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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜

@woodwideants.bsky.social
125 followers 337 following 27 posts

🐜🧬 Genomics & evolbio of red wood ants 🎓📚 SciComm and teaching of entomology, biodiversity genomics, & citizen science 🌍 By UniBo UniFi & UniPv, supported by @sib.swiss @biogeneurope.bsky.social @ergabiodiv.bsky.social 🔗 linktr.ee/antswoodwide

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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
1/2 Last Tue we took part to the first UK Wood Ant Translocation & Reintroduction Symposium in York 🥹🇬🇧🐜 Was absolutely fantastic! From historical archives to advanced genetics, from tiny ant houses to flying drones, we got to know what ppl are doing out there to protect & study wood ants #bugsky 🧬
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
(1/2) Travelling in the UK for an upcoming fantastic workshop in York next Tuesday... ... and guess what? We bumped into rufa #ants (aka red wood ants) while hiking in the Peak District! #bugsky 🐜🧬 They are literally chasing us 👀
A birch forestThe nest of red wood ants, next to a birchA red wood ant on a person hand
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Royal Entomological Society @royentsoc.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
🏡 Be among the first to join us at the new RES Headquarters in London for Day 1 of the Outreach, Culture & Education SIG 2026. ⏰ Registration deadline: 17:00 (GMT), Friday 13 November buff.ly/t8Bwkhs
royensoc.co.uk
Outreach, Culture & Education SIG 2026
A day dedicated to learning, engagement and sharing ideas, featuring keynote talks and discussions on how we communicate insects, science and conservation to wider audiences.
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Rob Waterhouse @rmwaterhouse.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
ERGA's COST Action is gathering momentum ahead of the kick-off meeting in Brussels 🟣 CONSENSA: Consensus Standards for Applied Biodiversity Genomics 🔵 Read about it here: www.cost.eu/actions/CA25... 🟢 ERGA members - make sure to apply in order to be eligible for grants, awards, meetings, and more!
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Molecular Biology and Evolution @molbioevol.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Mullin et al. use WGS from 101 museum specimens of British/Irish moss carder bumblebees from 1894-2019 to reveal a dramatic drop in genetic diversity: ∼24.6% decrease in heterozygosity and a 2.86-fold increase in ROH 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... 📷 Gavin Broad #societyjournal #naturalhistory
MBE | Museum specimens reveal the genomic consequences of long-term population decline in an insect pollinator

Photo: Gavin Broad
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Very cool paper about the #neurogenetics of parenting and age-related behavioural changes in #ants! 🧬🖥️🐜 doi.org/10.1038/s415... #bugsky
doi.org
Ancient feeding-related neuropeptides regulate alloparenting in ants - Nature
Pharmacological screening and behavioural assays in ants identify two specific neuropeptides that have key and opposite effects in regulating brood care, and that link nutritional state to age-depende...
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AIM @aim-mirmecologia.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
🗺️ Updated checklist of exotic ants in the Iberian Peninsula 📄 Members Javier Arcos, Diego López-Collar and Matvey Logachev have contributed to a new study compiling and updating all available information on introduced ants in the Iberian Peninsula up to 2025.
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Elva Robinson @elvarobinson.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Looking for an ecology/conservation PhD? Check out this exciting wood ant project! 🐜🐜🐜 Excellent research group to work with, and excellent study system!
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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Suzanne Ryder is our Honorary Curator of Entomology, responsible for our insect collections. She also has a professional interest in Integrated Pest Management, has trained Linnean staff, and works with our Conservator to make sure our collections stay pest free. #VolunteersWeek
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ERGA - European Reference Genome Atlas @ergabiodiv.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
💡 #KnowledgeHighlight | Bioinformatics basics for trainee students - UNIX and bash basics by @filonico.bsky.social @unibo.it 🧬 🖥️ github.com/filonico/UNI... Explore open-access training materials in the ERGA #KnowledgeHub ➡️ knowledge.erga-biodiversity.eu #unix #bash #genomics #bioinformatics
github.com
GitHub - filonico/UNIX_and_bash_basics: This repository contains bash basics and other useful resources intended for beginner bioinformaticians 🐧💲
This repository contains bash basics and other useful resources intended for beginner bioinformaticians 🐧💲 - filonico/UNIX_and_bash_basics
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ERGA - European Reference Genome Atlas @ergabiodiv.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
#Biodiversity #Genomics #Europe plus: Group photo at BGE+ kick-off meeting --- laying the foundations for a step change in how #Biodiversity #Genomics is done in Europe biodiversitygenomics.eu/2026/06/03/b... with @biogeneurope.bsky.social & @iboleurope.bsky.social
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BehavEcolPapers @behavecolpapers.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Queen cell architecture shapes honey bee queen development @Nature.com
dlvr.it
Queen cell architecture shapes honey bee queen development
Nature, Published online: 03 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10534-3Worker bee construction behaviour actively engineers a physicochemical niche that is crucial for queen development in honey bees.
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Molecular Biology and Evolution @molbioevol.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
This June, the cover of MBE features our recent paper by @hugodarras.bsky.social et al., who identify two genomic rearrangements that determine an extreme reproductive polymorphism in ants. 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/issue/43/6 📷 Hugo Darras #evobio #molbio #societyjournal
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
A couple of weeks ago WWA landed in the UK 🇬🇧 to present our story at @pintofscience.uk @filonico.bsky.social talked bout the importance of #DNA in todays world, bringing examples from #ants and #ctenophores altogether! 🐜🦑🧬🖥️🍻 So many interested people were there enjoying our science 🥹 #SciComm
Two speakers from Pint of Science posing in front of the official event poster at the pub venue Our speaker in front of the audience, showing the introductory slideOur speaker in front of the audience talking about DNAThe pint of science promotion graphics from the venue
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Do you know how Feulgen densitometry works? Cos we don't 😶‍🌫️ Thats why our master student visited prof Flot's lab at Université Libre de Bruxelles Basically it is a technique to estimate genome size from microscopy images & we couldnt help but to try it out on our #ant samples 🖥️🧬🐜 #bugsky #evolsky
A photo of some ant samples on a piece of paper towel, with forceps and a paper tagA photo of several glass slides ready to be imaged on a microscope Some microscope photos of stained nuclei to be used to estimate the genome size Our student while working at the microscope
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
The spark in their eyes never gets old and is truly priceless 🥹 Wood Wide Ants is back in schools sharing the world of #ants with students—from #biology & #systematics to #genomics Their enthusiasm is so inspiring, and we're hoping this keeps going for a long time 🐜🧬🖥️ #SciComm #bugsky
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Well that's impressive!! They just published the first massive phenomics dataset spanning the #ants tree of life, with 2,000+ whole-body 3D scans! Can't wait to use this to integrate molecular and phenotipic studies! #bugsky #phylogenetics #genomics 🧬🖥️🐜 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
High-throughput phenomics of global ant biodiversity - Nature Methods
Antscan is a publicly accessible database of synchrotron X-ray CT images of ants. The database covers almost 800 species from more than 200 genera and is coordinated with genome sequencing projects th...
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Haplodiploidy has been repeatedly reported as one of the factors promoting altruism & eusociality in #insects 🐝🐜🪳 Well apparently it's not! Different statistical approaches find no relationships between the two, in this brand new phylogenetic work! #bugsky #phylogenetics doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Physalia-courses@ONLINE @physaliacourses.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Interested in #GenomeAssembly & #GenomeAnnotation? Join our March course to learn how to create high-quality, haplotype-phased genomes using Illumina, @pacbio.bsky.social @nanoporetech.com & more. www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work... #Genomics #Bioinformatics @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
A gigantic work by some Italian colleagues on how ants have been used as biological control agents all around the globe: more than 180 published papers have been reviewed! Guess what, also the story of our beloved red wood ant is mentioned 🫶🐜 #bugsky doi.org/10.1007/s103...
doi.org
Ant-mediated biological control: a global meta-synthesis of antagonistic interactions against pests - Journal of Pest Science
Ants’ deep and pervasive ecological impacts on terrestrial ecosystems also translate into several meaningful services and disservices for human activities, whose balance can often be complex to assess...
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Caroline Hu @hudrewthis.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Seeking scientist volunteers for the 2026 spring semester! Want to practice science communication and help author a 🌟comic🌟 about your research? Apply by 1/25. Please share widely. bit.ly/comicscollabspring2026
Leafcutter ant holds up a large piece of leaf that says "Call for Scientists."
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
What's the working routine of a researcher? Posing for photoshoots is a possibility! We just had a photo session to portait some key aspects of WoodWideAnts research: #bioinformatics, #wetlab & #taxonomy 🖥️🧬🐜 This is part of our commitment to #SciComm to bring science to the public! #bugsky
Photoshoot set inside a room with working stations. There is a guy in the middle holding a PC, a guy standing on a table with flash lights and the photographer giving directions.Photoshoot set inside a laboratory while loading a gel. There is a woman wearing a lab coat and loading the agarose gel. A camera hold by the photographer is shown on the foreground.A man looking at an ant head under a high-resolution microscope.Photoshoot set inside a laboratory while checking samples under a fluorescent microscope. There is a guy holding a flash light, a girl sitting in front of the microscope, and the photographer giving directions.
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Elva Robinson @elvarobinson.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
These wood ants are edge specialists... but not all edges are equal. Jacob Podesta used a decade of population expansion data to show that wood ants spread more quickly along certain edges, depending on the edge orientation. Currently available open access here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Large wood ant mound on the edge of a plantation forest
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
An impressive review on classification and study of #ants, taken from an historical perspective 🖥️🧬🐜 includes also loads of insightful sections 👀 #bugsky #phylogenetics academic.oup.com/isd/article/...
academic.oup.com
Ant systematics: past, present, and future
Abstract. The classification of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) has progressed in waves since the first 17 species were described by Linnaeus in the 1758 ed
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European Citizen Science Association @ecsa.ngo · 12/11/2025
Join the 𝐄𝐂𝐒𝐀 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 “𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑶𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝒓𝒕𝒔” for a creative online workshop with 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬, storyteller, writer and citizen science practitioner. 🗓 𝑊𝑒𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦, 26 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 2025 | 13:00–14:00 𝐶𝐸𝑇 | Zoom 🔗 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫: eu01web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
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Biodiversity Genomics Europe plus (BGE+) @biogeneurope.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Day 3 of Genomics for Biodiversity Conference! It starts at 12.30 CET. Find the zoom links for today's sessions in the programme. 👉 www.erga-biodiversity.eu/post/genomic... @ergabiodiv.bsky.social @horizoneu.bsky.social
erga-biodiversity.eu
Genomics for Biodiversity Conference - from genomes to impact
29–31 October 2025Summary🗓️ Dates:  29 - 31 October 2025 (click to add to your agenda!)🔗 Online venue: ERGA YouTube ChannelConference programmeWe are excited to announce the Genomics for Biodiversity ...
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Yesterday @fghiselli.bsky.social and Enrico Strada presented WWA and all of our activities at the #biodiversity #genomics conference by @biogeneurope.bsky.social @sib.swiss @ergabiodiv.bsky.social 🖥️🧬🌐 Check out our contribution on the YT rec below (starting ~3:07:00) 🫶🐜 #bugsky
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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 31/10/2024
Quick thread of the many crabs named for Halloween related topics. This one is Gecarcinus quadratus, aka THE Halloween crab 🦀 1/
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
1/2 🧵 What's spookier than a swarm of hungry #ants feasting on your body?! 🐜👻 #bugsky Probably, a swarm of hungry *alien* ants feasting on your body! 💀 HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM WWA 🎃🐜 Find out more about this terrifying story on our website: tinyurl.com/59fmcxsk
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
What do u get when you seclude 200 science comms in a small town in Northern Italy for 72 hh? You get Folle di Scienza & Strambinaria, two fantastic events by Frame Divagazioni Scientifiche. We attended last weekend and got the chance to talk about WWA with many colleagues 🥹🫶🐜🖥️🧬 #SciComm #bugsky
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Filippo Nicolini 🧬 @filonico.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
2/2🧵But lets showcase an outstanding project about #ant #genomics: @woodwideants.bsky.social #bugsky🖥️🧬 Have a look at our social profiles and website: loads of science, #SciComm & teaching! And for the #invertober community, a little EXTRA for Day13: Formica paralugubris, or the red wood ant!
A vectorial digital drawing of a Formica paralugubris ant (a species of Wood Ant), viewed from above and set against a pale blue background. The ant has a distinct color pattern: the head is predominantly dark brown/black with some reddish-brown markings. The thorax and petiole are a bright orange-red/dark rust color, and the large abdomen is a solid dark brown/black. The legs are also dark brown/black. The text "invertobter2025 - Day 13 EXTRA" is in the bottom right corner.
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Royal Entomological Society @royentsoc.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
⏰ It's the last day to submit your abstracts for the chance to share your research at the Outreach, Culture & Education SIG! If you're interested in #InsectScience and outreach, get involved and submit your papers today. Abstract submissions deadline: 17:00 (GMT) Friday 17 Oct 🔽
buff.ly
Outreach, Culture & Education Special Interest Group (SIG) 2025
We are excited to invite you to the next RES Outreach SIG meeting at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh on 22 November. Come and join us and
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Tarunkishwor Yumnam ꯇꯔꯨꯟ ꯌꯨꯝꯅꯥꯝ @tarunyumnam.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
1/3 Excited that my final PhD MS is online! Big thanks to Ullasa (PI) (vanasiri.in) & collaborators Freerk and Urszula. Turns out humidity, not just temperature, plays a major role in butterfly eyespot plasticity. doi.org/10.1101/2025...
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cambrian epic wet animal @dinoserious.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
#invertober 13, banded sugar ant 🐜 #invertober2025
sketchy drawing of a banded sugar ant looking at the viewer on an orange background. "SUGAR!" is written above its abdomen
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Rob Waterhouse @rmwaterhouse.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
Accounting for systematic phylogenetic bias led to a revised view of #mosquito #evolution, including the nonmonophyly of subfamily Culicinae, and the origin of mosquitoes to ~106 Mya, 100 My younger than previous estimates www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
One of the WWA missions is to bring research into high schools—sharing #biodiversity #genomics, #myrmecology, #entomology & #CitizenScience straight with students!📚🐜🧬🖥️ Learn more about our school programmes in the link in bio🌐🔗 #OpenScience #bugsky @ergabiodiv.bsky.social @biogeneurope.bsky.social
A photograph of a classroom or laboratory setting where a small group of students is engaged in a science activity. In the foreground, two students are looking through a microscope positioned on a desk. On the desk are papers, small pins, and an illustration of an ant. Other students are working at a separate table in the background. The WWA logo, featuring a black circle with a stylized red ant head, is visible in the bottom right corner.A photograph taken from above, showing a student's hands holding an open text document over a table with other papers, a tablet, and headphones. The visible text on the open document is in Italian and discusses the structure and characteristics of an ant's genome and body, mentioning the head, antennae, and abdomen. The tablet screen displays handwritten notes in Italian. The WWA logo, featuring a black circle with a stylized red ant head, is visible in the bottom right corner.A photograph taken outdoors, showing a student kneeling down, taking a picture with a silver smartphone of a dark, weathered wooden plank or pallet lying on a grassy area, partially covered in dirt. The WWA logo, featuring a black circle with a stylized red ant head, is visible in the bottom right corner.A photograph of three students in a dense, slightly overgrown garden or park area surrounded by apartment buildings. The foreground is dominated by various green plants and large agave succulents. Two students are standing close together among the foliage on the right, and a third one is standing on a paved path to the left, looking into the garden. The WWA logo, featuring a black circle with a stylized red ant head, is visible in the bottom right corner.
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
1/2🧵In 2024 we took the first photo shoot ever of the #ant Formica parlaugubris, in order to support our #SciComm activity 🐜📸 A huge thank to the naturalistic photographer ©Iacopo Nerozzi for these outstanding pics. #bugsky @ergabiodiv.bsky.social @biogeneurope.bsky.social @sib.swiss
An extreme close-up macrophotograph the ant Formica paralugubris, engaged in predation. The ant's head, antennae, and reddish-brown thorax are in sharp focus. Its mandibles are clamped onto the bright green body of a caterpillar, which is large, out-of-focus, and curves out of the foreground. The image powerfully captures the ant's predatory action. The background is a mix of blurred dark brown and reddish-brown earth/detritus. A small credit is visible at the bottom: "© Iacopo Nerozzi | Unaesthetic Fauna".A macrophotograph of the ant Formica paralugubris, adopting a defensive or aggressive posture. The ant has a reddish-brown head and thorax, a darker brown abdomen, and long, slender legs and antennae. It is standing on a dense, vibrant green bed of moss. The ant is rearing up, holding its head high and its mandibles open and ready, suggesting a defensive or threat display. The background is a softly blurred dark green and black. A small credit is visible at the bottom: "© Iacopo Nerozzi | Unaesthetic Fauna".
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
That's a wrap! Had a great time at the European Researchers' Night #ERN25 by @ec.europa.eu in Bologna🇮🇹! #SciComm #OpenScience @fghiselli.bsky.social & Enrico Strada entertained loads of ppl with #ants, #genomics and all of our work 🐜🖥️🧪🧬 @sib.swiss @biogeneurope.bsky.social @ergabiodiv.bsky.social
A photo of our stand at the European Researchers' Night, with Fabrizio Ghiselli and a person scanning our QR codeA photo of our stand at the European Researchers' Night with Enrico Strada talking about mirmecology with two young peopleA photo of our stand at the European Researchers' Night with Enrico Strada showing ant samples to a group of young people
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
🇪🇺Getting ready for today's European Researchers' Night 2025 #ERN25 by @ec.europa.eu #SciComm #OpenScience #bugsky 🧪🖥️🧬🐜WWA will be present in Bologna to talk about #biodiversity #genomics, #ants & #entomology @sib.swiss @biogeneurope.bsky.social @ergabiodiv.bsky.social
Entomological box with specimens of various ant species, a phylogenetic tree and an explanation of the WWA project A researcher observing ant specimens under a dissecting microscope A macro photography of an ant head under a dissecting microscope
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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Everything is getting ready for #ERN2025 European Researchers Night tomorrow at @casacienciasevcsic.bsky.social , where we are going to present our workshop "Insects - witnesses of the past", dealing with #fossils, palaeoclimate reconstruction and ecological physiology of insects
Poster of the European Researchers night in Sevilla3d printed replicas of the fossils of non-biting midgesSediment core part, stickers with fossil insects, and bunch of postcard with Baltic amber insectsPart of the postcard with Archaeognatha and an ant from Baltic amber
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NL Institute of Ecology NIOO-KNAW @niooknaw.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
New publication: The European Reference #Genome Atlas: piloting a decentralised approach to equitable #biodiversity genomics, by @KvanOers and others. #genomics #eukaryote #sequencing doi.org/10.1038/s44185-024-00054-6
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Wood Wide Ants — WWA 🐜 @woodwideants.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
1/3🧵Kicking off on #bugsky today & introducing Wood Wide Ants, aka WWA! We're researchers studying the #evolbio of the #ant Formica paralugubris and its kin, through #genomics, #SciComm & #CitizenScience📚🐜🧪🧬🖥️ #insects #mirmecology @sib.swiss @biogeneurope.bsky.social @ergabiodiv.bsky.social
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