Jess Awad

Polka dot wasp Syntomeida epilais showing a moth with wings outstretched. The wings are metallic black with green and blue highlights. There are 5 large white spots of each set of wings, and also on the furry body. The terminal abdominal segments are a striking rusty scarlet. Legs are black with white tarsi, and the tips of the black antennae are also white. Watercolour #sciart #naturalscienceillustration completed by hand.

This is the Polka dot wasp #moth #Syntomeida epilais, also known as the #Oleander moth (on which its yellow caterpillars with their long black setae feed voraciously). Completed for the National Trust of #Montserrat, & UKOTCF. It's used in a colouring book, in a section about patterns in nature.

‘I love midges because I know what their hearts look like’: is the passion for taxonomy in danger of dying out? Insect taxonomist Art Borkent has described and named more than 300 species of midges but fears his field of science is dying out, despite millions of insects, fungi and other organisms waiting to be ...

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Exciting announcement! My new department is launching a postdoc fellowship in quantitative biology. Fellows will be co-advised by two Bio faculty, one that is quant focused (not me) and one that is not (me???). I would love to co-sponsor a postdoc and build a collaboration so please reach out!

TDWG 2026, Oslo, Call for volunteers Image: Trolltunga by Dong Zhang Unsplash.com

🙋‍♀️ We need you!🙋‍♂️ Join the TDWG 2026 Program Committee and help shape the conference in Oslo. We welcome volunteers from all regions, cultural backgrounds, gender identities, ages, and career stages.
👉 Apply now: tdwg.link/eoi-conferen...
#TDWG2026 #Biodiversity #WeNeedYou

Our beloved fence pets are back. [Xylocopa sonorina male, Alameda, CA 2-28-26] #bees #nativebees

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed.

We’re hiring! 🌿

Permanent E13 (100%) position in Plant Ecology & Biodiversity Research at Leibniz University Hannover.

Focus: vegetation ecology, field research, quantitative skills, teaching (BSc, German required).

Deadline: 15 April 2026
Details: www.uni-hannover.de/jobs/id/8379/

A macro photo of a slender, tiny wasp atop a batch of katydid eggs. The eggs, which look like brown lima beans, are tiled along a brown grass stem. Four have roundish holes chewed through their sides, where parasitoid wasps (like the one perched on top of them) chewed their way out. The wasp is metallic-copper colored with a yellow abdomen band and large eyes.

A macro photo of a group of katydid eggs, which look like brown lima beans, tiled along a brown grass stem against a pale green background. In the upper right, a tiny wasp's face is peeking out of an escape hole it is chewing from the inside of a katydid egg it has parasitized. A second egg, lower left, has a hole in it where a wasp has already hatched and flown off.

A macro photo of a tiny, green, newly-hatched katydid nymph perched atop a fingertip, against a green and blue-green background. The fingertip and katydid are lower right, and one of the katydid's extremely long antennae stretches all the way up to the upper left corner of the frame.

From a few years ago: katydid eggs mostly parasitized by tiny wasps. When a katydid hatches, the egg opens like a clam shell; but as you can see (pic 2), if there's a parasitoid wasp inside, they chew their way out. Btw, the baby katydid on my fingertip hatched from the same egg clutch. #BugSky 🐙🌿

ESA Call for Papers The Entomological Society of America has a rich history of publishing curated collections across the journals, serving the professional and scie

Share with all mosquito researchers. 🧪🦟
I'm co-organizing a special issue in the Journal of Medical Entomology on systematics, taxonomy, and natural history of mosquitoes. See details in the link. Happy to answer questions. Proposal Deadline 15 April 2026.

academic.oup.com/insect-scien...

An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

Recluse spiders (Araneae: Sicariidae): contesting myths on distribution, bite behavior, and medical risk in Florida Abstract. Recluse spiders are arachnids of potential medical significant due to their necrotic venom. However, in areas populated by the brown recluse, Lox

Brown recluse spiders exonerated! In Florida, recluses are rare, much less likely to bite than other spiders, even when provoked, and the one verified bite did not produce necrosis.

An A6 card on a bookshelf. It features an earwig mother and nymph with a tiny pink heart between them. The text at the top reads 'World's Best Mum'. Signed by Emily Jane Foster.

The back if the A6 card on the bookshelf. There is a small version of the front image, the Emily Jane Art mushroom logo, a letter logo and FSC certification. Text reads: Why an earwig? Earwig mums have up to 2 broods of 30-50 eggs a year. An earwig mum tenderly cleans her eggs and protects them from hungry predators. She will often stay with her little nymphs once they have hatched and will feed them to give them the best start. Message inside blank. Art by Emily Jane Foster. Designed and printed in the UK. Www.emilyjaneart.co.uk

One of my #MothersDay earwig #cards went out in the post yesterday! 😊 I hope it has a safe journey 🪲📬

If you're looking for a buggy Mother's Day card in the UK (with earwig facts on the back), I still have some in stock:
emilyjaneartstudio.etsy.com

#BugSky #SciArt #SciComm 🐡 #Invertebrate #Insect

orangutans illustration

I’ve streamlined my portfolio to better reflect my current direction in scientific and nature illustration. #sciart
www.lazaroillustration.com
A short thread with the updated galleries 👇👇👇
Animals moving in the wild (1/12)
www.lazaroillustration.com/animalsmoving
#orangutans

a pair of mating Nymphomyia walkeri adults. These tiny little flies would have feathery wings when they first emerge, but lose their wings when they re-enter the water to mate.

A larva of Nymphomyia walkeri from Newfoundland. This is a tiny little white worm-like larva with a shiny head and little prolegs all along the abdomen.

Dorsal view of a Blepharicera tenuipes larva from Labrador, Canada. The larvae is a pale tan in colour, with a darker mark on its head. Each segment is expanded out on each side, with a proleg on each side.

Ventral view of a Blepharicera tenuipes larva from Labrador, Canada. The larvae is a pale tan in colour, and each segment is expanded, with a dark, circular sucker in the centre to help the larva hold on to rocks in fast water. Little finger-like gills can also be seen on each segment.

Quite a treat to encounter some cute little Diptera in vials inadvertently included amongst my Newfoundland and Labrador mayfly vials: these are Nymphomyiids and blepharicerids.

What Does It Take to Detect Long-Term Insect Abundance Trends? A new study looks at a 29-year moth-trapping effort and suggests a minimum of 15 years of data for detecting true long-term trends in insect populations.

A new study looks at data from a 29-year moth-trapping effort and suggests a minimum of 15 years of data for detecting true long-term trends in insect populations—and researchers say 20 to 25 years would be even better.

Macro photo of a brown stink bug in face view on a leaf, guarding a tightly-clustered bunch of eggs that are shaped and colored exactly like a full tray of dark beer with foam on top.

Finally, the bug is back with a round of the Guinness.

The boys’ club: How Epstein’s influence shaped the exclusion of women in STEM In one email, an AI researcher suggested it’s “hard to be brilliant if you are worrying if you look fat or why another woman hates you.”

There were so many of us, exactly when these emails were being written, expressly working to undo the harms of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination in science. And so many people refused to believe us that any of it was real. It was all real.

19thnews.org/2026/02/epst...

Great news! We’ve extended the deadline! The TDWG 2026 Call for Sessions extended deadline is 2 March 2026, 23:59 UTC-10. Image: Nasjonal turistveg Aurlandsfjellet by Håvard Nesbø. Visitnorway.com

👏 Great news! We’ve extended the deadline!

Extended deadline for session proposals: 🗓️ 2 March 2026, 23:59 UTC-10!

Submit an organized session for #TDWG2026 in #Oslo.

Theme: 🔬& 🤖 Research & robot‑ready biodiversity data standards.

More info: 🔗 tdwg.link/call-for-ses...

Evolution, genomics and conservation of butterflies and moths - Nature Reviews Biodiversity Butterflies and moths are key indicators of functioning and healthy ecosystems around the world. This Review describes the evolutionary history of the order Lepidoptera and tracks shifts in researcher...

Now online! In this review, we cover four major topics on butterflies and moths: their evolutionary history and diversification dynamics, genomics, global diversity patterns, and conservation 🦋🌏 (1/8) @natrevbiodiv.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Illustrated logo with a square bottom and round top, light blue background showing a lake and trees in the background. Three flies, a robber fly, midge, and crane fly sit below the Dipterists Society logo. Bottom wording says "Itasca Biological Station"

Photo of a lake with a rocky shoreline, with clouds and trees in the background

We're excited to announce registration is open for the 19th Dipterists Society Field Meeting, to be held June 15–19th at the Itasca Biological Station in northern Minnesota!

For more information & to submit talks please visit: dipterists.org/field_meetin...

We look forward to seeing you there!

30年前的麦当劳包装长什么样？鸟巢记得_腾讯新闻 在荷兰阿姆斯特丹的一处游船码头，生物学家发现了一个不同寻常的鸟巢。Auke-Florian Hiemstra在它层层叠叠的筑巢材料中，隐藏着六百余块人类垃圾。这些垃圾的时间跨度竟然长达30年以上，最早的甚至可以追溯到1991年。就像挖掘地层中的化石一样，研究者层层翻开了鸟巢中沉睡的垃圾，从中解读出了一段鸟类与人类生活变迁的历...

On average, scientific papers are only read by a few. So it fills me with joy every time someone takes the time to look at my work! Thanks to @altmetric.com I found out that my research has suddenly been picked up in China! How exciting! 😱🧪

Hurricane Helene damage in a forest showing trees fallen down across a trail

Research biologist position at Clemson for work on forest wildlife/habitat recovery post-Hurricane Helene in western NC. Full time, multi-year position. Will be working with David Jachowski & myself, includes field work, analysis, writing.

**Apply by March 9**

Job posting bit.ly/cuhhftpos 🧪🌎

Eastern Festoon (Zerynthia cerisy) © Jon Dunn

Freyer's Purple Emperor (Apatura metis) © Jon Dunn

Blue Argus (Aricia anteros) © David Moore

Lesser Fiery Copper (Lycaena thersamon) © Jon Dunn

If you're considering Greece for a butterfly holiday this year, our Butterflies of North Greece offers unrivalled bang for your buck, a rainbow of possible species and, like ALL our butterfly tours, it generates a donation to @europebutterfly.bsky.social.

www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

⏳ De klok tikt voor onze kleinste helden! Je hebt nog precies 7 dagen om jouw favoriet te nomineren voor 'Insect van het Jaar'. Welk insect verdient volgens jou absoluut een podium dit jaar? #InsectVanHetJaar #KleineHelden #Biodiversiteit #Nominatieronde
insectvanhetjaar.com/verkiezing/n...

The graphic includes gray text on a blue background that reads, “ESA Webinar.” Below that, there is white text that reads, “International Association of Black Entomologists (IABE) Voices: Reputability, Research, and Resilience. Friday, February 27. 12 p.m. ET.” There is also an image of a yellow butterfly and the ESA logo.

Join us February 27 for a webinar in honor of #BlackHistoryMonth, hosted by the International Association of Black Entomologists. Panelists will share their research programs, professional accomplishments & testimonies of resilience. Register today: www.entsoc.org/events/webin...

While I can be of no help, but what a spectacular metasoma! Wasps are so often so unnecessarily beautiful! #hymenoptera #wasps #wasplove

The deadline for the BEST COURSE is coming up - please do apply and join us in the jungle

This course is amazing - flies, Costa Rica, more flies, excellent tutors, yet more flies, great experience and EVEN MORE FLIES

PhyloPic PhyloPic is an open database of free silhouette images of animals, plants, and other life forms, available for reuse under Creative Commons licenses. Download silhouettes for use in educational materi...

PhyloPic is getting *very* close to 12 thousand silhouettes! www.phylopic.org

Nature Today | Invasieve pedaalmot blijkt toch een andere soort Een motje dat leeft in tuinconiferen blijk niet Europees, niet Amerikaans, maar Aziatisch. De naam van deze invasieve pedaalmot, eerder gedetermineerd als Argyresthia reticulata of A. freyella, blijkt...

Echte taxonomische kennis is onmisbaar, ook in een tijd met veel dna onderzoek. Want als de oorspronkelijke dna exemplaren fout gedetermineerd zijn, dan moet iemand het toch bijsturen. Goed werk Erik van Nieuwkerken van @naturalis.bsky.social www.naturetoday.com/intl/nl/natu...

I'm thrilled to be co-teaching this wonderful course again this fall. Come join us at the MBL for a transformative experience!