Figure showing the evolutionary diversification of Lepidopteran larval appendages.

Really excellent paper on the genetics of caterpillar butt ornaments
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Selection-driven color variation in the aposematic strawberry poison frog, Oophaga pumilio Aguilar-Gómez et al. use exome sequencing of 347 strawberry poison frogs to uncover the genetic basis of color variation. They identify that kit, ttc39b, and bco1 underlie blue-red, yellow-red, and gr...

The last chapter of my PhD is finally out !!!! In the same species, on neighboring islands, we see radically different warning colors emerge. Evolution in action:
Selection-driven color variation in the aposematic strawberry poison frog, Oophaga pumilio: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Thanks so much Hannah! Pleased (and relieved) that the title has found its patrons… 🦄

@smithsonianpanama on Instagram: "A pink insect?! That’s incredible! 🤯 🌸 🪲 Studying this rare, color-changing katydid is leaving #scientists with more questions than answers. Listen to evolutionary ... 489 likes, 8 comments - smithsonianpanama on March 10, 2026: "A pink insect?! That’s incredible! 🤯 🌸 🪲 Studying this rare, color-changing katydid is leaving #scientists with more questions than answ...

And for the instagrammers amongst us, STRI have made a wonderful promo video which can be found here 🤓💖: www.instagram.com/reel/DVtYGrP...

Thanks so much Alice, glad you are as enthused as we are! 🤩

Thanks Melanie, that’s a very fabulous Orophus! They are very polymorphic but I’ve never seen a pink one yet!

As usual, a huge thanks to Graeme Ruxton and Nathan Bailey for their (slightly more balanced!) ideas, everyone on BCI for their support, @royalcom1851.bsky.social for funding, and Chappell Roan for creating one of the best pop songs of recent times 😎 @uniofstandrews.bsky.social 6/n

This gradual colour change, within a single life stage, led us to theorise whether masquerading as a pink leaf might actually be adaptive… could be adaptationist nonsense but has been very exciting to think about nevertheless! 🤷🏽🤔 A few other nuggets in the paper though! 5/n

Luckily, I was in the company of fantastic tropical ecologists (and friends). @mattgreenwell.bsky.social and Paddy Cannon, poined out that the colours of this katydid closely matched that of delayed greening leaves which many tropical plants produce as a defence against herbivores… 🤔🤔 4/n

Pink katydids have been documented before, but have generally been regarded as ‘freak mutants’. But what happened next totally blew our minds. Over the course of ~10 days, this individual slowly changed colour from pink to completely green, the more common colour for this species. 😱3/n

One night on BCI, Panama, @zekerowe.bsky.social passed by my office with this very special find… witnesses have confirmed I was speechless. Hyperventilation upon exposure to supernaturally magnificent invertebrates was not on my risk assessment… 😮‍💨 I was just about keeping it together here 2/n

Introducing the campest katydid of all time. 🦄💅🏽👸💞 Why would this animal (Arota festae) have evolved this way, other than to look utterly fabulous? We have unleashed some (slightly whacky) thoughts, now out in @esajournals.bsky.social. Photo credit: @zekerowe.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... 1/n

As usual, a huge thanks to Graeme Ruxton and Nathan Bailey for their (slightly more balanced!) ideas, everyone on BCI for their support, @royalcom1851.bsky.social for funding, and Chappell Roan for creating one of the best pop songs of recent times 😎 @uniofstandrews.bsky.social 6/n

This gradual colour change, within a single life stage, led us to theorise whether masquerading as a pink leaf might actually be adaptive… could be adaptationist nonsense but has been very exciting to think about nevertheless! 🤷🏽🤔 A few other nuggets in the paper though! 5/n

Luckily, I was in the company of fantastic tropical ecologists (and friends). @mattgreenwell.bsky.social and Paddy Cannon, pointed out that the colours of this katydid closely matched those of delayed greening leaves which many tropical plants produce as a defence against herbivores… 🤔🤔 4/n

Pink katydids have been documented before, but have generally been regarded as ‘freak mutants’. But what happened next totally blew our minds. Over the course of ~10 days, this individual slowly changed colour from pink to completely green, the more common colour for this species… 3/n

One night on BCI, Panama, @zekeseeksnature passed by my office with this very special find… witnesses have confirmed I was speechless. Hyperventilation upon exposure to supernaturally magnificent invertebrates was not on my risk assessment… 😮‍💨 I was just about keeping it together in this video. 2/n

So happy to be presenting to one of my favorite community of scientists! (@neuroethology.org )
Come join us, to check out some of my “old” work with new insights about arthropod eyes and their molecular make-up!
#Neuroethology

New from Jessie Foley!

#Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!*

Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do.

*the title is a spoiler 🧪

Genomic analyses in Drosophila do not support the classic allopatric model of speciation Abstract. The allopatric model of speciation has dominated our understanding of speciation biology and biogeography since the Modern Synthesis. It is uncon

New paper out: “allopatric” Drosophila species aren’t so allopatric after all. We show that most currently allopatric species pairs probably overlapped in the past and exchanged genes at levels similar to sympatric pairs. @evolletters.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1093/evle... [1/6]

Hiding in plain sight: How katydids evolved leafy costumes to trick predators (PLoS Biology 2025) YouTube video by Benito's Explanations

VERY late to the party, but a lil video abstract featuring a) a summary of our findings and b) a lot of me fangirling over leafy perfection is now up on my YouTube channel here: youtu.be/Av9NHy0Qi9I?... @plosbiology.org @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

A long blue-brown trumpetfish swimming above and close to a blue stoplight parrotfish

🚨NEW PAPER🚨 Need to #camouflage on the move? Easy - simply seek out something that's coloured like you and move along with it! 🐠 Read the latest #trumpetfish instalment here: tinyurl.com/4tb5h5hk
@royalsociety.org
#shadowing #predator #experiment #marine #movement

Bravo Rochelle on this huge and amazing piece of work! 👏👏👏

Slide of katydids that look like leaves

How to be a convincing leaf! Learning about the spectrum of leafiness with @benitoexplains.bsky.social 🍃 🐛 🍃 🐛 #ASABWinter2025

blown away by this, given the names of previous winners - recent and not so recent - hugely grateful to @zslofficial.bsky.social, and all the many students, postgrads, postdocs and collaborators who have helped make the last 14 years so fun and exciting

Will go back to avoiding cameras now… 🫣

🚨Two funded PhDs on the evolutionary ecology of antipredator colouration 🦋 with myself and Iliana Medina.

One in Swansea tinyurl.com/4thtbph6 deadline Jan 12th @crocus-dla.bsky.social

The other in Melbourne - deadline Jan 1st

Please share among potential students!

Online now: Evolutionary influences of sexual signalling on protective colouration

And of course, a huge shout out to @royalcom1851.bsky.social for giving me the freedom during this postdoc to ramble about whatever the hell I want (peer review permitting of course 😂) Any ideas/comments are super welcome as always! ❤️ 7/n @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

This was one the most fun things I’ve ever written, not least because I wrote most of it in Panama, with this gorgeous view, but also because I get to work with the Lennon & McCartney of academic writing, Graeme Ruxton and Nathan Bailey (not willing to disclose which is which). 🌴☺️ 6/n

Specifically, we hypothesise that sexual signalling a) constrains the evolution the specialist camouflage (e.g. masquerade), b) drives sexual dimorphism in camouflage and c) restricts adaptive crypsis polymorphism. Here is a smattering of the study systems we suggest could provide some answers. 5/n