iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 06/09/2026

a perfect biscuit

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Entomological Society of America @entsocamerica.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

NEWS: Lauren A. Esposito, Ph.D. (@arachnologynerd.bsky.social), an entomologist specializing in arachnology and evolutionary biology, has been named the next editor-in-chief of American Entomologist, ESA's quarterly membership magazine. entsoc.org/news/press-r...

A person with short dark hair is sitting on a desk in front of bookshelves filled with books. They are wearing a patterned shirt and black jacket. A microscope and a framed specimen are visible nearby.

Cover of "American Entomologist" magazine, Spring 2026, featuring a pile of dry leaves with five insect photos inset. The headline reads, “Bagged and Tossed,” about insect loss during autumn cleanup.

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tine @tine5.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Day 5 of #InverteFest! 🪲 This is Haidomyrmex cerberus, a prehistoric ant with mandibles which moved upwards to grab prey, named the guardian of the underworld! #pixelart #invertebrates #SciArt #paleoart

Pixel art of Haidomyrmex cerberus, an ant with reddish colouration and mandibles which point upwards, looking at tree sap slowly moving towards it, while behind are trees and a dirt mound.

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leland c. graber @bug4bug.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Do you (or have you ever) worked with natural history collections? Are you trans or non-binary? If you said "yes" to both of those, @rin-krichilsky.bsky.social and I want to hear from you! Please consider filling out our survey and please share with others! 🏳️‍⚧️ 🐛🦕🦴🌿 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.com

Trans in Natural History Survey 2026

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Khadempour Lab @khadlab.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

A new paper, "Honeypots: a review of repletism across the ants" from our lab was published today, with grad student Bianca Nogueira as first author, and co-authors DiemQuynh Nguyen, @adriatica.bsky.social, and @haidomyrmex.bsky.social. It was a labor of love! doi.org/10.25849/myr... 🧵

Three ants with giant gasters are next to each other. The one on the left has a creamy and opaque gaster, the middle one has a dark amber and transluscent gaster, and the third is a lighter honey-colored transluscent gaster. All three ants are Mymecocystus mexicanus repletes from the same colony. The colors are due to the different fluids that they are storing in their crops. Because their crops and gasters are so distended, it's possible to see the crop contents.

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Entomologists of Color @entopoc.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

From the ENTOPOC team, we wish you an incredible 2026. This year, we reaffirm our commitment to support students of color. We would like to announce our research and travel grants. Two application deadlines: April 15 and September 15. Find more information at: www.entopoc.org/researchtrav...

Research and travel grant up to 500 USD for students around the world. Deadlines: april 15th and september 15th.

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franz @franzanth.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

We present: The Art of #InverteFest - December 2025 Edition A digital art book showcasing the work of 100 artists from around the world, in celebration of overlooked invertebrate fauna. Thank you to the artists who contributed to our book! Download: drive.google.com/file/d/1JCXz... #Art #SciArt

a promo image showing various pages from the book, each page showcasing different animals like an opabinia, a leaf insect, close up of a starfish, and so on. the art featured shows a range of different medium, including digital, pixel art, ceramic, fursuit, post it, and so on.

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Jack Tamisiea @jack-tamisiea.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Thousands of years ago, giant owls chowed down (and threw up) in a Caribbean cave. The bones they left behind were a boon to bees. Scientists recently discovered that one species made nests in the empty tooth sockets of rodent skulls. 🦉🦴🐝 Latest for @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/s...

nytimes.com

When the Bones Were Good, These Bees Buried Their Babies

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Jess Awad @parasitoidrex.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Starting in 20 minutes! The Zoom room is open and the slides are rolling - time to grab some snacks and settle in for 24 hours of Hymenoptera! #Hymathon2025

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Sun's up in Portland! Talks you might want to check out if you're into fossils, ants, extinction, eusociality, or comparative morphology. I'm giving a talk today as well called "The diversity and longevity of the earliest ants" at 1:40pm in B113. #Entsoc25

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Ugh this conference has barely started and the entomologists are already trashing the place

Graffiti in Portland reading “shrimps is bugs,” a bug-forward but cladistically inaccurate proposition

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Press release out today on our new paper detailing the convergent origins of obligate ant and termite eating in mammals!

news.njit.edu

Mammals Evolved into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since Dinosaur Age, Study Finds

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

This is a nationwide layoff for a generation of young scientists: undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs funded on current awards will be unemployed with no explanation. Their future opportunities also erased.

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Corrie Moreau @corriemoreau.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Oldest ant fossil ever found reveals history of ‘hell ants’ | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

science.org

Oldest ant fossil ever found reveals history of ‘hell ants’

Unusual Brazilian specimen trapped in limestone is 113 million years old

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Corrie Moreau @corriemoreau.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Congratulations to Dr. Chloe Jelley @chloejelley.bsky.social ! Beautiful Ph.D. thesis defense today! #MoreauLab #ProudPI

Dr. Chloe Jelley and Dr. Corrie Moreau celebrating her successful Ph.D. defense

Members of the Moreau Lab and Chloe's parents toasting Chloe

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aluckymyrmex.bsky.social @aluckymyrmex.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

👀🦋🐝🐞🐜🦗🪲🕷️Ento-Education Job alert!!👀

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Armando Rosario-Lebrón @rosariolebronentomology.com · 04/03/2025

We weren't sure it would be possible, but huge thanks to the Eastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America for supporting a last-minute symposium highlighting stories from terminated federal employees at the meeting on March 17th. #entomology 🧪 esa.confex.com/esa/2025eb/m...

esa.confex.com

Impact of Federal Dismissals and Disruptions on Entomology and Entomologists

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Today in Newark, New Jersey. 60+ scientists out in 25 degree weather to collectively say: hands off our healthcare, research, and jobs. One of 16 nationwide events held today as part of Labor for Higher Education.

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Jess Awad @parasitoidrex.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Gall midges and their parasitoids are abundant, megadiverse, and very hard to identify! Such "double dark taxa" systems present special challenges for ecology and agriculture. 🧵🧪🐙 @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @marinamoser.bsky.social @krogmann.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/aesa...

doi.org

Untangling host specialization in a “double dark taxa” system

Abstract. Platygastrine wasps (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) are parasitoids of gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). They and their hosts are exceptionally

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

My morning to-do list for the indefinite future: □ Call and send physical mail to a senator/congressperson □ Email a federal civil servant to thank them

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Ant folks, is antweb down? Does anyone know why? Can we help?

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Hell yes to this title in a new paper on formicine ant venom. Although I think just the first part is enough: "Acid Reign" doi.org/10.25849/myr...?

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

In 2025 I will sell five copies of The Three EPs by The Beta Band

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ascalaphid @ascalaphid.com · 29/12/2024

104 bugs from 2024

if anyone gets pedantic about the definition of 'bug' i will hit them with my entomology phd diploma which my labmates got laser engraved onto an axe for me

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NANCY COMICS BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER @nancycomics.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller December 24,1945

NANCY BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER

I WONDER WHAT THAT NOISE IS?
CLICK
CLICK
CLICK

OH-H--- IT'S THE CAT PLAYING WITH AUNT FRITZI'S TYPEWRITER!...

STOP THAT!

CLICK
CLICK
CLICK

MeRRy ChrISImas fROm NaNCY,
SluGGo, FRItzi - - - - - - aND
ErNIe BusHMILLer

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Isopod Fan Account @bedupolker.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Coach motel (like a coach beetle)

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NANCY COMICS BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER @nancycomics.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

TAKE YOUR TIME- - - NANCY’S THE BOSS AROUND HERE

HONK
HONK

TAKE YOUR TIME- - -
I’M THE BOSS AROUND HERE

HONK
HONK

HONK
HONK

( NANCY IS THE SCHOOL CROSSING GUARD, SHE STOPPED THE TRAFFIC TO ALLOW A TURTLE TO CROSS THE STREET)

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

If you stop disassociating just long enough, you can spot the psammophore on one of the ants crawling over the 700 dollar salt shakers in the NY Mag gift guide. You may find comfort knowing these specialized beard-like hairs have helped seed harvester ants haul stuff for tens of millions of years.

A photo of five worker seed harvester ants crawling over a silver, pointed saltshaker. There is a price of $696 next to the salt shaker.

A zoomed-in photo of one of the worker ants. On the underside of the head are a handful of long hairs that are labeled as "psammophore" with an emoji of a bearded man.

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

talked about the Johnston's organ and airspeed sensing in insects in last night's class, so I figured they could have a little aviation entomology as a treat. One of Australia's finest research papers, WASP GO IN PLANE

Research paper title: "Inventive nesting behavior in the keyhole wasp Pachodynerus nasidens Latreille (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in Australia, and the risk to aviation safety" (House et al 2020)

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 08/09/2023

TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK TERMITE BACKPACK (picture from Zilberman & Pires-Silva 2023) www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

Top and side views of a beetle species that mimics termites. The abdomen of the beetle is expanded over its own body and is shaped like a termite.

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Ant/insect/academic friends! You may soon receive this invitation to guest edit an issue for the journal Insects. A reminder that this publisher (MDPI) is essentially predatory and relies on recruiting folks like us to start a kind of multi-level marketing chain. Just say no!

A screenshot of an email from the journal Insects that says: We invite you to join us as a Guest Editor for Insects to establish a Special
Issue. Our suggested topic is “Biodiversity, Phylogeny and Evolution of
Ants”. You may modify the title to suit your interests and set the
submission deadline according to your schedule.

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

I am very glad so many of my science friends are here now. My only fear is that I'll now have to post something more substantial than reposting 70 year old Nancy comics every three months.

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NANCY COMICS BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER @nancycomics.bsky.social · 07/11/2024

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller November 7,1955

I WISH I
COULD THROW
A CURVE

( SLUGGO THROWS THE BASEBALL AND IT MAKES A PERFECT CURVE, GOING AROUND THE SIDE OF THE ROCK)

NAME WRITTEN
ON ROCK-
WISHING ROCK

NANCY BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER

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Phil Barden @haidomyrmex.bsky.social · 22/03/2024

Our paper on new, very old ants is out in Current Biology today! ~77 million year old amber from North Carolina preserves evidence of a prolonged extinction of the earliest ants. Free link here to learn more about these doomed ats! @currentbiology.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/c/1ioZf3QW8S...

A CT-scan reconstruction of an ant preserved in 77 million year old amber from North Carolina.

Two photographs of ants preserved in 77 million year old amber from North Carolina. The photos show multiple ants in different poses, each labeled with a number.

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NANCY COMICS BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER @nancycomics.bsky.social · 07/02/2024

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IN NANCY’S WORLD

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Dead McCoy 💀🖖 @tedmccoy.bsky.social · 31/12/2023

Been thinking about this for two days

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Entomological Society of America @entsocamerica.bsky.social · 02/11/2023

Prepare for #EntSoc23 with the mobile app! Explore the program, bookmark sessions, navigate the meeting center, get up-to-date alerts, and more. iOS: apps.apple.com/us/app/esa-a... Android: play.google.com/store/apps/d...

Screenshot of session detail in the conference mobile app, listing session title, location, date, duration, description, Topics, and Speaker.

Screenshot of conference mobile app showing an map image of the four levels of the meeting space at the Gaylord Conference Center.

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