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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)

@thatbugkid.bsky.social
813 followers 509 following 54 posts

PhD student at UC Davis studying wasps and other fun bugs. Enjoys talking to bugs, stuffing moss into their pockets, writing, and fiber arts.

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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Gwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
AND! There are still the Dewind Awards for Lepidoptera conservation from @xercessociety.bsky.social. 🦋🦋🐛 $5000; application deadline is Jan 7, 2026 xerces.org/dewind
xerces.org
Joan Mosenthal DeWind Award
Supporting the future of Lepidoptera conservation.
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Gwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Attn graduate and undergraduate students! 🚨 🪲 🦋🚨 New research funding opportunity from @xercessociety.bsky.social! $5000; deadline is Jan 7 2026. xerces.org/bandrosky
xerces.org
Deborah BanDrosky Award | Xerces Society
The Deborah BanDrosky Awards are made to students engaged in higher education studies and research related to invertebrate conservation.
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Haven't posted here in a BRICK but here's some positive updates! - Passed written quals - Finished my first field season - Currently taking my first entomology class - Will be presenting at #EntSoc2025 Hope everyone is doing as well as they can with the current state of things.
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Codey Mathis @codeymathis.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Y'all I'm making a wish list of entomology reference books (like the Arnett books, Marshall books, etc) for North America. I would love recommendations!
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
My body is a machine that turns Bohart and Menke’s 1963 “A Reclassification of the Sphecinae” into stupid bullshit ideas with zero intellectual merit
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
If anyone is at #ESA feel free to say hi if you see me! I’ll be presenting a poster on Thursday!
a conference badge for the ecological society of america conference. text on a white background reads “ESA 2025” and the name Skye Austin is below it. Below Skye’s name is “UC Davis”. Skye has a variety of ribbons (from top to bottom): a light blue “Poster Presenter” ribbon, a silver “Student Member” ribbon, a neon green “Student” ribbon, a dark green “They-Them-Theirs” ribbon, a green “SEEDS Alumni” ribbon, and a navy blue “Career Central” ribbon. The badge is resting on a faux-wood table.
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
🌻OK MR. SUNSHINE!🌻 @entobiologist.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
the new developments on inat inspired me to make a diagnostic thread for every insect order because there's only like 30something of them. going to try and avoid exceptions and extremely technical characteristics when possible. 🧵
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
worms for brains? no no, WASPS for brains. pound rock on sand. drink nectar from flower. bite and drag things into holes.
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
On a lighter note—what in gods name are they putting in the nectar and pollen that’s making the bees so freakin big?! I hear a Blackhawk helicopter next to my head and turn to see the largest bee I’ve ever laid eyes on.
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Today's progress: instead of feeling like a middle schooler who wandered into a PhD program, I feel like a collage freshman who wandered in. Not completely lost, but still finding my way.
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Evelyndroid's Aperture Science and Bugge-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
Also see: the absolutely ridiculous flappy fairy wings of Olixon banksii
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
Having a field site inside campus is all fun and games until it’s a weekend and everything is closed. Had to DRIVE back to my office to go to the bathroom. :/
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
🎃🧛🏾Vita Ahhhh-yala👻🙀 @definitelyvita.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Please, if you love anything about this life, stop using ChatGPT and other GenAI. Just stop. Don't use it to dunk on it, don't use it for a laugh, just stop and let that shit wither.
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Sheila Colla, Ph.D @savewildbees.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Happy #WorldWildlifeDay. A friendly reminder that livestock cannot replace native biodiversity, despite what you may have heard.
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K | Science Nature & Art (and weirdness) @ksciencearts.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Please please please please post the things you love. Everyone knows the world is on fire, giving a little light in the world is a good thing and more important than ever. 💜
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jae holzman @jael.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS!!!
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Dr. Katharine Dickson @metaomicsnerd.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
These elected legislators are specifically looking for FACULTY feedback, please do not put the onus on the academic precariat to yell about it
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Stacy Fahrenthold @sfahrenthold.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
UC Davis colleagues might like to know that several State Senators and Assembly members seem to support a 8% cut to the University of California budget, even as our campuses are under threat of federal defunding by Trump. Let's call them to tell them how this devastates us! Here's how, a 🧵:
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
I GOT A 90 WE TAKE THESEEE!
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
driving home at 23:47 head banging to The First Disciple after turning in the most ass paper of my scientific career
media.tenor.com
a white cat laying on a pink blanket looking up
Alt: a white cat laying on a pink blanket pumping his head up and down
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Lexie Martin|Micro-bee-ologist @entomolexie.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
I found this absolutely wild looking yeast growing on a bee cadaver and it reminded me of one of those spikey 2000s-style earrings lol
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Desirée L. Narango @dlnarango.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
We’re hiring! Looking for a seasonal insect job? Come survey butterflies and bees with VCE! vtecostudies.org/about-us/emp...
Bumblebee visiting a flower
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Your work matters!!! Your work MATTERS!!! It doesn't matter what scale its at or when you did it or whatever else--you did SOMETHING and it matters!!
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Louis Nastasi @toomanywasps.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Does anyone know someone that might be able to help identify an #Asteraceae from Michoacán, Mexico?
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Not only did I successfully re-initiate a stopped task, but also COMPLETED the task.
media.tenor.com
a man is standing in front of a sign that says ' usted leadership for a stronger america '
Alt: a gif of Jeb Bush standing in front of a crowd. He’s speaking, then pauses, then asks the audience to clap. There’s text that the bottom of the gif that says “Please clap.”
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Dr. Nicole Lee Schroeder @nicole-lee-sch.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Hey a great way to start organzing and protect your community is to wear an N95 or better as were in a "quademic." No one is saving you if you become disabled. Community organizing regularly leaves disabled people for dead. Actively pursue anti-ableist organaizing.
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
“Hey Google? How do I tell if a spider is sucked?”
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DisabledInSTEM @disabledinstem.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
As I go through the match-making process, I am still in need of a mentor from AEST (mentees interested in neuroscience and conservation)!! If not in either topic, it would still be beneficial to match these individuals with any mentor from AEST! Please spread the word to help! #DisabledInSTEM
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
DisabledInSTEM @disabledinstem.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
2025 is going to be a tough one for me- already a biopsy scheduled and a confirmed surgery with a LONG recovery- more details soon! If you're interested in helping to support me through these difficult times, please feel free to check out my wishlist: www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...
amazon.com
Check out my list on Amazon
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
DisabledInSTEM @disabledinstem.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
The #DisabledInSTEM 2025 program is still looking for mentors from Europe and Australia! Please fill out this form to join: forms.gle/hK36kzPpgdJa...
forms.gle
Mentor Application for DisabledInSTEM 2025
Thank you for your interest in becoming a mentor for DisabledInSTEM! Here, we aim to provide people with disabilities a mentor to help guide them through their careers as they enter STEM. If you have ...
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Daniel Martin @fizbin.bsky.social · 22/03/2024
I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases) projects.propublica.org/claimfile/
projects.propublica.org
Find Out Why Health Insurance Denied Your Claim
You likely have the right to access records that explain why your insurer denied your claim or prior authorization request. Use ProPublica’s free tool to generate a letter requesting your claim file f...
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Evelyndroid's Aperture Science and Bugge-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
No idea who this extremely miniature Hemipteran is, but I like his lava lamps
Tiny sculpted bronze-y true bug, a little nugget, roaming past a yellow glowing egg-like fungus(?) in the Wet Wood World The creature amongst a handful of the strange glowing lava lamp things Close shot of the bug. He's got large compound eyes, reminiscent of a Big-eyed Bug
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Going to an R1 school is WILD because what do you mean someone who wrote seminal papers in my field just *works* here? They're just....chillin?? somewhere on campus??
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Spidermax @spidermax3000.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
I know they aren’t popular, but I think #cockroaches are pretty neat. Domino #roach - Therea petiveriana (shot at Cincinnati #zoo 5-19-23) #insect #photography #invert 🪳
A black bug with white spots around the edges is resting on a fake plant that is bright green.  It is a domino roach - Therea petiveriana
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
John Carlson @johncarlson.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
Most #cockroach species are not pests, and are actually quite fascinating. One of my favorite native species is the Pale-Bordered Field Cockroach, Pseudomops septentrionalis, pictured here near dusk overlooking the Bogue Falaya River.
A cockroach has dark black shiny wings with a white boarder on the outside of each wing. Black shiny legs poke out on each side. The thorax is a muted red with little black eyes and black antennae coming out ahead. The cockroach is sitting on a green leaf in the foreground and it is facing away from the camera towards a river with out-of-focus trees reflected in the surface.
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
A gallery of parasites and parasitoids.
alexanderwild.com
Parasites & Parasitoids - Alex Wild
Life on earth is so abundant that a surprising proportion of our planet's diversity thrives as parasites, deriving sustenance from the bodies of other species, or from the shared resources of social s...
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Looking through the notes I took during the last meeting with my PI so that I know what to prep for our next meeting. Current status:
a photo of a black man looking confused with question marks surrounding his face
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Slashley Cooper 🔪 @ashleycooper.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
This Trans Day of Remembrance, the only message I have is: It's not enough to remember us, you need to support us while we're still here.
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Reposted by skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)
Evelyndroid's Aperture Science and Bugge-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Encyrtid nugget wasp on a pine needle, if you needed to know how small this lass is 🧡 (There are much, much more than 3 kinds of wasps and the vast majority are tiny silly creatures like this - or much sillier. I will get crabby when people bring their wasp shade to my mentions. Please don't)
Miniscule orange encyrtid wasp with little stub wings, a stubby compact little creature. She's not even as long as the pine needle is wide
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Gwen!!! @poodlewool.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Meerkats in gouache
Stylized painting Of 1 adult meerkat and 3 babies peeking over a mound
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Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
I started a #NativesinSTEM starter pack. If you want to be added, tell me a little bit about yourself, including who your people are and what you study go.bsky.app/4hoZMPV @taramcallister.bsky.social I'll try to figure out how to turn this into a feed too.
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Jerry Chen @jcsalterego.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
mental health break? you bet it did
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Jennifer Kretchmer @dreamwisp.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
A great time to remind folks that you can get an opioid overdose course certification (takes ~40 minutes) and an emergency kit with Narcan for free at endoverdose.net.
endoverdose.net
Opioid Certification | END OVERDOSE
Ending drug-related overdose deaths through education, medical intervention, and public awareness.
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Jane Waters 🏳️‍⚧️🐜🇵🇸 @lovetheants.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
I’ve been here on science twitter v2.0 all week and I’m loving it, but we need more voices speaking up about the ongoing genocide and ecocide, and for a #freepalestine
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
This site is becoming more active, so time for an intro! I'm Skye (they/he) and I'm a PhD student at UC Davis studying solitary wasps! I mainly post about bugs, being a disabled student, and fiber arts, but might talk about other stuff like making music or video games every once in a while.
A picture of Skye in a public bathroom. They're wearing a jersey representing the Shenandoah University esports team. Skye is smiling in the photo.A photo of Skye out in the field. There is lots of vegetation in the background. Skye is wearing a teal jacket, a yellow-green backpack, and a sunhat. They are smiling in the photo.A photo of Skye at the Smithsonian entomology collection. They are standing in front of a butterfly display. Skye is masked, but you can tell they are still smiling in the photo.
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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
There were some AMAZING entries in the #EntSoc24 Juried Art Show WOW! 😍🥰 I think they're all winners
Painting of a cowboy riding a tarantula hawk wasp lassoing a tarantulaRug made to look like a carpet beforeColor drawing it painting of several leaf beetle large and their fecal shields A book with cutouts of butterflies from the edges of pages
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skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he) @thatbugkid.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
I would like to remind people as I see more interest in organizing/community events/etc to *bake accessibility into your events*!! Don't start thinking about it when someone asks, think about it as soon as the idea for an event pops into your head and you start planning. 1/4
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Keishu Asada @cephwarden.bsky.social · 13/09/2024
Finally there is video on Bluesky! I will probably start posting more often although there still seems to be a few restrictive requirements in file size and video length. After trying a few clips and failing, hopefully here's one that works: A pygmy squid holding on in the current
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