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Bjoern Rulik

@zfmk.bsky.social
139 followers 198 following 25 posts

Dipterists by passion... 🦟🪰 Thoughts are my own... #Bonn #diptera #taxonomy #collection #museum #biodiversity br.diptera.de

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Reposted by Bjoern Rulik
LIB @leibnizlib.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Millions of flies, millions of untapped stories: A survey of 16 major European natural history collections estimates they hold 26–35 million Diptera specimens - an enormous resource for understanding biodiversity, past & present. #LIBresearch © Nania et al., CC BY 1/3
Four charts show: (A) bar chart of number of NHCs in Europe where Diptera families account for at least 10% of Diptera specimens, (B) world map with NHC locations and number of institutions with active sampling projects in biogeographic realms, (C) bar chart of NHC research topics with species diversity as scale, (D) bar chart of number of NHCs by project geographic scale.
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Rudolf Meier @rudolf-meier.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Species descriptions should not be confined to "summary" PDFs only providing access to a fraction of the data underlying the conclusions. We here argue for "digitally native species" built around structured, specimen-linked, machine-actionable evidence from day one. rdcu.be/fcbwh
rdcu.be
Digitally native species are a necessary shift in taxonomic practice
Nature Reviews Biodiversity - Biodiversity science laments how little is known about the planet’s biodiversity, yet routinely discards much of the taxonomic evidence generated during species...
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
🚨 Hurry up!!! 🚨 today last chance to register for the #Biodiversity Summer School in Armenia 🇦🇲... more details in the links below... #OneHealth #Armenia #student #FieldWork #Workshops #Lectures #Data #Collection & #Analysis
 #Biodiversity Summer School in Armenia 2026
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Reposted by Bjoern Rulik
Erica McAlister @flygirlnhm.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
I. Love. This. At Station Linne, on Oland, Sweden for #BIOCOREFlies26 fly course. A fab way to spend #InsectWeek They understood the assignment…
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
41. AK-Diptera meeting 2026 in #Sangerhausen: Great weekend with lots of flies, talks, networking and neat excursions... from @leibnizlib.bsky.social #LIB_Bonn Lukas Rühlke (#Asilidae) & I (#Diptera #Georgia) presented a talk... #gnatsarecool #fliesarecooltoo #biodiversity #Südharz #dipterists
AK-Diptera 2026 #AsilidaeAK-Diptera 2026 #Diptera #GeorgiaAK-Diptera 2026 #Diptera #Georgia
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Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Day 27 of #Coverbirds! We’re down to the last 5 coverbirds, so I thought I’d throw in one I made in 2023. It sparked an idea for my #birdathon that I’ve finally gotten around to doing. Shouldn’t there be a guide for duck ID based on butts? I think so (1/5) #birds
Cover art for “A field guide to duck butts of western Canada”, by Janet E. Hill, Ph.D. features the hind end of a duck sticking straight up out of the water of a marsh pond.
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
#Yerevan State University 🇦🇲 meets Museum Koenig #Bonn @leibnizlib.bsky.social: "The #Diversity of #Invertebrates in #Armenia: Present Knowledge and Key Challenges" -> interesting workshop held by Dr Meri Arzumanyan today... 😁👍 #arthropods #insects #Caucasus #CaBOL #LIB #erasmus+ #YSU #ZFMK
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Hey, Canadian persons in power... Who will understand & protect your #biodiversity in future?!? 🤔 #Canada 🇨🇦 #CNC #Ottawa #taxonomy #Diptera 🦟🪰 www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...
policyalternatives.ca
What cuts to insect scientists tell us about federal austerity in Canada | CCPA
The federal government is sacrificing vital scientific capacity for ideological reasons—and hamstringing their own policymaking ability in the process
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LIB @leibnizlib.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Building shared standards, infrastructure & expertise is essential if DNA barcoding is to support biodiversity research, conservation & policy in a reliable way. #LIBresearch Great to see such a strong community effort advancing DNA-based biodiversity monitoring across Europe & beyond!
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LIB @leibnizlib.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Coordinated DNA barcoding efforts can make species identification faster, more accessible, & more comparable across countries: supporting research, conservation, & monitoring alike. Great to see LIB researchers contributing to this international roadmap for biodiversity infrastructure. #LIBresearch
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beetle moses @beetlemoses.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Spring is in the air... 🌞 #Syrphidae #Criorhina ranunculi #hoverfly #Schwebfliege #Diptera #Tussilago farfara #coltsfoot #Huflattich #Asteraceae #FliesAreCoolToo
#hoverfly #Syrphidae #Criorhina
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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘I love midges because I know what their hearts look like’: is the passion for taxonomy in danger of dying out?
Insect taxonomist Art Borkent has described and named more than 300 species of midges but fears his field of science is dying out, despite millions of insects, fungi and other organisms waiting to be ...
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Big THX to all supporters... let's keep the fingers crossed... 🫰 www.greenparty.ca/en/news/gree...
greenparty.ca
Green Party Decries Serious Cuts to Science – Green Party Of Canada
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Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @donnag.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Green Party news release about the pending closure of the Diptera unit at the Canadian National Collection of Insects www.greenparty.ca/en/news/gree...
greenparty.ca
Green Party Decries Serious Cuts to Science – Green Party Of Canada
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
🚨 Plz sign, share & support the 'Declaration of Solidarity with Ilia State University'... 🚨 #StandWith #ISU #Tbilisi #StandUp #Sakartvelo #academic #community #autonomy #freedom #DontLookAwayFromGeorgia #StandWithIliaUni 🇬🇪🫶🇪🇺 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH ILIA STATE UNIVERSITY
We, members of the international academic community, scholars, university staff, university leaders, researchers, and partners of higher education institutions across the world, stand in solidarity wi...
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Dipterists Society @dipterists.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Just one week left to apply to Fly School IV!!!
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
🚨 Massive destruction of education landscape in #Georgia... today: demolition of Ilia State University... 😱🙈😭 #StandWith #ISU #Tbilisi #StandUp #Sakartvelo #DontLookAwayFromGeorgia #resistance #freedom #autonomy #independence #StandWithIlia 🇬🇪✊🇪🇺🫶 1tv.ge/lang/en/news...
1tv.ge
Ilia State University Rector plans to defend "20 years of achievement through legal action and protest" - 1TV
According to Nino Doborjginidze, Rector of Ilia State University, the university community was informed today, without any justification whatsoever, that 97-98 per cent of Ilia University has effectiv...
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Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @donnag.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
see also: diptera.de/CNC_Diptera/
diptera.de
Termination Diptera unit CNC Ottawa
Help the Diptera unit at CNC!!!
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Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @donnag.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
From Chris Borkent: Fellow Dipterists/systematists/ecologists: Agri./Agri-Food Canada plans to eliminate the Diptera Unit at the Canadian National Collection of Insects. Dr. Art Borkent has prepared an open letter to support keeping the unit open. To sign, please read & follow the instructions here.
Fellow Dipterists / systematists / ecologists, if you have not yet heard, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada is planning to eliminate the Diptera Unit at the Canadian National Collection of Insects, supposedly for financial reasons. The open letter below has been prepared by Dr. Art Borkent. If you agree with the letter, and would like to add your name in support, please follow the directions below. 

Message is as follows:
*********************
The following is an “Open Letter” that will be presented to the Canadian press by a Member of Parliament, Ms. Elizabeth May. If you can support this petition, please send your name, full affiliation and address (including country) to Art Borkent’s email: artborkent@telus.net
  Your name will be added to a supporting list that will likely never be seen publicly but needs to be noted by our member of parliament.     Please consider helping to stop the removal of the Diptera Unit in Ottawa, Canada.
   Please remember that we are writing this for the press – someone gave advice that it should be written at about the level of an intelligent 14 year old. 
    If any of you are members of another society of specialized Dipterists or otherwise, please feel free to send this on to your other colleagues.
I am hoping to have this submitted to Elizabeth May with all the signatures by Friday, Feb. 13. Time is of the essence.

best wishes, Art Borkent and David Grimaldi(Message too long for alt-text): the text of the first page of an open letter to support keeping the Diptera Unit open at the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Nematodes. (Message too long for alt-text): the text of the second page of an open letter to support keeping the Diptera Unit open at the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Nematodes. A sampling of output from the Diptera Unit at the CNC
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
🗳️ Vote for the New Zealand b̶u̶g̶ #fly of the year... 🪰 bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-20... Hurry up... deadline is 16 Feb 2026... 🏃💨 #Diptera #fliesarecooltoo #Acroceridae #NZ #entomology
Diptera: Acroceridae aka spider flies
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
sooooo... WHO is NEXT?!? 😱🙈😭 🔥 #Diptera unit 🦟🪰 at #CNC in Ottawa under threat!!! 🔥 Plz support the colleagues!!! Read the Open Letter and sign the petition here: diptera.de/CNC_Diptera/ #taxonomy #biodiversity #collection #museum #entomology #gnatsarecool #fliesarecooltoo #Canada #insects
diptera.de
Termination Diptera unit CNC Ottawa
Help the Diptera unit at CNC!!!
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Team Diptera 🪰🔍🦟🌻 @teamdiptera.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Do you love flies? Do you love trivia??? Come join Team Diptera for a fun Trivia Night, February 11th, 6PM MST on our Discord channel! Links in the link tree in our bio. #Diptera #FliesAreWonderful
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Save the date: 10. to 16. July 2027!!! XI. International Congress of Dipterology in #Zagreb #Croatia 🦟 #ICD11 #Diptera #gnatsarecool #fliesarecooltoo sign up for news......)
#ICD11
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ARPHA Preprints @preprints.arphahub.com · 08/01/2026
Empowering national capacity for DNA-based approach to species identification and biodiversity monitoring @mbmg.pensoft.net doi.org/10.3897/arph... #DNA #metabarcoding #sciencepolicy #biodiversity
doi.org
Empowering national capacity for DNA-based approach to species identification and biodiversity monitoring
DNA barcoding has become a cornerstone for species identification and biodiversity monitoring, enabling applications from ecological research to conservation and environmental policy. The Internationa...
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Delegation of @leibnizlib.bsky.social #Bonn visiting @mfnberlin.bsky.social the lab of @rudolf-meier.bsky.social sneaking in rapid #biodiversity methods... 😎
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Fly School @dipteracourse.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Join us in Costa Rica for Fly School IV! Applications are now open. Visit dipterists.org/fly_school.h... for application & info. @dipterists.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @bertonemyia.bsky.social @ariannatc.bsky.social @phorid.bsky.social
Willistoniella sp., ropalomerid fly (Ropalomeridae). Photo taken at Fly School 2024 by @bertonemyia.bsky.socialLimoniinae,bobbing crane fly (Tipulidae). Photo taken at Fly School 2024 by @bertonemyia.bsky.socialStilt-legged fly (Micropezidae). Photo taken at Fly School 2024 by @bertonemyia.bsky.socialLauxaniid fly (Lauxaniidae). Photo taken at Fly School 2024 by @bertonemyia.bsky.social
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Dipterists Society @dipterists.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
Just in time for the holidays, a little gift: FLY TIMES Issue 75 (Fall 2025)! 🪰 📰 🎁 Check it out for all the latest Diptera/fly news. **Don't forget to check out the call for grant applications through the society too!** dipterists.org/assets/PDF/f...
Cover photo - Male Diostracus prasinus Loew (Dolichopodidae) from Kephart Prong Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina, USA. This species has fascinatingly pubescent palpi which shimmer in the light and are used for courting interactions. Photograph by Zachary Dankowicz.

Cover of the issues shows a long-legged fly standing on a natural surface staring at the camera. It has green eyes with diffuse reddish stripes and a metallic green thorax. It has a pair of bright white, flat palps around the mouth.
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
yes... 😁👍 but we just scratched the tip of the iceberg... 🧊🏔️ at least 15k #Diptera species expected for the entire #Caucasus region... 🪰🦟 #biodiversity #gnatsarecool #fliesarecooltoo #Armenia #Georgia
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
finally... the English version... 🤩😎👍 Leese et al. (2025): DNA-based biodiversity analyses in nature conservation and environmental protection: What options do we have for standardisation? BfN-Schriften, 755:1-51. open access DOI link below... doi.org/10.19217/skr...
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Rudolf Meier @rudolf-meier.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
The top 10 flying insect clades rule the skies—but defy the rules. Weak or inverted latitudinal diversity gradients leave biogeographers puzzled. Entomologists? Mildly amused. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
**Attention fly enthusiasts!** We're looking for presenters for the Dipterists Society General Meeting at ESA @entsocamerica.bsky.social in Portland, OR (November 11th) If you're interested in giving a talk, please DM me for a link to submit a title/abstract. Deadline to submit is October 10th.
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LIB @leibnizlib.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
#LIBresearch A year-long study across 21 protected areas in Germany, supported by #citizenscientists, uncovered over 14,000 #arthropod species. Findings show high regional diversity, with 33% found only in specific areas, and highlight the need for focused #insectconservation efforts: t1p.de/m4dk9
t1p.de
Identifying conservation hotspots and assessing species commonness and rarity: Baseline arthropod diversity in German nature reserves via national Malaise trap monitoring
Conducted a year-long Malaise trap monitoring study across Germany, revealing 14,445 OTUs, including 8,589 assigned species, highlighting extensive small-scale and largely undescribed diversity. Ide...
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Pensoft @pensoft.net · 07/03/2025
New book: A checklist to identify all known species of flies in Canada! doi.org/10.3897/ab.e... "This checklist is a fundamental piece of work that will guide the assessment of the conservation status of those species." @bioinfocus.bsky.social
Cover of "Checklist of the Flies (Diptera) in Canada" featuring two fly images, with contributors and publisher details below.
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LIB @leibnizlib.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
🌍📱 #LIBresearch: New smartphone tech revolutionises digitisation of natural history collections! 🦋🌱 Researchers at the LIB developed a method to digitally capture insect label data with just a phone, wirelessly and for free. This accelerates the preservation of biodiversity data! 🙌 🔗 t1p.de/jjapb
© LIB, D. Ahrens
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Rudolf Meier @rudolf-meier.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Malaise Trap Polka Dots vs. Biodiversity Smudge: Similar latitudinal data deficiency gradients for DNA barcodes and all data. Read more in "Illuminating Entomological Dark Matter with DNA Barcodes in an Era of Insect Decline, Deep Learning, and Genomics" Ann. Rev. Entomol.: doi.org/10.1146/annu...
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Rudolf Meier @rudolf-meier.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
"Illuminating Entomological Dark Matter with DNA Barcodes in an Era of Insect Decline, Deep Learning, and Genomics" Who uses insect DNA barcodes for which taxa? The usual suspects dominate... Now in Annual Review of Entomology: doi.org/10.1146/annu...
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Dear #Diptera friends!!! Voting is finally open for New Zealand’s #Bug of the Year: bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-20... ---> we count on you to vote “FLY” 🦟 <--- #Diptera #batfly #Mystacinobia zelandica #fliesarecooltoo #Mystacinobiidae #Oestroidea #Calyptrata
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LIB @leibnizlib.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
#LIBresearch It sounds like science fiction but has been successfully tested by a team of scientists from Berlin and @leibnizlib.bsky.social: Cold plasma 🧪 can significantly shorten wound healing time in 🦔 #hedgehogs with the help of highly reactive oxygen compounds: 👉 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
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Bjoern Rulik @zfmk.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
No #Diptera... 🦟 but we are proud and happy to present the first clinical study on #physicalplasma application in wildlife... So far there is almost no data available for #veterinaryresearch... #physicalplasmamedicine #woundhealing #hedgehog 🦔 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
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Rudolf Meier @rudolf-meier.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Episode 3 (imaging): Don't just sort. Also image, from multiple perspectives! Insect levitation with ultrasound: capturing 360° views to automate measurements and create 3D models. More here: www.techrxiv.org/users/813834...
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