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Scott P. Egan

@scottpegan.bsky.social
3.9K followers 4.3K following 708 posts

Evolutionary Biologist & Scientific Naturalist | Professor | Director, E4 Initiative | #RiceUniversity #science #biology #evolution #speciation #entomology #biodiversity #genomics #eDNA #discovery Lab website: scottpegan.com

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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 4h
We hosted our first #E4initiative meeting of the year — with a lightning talk by Christian Reece in Chemistry, discussion of field vehicles from our Shared Equipment Authority, and we learned about the new TT search in Environmental Health!
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 4h
Rice University invites applications for multiple tenured and tenure-track positions at the senior and junior levels in #EnvironmentalHealth. Join our team! apply.interfolio.com/193813
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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Chris Anderson @cnanderson.bsky.social · 6h
A bunch of these students will read more about galls when we cover @scottpegan.bsky.social articles next semester.
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Chris Anderson @cnanderson.bsky.social · 11h
One of my favorite ecology labs today. We are keying out Eurosta gall fly larvae and their predators. We’ll conduct some simple stats tests to see if mean diameters differ across gall fates. This webpage from Bucknell is a great resource. solidago.scholar.bucknell.edu
Some goldenrod galls and the insects that lived inside them.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 16h
#SidewalkSightings near a Houston, Texas: False bee killer (Promachus bastardii)
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Good mornin’! 🐢
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
How biology is your biology department? At #RiceUniversity, we have wild urban rat snakes that climb our brick walls and hunt on the roof! (Video credit: Melodie French in our EEPS department) 🐍
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
In honor of the Fall equinox, where it will be 95 degrees F today in Texas, a #haiku… Back porch, grill smoke drifts Beer glass sweats, black-bellied ducks Whistling overhead.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
#A_day_in_the_life of a live oak (day 466): Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) eating a Southern Flannel Moth caterpillar (Megalopyge opercularis) in a southern live oak (Quercus virginiana). 📸:C.Denning
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Maria Akopyan, PhD @akopyan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
📣 I'm recruiting PhD students to join the Akopyan Lab at Rice University! If you're passionate about evolutionary genomics, I'd love to hear from you. Details: akopyanlab.org/opportunities Please share widely! 🙏
akopyanlab.org
Opportunities
We are recruiting PhD students in Evolutionary Genomics for Fall 2027 at Rice University!  Projects in the lab include investigating the causes and consequences of recombination rate variation, the...
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Dr. Alex Harkess from #HudsonAlpha gave an exciting and inspiring research talk yesterday to a packed house of computer scientists & biologists at #RiceUniversity! @ricesustainability.bsky.social 🧬🧬🧬
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Journal of Evolutionary Biology @jevbio.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
@lennartwinkler.bsky.social @andygardner.bsky.social @scottpegan.bsky.social
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
My running trail this morning. 9 miles with my son near Colorado Springs.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Happy #NationalWildlifeDay!
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Today I learned the Spanish word “chicatanas”, which refers to “leaf cutter ants” in the genus Atta. They are a seasonal delicacy in Mexico (especially Oaxaca and Chiapas), where they are toasted and ground into rich, smoky salsas or moles. Yummy! 😋 #TIL www.antweb.org/casent0421377
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Science is patriotic. @hmns.bsky.social
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STCmicrobeblog @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
?
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Westward Ho, Texas
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
#FunFact: There is an “etymology” section in many “entomology” papers that describe newly discovered species.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
¡Trabajando!
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Hummingbirds love live oaks. (📸: Christa Denning)
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Without downloading any new pics, where are you at mentally?
Snake trying to eat a much larger frog that it could never swallow.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Belonocnema kinseyi galls on a live oak. (📸:Christa Denning)
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Sometimes we describe new species; other times we help others describe new species. Here, lab members AmandaPotts & Tamires Talamonte extracted DNA from an old sample & generated a barcode for @CSEiseman to help in the description of a new leaf miner on mangrove in FL ...
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Squirrels and other local rodents love to snack on the oak galls!
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Belonocnema kinseyi galls in many colors.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
#Speciation in miniature. #RiceEEB PhD student @maryamrfaghihi.bsky.social and a team of amazing #RiceUniversity undergrads are raising thousands of galls to collect 1mm wasp inquilines to test for reproductive isolation associated with host use (ecology) and geography.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Gulf coast fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) enjoying the early morning sun.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Science on a salt flat. #RiceEEB PhD student Amanda Potts is running an experiment to test the role of predation in driving the evolution of lighter coloration in populations of three species of tiger beetles that inhabit salt flats and surrounding darker substrates.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Weekly gall walk on the #RiceUniversity campus. Belonocnema, Disholcaspis, Andricus quercusfoliatus.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Weekly gall walk on the #RiceUniversity campus. Belonocnema galls growing. Disholcaspis galls just starting.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Here is the new gall wasp discovered at #RiceUniversity that is featured in this kid's book. #BackyardBiodiversity
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Wow! 🤯 Just learned that our lab’s research is featured in a kid’s book about insects! ❤️ “In 2022, biologists identified a new type of gall wasp called Neuroterus valhalla. Spotted on the branches of a huge oak tree on the campus of #RiceUniversity.”
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Llano River, Texas, at sunrise and midnight moon.
Sunrise over Llano River with bald cypress trees on each side.Llano River at midnight illuminated by the moon.
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Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Stop everything! Ray Gagne has just finished the second edition of "The Plant-Feeding Gall Midges of North America" and it's freely available here: zenodo.org/records/2137...
zenodo.org
The Plant-Feeding Gall Midges of North America
This revision of The Plant-Feeding Gall Midges of North America, originally published in 1989, began as soon as the earlier book was in press. Since then, more than half again as many records of plant...
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Status update:
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
¡Un año de aprendiendo!
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Who ‘dis? Found on a live oak branch in FL, USA.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
#A_day_in_the_life of a live oak (day 465): Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) nesting in a southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) near Houston, Texas. (📸:Christa Denning) #biodiversity
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Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
@scottpegan.bsky.social Weird thing on a Q. virginiana branch for your consideration: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
inaturalist.org
Insects (Class Insecta)
Insects from Riverview, FL, USA on June 21, 2026 at 06:42 AM by Ryan Callahan
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Happy Birthday, ’Merica! 🇺🇸
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Family and I have confirmed that Redwoods exist.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Visiting #StanfordUniversity with my kid. Already found galls.
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
The Live Oak Biodiversity Project installation at #RiceUniversity 🌳
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads and father figures out there! (Especially to my dad, who pushed me to climb mountains!)
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
The Live Oak Biodiversity Project that we have worked on for over a decade is now featured by #RiceUniversity in association with the #FIFAWorldCup. A beautiful circular bench w/ #biodiversity facts on support beams designed & constructed by #RiceArch student Qihang "Noah" Li.
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Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe @dandkuniverse.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
This episode has prompted lots of requests for photos of @danielwhiteson.bsky.social's dog (a chihuahua/German shephard mix). Here you go!
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Kelly Weinersmith @weinersmith.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
It's book release day for @zachweinersmith.bsky.social! Sawyer Lee wants to stay home - but keeps getting pulled into adventures. Will he eventually prevail in his quest for relaxation? Check out Sawyer Lee and the Quest to Just Stay Home to find out. (8-12 yos) 1/n us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
us.macmillan.com
Sawyer Lee and the Quest to Just Stay Home
From New York Times-bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author Zach Weinersmith comes a cartoon-illustrated middle grade novel starring a ferociously inactiv...
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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Fun day sampling #eDNA with PhD student Amanda Potts for a biodiversity survey at the Cook’s Branch Conservancy, a 7,100-acre nature preserve in Montgomery County, Texas, managed by the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. 🧬
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