Steven Van Belleghem

Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito Understanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...

How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities?

Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.

🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515

A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration The reshuffling of genomic variation from multiple origins is an important contributor to phenotypic diversification, yet insights into the evolutionary trajectories of this combinatorial process and ...

1/9 New in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado8005
How does genetic architecture constrain evolutionary trajectories? To address this question, we inferred the genetic architecture of convergent plumage coloration and its evolutionary history in wheatears.

Evolution of the olfactory system during the radiation of Heliconiini butterflies Abstract. Sensory system evolution plays a crucial role in shaping species’ interactions with their environment, yet the extent to which olfactory system d

New paper out! A nice collaboration.
We explore how olfactory brain structures and receptors evolved across this remarkable group, Heliconiini butterflies.

YouTube video by ERGA - European Reference Genome Atlas Global genetic diversity loss & the power of conservation to restore species resilience - Robyn Shaw

💬 Missed the #ERGAPlenary this month? No problem - catch up now on the #ERGAchannel with the recorded talk "Global genetic diversity loss and the power of conservation to restore species resilience"
youtu.be/8y0V2pjwd0A?... #conservation #speciesresilience

Recording of last weeks intro to Efficient evidence-based genome annotation with #EviAnn by Aleksey Zimin: www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1us...

Join us Tuesday to hear more about #EviAnn! It's already been an amazing tool for us to annotate our genomes!!

Efficient evidence-based genome annotation with EviAnn This month's ERGA BioGenome Analysis & Applications Seminar will feature a talk by speaker Aleksey V. Zimin about EviAnn (Evidence-based Annotator), a novel evidence-based eukaryotic gene annotation s...

#Seminar: Evidence-based genome #annotation with EviAnn
🗓️ Tuesday, Sep 23 - 15:00 CEST
🔗 www.erga-biodiversity.eu/post/efficie...
Aleksey Zimin will introduce & demonstrate the use of #EviAnn -a new system for eukaryotic gene annotation.

@ebpgenome.bsky.social @biogeneurope.bsky.social

Join us Tuesday to hear more about #EviAnn! It's already been an amazing tool for us to annotate our genomes!!

Fantastic "first" #EvolutionaryGenomics day @naturalsciences-be.bsky.social with talks from Kerstin Johannesson, Felicity Jones, Alexander Suh, @wenjuanma84.bsky.social, @mariamadrid16.bsky.social, and many others 🐌🐦🐟🐞🐚🌱🧬

Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants

Green butterfly sat on a flower.

I'm looking for PhD students to join the lab starting August 2026. We study the evolution of insect chemical signals so if you're interested in evolutionary biology, chemical ecology, molecular biology, behavior, or genetics, this could be a good fit for you! More info here: tinyurl.com/mrxchwfm

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...

You may have missed this #ant poster at #ESEB2025, but be sure not to miss the article just published in #openacess in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Still possible to apply to this #post-doc position at CESAB #Montpellier.
Application closing date: September 15th 2025 (12:00 PM CET)
How taking intraspecific diversity and evolutionary processes into account in translocation-based programs.
Please share widely #PopGen #NbS #Biodiversity

Had a blast presenting my work on Wolbachia and Spiroplasma-induced sex allocation distortion in haplodiploids at #ESEB2025!

Going on my fridge

Great times at @eseb2025.bsky.social. Recovering now with @aaronkiggen.bsky.social @mariamadrid16.bsky.social @biologaboricua.bsky.social @alexkourt.bsky.social @kristinayefimak.bsky.social

And that’s a wrap for #ESEB2025 - what an amazing week!
It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and meet new ones.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat with us! We look forward to seeing many of you online soon. #ERGA meetings resume in September ☀️
@ebpgenome.bsky.social

FANTASIA leverages language models to decode the functional dark proteome across the animal tree of life Communications Biology - FANTASIA, a protein language model-based tool, enables large-scale functional annotation across ~1000 animal proteomes, revealing novel gene functions in both model and...

FANTASIA's paper is finally out! Check it out if you're interested in alternative methods to homology for functional annotation in nonmodel organisms 🦐🐙🪱🧬🐝🪲
@gemmaeling.bsky.social @amrojasm.bsky.social @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @cabd-upo-csic.bsky.social
@csic.es www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Snakes in Europe Under Climate Change: Is It Getting Too Hot for the Cold‐Blooded? Modelled projections indicate a widespread decline in ecological suitability for snakes across Europe, with cold-adapted species demonstrating particular vulnerability to global warming.

I combined my love for snakes🐍 with data science to study climate change impacts on the snake diversity in Europe. Cold‐adapted snakes and W. Europe will be impacted the most. Protecting refuges & resilient habitats is key. Read more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

There's going to be a lot of sketches by the end of this week! We're not even halfway though #eseb2025 and I've filled up my usual template of boxes! Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the week's talks include

#eseb #sciart #sketchnotes

Got the chance to present my research on chromosomal inversions and beetles at ESEB 2025 in Barcelona 🪲🧬 Thanks for everyone who came and asked questions!
Big thanks also to @eseb2025.bsky.social for organizing and for having me. We’re having a wonderful time!
@svbelleghem.bsky.social

#eseb2025

Join us Opportunities Below are the positions currently open in our lab. PhD position (full-time doctoral funding) We are seeking a highly motivated PhD student to join our team. The goal of the project is…

@pavelmatosm.bsky.social has a new PhD position opportunity to work with conservation genomics of European butterflies! The project involves very cool collaborations with @projectpsyche.bsky.social, @10klepgenomes.bsky.social and the LepEUConsortium!
Deadline Sep 12
pavelmatos.wordpress.com/join-us/

☝️

*ALERT! GLOBAL GENETIC DIVERSITY TREND RE-ANALYSIS*

"Signals of consistent genetic diversity decline are not yet measurable in global meta-analysis" doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Brain Surfaces of 70 primate species

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To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised!

🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Reciprocal Host–Wolbachia Interactions Shape Infection Persistence Upon Loss of Cytoplasmic Incompatibility in Haplodiploids Maternally transmitted symbionts such as Wolbachia spread within host populations by mediating reproductive phenotypes. Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is a reproductive phenotype that interferes wi...

This collaboration/friendship started while measuring the yield of wild strawberry plants in Spain and has now led to a first publication, dx.doi.org/10.1111/eva.... . We wanted to better understand how Wolbachia infection persists upon loss of CI in our favourite mite, Tetranychus urticae.

The next generation of colour pattern genomics - Nature Ecology & Evolution Convolutional neural networks and genetic association analysis decode the evolution of colour pattern diversity and its underlying complex genetic architecture in the Trinidadian guppy.

‪A really lovely commentary on @vdbijl.bsky.social's paper by Nidal Karagic and Claudius Kratochwil in @natecoevo.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bates’ many contributions - Nature Ecology & Evolution Henry Walter Bates gave the first known scientific account of mimicry in biological systems. To mark the bicentenary of his birth, we present a collection of content that reflects on his life and lega...

A nice unauthored tribute to Henry Walter Bates, who was born 200 years ago. Bates famously discovered "Batesian mimicry" - between palatable and unpalatable species. However, his paper "Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon valley" had many other firsts! doi.org/10.1038/s415...