iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Huge congratulations George and team, looks fantastic!

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Jolyon Troscianko @jtroscianko.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

🦋 Butterfly wing patterns create motion illusions that protect them from predators! Our new study (8 years in the making) is out in Nature today doi.org/10.1038/s415... @grahancock.bsky.social @esbriolat.bsky.social @scienceanna.bsky.social @lauraakelley.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social

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Renjie Zhang @renjiezhang.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Congrats Jack!! 🦗🧬 So excited to see this one out—fantastic work! This work investigates how cricket populations have adapted at the genomic level following the introduction of the parasitoid fly and show how this novel selective pressure has shaped both population structure and genetic variation.

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Richard Merrill @dickmerrill.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Very excited to see this multi-faceted* study, led by Shane Wright and representing years of work on visual evolution and perception in Heliconius as part of our ERC Starting Grant, released into the world! 🦋*pun very much intended www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

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Ophelia Fritsch @opheliasfritsch.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Our Quick Guide on Copulatory Courtship is out in Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu.... Find out more about the wonderful female and male interactions that occur during copulation and how these behaviours can be crucial for successful reproduction.

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Leeban Yusuf @leebanhy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Working with minimal genomic samples from two species? I’ve put together DemogFit, a small R package for fitting IM models and estimating gene flow parameters from a single whole-genome sample per species, plus a Snakemake pipeline to generate the input files. github.com/LeebanY/Demo...

github.com

GitHub - LeebanY/DemogFit: Have minimal genomic samples from two species and want to infer their demographic history? DemogFit is an R package for fitting four simple likelihood-based demographic mode...

Have minimal genomic samples from two species and want to infer their demographic history? DemogFit is an R package for fitting four simple likelihood-based demographic models using the distributio...

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Dr Hannah M. Rowland @hannahmrowland.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

We just released a new open resource for studying evolution, ecology, colour, behaviour & biodiversity. OzButterflies 🦋 ✨ 4,000+ individuals 🌈 Visible + UV images 🧬 CO1 barcodes 📈 Spectral reflectance data 🏞️ 125 species doi.org/10.1093/data... @mherberstein.bsky.social @livuni-ives.bsky.social

examples of database images. (B) Disassembled RGB. (C) Disassembled UV. (D) Pinned dorsal RGB. (E) Pinned dorsal UV. (F) Pinned ventral RGB. (G) Pinned ventral UV.

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Denise D Dell'Aglio @ficusorganensis.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I loved writing this! Make sure to watch the videos! 🦋🧪

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Lauren Sumner-Rooney @laurensr.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

📢 Heads-up: I'm currently finalising the job description for a 30-month postdoc modelling visual abilities in these very gorgeous and very dead creatures! If you're interested, please get in touch - anticipated start is late 2026/early 2027 and the project combines great colleagues in UK + S Korea!

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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 17/07/2026

Male katydids produce mating calls using structures on their wings and many species have wing regions that mimic leaves to evade predators. Watch #ProcB author J. Benito Wainwright talk about research revealing that these 'leafy' structures also enhance attractiveness: cassyni.com/events/Mw6EA... 🧪

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Jessica Foley @jessicafoley14.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Episode 2 of Inside Geroscience is out now! tune in for our discussion with Dr. Luigi Ferrucci of the National Institute on Aging about his recent paper on epigenetic clocks, the dream of geroscience, and much more - available on all major podcast platforms. open.spotify.com/episode/1BOX...

open.spotify.com

Biological Clocks with Luigi Ferrucci

Inside Geroscience · Episode

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Atal Pande @atal-pande.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Really excited to share that my first PhD chapter is now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! 🕷️👀 We show that visually hunting spiders have repeatedly evolved forward-facing eyes, highlighting the remarkable evolutionary flexibility of their modular visual system. doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

cell.com

Hunting ecology predicts eye arrangements in the modular visual system of spiders

Pande et al. show that visually hunting spiders have convergently evolved forward-facing eyes. The positions and orientations of the eyes show the greatest morphological disparity and fastest evolutio...

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Max Farnworth @maxfarnworth.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

A small contribution to an important topic, in Nature Reviews Biodiversity. I highlight @howbrainsevolve.bsky.social and Harvey's work in 2000 and illustrate it's pivotal role in our understanding into the principles of brain evolution. Have a read - it's short! www.nature.com/articles/s44...

nature.com

The principles underpinning the evolution of the brain - Nature Reviews Biodiversity

Nature Reviews Biodiversity - The principles underpinning the evolution of the brain

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Spectacular work from @jessicafoley14.bsky.social officially establishing #Heliconius as a model for yet another cool thing! 👏

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Todd Oakley @ostratodd.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

🧵 New paper! We’re excited to release OPTICS: software that immediately predicts color sensitivity from any opsin protein sequence. In other words: give OPTICS any opsin sequence, and it predicts the wavelength of light the pigment is most sensitive to 🌈👁️ academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

academic.oup.com

Accessible and Robust Machine Learning Approaches to Improve the Opsin Genotype-Phenotype Map

Abstract. Predicting phenotypes from genetic variation is a central challenge in biology. Here, machine learning (ML) offers great promise, but its use is

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Josh Arbon @josharbon.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Dwarf mongooses change their pre-emptive behaviour relative to the size of their neighbouring rivals🐻🥊 We leveraged 10 years of behaviour and GPS data to investigate the pre-emptive behavioural changes mongooses make to navigate a landscape of intergroup conflict: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Sexier in the city? Urban male great bowerbirds decorate bowers with human-made objects, creating brighter and more varied displays than rural males. Males strongly prefer human-made objects over natural ones, possibly boosting their appeal to females! shorturl.at/lcNY2 @royalsocietypublishing.org

The ground is covered in leaf litter. On the ground are two parallel walls made of sticks that form a corridor. At each entrance there are objects scattered around including grey plastic, green pieces of glass, grey stones, white snail shells and red items.

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Ah thanks so much Rob - hope you’re doing well! ☺️

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

…and finally, a bit shout out to all my wonderful fellow biologists on BCI in 2025 for the most fun field season ever (and STRI for hosting!) ❤️ 10/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

As per, this work was in collab with Nathan Bailey and funded by the fantastic @royalcom1851.bsky.social, as well as @leverhulme.ac.uk and NERC. Big thanks also to collaborator Laurel Symes @cornelluniversity.bsky.social for her immense bioacoustics wisdom… 9/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

So, it seems that structures under different forces of selection can actually enhance, not hinder, the attractiveness of acoustic sexual signals, despite being physically linked. We’re now itching to find out how these structures evolved! 8/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

And these leafy areas naturally resonate at a frequency close to that of the male calling song! 7/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

With the help of Fabio Sarria-S and Fernando Montealegre-Z at Lincoln, we were able to probe into the biophysics of this using laser Doppler vibrometry. Turns outs clipping “leafiness” ups the resonant frequency and sound radiating properties of the sound-making structures themselves… 6/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

But are these acoustic differences biologically meaningful? We then played these clipped and unclipped male calls back to females and found that females were more excited by the baritone voices of unclipped males. Relatable findings. 👀 5/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Ngl, I was pretty apprehensive about this experiment actually working, so very relieved to get these results! Viadana are singing divas at the best of times but after two months “in the studio”, a whopping 8 seconds of sound was recorded (but note, that is over 1600 individual calls!) 🎙️😂 4/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I did an experiment with handsome chaps of Viadana brunneri. I removed the “leafy” parts of the wing and measured the effect that had on the calling song. 🎙️🎶 Turns out, clipped males sing quieter and at a higher pitch! 3/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Specialised song-making anatomy is known to be under sexual selection, but in tropical katydids, these structures are physically attached to the rest of the wings that have been enlarged and shaped under natural selestion. What’s the functional deal there? Trade-off or harmonious partnership? 🤔 2/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Leaf-mimicking katydids don’t just use their funky camouflage to survive, they’re using it to find love too! 🥰🍃💘 New paper out now in #ProcB @royalsocietypublishing.org (Photo cred: Christian Ziegler): doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 1/n

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Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Out today in @royalsocietypublishing.org - we show that crab spiders (the ones you usually see ambushing pollinators on flowers 🕷️🌸) get worse at hunting if their eyes are covered!🫣 Sounds obvious? It's actually quite surprising, here's why... 👀 (1/8) royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

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Tom Timberlake @tomtimberlake.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Pollinators matter for human health!🐝 Our new @nature.com paper traces links from wild pollinators>crops>nutrient intake & income of families in rural Nepal—showing how pollinator declines threaten health & livelihoods, but also how farmers can help manage these risks doi.org/10.1038/s415...

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Stephen Montgomery @ebablab.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

🚨Job claxon🚨 4-year #Postdoc available in our lab in @camzoology.bsky.social developing molecular and anatomical approaches to mapping evolutionary changes in the brain, using #Heliconiini butterflies. Come join us, we are nice. 🧪 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

An immunostaining section through a Heliconius brain. Staining and imaging by Dr Max Farnworth.

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Go listen to @jessicafoley14.bsky.social’s new podcast! 📻👨‍🦳

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Richard Merrill @dickmerrill.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Really excited to see @borreroja.bsky.social’s tour de force exploring the behavioural consequences of coordinated visual adaptations in *Heliconius*, and how these may break down in hybrids, out in the world. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

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Jacob Tennessen @jacobphd.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Really excellent paper on the genetics of caterpillar butt ornaments journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Figure showing the evolutionary diversification of Lepidopteran larval appendages.

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Diana Aguilar-Gómez @dianaguilr.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

The last chapter of my PhD is finally out !!!! In the same species, on neighboring islands, we see radically different warning colors emerge. Evolution in action: Selection-driven color variation in the aposematic strawberry poison frog, Oophaga pumilio: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

cell.com

Selection-driven color variation in the aposematic strawberry poison frog, Oophaga pumilio

Aguilar-Gómez et al. use exome sequencing of 347 strawberry poison frogs to uncover the genetic basis of color variation. They identify that kit, ttc39b, and bco1 underlie blue-red, yellow-red, and gr...

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Thanks so much Hannah! Pleased (and relieved) that the title has found its patrons… 🦄

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Thanks so much Alice, glad you are as enthused as we are! 🤩

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Thanks Melanie, that’s a very fabulous Orophus! They are very polymorphic but I’ve never seen a pink one yet!

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

As usual, a huge thanks to Graeme Ruxton and Nathan Bailey for their (slightly more balanced!) ideas, everyone on BCI for their support, @royalcom1851.bsky.social for funding, and Chappell Roan for creating one of the best pop songs of recent times 😎 @uniofstandrews.bsky.social 6/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

This gradual colour change, within a single life stage, led us to theorise whether masquerading as a pink leaf might actually be adaptive… could be adaptationist nonsense but has been very exciting to think about nevertheless! 🤷🏽🤔 A few other nuggets in the paper though! 5/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Luckily, I was in the company of fantastic tropical ecologists (and friends). @mattgreenwell.bsky.social and Paddy Cannon, poined out that the colours of this katydid closely matched that of delayed greening leaves which many tropical plants produce as a defence against herbivores… 🤔🤔 4/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Pink katydids have been documented before, but have generally been regarded as ‘freak mutants’. But what happened next totally blew our minds. Over the course of ~10 days, this individual slowly changed colour from pink to completely green, the more common colour for this species. 😱3/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

One night on BCI, Panama, @zekerowe.bsky.social passed by my office with this very special find… witnesses have confirmed I was speechless. Hyperventilation upon exposure to supernaturally magnificent invertebrates was not on my risk assessment… 😮‍💨 I was just about keeping it together here 2/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Introducing the campest katydid of all time. 🦄💅🏽👸💞 Why would this animal (Arota festae) have evolved this way, other than to look utterly fabulous? We have unleashed some (slightly whacky) thoughts, now out in @esajournals.bsky.social. Photo credit: @zekerowe.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... 1/n

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

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Benito Wainwright @benitoexplains.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Luckily, I was in the company of fantastic tropical ecologists (and friends). @mattgreenwell.bsky.social and Paddy Cannon, pointed out that the colours of this katydid closely matched those of delayed greening leaves which many tropical plants produce as a defence against herbivores… 🤔🤔 4/n

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