6 bad doodles with text under each one. horseshoe crab is literally the animal horseshoe crab. shoehorse crab is a crab riding a shoe, cowboy style. crabshoe horse is a horse wearing literal crabs as shoes. shoecrab horse is a horse telling a crab to go away. crabhorse shoe is a pair of shoes, left one crab shaped, right one horse shaped. horsecrab shoe is literally the same pair of shoes, flipped.

#InvertebrateShitposting as per @joabaldwin.com's request

You are bye-lingual. Welcome to the club!

Finally new paper on leaf insects out 📄🍃 We had a deeper look into the diversity of Indonesian _Phyllium_ 👀 new species, new phylogeny, new egg morphologies 🪾🪺🍃
with @tbuescher.bsky.social and @zookeys.pensoft.net

🔗 doi.org/10.3897/zook...

This blurb leaves out the most significant finding: at least 193 species where the whole German fauna of Ceraphronoidea was only known to comprise 36 species. Entomologists consider Europe to be 'well-known'. But, even there, in the darker corners of insect diversity, countless new species lurk.

A revised species list of the water beetles in Lake Tonga, Algeria: doi.org/10.3897/zook...

#fauna #taxonomy #beetles

A new microendemic gecko from the small forest fragments of south-eastern Madagascar (Squamata, Gekkonidae, Paragehyra) Historically, herpetological research in Madagascar has largely overlooked small forest fragments outside the country protected area network. Despite substantial declines in species diversity compared to large continuous forests, these fragments continue to sustain diverse herpetological communities and frequently harbour microendemic species. We describe a new gecko belonging to the genus Paragehyra, apparently microendemic to small and isolated forest fragments surrounding the Andringitra Massif in south-eastern Madagascar. Paragehyra tsaranoro sp. nov. is different from its congeneric species based on genetic distances in mitochondrial markers (16S and COI), phylogenetic position, and the lack of haplotype sharing at one nuclear locus (POMC). The new species is also distinguishable from its congeners based on a combination of 14 morphological characters. New genetic and morphological data are also provided for the sympatric P. felicitae and we propose a new assessment of its conservation status within the IUCN Red List. Paragehyra tsaranoro sp. nov. and P. felicitae are mostly found in forest fragments managed by local communities (community-managed reserves) outside legally protected areas. This study highlights the importance of community-based management for the conservation of local herpetofauna, particularly in regions heavily impacted by anthropogenic pressure and largely unsuitable for forest-dwelling species. The findings emphasise the importance of conducting research on small forest fragments, as they are essential for completing the inventory of Malagasy herpetofauna.

A gecko newly discovered on Madagascar. Animal seems to occur only in a few small scattered fragments of ancient forest. Emphasizes #biodiversity value of even fractions of formerly dominating ecosystems. Imagine what we have lost already irreversibly. doi.org/10.3897/zook...

Green and brown hummingbird at feeder

Green-bodied, blue-headed hummingbird at feeder

Green hummingbird with long tail at feeder

Blue purple hummingbird perched on a branch

Rufous-tailed hummingbird, white-necked jacobin, white-booted racket-tail, velvet purple coronet from Ecuador

Here's a subtropical beauty—Vanessa carye—spotted at the Quito Botanical Garden. This butterfly species ranges all the way from Venezuela down to Patagonia #lepidoptera #southamerica #ecuador #insects

Great to have our caddisfly silk review now included in an issue in Trends in Genetics. And, I might be biased, but that sure is a beautiful cover ;)!

Rain sounds or slow-tempo music without lyrics work for me.

From the paper: "Figure 4.Taxonomic bias in the treatment of hypothesized drivers of insect declines from 106 articles containing taxon-specific hypotheses. (a) The distribution of hypotheses about broad classes of drivers of decline across insect taxonomic groups. (b) The distribution of higher resolution driver and outcome nodes across taxonomic groups. Each colored point shows a node in the network in figure 2 that was said to affect at least two different orders. The nodes are plotted in the taxonomic section where they are most frequently mentioned. Therefore, all taxon-specific nodes are most associated with Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, or Lepidoptera. The line length from the center indicates how biased a term is. The dashed lines indicate which nodes are mentioned about a given taxonomic group more than 50%, 70%, or 90% of the time. The nodes are colored the same way as in figures 1, 2, and 3 (see supplement for node labels). Insect icons were designed by Suyeon Jang."

Sill need to digest this new meta-review on insect decline.

Taxonomic bias: lots of research on bee/ant/wasp decline (mainly on a limited range of pollinator taxa). A fair amount on beetles and butterflies/moths. Virtually none on other groups of insects.

🧪 🌎 🪲🪳

academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

A new chapter of the Peruvian Genome Project is out!
We explored the genetic composition and dynamics of individuals living in urban areas. We analyze genome-wide data from 432 urban individuals across 13 regions of Peru, including 346 newly genotyped! (1/6)

153 species of Atopsyche and counting! #entomology #caddisflies #Ecuador

Done. You're welcome!

I guess it can’t be sent that way. Any other option?

Hi Derek. I have access to it. I will DM you.

World map showing origin of the data

Our study ‘The global human impact on biodiversity’ is out in Nature!

Through an unprecedented synthesis (2133 studies!) we show that humans are not only shrinking species numbers—but reshaping entire communities across the planet. 🌍🌐🐟🌿🪲

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Caddisfly standing on a tree trunk

Philopotamus montanus, Kinzig River, Hesse, Germany #insects #caddisfly

I dropped a few in my suitcase years ago. It ended up on a sock and then my foot. I had sharp pain every few steps until I checked at home that night. Crazy stuff!

entoLIVE entoLIVE webinars bring the latest invertebrate subjects to the wider public. Our expert speakers cover cutting edge science, the latest conservation efforts and the status of British invertebrates…

Have you heard of entoLIVE? It’s a series of free webinars that showcases the research of invertebrate researchers. 70 webinars to date!

We’re recruiting speakers for 2025 so get in touch if you’d like to present your work.

🧪 #entomology #research #science

biologicalrecording.co.uk/entolive/

Thank you!

First attempt at using the Entomoscope to image some African caddisflies. The smaller specimen is a hydroptilid, probably in the genus Orthotrichia, and the second specimen is the leptocerid Trichosetodes anysa. #caddisflies