment complex. Credit to: Durham Wildlife Trust (Mary-Anne Rielly)

Swifts, the wonderful summer visitors, screeching through the skies. Also, birds in huge decline. It's been wonderful to be involved in the Durham Swift City project with @durhamwildlife.bsky.social, providing more nesting habitats for swifts! See more here: www.durhamwt.com/blog/mary-an...

Zotero is great and has easy plug-ins, but I've also been very happy with paperpile, which is however paid but has great integration across all devices and software

I often spend many hours reading about arthropods and much other fauna and flora. But nothing quite beats seeing them thrive in my soil 🪱

Project Psyche is featured in a new article out now on @spectrum.ieee.org! Check it out to get an insight into the efforts of @ebpgenome.bsky.social and the milestones achieved during the fieldtrip of #ProjectPsyche and @10klepgenomes.bsky.social to the Italian Alps 🦋

Shining the light on amphibians 🐸 check out this great pre-print below!

Underside view of the impressive Northern Eggar

The Northern Eggar moth resting on heather up on moorland back in July

It's the first #MothFaceFriday of #Leptember
So here's the tiny head, broad shoulders and thick torso of the Northern/oak Eggar.
These moths always give me body-builder vibes!

Have a pumped weekend #TeamMoth - don't overdo it on the protein shakes!

📣 New research, including @savebutterflies.bsky.social #citizenscience data, shows winners & losers across >1200 insect species in Britain since 1990. Urbanisation identified as major driver of decline for moths, ladybirds & hoverflies www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🌍 🦋🐞🦗🪲🐝

Summer 2025 is the warmest on record for the UK Provisional Met Office statistics confirm that summer 2025 is officially the warmest summer on record for the UK.

Met Office stats confirm summer 2025 is officially the warmest summer on record for the UK.

The UK’s mean temp of 16.10°C surpasses the previous record of  15.76°C and pushes the summer of 1976 out of the top 5 warmest summers.

www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...

Join us in Newcastle in September for EcoNet! Registrations open until Monday!

Queen bees bite flower leaves and they bloom quicker! Who knew! Read more on our newest EntoBites blog post below ⤵️

entobites.blog/2025/08/13/f...

Deilephila elpenor

A wonderful Elephant hawk moth caterpillar (Deilephila elpenor) was stumbling along the path on my walk yesterday! Always a delight to see such a huge caterpillar! #MothMonday #TeamMoth #MothsMatter

A top-down image of 12 various moths on a green egg carton.

Do you do moth trapping in the UK? We'd love your help! 💡

At @ukceh.bsky.social we're training & testing AI to detect multiple moths in a single image.

Send us top-down photos of multiple moths on egg trays to support this work.

More info & form: forms.gle/e3HzBPEd7RVV...

#mothsmatter #TeamMoth

Cinnabar moth caterpillars

Cinnabar moth caterpillars- yellow with black stripes

Concrete with some ragwort sticking through

Cinnabar moth adult- black moth with red stripes

The front of my flat is by no means the most biodiverse place. Yet, the cinnabar moth caterpillars are making the most of it!! Nice to know the adult I saw in June was rather busy! #teammoth #mothsmatter @savebutterflies.bsky.social

In Mals, South Tyrol, Italy- gorgeous place!

From beautiful #moth trapping locations to sampling Alpine meadows filled with butterflies 🦋 and learning about sample preparation 🧬, I had the best week on the @10klepgenomes.bsky.social field trip! Huge thanks to all the entomologists, #COST10KLepGenomes, #LepEu and @projectpsyche.bsky.social!

First field trip of the #WG2 has come to an end! We will share some of the most relevant moments of this fantastic week! Stay tuned 🦋🧬

A Common Blue butterfly is perched on heather against a pink background. Text overlay reads "Get out for the count" with Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count logo above it. In the bottom right corner, the text reads 'exclusive media partner' with BBC Countryfile Magazine logo. Photo credit Matt Berry

The Big Butterfly Count 2025 is here and butterflies need our help 🦋🚨

This isn't just a survey, it's a rescue mission, and we need everyone to get involved.

No lab coats. No science degrees. Just 15 minutes of your time. ⏱️

Get out for the count 👉 bigbutterflycount.org

Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count identification guide for England with photos of each species

Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count identification guide in Welsh with photos of each species

Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count identification guide for Scotland with photos of each species

Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count identification guide in Irish with photos of each species

You don't need to be a butterfly expert to get involved in the #BigButterflyCount 🦋🔎

Use our free identification guides for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to help you.

Download them and take part here 👉 bigbutterflycount.org

....and following our last post here's Madeleine @fabusovam.bsky.social out on Eilean nan Ròn as well. What a place, and what amazing birds!

What a small world!