Mark Brown

Stingless bee nest

Stingless bee entrance tube

Today’s beautiful stingless bees - Scaptotrigona pectoralis

Leatherback turtle tracks

A leatherback turtle came to nest last night #besttracksever

The best kind of thirst trap

We wondered why these dragonflies were so insecure about egg-laying, until a frog surged forth! (Sadly not caught on camera) [Monteverde, Costa Rica]

Shades of blue and red in a slice through an immuno stained brain showing some deliciously lovely looking mushroom body lobes - ripe for investigation during a funded PhD - and the central complex. Image credit: Dr Max Farnworth

🚨RA/PhD position available in evolutionary neurobiology 🚨

Working on a deep dive into circuit changes during mushroom body expansion in Heliconius butterflies @camzoology.bsky.social

- employment benefits
- 4 years funding
- 1000% fun

Deadline: 14/1/2026

Details:
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Biggest stingless bee nest entrance I’ve ever seen! [normal-sized adult male hand for scale]

Pollinator garden sign

Pollinator garden with giant sculpture of a humming bird

Info guide to pollinators

Signs in pollinator garden

Inspiring to find community #pollinator conservation at work at Lake Arenal, Costa Rica

Meerkat pups in the Kalahari, South Africa

Rhesus macaques in Cayo Santiago

Dwarf mongoose staring at a camera, South Africa.

📢Two fully-funded #PhD opportunities to work with us:

Topic: Social monitoring & manipulation

UK-domiciled black-heritage scheme: tinyurl.com/aja54nr6

NERC DLTP: tinyurl.com/4jfy47pp

Cosupervisors: #PatrickKennedy @ljnbrent.bsky.social
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
#bioacoustics #mammals #fieldwork

Stingless bee on a wedding ring

I made a friend 😍 #socialinsect of the day #stinglessbee

Tropical bird feeder with birds in Costa Rica

How to make them happy - count the birds 😍

#socialinsect of the day - beautiful Nasutitermes #termites look at the soldiers with their beautiful nozzle heads!

How Memory Evolves: Integrating Cognitive Ecology, Neuroscience, and Experimental Evolution in Drosophila at University College London on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - How Memory Evolves: Integrating Cognitive Ecology, Neuroscience, and Experimental Evolution in Drosophila at University College London, listed on FindAPhD.com

New PhD position available! For applicants keen to combine evolutionary ecology, neuroscience and animal cognition. Based at UCL with me, @maxreuter.bsky.social, @fcamus.bsky.social and Tamara Boto (Bristol). Directly funded, see here for details and eligibility: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Cool, thanks! They were stunning, and very chilled out (the nest was about 3m up, so that may be why!)

@waspwoman.bsky.social you asked for more, so here is today’s beautiful wasp nest, from Arenal Volcano National Park, CR🇨🇷 any ideas on genus/species? 🙏

A rather epic (albeit exceedingly nerdy) natural history highlight - this is how fast a sloth moves when it has to go down to the ground for its weekly poo - so lucky to see this 🤩

I’m afraid not, but I’ll see if someone here can help me out!

Thanks! Will do 😍

A tropical wasp nest

Ok, back to insects! What a lovely wasp nest - @waspwoman.bsky.social any idea on species? It was about the size of a 🎾

Honorary invertebrate of the day (I know, but it’s so adorable) 3-toed 🦥

Bullet ant

Bullet ant

Bullet ant

And a beautiful bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) 😍🐜

Lovely Atta cephalotes 🍃 ✂️ 🐜 with hitchhikers to ward off the phorid flies at La Selva

Gnat fly larva’s food traps hanging beneath a leaf

Highlight from a night walk at La Selva Research Station - the hanging traps of a gnat fly larva

Today’s delight - a beautiful tractor millipede (Barydesmus sp.) at La Paz waterfall

Thanks @liliancaesar.bsky.social

An ant-shaped pre-Columbian ocarina

Museum label for the ocarina

Also delighted to find an ant ocarina hanging out in the Museo de Oro in San José (Costa Rica)

And here they are, doing their thing #stinglessbee

Stingless bee hive in an urban park in San José, Costa Rica

Stingless bees at hive entrance

Stingless bees at hive entrance

Stingless bees at hive entrance

Delighted to find urban pollinator interventions in San José’s parks (Costa Rica) #stinglessbee Anyone any idea on species?

Got some nice work about ant foraging? Can't decide where to send it? We have a special issue just for you!

And, as a bonus, it's in (afaiac*) the best journal in the world @insectessociaux.bsky.social

link.springer.com/collections/...

*As Far As I Am Concerned

Royal Holloway Founders Building

Statue of the Holloways, founders of Royal Holloway

Royal Holloway values

Royal Holloway chapel

What a wonderful place to spend the last 17 years of work. Huge thanks to everyone @royalholloway.bsky.social and especially @rhulbiology.bsky.social for making this place so special. And now for new adventures and challenges @zoologymuseum.bsky.social @camzoology.bsky.social

A pair of wings (forewing and hindwing) of a tiny wasp. Each wing has a very long fringe, and the fringes of the forewing and the hindwing overlap.

The remarkable wings of a 0.3mm long Alaptus minimus wasp of the Mymaridae. If you look closely toward the left end of the pair you can see the hamuli (hooks) that link the hindwing to the forewing.

#wasps #entomology