Dimitri Forero

A photo of an erupting volcano with bright orange lava spewing hundreds of feet into the air from a black spatter cone, accompanied by thick white puffs of gas. The lava flows down a narrow slope at the front of the cone, creating a snaking, glowing river of lava against the dark fresh-basalt landscape under a cloudy sky.

Fagradalsfjall's Fountains of Fire. #Photography

Que fresquito

Los 16 congresistas que buscan reelegirse y que han frenado leyes en favor de las mujeres Al menos 16 congresistas, que buscan reelegirse este domingo, han liderado o respaldado iniciativas que eliminan el enfoque de género en leyes sobre violencia digital o buscan frenar las mal llamadas ...

Al menos 16 congresistas, que buscan reelegirse este domingo, han liderado o respaldado iniciativas que eliminan el enfoque de género en leyes sobre violencia digital o buscan frenar las mal llamadas prácticas de conversión. ¿Cómo se han consolidado como bloque en el Congreso?

Highly relevant paper 🧪🔓 for the #lightpollution community with very interesting insights: Nocturnal migrating moths 🦋need both, visual and magnetic cues to navigate. Magnetic cues alone are not enough which means they are particularly vulnerable if visual orientation is impaired by excess light 💡

Drawing of a black and orange cicada, as seen from above with spread wings.

A close up showing the small hairs that cover the cicada's head and thorax

Please enjiy this cicada drawing (Tosena albata).

The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) will soon have six vacancies among its ordinary members and is seeking nominations for new Commissioners to be elected in May 2027. Five vacancies stem from retiring Commissioners A. Ballerio (Italy; Coleoptera), P. Bouchard (Canada; Coleoptera), M. Harvey (Australia; Arachnida), D. Yanega (USA; Insecta), and H.-Z. Zhou (China; Coleoptera); a sixth vacancy needs to be filled to reach the Commission’s target of 28 members. The Commission hereby invites nominations, from any person, organisation or institution, of potential candidates for election. The nationalities and areas of expertise of the present members of the Commission may be found on the ICZN website (http:// iczn.org/commissioners). Article 2.2 of the ICZN Constitution prescribes that “The members of the Commission shall be eminent scientists, irrespective of nationality, with a distinguished record in any branch of zoology and an interest in zoological nomenclature”. Furthermore, according to Article 2.3 of the Constitution, the composition of the Commission shall be such as to secure representation of diverse interests and different parts of the world. Current activities within the Commission include monthly virtual meetings, voting on Cases every two or three months and participating in various activities as needed (e.g., reviewing or proofing Cases and Opinions, co-writing Declarations, participating in ad-hoc committees, preparing the next edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, updating the ICZN Constitution and Bylaws). Based on Article 3.1.1 of the Constitution, the maximum term of service of a member of the Commission is 18 years. Nominations, including the age, affiliation, nationality and qualifications of each nominee should be sent before 1 January 2027 to the ICZN Secretary (ic...@nus.edu. sg) together with a statement that the potential nominee will accept the nomination. Self-nominations are accepted.

The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is calling for nominations for new members doi.org/10.21805/bzn... The call is behind a paywall 🤦‍♂️ but text is below. Current commissioners are listed here www.iczn.org/about-the-ic... #taxonomy #iczn

This looks like a great workshop for people interested in learning how to do lcWGS and UCE work! 🧪

Bottle opener thighs
Sepedon sp. (Sciomyzidae)

Moth from Maria Sybilla Merian’s ‘Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium.’ Amsterdam: Gerard Valck, 1705.

I saw this at the Natural History Museum in London @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social.

#MariaSibyllaMerian #naturalhistory #insectart #sciart

Big effort, exciting results - our paper on the constraints of thermal limits in tropical insects is now out in @nature.com! 🦋🐝🪰🪲🦗
@ecoresearchzoo3.bsky.social
@biologie-uniwue.bsky.social
@uni-wuerzburg.de

She Came Out of the Bathroom Naked, Employee Says Bank details, sex and naked people who seem unaware they are being recorded. Behind Meta’s new smart glasses lies a hidden workforce, uneasy about peering into the most intimate parts of other people’...

Medios suecos cuentan que en Kenia, miles de trabajadores de una subcontrata de Meta se dedican a etiquetar grabaciones de sus gafas Ray-Ban (vídeos, imágenes y transcripciones) para entrenar sus sistemas de inteligencia artificial www.svd.se/a/K8nrV4/met...

#privacy #AIEthics

Taxonomists: If you liked the old TAXACOM mailing list, we've restarted it. You can sign up, here:

groups.google.com/g/taxacom

Please share widely! We don't have access to the old lists. If you know any taxonomists, let them know, and pass it on.

#science #academia #taxonomy

What happens when we get an unknown pathogen that suddenly turns up and nobody has the skills to identify and describe it? Or conservation biologists are working with an endangered species, only to find that they are working with the wrong species (yes, this has happened).

When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.

AI-generated artwork is officially not eligible for copyright protection after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the appeal.

The court ruled that a work must have a human creator in order to qualify for copyright.

(Link: www.reuters.com/legal/govern...)

New #OpenAccess research in #RESSystematicEnt

Over-reliance on #Completeness exposes ultraconserved elements datasets to non-randomly distributed missing data
doi.org/10.1111/syen.70024

#UCEs #Phylogenomics #Metrics #MissingData #EntoMethods
@gkergoat.bsky.social @wileyecology.bsky.social

Good article, but the framing is wrong. There is not a dearth of interest in taxonomy. There is a scarcity of funding and positions, which is a deliberate choice by funding agencies and institutions. The youth love taxonomy! It's the olds that are failing to meet their passion!

‘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/...

A black katydid in lateral view resembling a pompilif wasp

Or these cute katydids of the genus Aganacris. The movements, antennae, and overall coloration are really convincing too.
colombia.inaturalist.org/observations...

There are a few insects that mimic pompilids. One are these Mydidae. Very convincing! colombia.inaturalist.org/observations...

El mono ‘Punch’ y el peligro de humanizar a la fauna silvestre La antropomorfización puede parecer inofensiva, pero sus efectos trascienden lo mediático; publicitan el comercio ilegal de especies

Les comparto la columna que escribí con la científica Nataly Castelblanco para @elpais.com sobre el tema del mes.
elpais.com/america-futu...

Illustration of a large centipede from 1789, showing a segmented, elongated body with dark brown and yellowish bands. The centipede has numerous pairs of long, jointed legs extending from each body segment. Its head features prominent antennae and powerful curved mandibles. The drawing highlights detailed textures and anatomical features typical of a naturalist's study from the 18th century.

🪱 The naturalists' miscellany: .
London: Printed for Nodder co, 1789..

[Source]

Did you know that the bees that need saving are NOT honeybees?

Honeybees are the dairy cows of bees. People brought them over from Europe to make us honey.

The problem with honeybees, esp in resource-limited ecosystems (like hey! cities!) is that they compete with our native bees for food.

A nice assassin bug of the genus Zelurus. Many of its species milic pompilid wasps. Very cool bugs. Very little is known about its natural history.

Sera el agua....

The study discusses how the findings challenge the one specimen–one barcode premise, and the implications of sequence divergence on #metabarcoding-based assessments.

Image credit: Niina Kiljunen and Marko Mutanen.

#COI #mtDNA

2026 is just a little bit beyond 2013, right? Right!?

#Hemiptera

Jaw-dropping jellyfish, Poralia sp, 1,414m
(ID, Dr. Anela Choy)

“There are many mysteries to uncover,” Choy writes. “But perhaps this beautiful brownish, reddish medusae has a unique role to play in connecting carbon flow between the deep water column with the seafloor.” #OBVI #LivingBioreactors

Ladybug amphipod