iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Frank Ashwood @frankashwood.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Hello fine people of BlueSky! I'm Frank: a soil ecologist, author, macrophotographer and science communicator (and tired new father). Follow this account if you want to learn about: 🪱 Life in soil 📸 Macrophotography 🎙️ Science communication 📚 My book 'The World Beneath our Feet' #Introduction 🧪

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

you had me at CRAB MUSEUM

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

IMO we should have an annual BugGuide award for inadvertently great insect photography. I'm not talking pros like @alexwild.bsky.social and @tshahan.bsky.social, I mean pure drama like this guy

dramatically lit moth from bugguide, shot from what I can only describe as the Full Mothra Angle

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Torsten Dikow @tdikow.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Great label generation tool presented by Ian Engelbrecht at SPNHC - developed through South African National Science Collection Facility - labels.nscf.org.za - it’s free + labels are customizable + makes nicely standardized labels + works best with larger screens

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

TIL about Eichlinea gloriosa, the “glorious squash vine borer” Moth that sounds like a @tkingfisher.com bit but it’s real (and it’s magnificent)

Selection of pinned specimens of what I can only describe as a gay cowboy moth. It’s wearing elaborate hot pink feather boa chaps.

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Ellen O. Martinson @waspvenom.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The Martinson lab is looking for new PhD students! We have so much cool data and need help making sense of it all! If interested please contact me!

Flyer for position in Plant Genome Manipulation by Insects "We are looking for new members of our team to work on the molecular mechanisms behind gall induction. A gall is an abnormal growth on a plant that is induced by another organism (i.e., bacteria, fungi, mites, insects). Insect-induced galls are the most complex type, creating structures and pigments not seen in the normal development of the host plant. The insect evades host defenses and co-opts control of plant development redirecting resources away from the plant to create a structure comprised of multiple tissues that both provide nutrition to the insect’s offspring as well as protects them from harm. While some progress has been made in individual systems, we still do not understand how any insect induces a gall to form or whether the mechanisms behind this complex manipulation are conserved across galling species. The Martinson lab works in three independent galling systems to try to understand molecular toolkit used to hijack plant development is shared across distantly related gall-inducing insects or whether each lineage has evolved its own unique suite of effectors and signaling strategies. " If interested email emartinson@unm.edu.

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Torsten Dikow @tdikow.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

At annual SPNHC (Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections) meeting at Iziko South African Museum - presenting on Pinned Insect Digitization Conveyor used at Smithsonian NMNH to digitize 360,000+ pinned pollinating insects - slides at @figshare.com doi.org/10.25573/dat...

slide of presentation on Pinned Insect Digitization Conveyor

side view of hover fly digitized on Pinned Insect Digitization Conveyor

side view of bee digitized on Pinned Insect Digitization Conveyor

view of Iziko South African Museum with Table Mountain in the background

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Wayne Maddison @waynemaddison.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The Tree of Life web project is back! A phylogenetic view of biodiversity way ahead of its time (ca. 1995!), conceived and led by David Maddison, collaborative & human-curated, widely used in teaching. Defunct technology had doomed it until Travis, Danny, and Andrew revived it. 🥳🎉 🧪 #evolbiol

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

We're advertising for a field crops entomologist who will lead extension & research on soybean, sweetpotato, & peanut in North Carolina. I'm excited to have a new future colleague!!! 🥳 To see the description + apply, please use the link below. Please share! jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/234...

A red and metallic blue sweetpotato weevil sits on a sandy background. It is elongate and ant-like, with sausage-like antennae.

A black peanutworm moth with a pale orange saddle sits on a white background.

A velvety gray stem borer longhorn sits on a green leaf. Its antennae are striped black and gray.

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vermivorax @vermivorax.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

This WHOLE thread. 💯

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Matthew Broberg-Moffitt (any/all) @mbrobergmoffitt.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Three years ago today, my food aversion cookbook and guide COLOR TASTE TEXTURE was released! I couldn’t be more proud of my book. The people who have reached out to me to share how it’s improved their lives have left me humbled and I only wish more of the folks who need it find it. Thanks everyone!

penguinrandomhouse.com

Color Taste Texture by Matthew Broberg-Moffitt: 9780593538593 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

An accessible family cookbook that offers solutions rather than tricks to empower the food-averse, autistic, and picky eater, with 46 recipes. This much-needed cookbook combines tips and techniques.....

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Ash Whiffin @ashwhiffin.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

How do you digitise 325,000 insect specimens? Put them on conveyor belts! 🪰🐝🦋📸 Earlier this week, I went behind the scenes at the NMNH to see this mass digitization set-up in action! Thank you @tdikow.bsky.social & the Picturae team for hosting me! Find out more here: m.youtube.com/watch?v=-OSe...

Insect specimens with labels removed and placed on holders ready to be moved around on conveyers and taken for imaging. System designed and run by Picturae.

Digitiser working at one of the specimen stations to return specimens to their original location in the drawer and prepare and send out a new specimen.

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Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Another new moth species for North America (Phyllocnistis occidentalis Eiseman & van Nieukerken), and the identity of the grape leafminer that has been spreading across Europe for the past 30 years is clarified (P. vitifoliella, not P. vitegenella!).

bugtracks.wordpress.com

Grappling with Grape Leafminers

I don’t remember when I first became aware of reports that the grape (Vitaceae: Vitis) leafminer Phyllocnistis vitegenella (Gracillariidae) had been introduced in Europe. There is no mention …

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Fly School @dipteracourse.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Tenure track Assistant Professor of Arthropod Biodiversity position open at UC Berkeley in California aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05523

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

Assistant Professor - Arthropod Biodiversity - Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

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Corrie Moreau @corriemoreau.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

📣 📣 📣 UPDATE: The 2026-2027 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resource! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

docs.google.com

ecoevojobs.net 2026-27

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Emilie Ellis @e-ellis1.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

🦋 I’m recruiting a fully funded PhD student at the University of Helsinki: understanding how butterflies respond to climate change across Europe. Apply by 30 Sept: Full details: jobs.helsinki.fi/job-invite/5... Please share! #ecology #job #phd

jobs.helsinki.fi

Doctoral Researcher (PhD student) in Butterfly Ecology and Climate Change across Europe

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com

1. The entomology department notice board a sign reads “Employee of the moth: Claire”
(Claire is spelled with an i)

2. Clare and a colleague are scientists wearing lab coats, they look at the board. He says “Congrats, But I think they made a typo.”

“Damn, do they did.” Says Clare

3. Clare in the office, seen from outside “Sorry to bother you boss, but my name is spelled wrong on the poster”

4. Her boss is a human-sized moth in a lab coat sitting behind a desk “Apologies Clare, I’ll get that fixed.”
(Clare is spelled either no i)

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Armando Rosario-Lebrón @rosariolebronentomology.com · 17/08/2026

I'm hunting for a "cryptid", but with tiny feet. I've launched a website about the creature. Are you a naturalist, #entomology , #arachnid or general invertebrate enthusiast around #swansea and #wales? Do you have a free weekend day in the UK? I'd love for you to come along. More on the website 🧪

rosariolebronentomology.com

The Lost Mite of the Irish Sea: Have you seen this mite?

Found in Ireland, 1915. Found in Wales, 1987. Lost since. A one millimetre cryptid of the Irish Sea shores, and a weekend hunt to find it again.

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Armando Rosario-Lebrón @rosariolebronentomology.com · 19/08/2026

A mite last seen 39 years ago. We will be walking the Welsh shore looking for it, and posting as we go. The site now has a live blog, a map of everywhere we have searched, and a Welsh option. I can't speak Welsh, but this is Wales. It needed a Welsh option. Thinozercon is out there. #inverts 🧪

Screenshot of the Lost Mite of the Irish Sea website on a phone, styled like a page from an old book: cream paper, a brown double ruled border, antique serif type. A bar across the top holds a Contents button, a CY button for Welsh, and an Aa button for text size. The title reads The Lost Mite of the Irish Sea, above the line Ireland, 1915 · Wales, 1987 · Then the record goes silent. The italic paragraph below reads: The hunt for one of the strangest and most mysterious arachnids of the Irish Sea shore. First found on Irish shores in 1915, then recorded once more in Wales in 1987 by Swansea researchers working in Milford Haven on a study part funded by the oil industry. Thinozercon has not been seen since. The Hunt for Thinozercon intends to change that.

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Ferris Jabr @ferrisjabr.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

🧵Thread on the fascinating phenomenon that is the multi-species foraging flock: If different species are competing for finite resources, why would they band together like this? Research suggests that by doing so they enhance their chances of finding food, flushing out insects, and avoiding predators

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Eredhes @eredhes.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Another Lascaux horse. From last Autumn.

Framed relief sculpture of a horse, based on the axial gallery of the Lascaux. The horse is yellow, with an orange neck/face. It starts on the left/hindquarters as a cave painting and then becomes more three dimensional to the right/front. The background of the relief is textured to look rock-like. There are various painted lines around the horse including two that look like feathers, and 4 parallel lines above.

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Jen C Mars @jencmars.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

This spider is appx 1mm long, qualifying it as both "itsy" and "bitsy"

Photo of a spider with a round, red opisthosoma (back end) with white spots, like an amanita mushroom with eight little transparent legs and a funny face

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Pigeon Post @pigeonpost.shop · 29/07/2026

A USPS logo for every state bird!! 🐦✉️

Tea towel featuring USPS postal boxes with state bird designs- birds other than the iconic eagle.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

My Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites applications from entomologists with research portfolios in which INSECT BIODIVERSITY LOSS is a key element (at the assistant professor level). illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

Picture of a green tree-lined quad at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, with Foellinger Hall in the background. Skies are often this blue.

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mossworm.bsky.social @mossworm.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

just walked under the door voluntarily and started distributing children. this is definitely someone's personal hell

Female wolf spider carrying dozens of babies around on her abdomen

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Joachim Mergeay @jmergeay.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

If somebody comes to me in 20 years and says “Are these your original ideas and words?” about even a single sentence of my writing, I need to be able to answer yes—no reservations, no loopholes, no room for error.

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

The second edition of The Bee Genera of North and Central America just dropped! Updated from the 1997 edition! And it's free! Look at the bees! scholarlypress.si.edu/publications...

scholarlypress.si.edu

The Bee Genera of North and Central America (Hymenoptera: Apoidea): Second Edition | Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 01/08/2026

There is a certain level of obtuseness in (some) "AI" apologists when they flounce up to point out what "AI" is good for in science, etc, while eliding the fact that almost none of that use is driving the current market capitalization, environmental degradation and resource hogging of the field

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Emily Atkin @emorwee.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

We are given only a limited number of truly perfect summer days in our time on Earth. One of the more insidious cruelties of fossil fuel greed is how it slowly strips those days from us, more and more throughout our lifetimes, perhaps without us even realizing what we have lost.

heated.world

Another stolen summer day

What are we still waiting to learn?

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Jill Weinberger @jillybobww.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

I'm at the combination Taylor Farms and Earthbound Organics parasitic outbreak.

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Codey Mathis @codeymathis.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Skype a Scientist connects classrooms to scientists who can talk about their work and inspire young minds. The annual map filling donations go to support this non-profit and is one of the ways we can show our support for this amazing cause. If you have spare $ for science, consider donating!

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Jess Awad @parasitoidrex.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I've read quite a few other people's theses, and I know people have read mine! It even got a book review in Entomologische Berichten (journal of the Dutch entomological society NEV) 😊

A photograph of a journal, opened to a 2 page article by Henk Vlug reviewing (in Dutch) a doctoral thesis entitled "Integrative Taxonomy of Platygastrine Wasps of Germany". There is a picture of the cover and a couple of photographs of pinned parasitoid wasps. The review is very complementary.

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

What are we calling it when someone designates one or more holotypes with the INTENTION to pick one and deposit it somewhere, but never does it?

More cave beetle taxonomy mysteries in the Barr collection. In this case, he has labeled one specimen with a red label that says “TYPE” and one with a typewritten label reading “HOLOTYPE”

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Natee (they/them) @himmapaan.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I don't know where I'd rank it among the manifold heinousness of genAI, but human made work being accused as machine generated makes me scream. I know many artists, some of whom are my friends, who have fallen foul of this.

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Have a seat and listen to tale of twisted taxonomy from your friendly neighborhood arachnologist. This is a story about our RESURRECTION of the tiny linyphiid spider, Ceratinopsis tybeensis, known from eastern USA. #taxonomy #spiders

Male of Ceratinopsis tybeensis - a sheet-web weaving spider with a dark yellow carapace and cream-colored abdomen with yellow legs.

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Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Lately I've had great work-life balance: both work and life have been burying me in equal measure. So in lieu of new photos, here's a throwback to ten years ago: an Ectatomma sp. ant (I think) I found carrying off an incredibly beautiful grasshopper in the Peruvian Amazon. #Bugsky 🐙🌿

A macro photo, vertical orientation, of an orange ant hanging upside-down from a mossy, brownish, horizontal twig. The ant is carrying a much larger grasshopper in its mandibles, gripping it by the abdomen. The grasshopper is rainbow-colored: yellow body, bright blue eyes, and legs banded in yellow, red, blue, and black. The grasshoppers antennae are dark with yellow tips.

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

OH NO there was one lepidopterist left in the collection, fortunately it was Chris Grinter and he found us this wildly mislabeled micro “moth.” 50 Ento Points if you can name the family…

A small (~8mm) flimsy insect that looks like a busted, broad-winged caddisfly with pectinate antennae

This creature was definitely collected in a moth trap, but it is NO MOTH

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🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

🧪🧵 🪰 🐜🪲🐞🦗🐛🦋🪳🦟 How many species of insect are there? A seemingly simple question, but one that has been 'bugging' scientists for years. Our work out today suggests that there are millions more than we had previously expected. doi.org/10.1073/pnas... @gdfcf.bsky.social

This photo was taken in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste

This microgastrine wasp was named by co-author Jose Fernandez-Triana in honour of Costa Rican parataxonomist Roberto Espinoza in recognition of his contribution to understanding the plant biology of ACG. The species is Snellenius robertoespinozai. The image is Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) so can reused provided the original author (Jose Fernandez-Triana) and the source are properly cited. The source is: Fernandez-Triana JL, Whitfield JB, Smith MA, Kula RR, Hallwachs W, Janzen DH (2015) Revision of the genera Microplitis and Snellenius (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica, with a key to all species previously described from Mesoamerica. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 62(2): 137-201. https://doi.org/10.3897/dez.62.5276

image of a Malaise trap in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste

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Frank Ashwood @frankashwood.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Only two months until the UK/Commonwealth & EU release of The World Beneath our Feet, with the US release just a month after that... It's all feeling very real all of a sudden! Pre-orders are SUPER IMPORTANT, so please reserve a copy from your preferred book seller now! #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet 🧪

A macrophotograph of a giant springtail, a soft, blue-bodied invertebrate covered in long yellow spines.

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Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Here is your Sunday Scoliid. This is Dielus sp., I think D. pilipes, the hairy-footed scoliid wasp. They parasitize soil-living scarab beetles. They kinda look like spiky-hairy paper wasps, but are solitary, with no nest to defend, so are docile and easy to photograph as they sip nectar. #Bugsky 🐙🌿

A macro photo of a black wasp with a yellow-banded abdomen, sipping nectar from small white buckwheat flowers with dark pink anthers. The wasp has dark amber wings and pale, almost white compound eyes.

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

The answer? It's a dustywing baby/larva! These insects are small predators of small soft-bodied arthropods & can be beneficial in controlling plant pests. They are the smallest members of the order #Neuroptera, also having a reduced wing venation. #Coniopterygidae NC, USA bsky.app/profile/bert...

A dusty white, moth-like insect with long antennae sits on a reflective surface. It has wings that are rounded near the tips and white, dusty legs.

An insect with long thick antennae and grayish brown wings sits on an off-white surface. It has a reddish hue to the thorax.

A plump, soft-bodied insect larva sits on a leaf facing the camera. It has a small pointed head with moderately long antennae. The body is brown with a few large white spots on the sides.

A plump, soft-bodied insect larva sits on the tip of a leaf facing down. It has moderately long antennae. The body is brown with a few large white spots on the sides and the tip of the abdomen.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

This is Psalidomyrmex. It hunts earthworms. Which is a habit that probably merits weird mandibles. But I just learned they don't need to have slicing mandibles, just grabby ones, because earthworms drop their tails when attacked, so the ants just haul them off like they were harvesting fruit.

Macro photo of Psalidomyrmex reichenspergeri, a large purplish black ant with curved jaws that taper to a fine point like ice tongs.

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Brendan O'Loughlin @brendanoloughlin.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

@drstrangeant.bsky.social Do you think you could make good 3D models for 3-5 mm wasps? I'm afraid the micro-ct near me is not good enough for resolution on that scale. I'm hoping to do morphometric analyses to see if they support/don't support genetic species limits in a cryptic complex.

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

🚨funded PhD position in AUSTRALIA🚨, working on SMALL BROWN LEAF LITTER CREATURES, who could ask for anything more

Written description of the aforementioned PhD position(s): Project 1 is "Understanding narrow-range endemism in the wet forest beetle fauna of southeastern Australia;" Project 2 is "Phylogeography and population genetics in cryptic leaf litter species". There is a picture of a COOL BEETLE.

Second half of the screenshotted advert. Project 3 is "Litter transplants for post-fire restoration of litter invertebrates;" Project 4 is "Consequences of historic habitat loss for short-range endemic species."
Positions to start in late 2026 or early 2027; pay is $37,450pa; you need to have an honors or MS in zoology, entomology, ecology, or genetics.
To apply, email Dr. Gibb at h.gibb@deakin.edu.au.

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

tfw a small batch of vole excrement becomes available

Snippet of a paper on Sphaeocerid flies reared from various disgusting substrates (Buck 1997): "By chance a small batch of vole excrement and the decaying sporocarp of a ligneous fungus became available. They were also included in the rearing experiments."

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