Are Toxic Butterflies More Easily Detected by Human ‘Predators’? Aposematic signals are often thought to be conspicuous and stable across environments. Yet, butterflies can have distinct colours on their dorsal and ventral sides which contradict this prediction. W...

Using an online game with human 'predators' we test if toxic butterflies are more conspicuous: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

4-photo plate from paper showing: a) eyeless, reddish brown head of the new wasp; b) whole body showing long antennae and short wings; c) close-up of neck region; d) dorsal photo of a wingless (broken off) specimen.

Fantastic! An eyeless, short-winged, cave-inhabiting spider wasp (Pompilidae), from Nullarbor, Australia!

doi.org/10.1111/aen....

Fun side note - Nullarbor is the perfect deadpan name for a treeless region. (I described a beetle, Chlamydopsis nullarbor, from the region long ago.)

Amazing!!!! Congrats!!! 🎊🍾

3-year Independent Post-doc in Animal Behavior based at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama!

Three positions, each including salary & a research budget.

Applications due April, 15th.

DM if you are interesting in developing a project with us!

stri.si.edu/academic-pro...

And I would love to be able to order a print of this 🫠

Omg so awesome!!! Tell your mom this is GORGEOUS!!!

Have you ever asked yourself, how insect brains represent places? And whether insects do have place cells? Then move to Germany this summer and start your PhD in my lab. We conduct tetrode recordings from bumblebees that freely forage laboratory mazes. 🧠🐝#BeeSpace @erc.europa.eu @neuroethology.org

🚨JOB alert🚨

We have three (yes, THREE) 🌟lectureships🌟 advertised in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol.

Broad remit, including #AnimalBehaviour & #GlobalChangeBiology

⏱️Deadline: 8th March 2026
🙏Please circulate widely

😊Come join us!

Full #job details: tinyurl.com/y3us95rc

@roald-arboel.com

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

📢📢📢Lectureships at Bristol!📢📢📢

We're hiring 3 x lecturers (=assistant professor) in Biological Sciences, across the discipline.

Great department, great colleagues, great building, great city

Details here:
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

This #PhilTransB issue showcases cutting-edge advancements in the fields of DNA sequencing, computer vision, acoustic monitoring, and radar for use in insect #biodiversity monitoring: royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...

Introducing the crew to German carnival with funky #DYI #jellyfish group costumes @unibonn.bsky.social @roald-arboel.com @mchagourin.bsky.social

What does the evidence actually tell us about insect sentience?

Join us on March 11 as @viveknityananda.bsky.social examines frameworks for investigating insect welfare, including key debates around insect emotions and pain.

bit.ly/4bFAITn

Come hear me stir up some controversy* next month with my take on the evidence for insect sentience.

*or not, depending on your point of view.

Awesome!!!

Don't be put off by the ad saying "UK Students only" - a limited number of scholarships are available for international candidates. So please apply!

New #PhD on #bees (BeeHd?)! Despite the ad saying "UK Students only", a limited number of scholarships are available for international candidates. So please apply!

Come to Hamburg and do a PhD on insect/spider traits with me!

Interested in doing a #PhD? Passionate about biodiversity monitoring and technology development?? Def check out this advertisement from Uni #Bonn and #LIB! Deadline Feb 17th - 4 year position!

a shark with its mouth open is swimming in the water Alt: a shark with its mouth open is jumping out of the water

You love fish? We are looking for you!

We are hiring a Postdoc and a PhD student for our project on the effects of sleep deprivation on brain-heart communication!

Life imaging and behavior in zebrafish.

More information:
ncloud.lin-magdeburg.de/s/g3FeXEnJNb...

Javier Lazaro | Camaleon Scientific and wildlife illustration

I've just updated my reptiles portfolio gallery. #sciart
Have a look!👇👇
www.lazaroillustration.com/chameleon

The chameleons are beautiful!!!! 🥹 (they all are but love the chameleons) - love your art!!

🤣 I don’t think it’s a real term (yet) but we kept seeing them “cribellating” (making cribellate silk) in the field and it was just the best way to describe them :)

🕸️ Massive web stretch from our cribellating friend (Asianopis subrufa) recorded in the field. If you’re intrigued by this fabulous #spider #silk read on doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2529200123 by @evoimec.bsky.social et al :) 🕸️

🕸️ The #silk of this gorgeous little cribellator is not your standard silk - read @evoimec.bsky.social new study here: doi.org/10.1073/pnas... 🕸️

🚨 🕷️ 🕸️ You thought netcasting spiders could not get any cooler?! You were wrong! Check out this new study lead by @wolffspider.bsky.social @evoimec.bsky.social showing how these spiders behaviorally tune their silk to be hyperelastic AND super load-bearing www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Field emission scanning elactron microcopy image showing the microscopic structure of a lower web radius of the Australian netcaster (Asianopis subrufa). The thread contains two separate strands, each of which is made of a soft silk core with fine loops of nanofibres attached to it. Upon extension, the thread initially behaves like a soft elastomer, but as soon as the fibre loops straighten they add to the load resistance of the thread, causing a mixed mechanical profile that combines elasticity with strength.

The special thread meta-structure of the hyperextensible web radii is a looped-fibre reinforced elastomer - seen in all its beauty in this image - which just won the Royal Society Photo Competition! royalsociety.org/journals/pub...

#spidersilk #spiderweb #fibre #biopolymer

Figure showing a video still from a high speed video of a netcasting spider capturing a cricket with its elastic web held in the front legs. Left to the video still there are load-strain diagrams of different lines in the web showing that the upper lines are stiff and strong and the lower lines are highly extensible. Left to the diagrams there are scanning elactron microcopy images of the dfifferent lines, showing that the upper, stiffer lines are cables made of many parallal fibres, whereas the lower lines have a soft central core with adjoined looped fibres. The degree of looping correlates with how much the spiders post-process the silk after spinning. This way they can tailor the stiffness of each line in the web separately and create a vertical stiffness gradient throughout the whole web architecture from stiff and strong in the upper load bearing frame to soft and hyper-elastic in the lower part that is rapidly extended and thrown against the prey at high speed during the predatory strike.

Netcasting spiders modulate silk thread stiffness via a tailorable multi-fibre meta-structure to construct a web that is hyperelastic and high load-bearing at the same time.
Read about our discovery in PNAS: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
🔓 & with video content!

Top text: ECBB 2026 Plenary Speakers (Left) Image of Prof Laurent Brent, University of Exeter (Centre) Image of Prof Tim Caro, University of Bristol (Right) Image of Prof Mariella Herberstein, Leibnez Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Bottom text: 1 - 4 September 2026, Anglia Ruskin University

Top text: ECBB 2026 Plenary Speakers (Left) Image of Prof Andrew Radford, University of Bristol (Centre) Image of Dr Bibiana Rojas, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Right) Image of Dr Christopher Schell, University of California, Berkeley Bottom text: 1 - 4 September 2026, Anglia Ruskin University

Missed our #ECBB2026 Plenary Speaker reveals? Not to worry!

Here is a quick recap of all the excellent speakers we'll be welcoming at September's meeting!