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Nathan Havill

@nphavill.bsky.social
915 followers 422 following 78 posts

Evolutionary Biologist. Forest Entomologist

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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
And “It may, I think, be safely affirmed that there is no other genus of insects which presents greater difficulties in the determination of its species than the genus Chermes [= Adelges & Pineus].
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
“In the majority of cases the description of one species is a replica of that for the previous species, with minute variations of detail, and a search for the precise specific differences becomes very wearisome.” (Burdon 1908, talking about adelgid taxonomy)
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Boo!
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
If the Big Picture is too big in the introduction, it makes me an instant skeptic as I read the rest of the paper. I think authors should to be careful not to inflate the scope and impact of their work. It can lead to distrust.
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Casey Dunn @caseywdunn.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
My new book, Phylogenetic Biology, is now published. Available online for free at dunnlab.org/phylogenetic... . Physical copies can be purchased at shop.lightningsource.com/b/085?params... or your favorite bookstore.
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Congratulations, Casey!
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Maybe you sampled the same individual 115 times…wink, wink…
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Wondering if an insect could become a high-impact tree pest if introduced to North America? Check out the iTree Pest Predictor: pestpredictor.itreetools.org
pestpredictor.itreetools.org
Pest Predictor - Insect Invasion Model - i-Tree
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sandyliebhold.bsky.social @sandyliebhold.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Proud to share the new Bluesky page for the Forest Invasion Synthesis Centre here in Prague! bsky.app/profile/fore...
bsky.app
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
They are sooooo interesting!
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
👏👏👏👏👏
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Martin A. Nuñez @martin-nunez.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
You ❤️ Science You hate writing papers and dealing with reviewers… It does not need to be like this. Get a copy of A Pocket Guide to Scientific Writing and Publishing 🧪🗺️
Book Amazon page of a pocket guide to scientific writing and publishing
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Jen Weimer 🌲 @pinefortrees.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025... #foresthealth #forestfriday
news.cornell.edu
Cornell ash trees aim to beat back borer insects | Cornell Chronicle
Cornell Botanic Gardens is collaborating with conservation partners to propagate trees resistant to emerald ash borers.
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Very cool!
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Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
@bryanbrunet.bsky.social @nphavill.bsky.social et al. present the genome of the hemlock woolly adelgid, one of eastern North America's most destructive and invasive forest pests. The 216 Mbp genome is highly complete (97.7% BUSCO). 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf170 #genome #evolution
GBE | The Genome Sequence of the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand 1924
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Our hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) genome note is out! @bryanbrunet.bsky.social academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...
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Andrea Gloria-Soria @agloriasoria.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
The invasive form of Ae. #aegypti mosquito evolved within the Americas, after arriving from Africa ~320 ya. Our most recent paper is out @science.org. Years of work with collaborators all around led by J. Crawford! Great resource for the Vector Research community!. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
How the yellow fever mosquito conquered the world
Aedes aegypti further adapted to life around humans when it arrived in the Americas, study of hundreds of mosquito genomes reveals
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Casey Dunn @caseywdunn.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Interested in joining our lab (dunnlab.org) as a postdoc to work on siphonophores, processes that structure diversity in the open ocean, or natural history? If so, please reach out to discuss a nomination for the Donnelley Postdoctoral Fellowship - yibs.yale.edu/donnelley-fe...
dunnlab.org
The Dunn Lab
Casey Dunn's laboratory in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University.
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Dr. Jessica L Ware @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Join us! The Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History is hiring a curatorial associate! For more information : careers.amnh.org/postings/4529
careers.amnh.org
Curatorial Associate
The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world’s preeminent scientific and cultural institutions, and has as its mission to discover, interpret and disseminate information about human cult...
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
More creative and fun. Yay, drift!
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Casey Dunn @caseywdunn.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
I hope to take a PhD student in 2026 to study siphonophores. Please reach out if you are interested in applying this fall. For examples of recent lab projects see www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... and academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...
sciencedirect.com
Population genomics of a sailing siphonophore reveals genetic structure in the open ocean
The open ocean is a vast, highly connected environment, and the organisms found there have been hypothesized to represent massive, well-mixed populati…
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Thank you, Entomology Today @entsocamerica.bsky.social, for covering our work on adelgids of Bhutan. If we want to prevent #bioinvasions, we need to know what’s out there. Also, adelgids are super cool insects 😁 entomologytoday.org/2025/08/13/u...
entomologytoday.org
Unusual Galls Trigger National Survey of Adelgids and Their Predators in Bhutan Forests
When aphid-like insects appeared in Bhutan forests, local researchers collaborated with USDA Forest Service experts to identify species, including four new to science.
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
entomologytoday.org/2025/08/13/u...
entomologytoday.org
Unusual Galls Trigger National Survey of Adelgids and Their Predators in Bhutan Forests
When aphid-like insects appeared in Bhutan forests, local researchers collaborated with USDA Forest Service experts to identify species, including four new to science.
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Andrea Gloria-Soria @agloriasoria.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Detecting chromosome inversions in @aegypti is a real art! I am honored to be part of this project. academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...
academic.oup.com
Chromosomal Inversions and Their Potential Impact on the Evolution of Arboviral Vector Aedes aegypti
Abstract. Chromosomal inversions play a crucial role in evolution and have been found to regulate epidemiologically significant traits in malaria mosquitoe
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Andrea Gloria-Soria @agloriasoria.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
First chromosome-level reference assembly of field @aegypti formosus and sister species @aedes mascarensis is out. Work led by @genmorinaga.bsky.social if @jsoghigian.bsky.social group in collaboration with us at #CT_CAES, @yale.edu, @ird-fr.bsky.social, @pasteur.fr academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-...
academic.oup.com
From macro to micro: De novo genomes of Aedes mosquitoes enable comparative genomics among close and distant relatives
Abstract. The yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) is an organism of high medical importance because it is the primary vector for diseases such as yellow
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Andrea Gloria-Soria @agloriasoria.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
#threeMosquitoes. “The biology of deadly insects.” A book by my colleague and friend Jeff Powell is out! He just brought in my very own signed copy! Get yours @hopkinspress.bsky.social www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Our article got the cover (!) with this cool photo of the inside of an adelgid gall, taken by Dr. Kaka Tshering. Lots of new information about adelgids (including on hemlock), their predators, and associated fungi in Bhutan academic.oup.com/jinsectscien... @entsocamerica.bsky.social
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Well, that’s promising!
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Leucotaraxis piniperda from WA, released in CT for biological control of hemlock woolly #adelgid. Some papers about the science behind the effort: research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/6... research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/6... research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/6... link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Hemlock woolly adelgid. Still killing trees in Connecticut.
Dense hemlocks woolly adelgid colony on a hemlock twig.
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Anurag Agrawal @anurag-asclepias.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
I have created a feed "plant insect ecology" for posts on the biology, ecology, evolution, & natural history of plants & insects... to post, simply include #plant-insect. Please post images, opportunities, academic articles w/ links, etc. DM w/ suggestions, it will take some days to optimize
Tall saguaro cactus
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Andrea Gloria-Soria @agloriasoria.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
We put together a fact sheet for #Aedes #aegypti. You can access the corrected proof from the link below. kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...
kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Wow!
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Thank you Anurag. It has been a really rewarding collaboration with a great group of people.
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Jen Weimer 🌲 @pinefortrees.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
A non-native invasive moth has been lurking in the Northeast for more than 120 years and has recently become a pest again – of trees and people – in parts of Maine. Learn more in my latest article. #foresthealth #browntailmoth #forestpests #invasives northernwoodlands.org/knots_and_bo...
northernwoodlands.org
The Ups and Downs of Browntail Moths | Spring 2025 | Knots and Bolts | Knots and Bolts
A non-native invasive moth has been lurking in the Northeast for more than 120 years and has recently become a pest again – of trees and… This content is available in the magazine only. Please Subscr...
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
It’s going to be a while before it’s ready, but it’s highest on my list of priorities!
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
😁 The 2016 paper that Chris cites above is by me and colleagues. Working on an update with new info and updated methods.
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Fun article written with Ohio State University Buckeye Yard and Garden Online about hemlock woolly adelgid life cycle. bygl.osu.edu/node/2454
bygl.osu.edu
The fascinating complex life cycle of hemlock wooly adelgid (HWA), Adelges tsugae Annand
The hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), Adelges tsugae, is an invasive insect that has caused the decline and mortality of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana) in east...
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
BTW - what an amazing group of US federal, university, and industry scientists working together to help protect our forests! @hufbauer.bsky.social @sandyliebhold.bsky.social
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
This all shows how important herbivore host recognition and plant defenses, shaped by their evolutionary history, determine whether herbivores will cause high impact after invasion….
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Try it yourself here, in the iTree Pest Predictor… pestpredictor.itreetools.org
pestpredictor.itreetools.org
Pest Predictor - Insect Invasion Model - i-Tree
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Now, using a composite model that objectively partitions conifer specialists, hardwood specialists, and generalists, we can predict whether ANY insect will be high impact on trees if introduced to North America…
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Also, many insects that were commonly categorized as generalists fell in the specialist group, and host diversity was lower in the introduced range than the native range….
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
We took a deep dive, gathering tons of data about individual non-native insects, and calculated their host breadth using phylogenetic diversity. We found a clear inflection point in our impact model between insects with fewer, closely related hosts and those with more, distantly related hosts…
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
We already knew that the phylogenetic distance between an insect’s native and non-native hosts was a key predictor of impact on insects that specialize on conifers… doi.org/10.1002/ece3... …or specialize on hardwoods… doi.org/10.1007/s105... …but what about generalists?…
doi.org
Evolutionary history predicts high‐impact invasions by herbivorous insects
This research is the first to empirically support historically assumed hypotheses about the importance of evolutionary history as a major driver of impact of non-native herbivorous insects. We discov...
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Our new paper(!) developed a comprehensive model to predict which non-native insects will have high impact on trees after arrival… onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
What Is a Specialist? Quantifying Host Breadth Enables Impact Prediction for Invasive Herbivores
Herbivores are commonly classified as host specialists or generalists for various purposes, yet the definitions of these terms, and their intermediates, are often imprecise and ambiguous. We quantifi...
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Lindsay Triplett @triplettlr.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
US Undergraduates! You still have until next Friday to apply to the Plant Health Fellows internship program in New Haven, CT. Learn about plant health research and careers for 9 weeks, includes $5,000 stipend and apartment housing: www.southernct.edu/plant-health...
southernct.edu
Plant Health Fellows | Southern Connecticut State University
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Adelgid of the week. LEGLESS EDITION!! Adelges (Cassiadelges) coccipus, Havill & Brunet, 2025. Collected from larch trees in Bhutan. The first member of Aphidomorpha completely lacking legs!! www.mapress.com/zt/article/v... @bryanbrunet.bsky.social @entsocamerica.bsky.social
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
A HUGE thank you to Kaka Tshering and others at the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Forestry Research and Training for inviting us to help process their samples from a Bhutan-wide survey of adelgids. Stay tuned for more interesting observations!
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Nathan Havill @nphavill.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
As the only known legless species among the ~5600 described Aphidomorpha, it could be an exciting opportunity to study limb evo-devo!
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