iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Enjoyed seeing plenty of liverworts at Parsonage Wood with Stephen Lemon during the @kentfieldclub.bsky.social meeting. Those pictured include Frullania dilatata, Radula complanata, Metzgeria furcata & Cololejeunea minutissima. @bbsbryology.bsky.social

A brown patch of leafy liverwort sprawling over beech tree bark - Frullania dilatata

Overlapping, round, pale green leaves of a liverwort forming short branches over the surface of cracked beech tree bark - Radula complanata

A patch of pale green liverwort with forked strap-like branches on beech tree bark - Metzgeria furcata

A pale, sap green liverwort forming a patch of tiny blobs, like a jumbled string of minute beads, over the surface of tree bark - Cololejeunea minutissima

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

During the @kentfieldclub.bsky.social trip to Parsonage Wood, Stephen Lemon found lots of unusual Orthotrichum moss on a single coppiced tree! A few of these were O. striatum (distinctively smooth capsules) & O. tenellum (long capsules with a ring of stomata) @bbsbryology.bsky.social

A small piece of moss held between fingertips. Orthotrichum striatum - green tufts with pointed leaves. Capsules are distinctively smooth with 16 outer peristome teeth

A small piece of moss held between fingertips. Orthotrichum tenellum - tufts of green pointed leaves. Long capsules with a ring of stomata around them (needs a backlit microscope to view).

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Kent Field Club @kentfieldclub.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

A brilliant AGM this afternoon in Lenham. We heard about reptile monitoring in The Blean, survey of Local Wildlife Sites (we'll be visiting several this year), and work on a new shieldbug atlas for Kent (which we'll be publishing). #naturalhistory #KentNature

Mike Phillips speaking on reptile survey in The Blean. The slide shows an artificial refugium on vegetation.

Dave Shenton talking on surveying Local Wildlife Sites.

Glen Powell speaking on work towards a new Shieldbug and Leatherbug Atlas.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Cool idea! The perks of having a brother with a 3D printer 😁

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

One of my 2025 highlights was getting to visit Windsor Great Park with the BENHS Saproxylic Group. The trees were phenomenal and we found the Windsor Weevil! 😃 #Saproxylic #Entomology #Coleoptera

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British Arachnological Society @britishspiders.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Some genera of Money #spiders Linyphyiidae are present as adults throughout the year, often with peak male activity in the #winter months (see chart for Walckenaeria acuminata). Whatever the weather, it's a good time to be out looking for them and their wonderfully distinctive headgear! #Christmas

Male Walckenaeria acuminata: Image thanks to Richard Gallon

Male Oedothorax apicatus: Image thanks to Richard Gallon

Male Oedothorax gibbosus: image thanks to Richard Gallon

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DipteristsForum @dipteristsforum.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Can't make the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social Dipterist Day 2025 in Cambridge this Saturday 15th November - fear not! Sign up through the link in the page below and we'll send you the recordings. The wonders of Modern technology... dipterists.org.uk/events/dipte... Please share the love ❤️

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Hey @jamesimcc.bsky.social , here’s another one from my compost heap. I think it might be Proisotoma minuta (although I struggled with the ocelli and abdominal seg separation). What do you think?

A long springtail with quite short, 4 segmented antennae. The springtail has black splotches over its back.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

It is generally frowned upon to mount multiple insects on the same pin. It makes databaseing difficult + the chance that multiple species could be mounted together - a nightmare! Even so, you have to admire the creativity and precision of this example from the UK Latridiidae collection at the NHM

A piece of card cut into a serrated shape with 17 points next to each other. The card is mounted on a pin and most of the points have small beetles (latridiidae) glued onto them. The card is visibly old and yellowed and most of the beetles are damaged, missing their heads and pronotums.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

@jamesimcc.bsky.social Hi James! I recently learnt that my village has no springtail records so I wanted to try and add a few. Do you think this could be Hypogastrura manubrialis? Think it has some tiny anl spines, 8x8 ocelli, foot with empodium, and skinny mucro. Found in compost

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James McCulloch @jamesimcc.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Send me records: I am excited to be taking on the role of national springtail recorder. I have huge shoes to fill, but I hope to continue the progress Peter Shaw made in understanding the taxonomy and biology of the UK's #springtails. www.brc.ac.uk/scheme/colle...

Orchesella flavescens, one of the UK's largest springtails. It's an elongate springtail, with long antennae, often with a differing number of segments on each antenna (but with a maximum of six). It can be identified by the pattern consisting of parallel longitudinal dark lines running the length of the abdomen, contrasting against a paler ground colour. This is a relatively scarce woodland species.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Saw this lovely moss on a survey a few weeks ago. It is Hookeria lucens. I like how the field guide account describes jt as ‘a pleasure to find’ 🥰

A bright green moss with wide, flat leaves overlapping each other like scales. The leaf cells are large, reflecting the light in glittering diagonal lines.

A more zoomed out view of the flattened moss shoots

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

@arnoldtortoise.bsky.social Hi Derek, we found hundreds of these tiny wasps in a flight interception trap from an oak tree. Are they Trichogrammatidae? We’d be very grateful of your help 🙂

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Norfolk Ponds Project @norfolkponds.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Hello @bsky.app. we are Norfolk Ponds Project - a science-led partnership NGO focused on pond restoration & #ghostpond ressurection. We aim to educate, lobby & inspire others on ponds. We used to Tweet & had 5000+ followers. ***Please follow & help us achieve the same here***!!!

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DB @arnoldtortoise.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

A male Oligosita pallida parasitoid wasp of the Trichogrammatidae found in the garden birch tree. #UKWildlife #wasps #Trichogrammatidae

tiny yellow wasp with black markings along its sides, head and antennae are to the left, fringed wings are held at 60 degrees above body

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

In prep for the #Bioblitz at Mote Park today, we set up a few bottle vane traps in lovely old oaks. Highlights so far included Thanasimus formicarius, Tomoxia bucephala, and the chalcid wasp, Astichus arithmeticus 🌳 @kentfieldclub.bsky.social

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martinswarren.bsky.social @martinswarren.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Look what arrived yesterday hot off the press. The amazing Alpine flower book by my good friend Bob Gibbons. Published posthumously it is a wonderful legacy of one of the greatest modern botanists. It was a privilege to have shared many European tours with him @saveplants.bsky.social

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Been hoping to find this species for a few years, and yesterday it finally happened! Sat in a patch of nettles by the River Dove in the Peak District, I peeled some loose bark from a log and was delighted to spot these tiny ball-rollers! Armadillidium pulchellum ❤️

A brown and orange woodlouse with whitish flecks along its body stands on a piece of wood with a linear, wrinkled texture.

An orange and brown woodlouse with white flecks is rolled into a ball while being held between a finger and thumb.

I am looking excitedly at the camera while pointing to a tiny woodlouse on a log.

I am sitting on a train wearing my customised hoodie with a drawing of a woodlouse and the words ‘Armadillidium pulchellum’ printed on the front.

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Royal Entomological Society @royentsoc.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Who’s joining us for the #LloydOfTheFlies Wetland Bug Hunt? We're partnering with Aardman and @wwtworldwide.bsky.social to bring you a completely unique and exciting way to explore our wonderful wetlands between 5 April - 1 June 🪰 buff.ly/bFvfe0q #WWTLloyd #KidsDaysOut #VisitLondon #ThingsToDo

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Richard Moyse @kentgrasshoppers.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Went back to the allotments where I spotted a Blue Mint Beetle and saw 5 without much effort. One appeared to be a gravid female, chomping on a mint leaf. 1st UK breeding record was apparently from 2012. I found 14 records from Kent on iRecord, plus others further afield. #KentNature #beetles

A metallic blue beetle, seen side-on, with a distended abdomen. It is feeding on a leaf on a mint plant, and other leaves also show feeding damage.

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Vanna Bartlett @vannabartlett.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

A great day out in the Norfolk Brecks yesterday, managed to find a #harvestman and a #pseudoscorpion in woodland by Lynford Water. Rilaena triangularis aka the spring harvestman and Neobisium carcinoides. More dots to add to the distribution maps. #arachnids

A pale brown harvestman with a dark saddle speckled with white spots on the underside of fallen branch.

A small, shiny dark brown pseudoscorpion in a brown plastic tray. Its pedipalps are held out in front of it and they end in formidable looking claws.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Saw this crazy slime mould while on the BMIG field meeting last week. It was under a log in wet woodland. I think it’s Metatrichia floriformis. If you look closely, you can spot a globular springtail clambering around on it ❤️

Hundreds of slime mould spore bodies, which look like pins with shiny, black, spherical heads emerging from some wood. In some areas of the image, you can see fluffy encrustations or brick-red spores covering the slime mould.

A close-up of pin-head-like slime mould bodies emerging from damp wood. In the centre of the image, a round, yellow springtail reaches out with its front legs to climb from one sphere to another.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Recently, I found these weevils in a freshwater sample that was particularly dense in duckweed (mostly Spirodela polyrhiza). They are duckweed weevils! They walk around on the floating platform of duckweed and their larvae mine within the leaves! Cool that even the tiniest of leaves have leaf miners

Three tiny grey weevils in a line. The wing cases of the weevils have pale scales in a patchy pattern over the surface. The legs have black upper sections (femurs) and red lower sections (tibiae).

One grey weevil on its side on a white background. You can see the minute pale scales arranged in a pattern over the upper and lower surface of the weevil’s body.

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Mesa Schumacher @mesabree.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Throwback, while I make new art, and grapple with reality. #ProjectAnimalia (my daily #animalart project) Day 49: Green lynx spider (Peucetia viridans) #sciart #medart #dailyart #scicomm #sciviz #wildlifeart #illustration #scientificillustration #lynxspider #spider #arachnid #spiderart

Realistic illustration of a Green lynx spider (Peucetia viridans) on a white background

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Per Smiseth @persmiseth.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Collection of beetles found during tonight’s visit to Easter Craiglockhart Hill, #Edinburgh, with @lukeholman.bsky.social & Warren Maguire. Logs & tree trunks searched after dark. Species found include False Ladybird (Endomychus coccineus) …

False Ladybird (Endomychus coccineus) larva.

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Dave Appleton @applewildlife.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

After @stephskipp.bsky.social pointed out that my post about two Acrotriches found together by suctioning my lawn involved both atomaria and sitkaensis, I had another quick go with the suction sampler. Once again it seems I have both species. At least I think so - tricky little beasties!

Male Acrotrichis sitkaensis, a very tiny oval black beetle.

Aedeagus of the Acrotrichis sitkaensis. The top is flat and the sides relatively parallel. At some angles the sides even looked a little concave in the upper half.

Male Acrotrichis atomaria, another very tiny oval black beetle. This one has one of its antennae broken.

Aedeagus of the Acrotrichis atomaria. This is much more rounded in the upper half compared to the sitkaensis.

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Carrion Beetle Recording Scheme @carrionbeetlesuk.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Hey BlueSky 👋 Please excuse the lateness, but we have arrived! We’re here to promote the recording of #CarrionBeetles in the UK and help with any of your ID queries. Please join the #CarrionClub and help us spread the word! 💀 🪲

A montage of images, including carrion beetles, attendees at an ID workshop and a close up of the ID keys.

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Matt Hamer @entohamer.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Three and a half weeks collecting ants in Borneo rainforests for my PhD is now complete ✅️

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Saimi Hanma ⚔️ サイミ @saimihanma.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

This week's daily 5 minute drawings were octopus spiders. #Invertebrate #TradArt

An open sketchbook with illustrations of 7 different types of spiders, the front two pairs of legs are very long. In white ink on black paper

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Evelyndroid's Aperture Science and Bugge-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Aenasius encyrtid wasps are the most perfect nugget creatures. Two of them appeared for me Friday, and I was delighted. A Beetle-Wasp, Coleohymenoptera (not an actual thing. Unless... 👀)

Shiny reddish coppery nugget-y wasp with big red eyes and little tappy antennae, not longer than the dry pine needle she's on is wide. She looks like a tiny beetle.

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Neil @uk-wildlife.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Just posted a new video on my Pond Lab channel, all about a special worm that lives on pond snails, and helps stop it getting infected with parasites, including those that can go on to parasitise mammals like us! You can watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHsy... #bugsky #pondlife #ukwildlife

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The Worm that lives on a Snail - Chaetogaster limnaei

YouTube video by Pond Lab

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Neil @uk-wildlife.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Its nearly March, which means its nearly BEEFLY TIME! Here's a shot of one "Twerking" as @flygirlnhm.bsky.social put it, rubbing the eggs at the end of her abdomen on the ground so they get coated in sand grains. to gives them some ballast so she can fling them into solitary bee burrows!

Beefly - brown fuzzy fly with long mouthparts

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David W. Williams @vc40orthops.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

We found this Land Caddis, Enoicyla pusilla, larva, at a known site near the Wyre Forest today. The Wyre area is home to the entire UK population of our only terrestrial caddis species. Case about 6mm long. A treat to see.

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Biological Recording Company @biologicalrecording.co.uk · 28/02/2025

🐞 Beetle Research & Conservation Virtual Symposium 🐞 💻 Virtual | 💷 £25 / Pay What You Can Join top experts 26 June for talks on beetle ecology, taxonomy & conservation + live Q&A! 🌍 🧪 🎟️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1222872738... #BeetleSymposium #NationalInsectWeek #Biodiversity #Conservation

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Martin Harvey @kitenet.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

My first Marmalade Hoverfly for 2025, a male of the dark form that is often seen in the spring #hoverflies

Stripy black and yellow hoverfly with wings spread out, on shiny green Laurel leaf

Stripy black and yellow hoverfly with wings spread out, on purple plastic wheelbarrow handle

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Martin Harvey @kitenet.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Buckinghamshire Invertebrate Group has its 1st ever conference on Sun 27 April, Great Missenden. A great range of talks including Dr Chris Wilson's lecture in memory of Eric Hollowday, rotifer enthusiast extraordinaire & long-time member of BIG. Details & bookings: sites.google.com/site/bucksin...

Flyer for conference:
Bucks Invertebrate Group Conference
Sunday 27 April 2025 from 9.30am to 4.30pm, Great Missenden Memorial Centre, HP16 9AE
A day to celebrate insects and other invertebrates in the county. Including The Eric Hollowday Lecture, to be given by Dr Chris Wilson, on The extraordinary biology of bdelloid rotifers.
Plus talks on dragonflies, moths, spiders,
bumblebees, flies and much more.

Full details and programme can be found on the Bucks Invertebrate Group website.

Free to attend but please contact us to book your place:
bucksinvertgroup@gmail.com

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Tim Holt-Wilson @timholtwilson.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

A great day studying rove beetles @britentsoc.bsky.social - an impressive 1123 species, about 25% of our beetle fauna. The secret of their success? Wings & highly flexible bodies, good for reaching new places & getting into awkward corners. #beetles #insects #biodiversity

Studying Staphylinid beetles at BENHS headquarters in Berkshire, under hyper-expert tuition of Dr Roger Booth.

A drawer full of neat rows of rove beetle specimens.

A preserved specimen of the rove beetle Tachinus proximus, collected at Aviemore in Scotland.

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 13/01/2025

Dicranopalpus ramosus sens lat on plane tree in Kensington Gardens in London, TQ27/VC21 Middlesex, England. Probably far too cold to run away from camera! @megabunus.bsky.social @vannabartlett.bsky.social is 'Zorro mask' on this male good enough for D ramosus sens str? Happy to iRecord either way.

Dicranopalpus ramosus sens. lat. : England : VC21 Middlesex : TQ2679 : January 2025

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

This lush, starry moss caught my eye yesterday. Thinking it is Homalothecium sericeum.

A lichen-covered grey gravestone surface with a bright, lime green moss creeping across it. The moss has feathery shoots reaching outwards, with short, upward-pointing shoots crowding its upper surface.

The top of a stone wall with a rich, green, fluffy moss covering the upper stone layer. Behind the wall, blue sky and the trunks of a few trees are visible.

A grey stone wall baring a bright green, outward reaching clump of moss, with little shoots all over its upper surface. The leaves at the tips of the shoots give the impression of small stars when viewed from above.

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DipteristsForum @dipteristsforum.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Newsflash for all fans of spiny-winged #flies (Heleomyzidae): thanks to @suillia.bsky.social for providing updated versions of two identification keys, now available from the Heleomyzid Recording Scheme page on our website: dipterists.org.uk/heleomyzid-s... #Diptera

Cover of the Key to the UK genera and species of Heleomyzidae, by Duncan Sivell, Alan Stubbs and Ian Andrews (January 2025 version), showing an image of a very spiny fly

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Adrian Dutton @nottscoleoptera.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Stenus bimaculatus from flood litter along the River Trent earlier today. Common but very pretty and one of our biggest at 6-7mm #Staphylinidae #Coleoptera

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Aslak Kappel Hansen @aslakkh.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Pinky and the Brain… Australian wasps always surprise.

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Cynipid @cynipid.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

I'm an artist that incorporates insect themes and products. Some of my favorite media are stained glass, oak galls (for jewelry and dying), and wasp paper. Here's some of my more recent stained glass works.

Two stained glass tortoise beetles. The one on the left is the species Plagiometriona phoebe and the right is Ischnicodia annulus.

A stained glass dobsonfly. Left is backlit by a window with plants in the background. Right is against a white wall.

A stained glass parasitic wasp from the family Perlampidae. It is metallic with a blue metasoma and a multicolored mesosoma.

A stained glass Baues wasp (the cutest wasp in the world) on a black velvet background.

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Lindsay Lindhult, PhD | Science Illustrator & Arthropod Artist @lindzeamays.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

✨Meloid beetle sketch✨ (Aka blister beetle, oil beetle). Among my favorite beetle groups, partially because their large bug booty is adorable, but also because they have a unique way of defending themselves. They secrete a toxic substance called cantharidin! #SciArt #invert 🧪🐞🦋🌱🐡🎨🕷️🐛

Ink drawing of a Meloid beetle surrounded by oil droplets and a cantharidin molecule.

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