Michael Caterino

Bioprospecting - tapped out, or primed for the future? - Value in nature The fundamental argument in my writing for this blog is that organisms in nature provide an endless and indispensable range of services that sustain not only the human enterprise, but...

Some thoughts on the past and future of bioprospecting, just posted to the Value in nature blog:

mscaterino.pika.page/posts/biopro...

#biodiversity #nature 🌐

A photograph of a velvet worm: a segmented, soft-bodied animal, with beautiful patterning which looks like it has been rolled in orange and blue sequins.

A photograph of a giant springtail: an invertebrate with a soft blue body covered in long yellow soft spines.

Some exciting life news... I am now a lecturer in Entomology and Ecology at Lincoln University in NZ!

We took the Entomology students on a fieldtrip over the weekend, and saw some of my favourite invertebrates: Velvet worms and giant springtails! Always a treat to see these!

#SoilBiodiversity 🧪

‘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/...

Incredible katydid!

dislike

Interesting system. Genetic diversity within species is also critical to species resilience and adaptability in the face of climate and other changes.

‘Who’d guess they’re the same species?’ What Italy’s wall lizards reveal about genetic diversity and why it matters Understanding biodiversity within species is key to our understanding of why nature works the way it does, say researchers

"Diversity within species contributes to ecosystem functioning and represents an often-overlooked layer of biodiversity."

#Biodiversity - we have so little understanding of what we are trashing
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Doctoral Researcher in Macroevolution and Phenotypic Diversification of Dung Beetles Doctoral Researcher in Macroevolution and Phenotypic Diversification of Dung Beetles

Applications are open for a 3-year funded PhD position at the Finnish Museum of Natural History, focused on dung beetle evolution. Deadline: March 16. … https://jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki-Doctoral-Researcher-in-Macroevolution-and-Phenotypic-Diversification-of-Dung-Beetles/1352799257/ #gradstudent

Entomology technician post in my lab in London (position is for 11 months starting August 2026). The work is about sentience and cognition in a variety of insect species. Thank you for sharing (and applying)! qmul-jobs.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...

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.

An incredible and puzzling case of mimicry, a healthy spider mimicking one infected by a pathogenic fungus! I worked some with the first author David during my sabbatical, and I know he has some other spider surprises in the pipleline.

Weird flies!

Doyen did collect Saprinus out of his backyard Dracunculus vulgaris in Berkeley!

I'm going to go corpse flowers on the off-chance of a histerid shout-out.

I don't have any direct numbers, but I'd guess that nearly as many species depend on dead wood as living trees.

Cover of Annotated Catalog of Hawaiian Weevils

Very proud of this one:
hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pubs-online/...

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 🧪🌎

Do you see what I see?

Photo of a fly, with an orange body and sparse black hairs, and bold, though narrow, black and white stripes that extend from the front of the head all along the thorax and scutellum.

Saw this stunner of a fly in a student collection (collected in South Carolina). New to me. Apparently this is the introduced 'African Fig Fly' (Zaprionus indianus), capable of damaging some fruits. Pretty little pest, though.

tsusinvasives.org/home/databas...

Ellychnia corrusca (“winter firefly”) casually lounging on a tree trunk at 10:30pm, like it wasn’t 28 degrees out and actively snowing

Look buddy I’m all for niche partitioning but there has to be a better way

I’ve heard of winter fireflies but this is ridiculous

Scientists Find the Gene That Could Save the World’s Bananas A wild banana’s hidden gene may help save the world’s favorite fruit from a relentless fungal threat.

Scientists Find the Gene That Could Save the World’s Bananas #Science #Biology #Genetics #BananaConservation #Biodiversity

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-find-the-gene-that-could-save-the-worlds-bananas/

New Insights on the Ecology, Economics, and Management of Anoplophora Longhorned Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) - Current Forestry Reports Current Forestry Reports - The genus Anoplophora includes 52 species, of which three are known to be invasive and a fourth has recently been identified as a potential international high-risk...

Check out our shiny new paper on Anoplophora beetles! We summarize the history and what's known about this group of global invaders and perpetual pests.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Very similar crocuses just popped here (South Carolina) yesterday! Beautiful.

Plant-feeding insects can do good - biological control of tamarisk - Value in nature Across the arid American southwest, rivers and streams are lifelines of biodiversity. Even ephemeral watercourses are fringed with some of the lushest greenery around, as willows, sycamores, and cotto...

Using insects to control invasive plants: considering the case of tamarisk in the American West, just up on the Value in nature blog:

mscaterino.pika.page/posts/plant-...

#biodiversity #nature 🌐

With their long legs and humpbacked, wedge-shaped bodies, tumbling flower beetles (Coleoptera: Mordellidae) look somewhat like large fleas. These natural acrobats use their powerful hind legs to escape predators. When threatened they jump and roll to safety. Palmyra Michigan, 03 Jul 2013.

With their long legs and humpbacked, wedge-shaped bodies, tumbling flower beetles (Coleoptera: Mordellidae) look somewhat like large fleas. These natural acrobats use their powerful hind legs to escape predators. When threatened they jump and roll to safety. Palmyra Michigan, 03 Jul 2013.

YouTube video by Biological Recording Company Mapping the Beetle Tree of Life

With over 400,000 described species, Coleoptera represent one of the most diverse groups of organisms on Earth, necessitating a global, integrative approach to understanding their evolutionary history. m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg47...

Live insect jewelry - Wikipedia

That trend is an old one.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_in...

All forms of Beetle are valid forms of Beetle, including this

Dung beetles – happy to do nature’s most thankless job - Value in nature There’s a lot of biology encapsulated in the deceptively simple children’s book title: ‘Everyone poops’. The world might be awash in animal waste, were it not for an effective clean-up...

One can't write about ecosystem services for long without giving dung beetles their due. So, here's my inevitable attempt to Make Dung Beetles Great Again:

mscaterino.pika.page/posts/dung-b...

#biodiversity #nature 🌐

Coffee crops are dying from a fungus with species-jumping genes – researchers are ‘resurrecting’ their genomes to understand how and why Coffee wilt disease has continually devastated farms around the world. Understanding the fungus’s genetics can help protect everyone’s cup of joe.

"Widespread monocultures of genetically uniform crops.... have contributed to environmental degradation & increased plant vulnerability to disease."

We could - and must - break up these monocultures. In #biodiversity is resilience

theconversation.com/coffee-crops...