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Akito Kawahara

@dr-akito.bsky.social
103 followers 14 following 13 posts

Director, Professor & Curator of Moths & Butterflies | University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, McGuire Center | father of two wonderful kids | フロリダ大学教授 |昆虫学者 | 河原章人 | he/him/his | www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/kawahara-…

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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
This week some members of my lab got together to play pickleball as a fun lab activity! It was super fun! Let’s do it again!
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Had a really fun time last week blacklighting with the lab looking for a rare moth in Florida! Parents of lab members came too, all the way from Belgium!
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Reposted by Akito Kawahara
Andrew Mongue @ajmongue.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
The Mongue lab and Kawahara lab @dr-akito.bsky.social are hiring postdocs!! If you're interested in the genomics of extreme sexual dimorphism and/or silk production, come work on bagworms with us! See below for details: sicb.org/jobs-and-fel...
An Abbot's bagworm case made of silk and sticksAdult female bagworm (left) and males (right).
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Reposted by Akito Kawahara
Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
If you are curious about the Mothbox, I'm around #entsoc2025 talking about #openscience hardware!
Guy wearing an insect camera trap that says ask me about the open source mothbox
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Our lab is on our way to the @entsocamerica.bsky.social meeting in Portland! Very proud of all of the students in the lab who will be presenting amazing talks and posters! If you’re there, come check out their presentations!
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Really great to see Jay Cheon-Sohn, former lab mate during graduate school @umaryland.edu and Smithsonian. An amazing microlepidopterist and fossil insect expert, who is visiting the McGuire Center @floridamuseum.bsky.social this week! It’s been 13 years since we last saw each other
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
A few pics from our recent trip to #CostaRica to study…. #bagworms! Was super fun trip with my @floridamuseum.bsky.social students and postdoc, and @ajmongue.bsky.social and his lab. They are all so great! Would love to go again soon!
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Very cool article by Sarah Steele-Cabrera in Smithsonian Magazine on butterflies in South Florida. www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu... @floridamuseum.bsky.social
smithsonianmag.com
Why Does This Endangered Butterfly Thrive After Hurricanes?
For Schaus’ swallowtail butterflies, the powerful storms mean clear skies and bright futures
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Just listened to an amazing @radiolab.bsky.social episode on Jo Nagai, a 10-year-old from Japan who made a major discovery on how butterflies learn. Touching story- his work is at university level. He speaks to me in fluent english- truly impressive for a native Japanese kid npr.org/podcasts/452...
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
I love this!
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Really nice to see this article written by @floridamuseum.bsky.social about the amazing volunteer, Bob Belmont, who donated his collection and continues to help the McGuire Center as an expert of geometrid moths! www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/support/insp...
floridamuseum.ufl.edu
McGuire Volunteer Spotlight: Bob Belmont
If you need any confirmation that passion is priceless – look no further than volunteer research associate Bob Belmont. After retiring from a long career in pest control, he turned to the Florida Mus...
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Reposted by Akito Kawahara
Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Do you remember we found this humongous mystery caterpillar on our expedition in Cerro Hoya? Apparently, scientists don't totally know the larva or host plant of the White Witch, but Sol and Forrest just got it to pupate and proved it!! This is the WIDEST Moth on earth!!!
Sol and white witchClose up of white witch mothCocoon of white witch mothFull view of white witch moth with my finger next to it for scale
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Reposted by Akito Kawahara
Florida Museum of Natural History @floridamuseum.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Jackie Miller’s career grew from urban warehouse to butterfly bank to jungle laboratory to largest U.S. Lepidoptera collection, but she is often appreciated for drawing people into her world of butterfly research. 🦋 More about Jackie and her husband Lee: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/reme...
a vintage black and white photo of a woman in a lab coat in a small lab space handling several jars from a collection neatly lined up on work surfacesseveral people are leaning over a long table in a public space, looking at the shallow wooden drawers that seem to hold rows o preserved butterfliestwo women sit across a table from each other in a public space as if talking about the books of butterflies and a tray of preserved butterfly specimens
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Reposted by Akito Kawahara
Stefan Pinkert @pro-pink.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
A major milestone of our >4-year effort to bring #butterfly diversity and its threat to global attention. We show most species and hotspots cluster in mountains, with #climatechange projected to erode up to 67% of the thermal niche supporting this diversity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Global hotspots of butterfly diversity are threatened in a warming world - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Butterflies are a large, functionally important and charismatic invertebrate group. Here, the authors characterize global macroecological patterns of butterflies and project shifts in their bioclimati...
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
We're hiring an education/outreach assistant to promote butterflies/moths! No need to be a student, just someone who enjoys working with the public +likes insects. Position based on UF main campus. Please forward: explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53... @floridamuseum.bsky.social @ufatwork.bsky.social
explore.jobs.ufl.edu
University of Florida - Details - FWS or Student Assistant - Outreach and Education Assistant
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Reposted by Akito Kawahara
Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Stop collaborate and listen! 😀Yesterday was a great day for science! Thank you @standupforscience.bsky.social !The real work begins now. People are listening! We need to challenge misunderstandings and show that investment in science is crucial for our health for our economy and for our future!
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
The Lepidopterists' Society annual meeting will be held this year in beautiful Arizona, July 30-Aug 3! Information below about how to register. Should be a great meeting with opportunities to see rare #moths and #butterflies only found in Arizona! www.lepsoc.org/2025-annual-...
lepsoc.org
2025 Annual Meeting | The Lepidopterists' Society
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Akito Kawahara @dr-akito.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
If you like butterflies and moths and want to learn more, check out the Lepidoptera Course in Portal, Arizona this summer! Information on applying can be found here - www.calacademy.org/lepidoptera-...
calacademy.org
Lepidoptera Course | California Academy of Sciences
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