Josh Gibson, Ph.D.

Field Botanist - Roanoke, Virginia, United States Title: Field Botanist State Role Title: Scientist II Hiring Range: $55,000 - $65,000 Pay Band: 5 Agency: Dept Conservation & Recreation Location: Roanoke, VA Agency Website: www.dcr.virginia.gov R...

Field botanist job with Virginia Natural Heritage, based in Roanoke, VA. $55-65K pay range. Please share widely! www.jobs.virginia.gov/jobs/field-b...

A photo of a golden yellow jumping spider on a green leaf. It has a long black bug in its mouth - dinner no doubt

Spood time! I believe this is Carrhotus sannio. It’s from Thailand and has snagged something tasty for dinner.
#Spiders #Invertebrates #Thailand

Pleased to say that Jonas Hartmann (bs-less) and I have finally released DySTrack (“diss track”) - Dynamic Sample Tracking.

It’s a Python-based, modular tool that brings smart microscopy to everyday imaging on commercial systems.

Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Have you ever wondered what you would find if you could keep your eyes on a bee for more than a few meters? Us, too!

preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵

Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Small light brown arachnid with thin legs and red spiky palps; her cylindrical abdomen is held vertical and just the tip is peeking out from a dozen or so ghostly white babies wrapped around it, facing downward

Just a girl and her bundle of baby clones she's wearing like an ass turban 🥹
My population of Schizomida (parthenogenic tailless whipscorpions) are so happy in their box of dirt. As always, tending a box of dirt is such a good decision and I recommend it.

A closeup photo looking into the fuzzy face of a dark orange and black tarantula.

Fluffy Kitten

(Okay, a tarantula from last November in Brazil, but still very fluffy)
🐙🌿 #BugSky

This is the Sunburst Candy Spider from Thailand. Not AI (sucks to have to declare this). Very real and had been on my wish list for a long time.

The taxonomic placement is unclear, so we are leaving it at Cyrtarachninae.

A very very very zoomed in close-up of a little tarantula paw. It looks like a little cats paw

thinking about... tarantula paw

About the Program (Short-term (PE))｜Postdoctral Fellowships for Research in Japan｜Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Official Website of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)

Attention post-docs (or PDFs to be).... here's an opportunity to work in Japan for a short research stay. As I always say to my PhD students "Get a PhD, see the world". www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-fe...

Jumping spiders can recognise one another. This ability to learn, remember and represent images is quite surprising for such a tiny-brained animal!
buff.ly/dCkwPr0

#Small, for #BlueSkyArtShow 🕷️

a jumping spider looks sheepishly up at me on astroturf

I was crawling around on the astroturf'd porch of our hotel room, ass in the air, trying my level best to get this spider to look as cute as possible. They were a cooperative model 🥰

Micrargus herbigradus palp, taken using the new 'washer on a slide' method - dab of gel, palp, topped up with alcohol. Much clearer, you can't see the gel, and the 'curly appendage' that makes it herbigradus is visible amongst the curls of the embolus. This is slightly enhanced in GIMP.

Not to wade into the Discourse but living abroad (for longer than a semester) is something I wish everyone had the means to do. It’s incredible to see what’s possible in a sane country (gun control, universal health care) and what the US often does better (multiculturalism, friendliness, junk food)

We are hiring: 4 PhD Positions in Ecology / Data Science and one Ecological Data Scientist We are looking for 4 PhD Positions and one Scientific Programmer / Ecological Data Scientist to join the AG Hartig (Theoretical Ecology)

We are hiring: 4 PhD Positions in Ecology / Data Science and one Ecological Data Scientist. For more information, see www.uni-regensburg.de/universitaet...

A biologist at the American Museum of Natural History, Jonathan Coddington, cataloged a new genus of South American spiders in 1986.

Two things about the spider were unique:
they lived in caves & laid cubic eggs.

So he called them genus 'Plato', and that's the nerdiest thing I have read all year.

I’m recruiting students this upcoming cycle at UIUC! I’m excited about Qs on societal impact of AI, especially human-AI collaboration, multi-agent interactions, incentives in data sharing, and AI policy/regulation (all from both a theoretical and applied lens). Apply through CS & select my name!

Pixelart of an Asian Tiger Mosquito up close, with all the white stripes you'd expect from a "tiger", and all the little hairs, legs and mouth appendages you'd expect from a mosquito

I don't think I've actually posted this one on its own, a travesty

Asian Tiger Mosquito

#pixelart #украрт

Tarantula foot-pad. Who knew they could be so pretty?

An illustrated poster with numbers and an identification key, highlighting the diversity of Hoverfly species found in North America. 18 flies are drawn on the poster. These flies are generally striped/have patterns that make them resemble bees. They are illustrated on a light earthy yellow-green background.

North American Hoverflies! 🪰

Been looking for a fresh specimen of Leucauge sarawakensis for a long time! Each time we found one, someone walked into its web. Hence, the ex situ shots.

Araignées : nées sous une bonne toile A l’automne, les araignées en pleine saison des amours se font plus visibles dans nos foyers. Si beaucoup d’entre nous redoutent ces rencontres impromptues, les arthropodes ne semblent pas plus émus que ça. Que sait-on vraiment de leur cognition, et de leur rapport au monde ?   Mardi 28 octobre 2025 La science, CQFD   Avec Raphaël Jeanson, ethologue, directeur de recherche au CNRS, directeur adjoint du Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale à Toulouse Christine Rollard, biologiste, spécialisée dans les araignées, maître de conférences au MNHN   Pourtant, contrairement aux abeilles ou aux fourmis, on sait peu de choses sur ces animaux à quatre paires de pattes, qui inspirent l’effroi chez un quart des Européens. Largement inoffensives, pour calmer les inquiétudes, on entend souvent l’argument : "mais ce sont elles qui ont plus peur de nous". Justement, que sait-on de la cognition des araignées ? Elles qui vivent dans un monde de vibration, si difficile à concevoir de notre point de vue humain. Comment les araignées perçoivent et transforment leur milieu ? (...)   ------ Dans la tête d’une araignée, de Raphaël Jeanson (HumenSciences, 2024) Le cannibalisme des araignées n’apparaît qu’après une phase de tolérance juvénile (Sciences & Avenir, avril 2025) Comment les araignées sentent-elles ? (Sciences et Avenir, 2025) La toile de l’araignée est-elle une extension de son cerveau ? (Philomag, 2023) Comment les araignées chassent-elles « à l’unisson » ? (CNRS, 2022) Les araignées mangent plus de "viande" que l'humanité (Le Monde, 2017)

Avec 53 000 espèces recensées, elles ont conquis un grande nombre de niches écologiques. Elles sont présentes partout sur la planète, sauf en Antarctique et en très haute altitude. Essentielles aux écosystèmes, elles régulent les populations d’insectes.

intimidating stare of a female Platycryptus undatus 🙇

#arachtober #jumpingspiders #salticidae

in situ, fuji, laowa 65mm

photo of a pumpkin with a carving of a large insect head with massive spiny jaws

photo of the same pumpkin at night but lit up from inside with a phone flashlight held by someone

sleep tight don't let the lacewings bite
#invertebrates #sciart

Courtship dance of the peacock spider 🕷️

Postdoctoral researcher in molecular ecology - Uppsala University Postdoctoral researcher in molecular ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University

📢 We have an open position for a postdoc to join my lab. It's a great position @animecol-uu.bsky.social, fully salaried for 2.5 years with all benefits.

www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

The project is about transmission patterns of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquatic insects. 🧬🦠 (1/3)

Danarma eurymerus found in Okinawa Island. Watch how he moves the eyes. This species was recorded from Japan just this month.
(ref/参考文献)
u-ryukyu.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/20216...
ルリメベンケイガニが目をきょろっとさせるあざとい動画です。沖縄本島にて。本州は先月日本から記録されました。
🦀🦑🧪
#crab #カニ #invertebrate

A vibrant illustrated poster featuring 14 species/varieties of isopods of various colors. They are illustrated on a yellow-vibrant orange background and have numbers with a key describing which species is which.

Isopods!! 🧡

Getting close to wrapping up a big Paraphidippus aurantius 🍊video featuring courtship behavior, silk production, possible mate-guarding, cannibalism and more 🫡

here's a big female w/ a lot of orange scales - July, 2021, NE Oklahoma

US Astronomy Graduate Admissions, AY 2025-2026

For anyone applying to grad school in the US this fall, the @aas.org has made a working group to monitor which programs have faced cuts - this spreadsheet contains all the info: 🔭☄️