🌿 Two of my favorite field botanists. #InMemoriam

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Fig. 1. Location of the study site in California, United States (a). Map of UC Davis Experimental Ecovoltaic Park (UC DEEP) and adjacent land uses (b). Experimental plots within permitted research area (c). Photos of pollinators visiting wildflowers (d–ag): Vanessa cardui on Eschscholzia californica (d) and Clarkia unguiculata (e); Burnsius communis on Phacelia Californica (f); Colias eurytheme on Helianthus bolanderi (g); Pieris rapae on Grindelia camporum (h); Hesperiina phyleus on G. camporum (i); Strymon melinus on P. Califronica (j); Autographa californica (k) and Heliothis phloxiphaga (l) on H. bolanderi; Battaristis concinnusella (m), Halictus spp. (n), and Agapostemon spp. (o) on G. camporum; Diadasia spp. on H. bolanderi (p); Epimelissodes obliqua on G. camporum (q); Melissodes spp. on H. bolanderi (r); Bombus vosnesenskii (s) and Bombus californicus (t) on P. Califronica; Apis mellifera on Collinsia heterophylla (u); Gilia capitata (v); E. californica (w), Nemophila menziesii (x), Silybum marianum (y), Erodium cicutarium (z), and Helminthotheca echioides (aa); Eupeodes spp. on E. californica (ab) and H. bolanderi (ac); Eristalis hirta on H. echioides (ad); Polistes dominula on E. californica (ae); Coccinella septempunctata on P. Califronica (af); Nemognatha lurida on H. bolanderi (ag).

🌱 Journal of Environmental Management: Restoring native prairie under solar panels can boost pollinator diversity up to sixfold, showing energy sites can support biodiversity with careful plant design.(Yudi Li,Rebecca R. Hernandez)
▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#PlantScience #Restoration

The System That Decides What Science Gets Published Is Breaking Down The peer review system that validates scientific research is trapped in a self-defeating cycle. A new mathematical model shows why—and what comes next.

Some first-rate science writing: For this story, @jdrakephd.bsky.social carefully read our recent paper and then we spent a very fun 90 minutes or so talking on zoom. His article that gets right to the heart of our model, explains it clearly, and then explores why it will matter in the future.

𝘈𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘦 is a newly discovered species of wingless #fly from China that lives in a very specific home: the base of a horseshoe bat's ear! 🦇

Access the full study here: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1273.183551

@ucph.bsky.social

#bat #parasite #endoparasite #morphology

How Can These Flies Live in Oily Black Tar Pits? | Deep Look YouTube video by Deep Look

Fantastic footage here of adults and larvae of the petroleum fly, one of the most extremophilic insects:
youtu.be/V0CKcK5BqQU?...

GBE | Tachinid Endoparasitoid Flies do not Rely on Domesticated Viruses, Unlike Multiple Hymenopteran Lineages

Oukkal et al. find that, unlike endoparasitoid hymenopterans, endoparasitoidism in tachinid flies is not associated with viral domestication, possibly due to differences in venom use and host immune system avoidance.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag022

#genome #evolution #diptera #virus

Enhanced bloom and pollinator diversity from native prairie restoration at a photovoltaic solar park Large, ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy projects (GPVs) are increasingly sited on former agricultural lands, creating opportunities to integra…

🌻💐🐝🪰🦋☀️🔋
Enhanced bloom and #pollinator #diversity from native #prairie restoration at a #photovoltaic #solar park:

Taxonomist Appreciation Day post

I am in freakin' AWE of people doing primary taxonomic work.

To do it well, you need deep scholarship to track past naming (and misnaming) efforts.

You may need to hunt down specimens only to discover they are damaged, misindentified, or lost.

1/3

🪰 dipteran sign: @1st St., Davis, CA.

The official website for the 11th International Congress of Dipterology (ICDXI) has launched! icd11.biol.pmf.hr

We'd love to see you in Croatia in 2027. 🇭🇷🪰🦟

Taxonomists: If you liked the old TAXACOM mailing list, we've restarted it. You can sign up, here:

groups.google.com/g/taxacom

Please share widely! We don't have access to the old lists. If you know any taxonomists, let them know, and pass it on.

#science #academia #taxonomy

It's the funding of taxonomic research & training that's dying out. Without an ability to identify life forms, we can't recognize/quantify invasions & extinctions and their impacts on ecosystems. Imagine trying to repair a complex steel structure if you can't distinguish different types of bearings.

An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

📢🪰 Don’t let the cut fly:

Ichneumonids of North America:
#Hymenoptera 🐝

This is a devastating blow to Canadian dipterology, entomology, ecology, and beyond. Please share.
#diptera

@dipterists.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social @canentomologist.bsky.social @entsocamerica.bsky.social @entsocontario.bsky.social @entsocbc.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social

Distinguishing species boundaries from geographic variation | PNAS In an era of unprecedented biodiversity loss, the need for standardized practices to describe biological variation is becoming increasingly importa...

The question of how to distinguish species boundaries from intraspecific geographic variation is now more of an issue than ever in the genomic age. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Pinned specimen of an adult Dermatobia hominis (Linnaeus, 1758); lateral view.

The infamous human bot fly (Dermatobia hominis). This specimen is from a rainforest in Honduras, deposited at the Biological Museum, Lund University.
[MZLU 00131504]
#Diptera #Oestridae 🪰

Species Yet to Be Discovered Are More Threatened and Have Smaller Ranges Aim To assess whether newly described species are more likely to be threatened and have smaller ranges than known species. Location Global. Methods In this study, we focus on the timing of speci...

Many species not yet formally recognised may already be at risk of extinction. The findings underscore the urgent need for more fieldwork in understudied areas 📉
New paper out @consbiog.bsky.social by Farooq, Geldmann & Faurby👇
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#conservation #biodiversity

Seasonal monopolization of small carrion by a scarab beetle in terra firme Amazonian rainforests - Scientific Reports Small vertebrate carcasses represent an abundant resource in tropical rainforests, where scavengers play a key role in nutrient recycling, enhancing productivity in nutrient-poor habitats such as Amaz...

📢 A beetle outcompeting jaguars and vultures for carrion?

In this #carrionecology study we recently published in Scientific Reports, we show that Coprphanaeus lancifer 🪲 buried >90% of the 🐹 carcasses deployed in terra firme Amazonian forests during the wet season!

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

Tracking Mosquito-Borne Viruses at the Top of the World As the Arctic warms, mosquitoes—and the diseases they carry—float north. A recent study finds Jamestown Canyon virus and snowshoe hare virus present in mosquitoes in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of…

As the Arctic warms, mosquitoes—and the diseases they carry—float north. A recent study finds Jamestown Canyon virus and snowshoe hare virus present in mosquitoes in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of North America.

The cover of Vol. 8 (3), featuring an outline of the island of Singapore and the striking, newly-described fungus gnat Integricypta fergusondavie gen. et sp. nov.

An integrative taxonomic treatment of the Mycetophilidae of Singapore, describing 98 new species of fungus gnat

Now also with a brand new cover, featuring Integricypta fergusondavie gen. et sp. nov.

Free download: doi.org/10.18476/202...

@rudolf-meier.bsky.social @derschwingfliegen.bsky.social

World Muscidae catalogue cover

Just out. Lots of muscid info packed into 1,341 pp.
archive.org/details/be18...

Neoempheria merlio Amorim & Oliveira sp. n. from Singapore

Happy New Fungus Gnats! 🥂🦟🦟

Prof. Dalton Amorim and co-authors name 98 new species of Mycetophilidae from Singapore in a monograph just published in @integsyst.bsky.social

The paper can be downloaded for free from the following link: tinyurl.com/342cs43t

Enjoy!

@rudolf-meier.bsky.social

All Systematic Zoology/Biology research articles published over past 75 years, clustered by topic and represented in 2d space.

Reflections on the evolving practice of systematic biology, a joy to write with Michael Donoghue for the upcoming 75th volume of Systematic Biology!

academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...

An adult reindeer warble fly (Hypoderma tarandi) sitting gently on top of a person's fingers. The fly is fuzzy, with a black head, a thorax of alternating black and pale yellow bands, and a reddish-brown abdomen. On the whole, the fly resembles a bumblebee. There is green moss in the background. Credit: Matthew Zappa, iNaturalist, https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/23197023

An first-instar (L1) larva of the nematode Elaphostrongylus rangiferi. It is loosely coiled and appears to have a black midline and green spots across its body. The upper-left hand corner has the letter "M", identifying this as part of a larger figure of nematodes. A 50-µm vertical scale bar is present at the bottom right. Credit: Loginova et al. (2023), https://doi.org/10.3390/d15050672

A reindeer nose botfly (Cephenemyia trompe) rested on a rock. It has a large yellow head with black eyes, a yellow-and-black thorax, and a yellow-red abdomen. Credit: karainio, iNaturalist, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/303416691

A lone caribou (Rangifer tarandus) photographed in Denali National Park, Alaska, United States. It has a brown head and body, with a white tail and a brown-white neck. It carries large antlers at the top of its head. Credit: Diego Delso, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caribú_(Rangifer_tarandus),_Parque_nacional_y_reserva_Denali,_Alaska,_Estados_Unidos,_2017-08-30,_DD_40.jpg

With the coming of the holiday season and the beginning of #InverteFest, we wanted to wish our followers Happy Holidays and highlight some reindeer parasites in the process!

There is also a museum record, back in 1941, on Gasterophilus larvae infestation in lion:
#NaturalHistoryCollection #Diptera #Oestridae

🐝🌏
An illustrated type catalogue of bee species collected by Alfred Russel Wallace and described by Frederick Smith from Southeast Asia
@ejtaxonomy.bsky.social: