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...

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

Sample images of worker ants of different sizes at various magnifications: 3D models (top) and section views of the heads of four ants (bottom)

#Digitalization: The “Antscan” web platform is the world’s largest digital database of 3D #insect data. It is the result of an international and interdisciplinary cooperation initiated by #KITKarlsruhe and the @oistedu.bsky.social in Japan. www.kit.edu/kit/english/...

Antscan

Thanks to micro-CT and www.antscan.info, you can now explore high resolution, 3D ant images from anywhere in the world. Fantastic work from Julian Katzke, Francisco Hita Garcia, @economo.bsky.social, Thomas van de Kamp and colleagues just dropped: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

‘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 ...

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The mating of Stylops ater in the aggregation of Andrena vaga at the Institute for Bee Protection at the @jki-research.bsky.social in Braunschweig vaga is in full swing.
#BeesUp

A 170-year-old flat wasp specimen was recently restored using an inexpensive ammonia-based protocol. 🐝

This study provides the first modern redescription of this rare species.

Read all about it: doi.org/10.3897/nhcm.3.184068

From cabinets to collectomics: discovering females and primary larvae of Strepsiptera in a historical collection Natural history collections house material from centuries of collecting efforts. In the Phyletisches Museum Jena (PMJ), ca. 1 Mio specimens are deposited, some of them dating back as far as the 17th c...

From cabinets to collectomics: discovering females and primary larvae of Strepsiptera in a historical collection nhcm.pensoft.net/articles.php...

Wonderful weird: 3D reconstruction of the tracheal system and balloon gut of the male Stylops ovinae. #Strepsiptera

Peruatacamus atunpacha - Proventiculus sclerites - A 3D model collection by Entomology Group Uni Jena (@entomology_uni_jena) The initial views are frontal. Published in: Irish, J., Zúñiga-Reinoso, Á., Cieszynski, H., Pohl, H. and Predel, R. (2025). New genera of Neotropical Maindroniidae, with a redescription of Maindronia ...

New publication in Zoologischer Anzeiger describing new genera of Neotropical Maindroniidae (Zygentoma) by Reinhard Predel and colleagues. doi.org/10.1016/j.jc...
My contributions were SEM images and a 3D reconstruction of the proventriculus of the new species. skfb.ly/pu8vx

Evolutionary biologist Prof. Dr Andreas Hejnol looks at panther worms (Hofstenia miamia) in a petri dish. Image: Nicole Nerger / Uni Jena

"Panther worms" (Hofstenia miamia) in a petri dish. The worms, which have existed for 550 million years, are among the first "Bilateria", symmetrically structured animals with a left and a right half of the body, just like mammals. Image: Nicole Nerger (/ Uni Jena

How did the anus evolve? Researchers led by evolutionary biologist Prof. Dr Andreas Hejnol from #UniJena, in collaboration with the University of Bergen, showed that in sea worms (Xenacoelomorpha), the sperm duct exhibits the same gene pattern as the later rectum.

➡️ www.uni-jena.de/en/367301/th...

Caterpillar of Apoda limacodes, a species of moth of the family Limacodidae

It looks like a slug, but it isn't. It's the caterpillar of Apoda limacodes, a species of moth of the family Limacodidae.

Beautiful insects

European mole cricket (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa)

European mole cricket (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa). Their front legs are modified into digging legs, convergent like those of a mole. It was found during my last field trip with students from the University of Jena to Lake Trasimeno in Italy in June 2025.
#molecricket #unijena

The Paragenital Organ of Stylopidae (Insecta: Strepsiptera) and the Functional Incorporation of the Secondary Larval Exuvia In the insect order Strepsiptera, we identified a paragenital organ in the family Stylopidae that serves as a secondary genital organ for traumatic insemination. We show that the cuticle at the penet...

Journal of Morphology | Animal Morphology Journal | Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...