iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Progress always feels too slow in the world of tropical arachnology, and my lord why is everything in NW Madagascar unplaceable in a known genus. Pls just give me some easy stuff But- i am privileged to spend two months of the year in this most beautiful of villages, Mariarano Photo- Jack Hague

011

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

After a torrid end to 2025 and slowish start to 2026, the brain is reengaging. Rise rise and rise again

000

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

One persons chaos is another persons sanctuary. Argyrodine (Theridiidae) deliveries from around the world keeping me sane 😁 🇲🇾🇮🇩🇱🇦🇰🇭🇦🇺 Rattling through them for upcoming papers. #spiders #evolution #klepto

000

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Fascination with argyrodines ever growing… new region, starting with specimens from 🇲🇲

000

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

12 hours later can’t sit in the lab anymore but nearly finished resubmitting the paper 🤓

020

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

5AM starts mean the big to do list items are done by 09:40 and beautiful sunrises! Sorting spiders from Guinea Bissau and depositing new sequence data for an accepted manuscript at the same time :) #Reykjavík #arachnology

000

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

35th European Congress of Arachnology @35theca2025.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Happy to say the 35th ECA in Zadar has officially started!

1147

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

35th European Congress of Arachnology @35theca2025.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Starting strong with our first plenary speaker: Miquel A. Arnedo 🕸️

0113

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

En route to Zadar 🇭🇷 from Reykjavík 🇮🇸 for the European Congress of Arachnology @35theca2025.bsky.social Very exciting 😁🕷️🕸️ #research #academia #SpiderLife

010

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Three months fieldwork in Madagascar is always great! Ft. Photo of me finally at Tsingy!! But the urgent to do list when getting back to the office/lab ☠️

010

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

My set up at the University of Iceland 😍🕷️ #arachnology #spiders

020

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

A new species of Tomocyrba (Salticidae) from rainforest in northern Madagascar! What a pretty boy 😍🇲🇬🕷️ #arachnology #spider #taxonomy

140

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Looking for kleptoparasitic spiders on the webs of Euprosthenops sheet-web fishing spiders (Pisauridae) in Cantanhez national park, Guinea-Bissau, April 2025. #arachnology #fieldwork #WestAfrica

030

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau 🇬🇼 Catching spiders 🕷️ of course, and observing wild chimpanzees, what a privilege 😍

010

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Richard Branson @richardbranson.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

“The US spent 8 decades building an international system of rules, norms and values that has produced the longest period of great power peace and global prosperity in human history.” Fareed Zakaria on how upending the world order will only weaken America: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

washingtonpost.com

Opinion | Trump upending world order will cost America dearly

The decline of American influence is a gift to Russia and China.

1455338599331

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Nicolas Mouquet @nmouquet.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Why do we fear some animals more than others? 🕷️🐍🐊 Check out our study in @peopleandnature.bsky.social with @karlzlr.bsky.social on danger and fear in shaping human biophobia. Fear isn’t just danger—social & cultural factors matter! 🔗 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... 🌐🧪🌍🦤

35525

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Lisa Reyna Loe @lisaloe.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Well played, SNL, well played. Mike Meyers nails Elon Douche, er, Muskrat, er, whatever. SNL Cold Open youtu.be/CUpOMSJ1MdU

youtu.be

Elon Musk Cold Open - SNL

YouTube video by Saturday Night Live

611710434

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

We’ve known this for decades, still not improving

000

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

I usually reserve this account for my personal views; but today I want to represent my position as President of @asn-amnat.bsky.social to post a message that will shortly go out to the membership of the American Society of Naturalists from the ASN Executive Council

34788313

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Elliðaárdalur, the beautiful little canyon tucked away only five kilometres from downtown Reykjavík 🇮🇸

020

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Christina Areizaga Barbieri, Ph.D. @cabarbieri.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

I’m an NSF panel reviewer that was scheduled to meet today. Just got notice that all NSF panels were canceled today. I reviewed some innovative proposals in support of students. Devastating if these scholars don’t get to do this work. For the love of science & students I hope this is just a delay.💔

682274719

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Andrii Tarieiev @andriitarieiev.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

There are some discussions about critical situation in taxonomy - very few specialists for some groups of organisms, and none for some others. Sadly, the situation will continue to worsen. Particular causes - current funding policies in science + existing publishing bias. Some details below:

14420

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

To the crowds cheering Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement: Do you think you live on a different planet, which climate breakdown does not affect? Do you imagine only greens and progressives will be harmed by Earth systems collapse? Do you believe you can win an argument with physics?

27053131253

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

From Hentz, 1845. This is part of the official initial description of Dolomedes albineus from 180 years ago. I'm not crying! 😥

718035

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Jess Marsh @jessmarsh.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Now, I totally don't have favourites...but if I did this species would come close. Feared extinct after fire burnt all of its known range in 2019. Finding this girl during post-fire surveys in an unburnt area of vegetation was like magic. Kangaroo Island Assassin Spider, Zephyrarchaea austini 🌏🧪

A small brown spider, facing sideways, holding a small darker spider in its long mouthparts. The background is cream-brown.

315423

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Perry Beasley-Hall, PhD @pbeasleyhall.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

📣 New preprint! We reconstructed the cave cricket family tree and found the Australian biota have not 1, but >5 independent evolutionary origins. 🇦🇺 is at the centre of a radiation in the S. Hemisphere that began in the Lower Cretaceous ~119 million years ago. 1/ #bugsky Paper: tinyurl.com/bddev8kn

A plate of six photos of cave crickets from throughout the Southern Hemisphere: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Chile. All of the crickets are spindly and spider-like, with elongated legs and antennae for sensing in low-light environments. While they share the same body plan, each of the images has a slightly different colouration or pattern; some are mottled and sandy, others are dusky and appear almost covered in peach fuzz (setae). The species from Chile is almost jet black and matte.

Images © Jessa Thurman, Keith Martin-Smith, Greg Tasney, commoncopper via iNaturalist, Peter Swart, and Benjamin Silva Ahumada. Photographs reproduced under Creative Commons licences.

A phylogeny (evolutionary tree) with groupings of species coloured by their geographic location. In the tree are four different, unrelated groups from Australia, two from New Zealand, and one from South America. To the left is a zoomed-out schematic of the phylogeny showing that only half of the tree is shown in this figure.

46520

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Anna Bowland @acbowland.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Thrilled to see our work covering the evolutionary ecology of ethanol on the cover of the January TREE issue 🎉. Stunning photo by Cyril Ruoso. @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social @kjhockings.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social @exetergses.bsky.social @evol-lab-ex.bsky.social www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

0108

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Jess Marsh @jessmarsh.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

With our recent estimations of an exceptionally high extinction rate for Australia’s invertebrates since European arrival (>9,000 species, with 1-3 species lost per week), the evidence for a mass extinction event is only strengthened 🌍🧪

172

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Imaging Argyrodines for the first paper from our Indian Ocean Islands biogeography project. What incredible spiders! 🇲🇬❤️🇮🇸 #Argyrodes #Theridiidae #Madagascar #SpeciesDiscovery #NewSpecies #Arachnology

0101

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

A stones throw from my front door, the beautiful Mount Esja. Isn’t she wonderful? #Reykjavík

010

Reposted by Brogan L Pett

Swiss @sikholiwe.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Forgetting your headphones at home is the modern equivalent of leaving your sword behind in medieval times.

250156301770

Brogan L Pett @broganlpett.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

So this is where everyone went!! #soLongX Today, I’m sorting Argyrodinae (Theridiidae) samples 🇲🇬 for sequencing… part of our new Indian Ocean Islands Biogeography project. Where are the rest of my arachno colleagues? Who’s doing what now? #spiders #arachnology #biodiversity #discovery

020