A nice little Dynamine for you all.

The Butterfly Science World Cup is going to be in Latin America! 💃💃💃 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷 #BOB

New #RSOS paper: Unveiling the patterns and drivers of scientific and societal interest in Brazilian #lepidopterans: doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

Life in the city. Saw these cliff-flycatchers on a sunny morning catching insects in mid-air. Managed to see one capture and then eat a butterfly, but it was too far to ID the lep. Right below these convenient ladder-like perches there were brightly colored remains of beetles!

💡We're still looking for proposals for our special feature with @jappliedecology.bsky.social
and @funecology.bsky.social!

🪲This special feature will focus on how climate change affects plant–antagonist interactions.

Find out more 👉️ buff.ly/RtmeWgE

I made a little Instagram reel about this image because it’s just so frickin’ cool

“Matthews … we’re getting another one of those strange ‘aw blah es span yol’ sounds.”

“Matthews … we’re getting another one of those strange
‘aw blah es span yol’ sounds.”

BUTTERFLIES AND PLANTS: A STUDY IN COEVOLUTION Click on the article title to read more.

Paul Ehrlich has died. Most will remember him for "The Population Bomb." But for many of us, Ehrlich and Raven 1964 was a foundational read that influenced our careers. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Flower constancy in pollinators: a bouquet of agendas shapes interactions among mutualistic partners Abstract. Plant–pollinator interactions have become a major research area because of their impact on key ecosystem services. One pollinator behaviour of pa

I'm pleased to share this new #openaccess review article on 🌻 flower constancy🌻 and how it shapes plant-pollinator interactions. I hope you'll find it useful 🐝🦋 🌺:

tinyurl.com/mrx59pt3

An overview of Natural History Collections, post-disaster recovery, and digitization progress at the Museu Nacional/UFRJ, Brazil Abstract. Established in 1818, the National Museum [Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MN)] is the oldest scientific institution in Br

In 2018, a fire destroyed irreplaceable collections housed at the National Museum, in Rio de Janeiro. This timely paper tells the histoy of the Museum and the effort to rescue it from the ashes.
url: academic.oup.com/biolinnean/a...

From our @hfspo.bsky.social project, where we have been trying to test out new methods and ideas!

Indonesia floods were ‘extinction level’ disturbance for world’s rarest ape Conservationists fear up to 11% of Tapanuli orangutan population perished in disaster that also killed 1,000 people

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Promoting the use of phylogenetic multinomial generalised mixed-effects model to understand the evolution of discrete traits Abstract. Phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs) are fundamental tools for understanding trait evolution across species. While linear models are widely us

NEW METHODS ARTICLE: Phylogenetic GLMMs open doors to study evolution of discrete traits. We show how binary models extend to ordinal & nominal traits, using bird data, and provide tutorials to make these methods accessible to evolutionary biologists:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Mizuno et al.

Well deserved, Steve! Congratulations!

Shades of blue and red in a slice through an immuno stained brain showing some deliciously lovely looking mushroom body lobes - ripe for investigation during a funded PhD - and the central complex. Image credit: Dr Max Farnworth

🚨RA/PhD position available in evolutionary neurobiology 🚨

Working on a deep dive into circuit changes during mushroom body expansion in Heliconius butterflies @camzoology.bsky.social

- employment benefits
- 4 years funding
- 1000% fun

Deadline: 14/1/2026

Details:
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Coffee prices are up 21%.

Ground beef prices up 13%.

Big reason why?

Trump’s chaotic tariffs on Brazil.

I voted to repeal these tariffs along with every Democrat and a few Republicans, and it PASSED the Senate.

All eyes now on House Republicans who are still on vacation.

Impressive work, congratulations!

Working model of SR45-interacting salivary protein (SISP) regulating plant immunity.

Insect salivary proteins alter the stability of plant splicing factors

Haoli Gao, et al.

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/3PX4GV...

#planthopper #PlantScience

Amazing eyes of the malachite butterfly (Siproeta steneles). Bosque da Barra, Rio de Janeiro.

Lots of interesting evolutionary nuggets in this study, and some we can’t exactly explain!

A great combination of Yi Peng Toh’s patient neuroanatomical work and @fcicconardi.bsky.social’s bioinformagician skills, and another fun collaboration with @dickmerrill.bsky.social

Evolution of the olfactory system during the radiation of Heliconiini butterflies Abstract. Sensory system evolution plays a crucial role in shaping species’ interactions with their environment, yet the extent to which olfactory system d

New paper out! A nice collaboration.
We explore how olfactory brain structures and receptors evolved across this remarkable group, Heliconiini butterflies.

Thanks, Adriana!

As forests are cut down, butterflies are losing their colours The insects’ brilliant hues evolved in lush ecosystems to help them survive. Now they are becoming more muted to adapt to degraded landscapes – and they are not the only things dulling down

Today´s Guardian has an article about our study on butterfly colors, where we compare butterfly colors in native forest to those in eucalyptus plantations. This is study is a partnership between labs from Denmark, Spain, and Brazil.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Amazing effort! Very cool indeed! And what a cover!

One of the many things I appreciated while a student in the US was the NPR system. KUT had so many amazing programs and people. Sometimes I tune in their online streaming just to fill the saudade I have. There is nothing similar to it in Brazil.

Cool. Thanks for the info. We are training students to help with the monitoring. Too many species to account for, but at least the Parides species is easy to identify. Best of luck with your endeavor. Cheers!

Hi Alan, how often do you walk your transect? I started doing transects this year here in Rio. Our goal is to monitor an endangered butterfly, Parides ascanius. Lots of other butterfly too in the transect, but very very few of our focal species so far. Waiting for spring to kick in.

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

African Union joins calls to end use of Mercator map that shrinks continent’s size Member states back Correct the Map campaign that urges governments and organisations to use more accurate map

Excellent initiative! I grew up thinking Greenland was huge and larger than the whole of South America.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

This is a really cool book!