Image of Heliconius butterfly pollen feeding; on front cover of the April Issue of "Evolution" journal

@heliconians It's nice to see a Heliconius butterfly on the cover of "Evolution" again! Elizabeth Hodge et al. 2026, on why Heliconius are smarter than other butterflies. doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Hiring for 3 positions: Research Assistant, Field Research Coordinator, and Postdoc I am looking to hire 3 people into my lab this year. I am still doing the paperwork to get the jobs officially posted but I want to send the word out and screen potential applications right away. R…

I am hiring a research assistant (vampire bats), a Panama fieldwork coordinator (vampire bats), and also considering postdoc apps (social behavior, any species): socialbat.org/2026/02/19/h...

Neuroethology on the move with butterflies and moths - Journal of Comparative Physiology A Journal of Comparative Physiology A - Lepidopteran insects, namely butterflies and moths, are visually striking and have fascinated scientists as well as the general public for decades, prompting...

Special issue editors @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social, Basil el Jundi & Kentaro Arikawa introduce their special issue on the neuroethology of lepidoptera 🦋. The issue covers a broad field of research spanning from neuroanatomy, sensory perception to behavior. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Introducing the campest katydid of all time. 🦄💅🏽👸💞 Why would this animal (Arota festae) have evolved this way, other than to look utterly fabulous? We have unleashed some (slightly whacky) thoughts, now out in @esajournals.bsky.social. Photo credit: @zekerowe.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... 1/n

New from Jessie Foley!

#Heliconius have elongated lives and excellent memory, but do they have excellent memory across their elongated lives? Find out now!*

Featuring learning and memory assays in 330 butterflies, and an absolute pig of an experiment to do.

*the title is a spoiler 🧪

Huge thanks to @ebablab.bsky.social and @maxfarnworth.bsky.social for all of their support and supervision in both my MSc and now my PhD, as well as their patience with this paper!

Image credit: Louise Bestea

Excited that my 2nd MSc paper is out in @journal-evo.bsky.social 🦋🎉 doi.org/10.1093/evol...
We find Heliconius’ impressive visual memory is not due to increased visual-structure investment over that of their outgroup relatives, but instead consistent with specialisation of the central circuitry.