iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

🌻OK MR. SUNSHINE!🌻 @entobiologist.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

it's whatever reading papers from 40 years before i was born but reading papers that were published when i was 7 years old is kinda weird for some reason

041

Jacky Chitty @callimome.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

To commemorate my trip to #EntSoc2025 my sister made this for me

Diorama of Newark Liberty Airport except as hell… and a prison too

020

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

--species are parasitoids of beetle, bee, or wasp larvae. Others seek out spider egg sacs, or hop aboard female spiders with the intent to parasitize the egg sacs when the spiders construct them. Mantispid larvae then chew through the silk and live inside, eating spider eggs. #inverts #insects

A macro photo, side angle, of an insect called a mantidfly against a pure white background. The insect is facing left. It's overall a mix of dark and light brown/tan, with large, round, rainbow-green compound eyes. It's a long, thin insect, with mantis-like raptorial forelegs, clear lacewing-like wings folded along its back, and giraffe-neck-like extension of the thorax. Overall, it looks like a mashup of a mantis and a lacewing, hence the common name.

0232

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Rebecca Wang 王思寧 @rebeccawang.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Best way I can think of putting it: You know the start to Stand by Me? www.youtube.com/watch?v=einn... 🎶"When the night has come And the land is dark And the moon is the only light we'll see"🎶 That's kinda the vibes here. Pretty fitting, "moon mili" was always there, just waiting for us to find!❤️

youtube.com

Ben E. King — Stand By Me [Letra + Video]

YouTube video by armxndo

031

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Rebecca Wang 王思寧 @rebeccawang.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Dang, A+ name! 🤩 Extra context (as they are underselling it): A 霽月/Jìyuè moon, as in the idiom 光風霽月, has this great sense of tranquility & hope to it, a sign that the intense storm is finally gone & the night is calm again, where you let out that breath you didn't know you were holding in. [🧵]

131

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Hell yeah, bless us, moon millipede.

Millipede in its natural leaf litter habitat, appearing brightly white against its dark background

0121

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

I HAVE to highlight the most poetic etymology section I've ever read for a millipede: "Jiyue (Chinese spelling) alludes to the bright white appearance when the animal emerges from the leaf mold, like the moon appearing from behind a dark rain cloud." Source: zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1280...

zookeys.pensoft.net

A new epigean species of Trichopeltis Pocock, 1894 from southwest China (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Cryptodesmidae)

A new species of Cryptodesmidae, Trichopeltis jiyue sp. nov., is described from the Ailaoshan National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, southwest China. The new species is distinguished from its con...

2247

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Hey I started a new section of my website called Derek's Tech Corner, come check it out: www.derekhennen.com/derekstechco.... It's where I'll share various software and other tech tools for cool kids that will save you time--so that you can go look for more bugs.

derekhennen.com

Derek's Tech Corner — Derek Hennen

This is a page dedicated to sharing websites, technology, and various tools that I’ve found useful for science and navigating the internet. Maybe it will help you save some time.

2184

Jacky Chitty @callimome.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

I've seen a lot of truly beautiful photos of chalcids in my day, but these ones of Metapelma westwoodi (Metapelmatidae) might just be my favorite www.flickr.com/photos/dhobe...

040

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Evelyndroid's Aperture Science and Bugge-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Not only did I get to see a gorgeous old friend roaming the familiar boardwalk again this afternoon, but I saw her ovipositing into something in the wood, for the first time! Hope to see her next generation, next year 🖤 Uropelma formosum, eupelmid wasp. Mope. 🧪

Slender mopy wasp, with a green head, thin antennae, tan thorax with a purple stripe across the sides, tiny wing stubs, and a dark iridescent abdomen terminated by a black feathery ovipositor sheath(?). She's paused over a slight blemish in the wood, abdomen arched, thin ovipositor proper injected into the blemish.

112811

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Urodid moth cocoon, Costa Rica. The basket hangs by a thread (possibly to discourage ants) and the structure may allow rain to drain and/or prevent mold. But it doesn't stop parasites - I think the seed-like ovals are cocoons of parasitic flies or wasps, indicating the moth pupa's likely fate. 🐙🌿

A macro photo, vertical orientation, of an unusual moth cocoon, spun out of gold silk but in an oval-shaped, open-weave basket that looks like wire mesh. Part of a green leaf is out of focus in the background, and the top of the basket is attached to a white woven thread extending up out of frame. In the lower left half of the cocoon are a dozen or so small, gray, seed-like structures that are probably the cocoons of tiny parasitic wasps or flies, indicating they parasitized the moth pupa that originally made the mesh cocoon.

612521

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

John Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Graduate student @kylethieringer.com and I wrote a dispatch about a new @currentbiology.bsky.social paper (doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...) describing a proprioceptive neural circuit that helps the fly visual system identify (and ignore) its own legs. authors.elsevier.com/a/1lYLj3QW8S...

15317

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Carlos M Herrera @cmhmaliani.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

I enjoy recognizing behaviors supposedly typical of bees in some of their ancestors, the wasps. A digger or thread-waisted wasp, Ammophila heydeni (Sphecidae), still sleeping shortly after dawn clinging to a twig with its mandibles, as commonly done by many solitary bees sporting strong mandibles.

Red and black wasp clinging on a twiglet with its mandibles

0689

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Aron Bellersheim @coleomaniac.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Neat little wasp with muscular hind legs :) Although I see Chalcidoidea almost daily, this was only my second Chalcididae. IV.2024 Haltichella rufipes, 4mm, a larval parasite of a diverse set of hosts: Tortricidae-moths, death-watch and darkling beetles #hymenoptera #parasitoidwasp #macrophotography

side view of a 4mm black wasp with muscular hind legs sitting on young flower buds of a Galium plant. it's slurping up a tiny drop of sugar-water that I put there to keep it busy so it's easier to take a picture

28319

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

The sheer elegance of wasps! Here’s a Spathius that arrived to a blacklight sheet in west Texas.

Photo of a slender, elongate orange insect in side view standing in a pure white field. The insect has long threadlike antennae and a needlelike tail nearly the same length as its body.

612516

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Ashlesh Pattanaik @orthopterizzt.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Tree crickets build megaphones, called "baffles", by chewing holes in leaves to attract mates. For my PhD, I am studying the evolution of baffling. Lil bit of phylogenetics, lil bit of citizen science. Follow the link to my new project on @inaturalist.bsky.social www.inaturalist.org/projects/baf...

inaturalist.org

Baffling in North American tree crickets

This project aims to collect data on “baffling” behaviour in tree crickets (subfamily: Oecanthinae). Baffling is a strategy used by males to make themselves louder. They do so by calling from leaf edg...

196

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

DB @arnoldtortoise.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

A beautiful Dusmetia pulex parasitoid wasp of the Encyrtidae found in meadow at Great Dixter this morning. #UKWildlife #wasps #HighWeald #Encyrtidae

Side view of an orange-brown tiny wasp with grey legs. Head and antennae are to the left of picture; head has very large pale blue eye, antennae are black and have brilliant white tips

0193

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Plazi @plazi-species.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

#NewSpecies New parasitoid wasp from #southkorea just flew in: Lipolexis longipetiolata Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/9A82AD3B-... Publication: doi.org/10.3897/zook... #ZooKeys #LipolexisLongipetiolata #FAIRdata #OA #biology #taxonomy #nature #entomology #insects #hymenoptera #wasps #parasite

085

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Pheidole militicida desert big-headed ant sisters. Major workers (left) and minor workers are set on different developmental trajectories by environmental stimuli as larvae, and mature to perform different roles in the colony. Arizona.

Photo of two ants facing each other on a clean white background. The ant at left is orange and massive, with a head that's nearly as big as the rest of its body, and small black eyes set low on its face near its mandibles. The ant at right is smaller, black, shiny, and slender.

612522

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Keep stories like this in mind before you publicize locations of sought-after invertebrates on social media and sites like iNaturalist.

0162

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Tarunkishwor Yumnam ꯇꯔꯨꯟ ꯌꯨꯝꯅꯥꯝ @tarunyumnam.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Our false head work is out! By analysing ~1000 #butterflies, we found many traits at posterior end of hindwings evolved correlatedly, likely forming a trait complex w/adaptive function to dupe predators into thinking these traits together are actual head!! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

36020

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

Cotton ball with legs glued onto it morphology

Close-up photo of the ventral aspect of a Luna moth with no appreciation for boundaries

4779

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Scott 𐚁 🦇 Cave 🦇 @hellabarnes.bsky.social · 19/06/2024

If you plant a mountain mint/Pycnanthemum in an area where they are native, you will get the weirdest bees and wasps you have ever seen, and they will ignore you.

Kramer, what's going on in there?

Inconceivable amounts of Hyemnopteran diversity, Jerry

2134077

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

ZooKeys @zookeys.pensoft.net · 11/07/2025

Six skin beetle species of the subfamily Attageninae were reported for the first time from Saudi Arabia. Find out more here: doi.org/10.3897/zook... #taxonomy #beetles #entomology

A set of six detailed images of beetles belonging to the family Dermestidae, arranged in two rows of three. Each beetle is shown dorsally (view from above) against a white background with a scale bar indicating 1 mm. The beetles vary in color and pattern.

031

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Hayley Strivens - Norfolk, UK @naturenorfolk.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

@galling.bsky.social Artichoke gall- very pretty! Seen today in Norfolk #galls

072

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Luxomancer 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @luxomancer.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

The Mantidfly Union™ has informed me that they have noticed a lack of my cooperation recently so I should remedy that. 🫥 Beautiful #Mantidfly, #Leptomantispa pulchella, a tiny (15mm long) friend. #fujifilm X-S10, #Laowa 65mm #Macro #MacroPhotography #photography #Invertebrates #insects

A photo of a brown and tan mantidfly from the side as it walks across a white sheet. The mantidfly has a small head that is mostly large round bronze metallic eyes with long slender antennae pointing forward. The bespined brown and tan mantid-like raptorial claws which gives these insects their common names, is tucked up underneath the head. The thorax has a long neck-like tubular structure that sweeps down to a tan striped box like structure that the other 2 sets of legs come from. Long transparent ovate net-like wings cover the brown and tan striped abdomen.

48110

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Studying single-cell biodiversity feels like going back in time 200 years. No one has any idea what's going on (in the best possible way). BASICS about life are still being discovered. If you'd like to learn more, & see more videos, check out the study here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Meteora sporadica, a protist with incredible cell architecture, is related to Hemimastigophora

“Kingdom-level” branches are being added to the tree of eukaryotes at a rate approaching one per year, with no signs of slowing down.1,2,3,4 Some are …

325540

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Every so often during the past couple of years, I would come across this springtail in my Malaise trap samples and think "I should really try to image this". Well, my friends, today was the day. #Collembola #FocusStacking #NaturalHistoryCollections #NotAI #SpottyMcSpotface

1253

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

🧪 BREAKING (good news): Senate subcommittee says NO! to Trump's proposed slashes to NASA & NSF funding. Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24. See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it. 🧵 1/3

appropriations.senate.gov

Subcommittee Markup of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

20994370

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

The thing about entomology is, there are always weirder bugs than anything you could imagine on your own. Here's Cysteodemus wislizeni, a blister beetle from west Texas.

Photograph of a metallic blue/green beetle with a very spider-like body, a huge fake "abdomen" that is swollen and dented with even pits over its bulbous surface. It is otherwise ant-like, standing on a pure white stylized background.

33858149

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

BIRD!! @thatonecreature.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

A marble oak gall getting swarmed by chalcid wasps, possibly Torymus sp. Some of them are already attempting to lay eggs in the gall. :) #wasps #entomology #insects

A round green gall sticking out from between the leaves of an oak tree. The gall is covered in small, green and shiny wasps with long ovipositors, a needle like organ that protrudes from the rear of female wasps.

0113

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

New fav wasp, just look at this wasp. Big head, small body, spiky brows, toddle-walk... 10/10 The 6 y/o called this a chibi wasp, I think it's genus Cratomus. Found in my bathroom.

Photo from above of a small blue-black shiny wasp standing on a pair of shorts. The wasp is so small that all is visible of the shorts are giant woven fibers. The wasp has a dumbbell shaped head, small body and iridescent wings.

411323

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

We’ve been on a deep dive in the museum archives this week and you would not believe the letterhead game some of these gentlemen had

Custom stationery of a Parisian insect dealer, exquisitely decorated with Aubrey Beardsley style insect illustrations

619461

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

ascalaphid @ascalaphid.com · 08/07/2025

🚨BREAKING🚨COOL SHREW FOUND insideecology.com/2025/07/03/o...

251144306

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

You want to collect insects (and maybe other arthropods) for reference genome sequencing, but don't want to spend a fortune on dry ice shipping! All you gotta do is SQUISH. THAT. BUG! More details in our recent preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

a silly #SciArt redraw of the squish that cat meme, but it is a grey stickfigure squishing a mosquito (that looks like a little cat) with the text SQUISH THAT BUG!

27826

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Evelyndroid's Aperture Science and Bugge-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Pseudomethoca velvet ants have such chonky bulldog heads and they're kinda my favorite (don't tell Ephuta) ♥️

Large red velvet ant on dry oak leaves, nearly facing you. Her head is a rounded square

320929

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Tam||maT @tamvmat.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Finished! I made a husband for my anglerfish model. It's air dry clay so he's a bit clunky haha but I think he's cute. #sciart #deepsea #anglerfish #fish

Clay model of an anglerfish, with the glow in the dark spots glowing green

Huge female anglerfish model next to her tiny husband

412226

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Stelios Chatzimanolis @schatzimanolis.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Found insect art at the Kunsthaus Zürich

Artwork with beetles in the Kunsthaus Zürich

0102

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Vanna Bartlett @vannabartlett.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Still a bit of work to do but my Pseudoscorpion guide is coming along. Maps are just about done (these show pre (yellow) and post (red) 2000 records) but I will need to revisit museum specimens to re-photograph or make detailed drawings.

A powerpoint slide from a guide to Norfolk Pseudoscorpions. This one is for Chthonius ischnocheles and has two photographs of live individuals at the top and then text below describing features that identify the species. There is also a map of Norfolk showing records of the species as coloured 2 km squares.

A powerpoint slide from a guide to Norfolk Pseudoscorpions. This one is for Neobisium carcinoides and has two photographs of live individuals at the top and then text below describing features that identify the species. There is also a map of Norfolk showing records of the species as coloured 2 km squares.

5557

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

RT for anyone who might want to know more about free flashcard software for memorizing things Such as bug names

1104

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Rob Stephens @tillingtonchum.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

It’s always a pleasure to be visited by Ledra aurita. An unusual looking bug, but somehow rather cute. #bugs #WildlifeGardening #ento #UKwildlife

1394

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Shloop 𓅃 @bugwizardshloop.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

I found this beauty dead by the road. It is Amplypterus panopus, one of the largest sphingids in HK. As a male, it only has a wingspan of 13cm, but females can reach 17cm. As it likely lived a long life, the moth is a bit battered and lost much of its striking colours. #teammoth #inverts

A tan moth with a large body and long wingspan. It has a dark brown thorax, body and base of wing. At the middle section of the forewing and the apical margins of the hind wing creates of dark brown, somewhat straight border. It has eye spots at the lower end of its forewings. It has a large patch of pink on each of its hindwings.

The underside of the moth is tan, brown and near the body, yellow, resembling fallen autumn leaves.

2267

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Armando Rosario-Lebrón @rosariolebronentomology.com · 29/06/2025

Found another Carabidae (Ground Beetle) and thought, might as well check it for mites. I’m trying to rear some out to see what they grow into. Did not expect to find a whole Aphaenogaster ant latched onto its leg with its mandibles. 🪲🪳 #entomology 🌿

Side view of a black ground beetle resting on textured black foam. The beetle’s body is sleek with visible ridges along the elytra. The ant is tucked beneath one of the front legs, not super obvious at a glance. Lighting is soft, giving a matte look to the foam and subtle sheen to the beetle’s shell.

Head-on macro of the beetle showing its forelegs and part of the thorax. The Aphaenogaster ant is clearly seen gripping the leg joint. Its spiny legs and body contrast sharply with the smooth, black surface of the beetle. The black foam background adds a clean, consistent texture.

Close-up of a black ground beetle’s head and foreleg on textured black foam. An Aphaenogaster ant is clamped onto the beetle’s leg with its mandibles, tangled in the hairs at the joint. The beetle’s eye and armored surface dominate the frame, with sharp lighting that shows every texture and crease.

0212

Reposted by Jacky Chitty

Armando Rosario-Lebrón @rosariolebronentomology.com · 29/06/2025

My T. stirmi spiderling has grown up so fast. She's absolutely gorgeous with the way the setae layer all over her cuticle, and the way her eyes contrast. Taking a close look at spiders instead of seeing them as a "nebulous ball of legs and fur" can really shift your perspective. #Invert 🪲🪳

Extreme close-up macro of a Theraphosa stirmi spiderling's face, showing dense golden-brown setae (hair-like structures) covering the cuticle. Four prominent eyes form a cluster on a small hump on the spider's head, gleaming darkly amid the intricate textures of fine hairs.

Side-angle macro photo highlighting the face of a Theraphosa stirmi spiderling. Clearly visible are the cluster of shiny black eyes atop a slight mound on its head, framed beautifully by thick layers of rich, golden-brown setae. Soft focus adds depth and emphasizes delicate textures.

1223