Brendan O'Loughlin

My life goal before I die is to figure out how to unbias inat data to extract actual trend estimates

Carabid beetle top down held by tweezers

I collected and dissected this male Pterostichus (Abacidus). Is there any way that the species can be identified by the genitalia?
#Coleoptera

Or not, looks like i cant

It would be very helpful! I'll send you a DM

The coloration is essentially identical, but the genitalia and barcodes are very different.

Anyone want to describe a new moth species with me lol?

I just discovered that a super common holartic species are two different species between North America and Europe, but I don't have any experience with Lepidoptera taxonomy

I will!

I will be! They are not my advisors but I will be working with the evolution wasps and some other small arthropods

Thanks I'll remember this!

I'm very curious if an accurate 3D model can be made of a ~1 mm wasp

Its possible! Speaking of which, I've been looking into using microCT for some of my small wasps. I believe we have a machine at my institution, but would you be willing to answer questions I have when I get around to trying to do it?

The "spiral" is a little more scrunched inwards than I would expect. Doesn't change the ID though!

This is Agelenopsis pennsylvanica if you want a species ID!

Looks a little weird though, maybe due to drying?

Long shot here but does anyone recognize this small harvestman? I collected it from under a rock in central Ohio

#arachnology

I came from the future to tell you there's an error in your figure

😭😭😭

I assume it was the curse of fake old subspecies? I'm convinced subspecies are a useless category for 90% of arthropod groups

There is a reason they usually are slide mounted haha

Wait were these reared from galls or just caught in a trap?

Small leafmine on a honeysuckle leaf.

This is a weird one. I found a leafmine on Amur honeysuckle. Didn't know they even had herbivore damage!

Yup, male Phorid!

Tiny see-through ostracod

Speaking of aquatic critters, do you recognize this tiny Ostracod? I found it in an Ohio River

It would be amazing to do a Linyphiid phylogeny with UCEs or other genomic markers...

And what population is...
And what life is....
And what reality is

Illegal, next ask them what a species is

Modern academia feels like a part-time marketing job sometimes lol

Imo its moreso the expectation of "novelty" plus publish or perish that drives researchers to overstate the novelty and impact of their research in general

This is super cool!

I'll try to get some pics under a proper microscope at some point, hopefully that will be good enough for an ID

@mcaterino.bsky.social is this a Staohylinid? It seems to somewhat resemble tribe Stenichnini