Tim Utteridge

I know that everyone loves iNaturalist and racking up observations from photographs. But there really is no substitute for physical specimens, so many species are not easily identified from photos.

All of my genus and family-level fly and ant observations on iNaturalist would agree.

Francis Hallé, botaniste et infatigable défenseur des arbres, est mort à l’âge de 87 ans Le dendrologue, spécialiste des forêts tropicales et de l’architecture des arbres, avait réussi, grâce à ses talents de pédagogue et à ses dons de dessinateur, à capter l’attention et la sympathie du grand public. Il est mort le 31 décembre.

Francis Hallé, botaniste et infatigable défenseur des arbres, est mort à l’âge de 87 ans

Heading slow and steady into 2026 like this chunk from Poring, Borneo. Happy New Year!

Genomic study reveals how people moved pigs across the Pacific A new study, published in the journal Science, reveals how millennia of human migration across Pacific islands led to the introduction of invasive pig species all over the Asia-Pacific region.

Genomic study reveals how people moved pigs across the Pacific 🐖⛵️🌏 phys.org/news/2025-12...

Durian and panettone going cheap in Singapore (surplus Xmas stock…I’m not complaining!)

Taxonomist post at the Herbarium, Singapore Botanic Gardens. www.careers.hrp.gov.sg/sap/bc/ui5_u...

Planetary Health Matters: Sumatra floods are a wake-up call for Malaysia Nature is speaking more loudly each year, and Malaysia must listen for the sake of future generations.

The Sumatra floods are a reminder that deforestation isn't merely an environmental concern. It's a public health issue, an economic issue & a security issue. Forests regulate water flows, filter pollutants, reduce disaster risk & support rural livelihoods.

www.thestar.com.my/news/environ...

Phang-Nga Bay. To Phuket for Christmas #Thailand

Tapanuli orangutan, devastated by cyclone, now faces habitat loss under zoning plans JAKARTA — Reeling from a cyclone that may have erased a chunk of its population, the Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape population, now faces the prospect of losing more of its already c...

They just cannot get rid of these endangered Tapanuli orangutans fast enough
Tapanuli orangutan, devastated by cyclone, now faces habitat loss under zoning plans, threatening the last remaining habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan.

news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tapa...

Honoured to have been invited to FRIM, Kepong as a member of the 2025 Research Advisory Committee to discuss and help guide their excellent range of research into the future. Very pleased to meet all the FRIM staff and make new connections with specialists from across Malaysia.

Kapur (Dryobalanops aromatica C.F. Gaertn., Dipterocarpaceae), when growing together and the same age (ie usually plantation) is famous for “crown shyness”. Fruiting heavily today in FRIM, Kepong. The bright pink radicle (seed root) jumped out from the leaf litter.

Book cover for Reproducible Code guide. The cover has a red background with a large yellow-bodied black-headed stag beetle.

Excited to launch the new improved Reproducible Code guide from @britishecologicalsociety.org @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social FREE online here! www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/... Amazing work by some very talented ECRs. We hope it’s useful!

Tapanuli orangutans: Fears grow that world's rarest apes were swept away in Sumatran floods A carcass thought to belong to a Tapanuli orangutan, the world's rarest ape, has alarmed conservationists.

Devastating news for the Tapanuli orangutan.

"The destroyed areas would have contained some 35 orangutans, and considering the violence of the destruction it wouldn't surprise us if they are all dead. That's a major blow to the population."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Registration is NOW OPEN for our State of the World's Plants and Fungi Symposium, 29 June - 1 July 2026! 🌍 The theme will be 'Harnessing the benefits of specimen digitisation' & will follow the release of the next State of the World's Report 🌱🍄
Learn more & register here 👉 https://ow.ly/CuNg50XFOH1

An historic illustration of a colourful butterfly

🌍 Almost USD 35,000 raised — from supporters in 35 countries! 🌏
Your global support is helping #GiveBHLWings as BHL prepares for independence on 1 Jan 2026. #BHLTransition 🌱

📖 Let’s keep biodiversity knowledge open & accessible worldwide.
💚 Donate: ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL... 🧪

Tropical Treats & Sweets! Coming soon to the Centre for Ethnobotany, Singapore Botanic Gardens. Featuring plants that make up our treats, and a wall of fame (with far too many of my cendol pics!)

www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg/our-gard...

#Singapore #dessert #puddings

Flora of Thailand continues heading to the finish line…vol 16 just arrived 450 pages! (with my extremely tiny contribution - 7 species of Pittosporum) #flora #Thailand #botany #SBGScience

Fields of maize and rice terraces next to mountains rainforest

#Rice and #Maize cultivation cheek by jowl with montane rainforest in northern #Thailand - choices to be made around #biodiversity stores, #carbon, #water and #air regulation vs food production. DoiTung has been developing a model to support ecosystems AND livelihoods. @mtnresearchmri.bsky.social

Flying Rhamnaceae fruits - the day Daniel Cahen and I tested the aerodynamics of Ventilago fruits in Wing B of the Kew Herbarium. There’s a cool x-over physics/botany project there… #physics #flying #botany (No specimens were harmed in the making of this movie!)

Ventilago lanceata Tul.

Ventilago novoguineensis Cahen, Utteridge & Henry Mill.

Expanding Ventilago to incorporate Smythea: new combinations in Ventilagineae (#Rhamnaceae) based on novel sequence data and phylogenetic analysis. Kew Bull (2025).

rdcu.be/eTrK6

Ventilago lanceata Tul. and
Ventilago novoguineensis Cahen, Utteridge & Henry Mill. nom. nov.

If you’re wondering…the sexuality and blunt stigma suggest best as Tapeinosperma. For now…

Sometimes taxonomy is difficult, this took ages to work out…were they Ardisia or Discocalyx?, and we went from three new species to two. This genus is a start, now with a scientific name and formally ‘exist’(they always did!) and can be used in conservation planning…

Two new species of Tapeinosperma (Primulaceae-Myrsinoideae) from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Kew Bull (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s12225… #taxonomy #botany #Primulaceae #Ardisia #PNG #SolomonIslands #Pacific

IAPT | Grants The IAPT provides competitive grants for research on the taxonomy, systematics and nomenclature of plants, algae and fungi and to support botanical collections.

IAPT’s Research Grants support research in systematics, nomenclature, and floristics of algae, fungi, and plants.

www.iaptglobal.org/grants

Rare Rafflesia haseltii Blooms Repeatedly in Bengkulu The blossoming of the very rare Rafflesia species in Bukit Balai Tanjung Gelang confirmed that Bengkulu is the home of Rafflesia hasseltii.

Rare Rafflesia haseltii Blooms Repeatedly in Bengkulu

en.tempo.co/read/2070894...

Include Aceh, north Sumatra, west Sumatra

Floods in #Indonesia.
The animation shows the impact of severe inundation in the northeastern part of #Sumatra, comparing #Copernicus #Sentinel2 images from Aug. and Dec. 1, 2025.
Relentless monsoon rains and tropical cyclones have devastated parts of Asia. #ClimateEmergency

Deadly Sumatra flooding triggers memories of Indian Ocean tsunami For fisherman Effendi Basyaruddin, the deadly floods and landslides in Indonesia's Aceh province over the past week have triggered traumatic memories of the day 21 years ago when he ran for his life as the ocean rose like a cliff face and smashed through his hometown.

Deadly Sumatra flooding triggers memories of Indian Ocean tsunami reut.rs/48TMDLl

Watching over my bird books…