What if the name written into legal protections isn't a valid taxonomic name? Is the species unprotected? Some fantastic on-site indigenous/academic collaboration and quotes www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/s...
George Melika wearing a "crown" made from oak galls
Sad to report the passing of George Melika, the prolific world authority on gall wasps and the unofficial "king of the galls". He will be sorely missed.
To see some of his contributions to the world of cynipidology: scholar.google.com/citations?us...
Sequencing all complex life in the UK & Ireland could add up to £3bn to the economy over 30 years, a new report finds.
Explore the impact of the Darwin Tree of Life Project ⤵️
www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/unlocking-the-...
A gannet flying through pink tinted skies. The bird's crisp white plumage and black wingtips are visible while the sky is pink and orange with the setting sun.
We believe there is power in the collective voice. Your insights, lived experience, and personal stories all help shape how Scotland understands the importance of nature ahead of the upcoming election. Let us know via the link below why you #TakeNatureSeriously.
🔗 buff.ly/C0W5vyQ
Back to the simple natural order of things…….. not human arrogance based on destruction of our water,air, environment for profit…… for the 1%
Tragic
At the @ynuorg.bsky.social meeting yesterday, an eminent educator on the topic of invertebrates suggested we need to think differently about how we engage young people in entomology (at least at the start).
Meet people where they are (not how we started being interested in insects), was his message
Macro photograph of a robust shiny red wasp with black legs, wings, head, and antennae, standing alertly on a leaf, the background an out-of-focus forest canopy.
A bit closer in.
The Arctic sky is thick with flying mosquitoes. Photo credit: Jesse Krause.
A mosquito rests on the fabric of a scientist's shirt. Photo credit: Jeff Kerby.
Mosquitoes land on the face of a stoic-looking bird. Photo credit: Jeff Kerby.
The pant leg of a scientist is covered in mosquitoes. Photo credit: Jesse Krause.
Iceland was the only Arctic country w/o mosquitoes. Now, thanks to human activities, they’ve made the leap. In a new editorial in Science, UT Austin biologist Amanda Koltz warns of more changes to come and calls for more Arctic research. doi.org/10.1126/scie... @texas-ib.bsky.social
A beautiful bee viewed from head-on, but with most of the body visible. The face is festooned in white hairs and the thorax is clad in fox-red hairs on top, merging seamlessly to pure white below. 10/10, no notes.
Perhaps the very finest of British bees is the Orange-tailed Mining Bee, Andrena haemorrhoa, which combines an elegant fox-red thorax trimmed with white with a shining orange-tipped thorax. I was lucky enough to find a calm individual at RSPB The Lodge yesterday who posed for some photos.
Antidium manicatum - die Große Wollbiene - taucht gerade in eine Salbeiblüte ein!
🐝🌷🐝 #Jobalert #Biodiversität schützen heißt, #Lebensräume neu zu denken. Im Projekt #BeeConnect der @unihohenheim.bsky.social suchen wir Unterstützung für die Erforschung genetischer Vielfalt in Insektenpopulationen – mit besonderem Fokus auf #Bienen. Mehr zur Stelle im Link: tinyurl.com/22x333hv
Photos macro d'une guêpe sans yeux.
La première espèce de guêpe troglodyte sans yeux a été trouvée dans une grotte australienne. Il lui manque clairement un truc.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#science #entomology #speleologie #insectes
Gehoornde metselbij vrouwtje op blauwe druifjes, die plant is een van hun favorieten
Mannetje gehoornde metselbij
Parende rosse metselbijen
De Bijentelling is begonnen! Daarom stapt de #bijenchallenge over naar bijen die je nu kan zien (en tellen). Dag 4 is voor de gehoornde en rosse #metselbij. Zie je nu activiteit bij je bijenhotel? Dan is dat waarschijnlijk een van die twee. Op foto 1 (v) en 2 (m) de gehoornde en foto 3 de rosse
“One monthly flea treatment for a large dog contains enough imidacloprid to kill 25 million bees” - & whenever a treated dog has a dip it pollutes the river
So it’s great news for nature that the Govt is planning to ban over-the-counter flea treatments:
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Macro photograph of a wrinkled, rugged black ant in side view, walking on moss.
Most entomologists know of "Pogos" as dominant, large desert seed-harvesting ants. But some of the older lineages in the genus are tropical humid forest inhabitants. Here's Pogonomyrmex striatinodus, from the Ecuadorian cloud forest.
This is what happens when the flowerbeds at Pátio das Químicas, @ucoimbra.bsky.social, are cared for with native plants 🌼
Nothing but beautiful wild bees slowing us down, and filling our hearts and minds with joy 🐝
Very pleased to find another Honeysuckle Sawfly in the garden. Impressive and burnished gold. We have lots of Honeysuckle and it's another great plant for wildlife.
In the footsteps of Linnaeus: scientists share their passion for species from tiny wasps to hairy plants – in pictures www.theguardian.com/environment/...
#WeDigBio is a four day campaign to help digitise natural history specimens. If you are keen give transcribing a specimen or field notebook a go see www.zooniverse.org/organization... for a list of projects to participate in!
Top up your wellbeeing with a little bumbleboost 🐝
What do you love most about seeing bumblebees?
🔊 Volume up for that surround sound bumblebee hum 🎶
🎥 Jade Oliver
Rehabilitation of the Dandelion!
No other plant in the Netherlands attracts as many bee species: 107. In early spring, when nothing else is blooming, it is simply there. Meadow bird chicks that have just hatched depend on the insects that are drawn to dandelions. No dandelion, no insect, no chick.
Two flies a small distance away from each other grasp grass blades above the ground after emerging from bee nests.
A fly grasping a blade of grass is still soft and with shriveled wings. It has just emerged from a bee nest below.
A view of a heavy-bodied brown fly with large red eyes sitting on the tip of a leaf blade.
A grayish brown fly with a yellow face and reddish eyes rests on a white background. It has a long beak held under and behind its head
Most surprising find @ bee aggregation '26 were lots of thick-headed #flies emerging! They're parasitoids of adult bees, grabbing them mid-air to inject eggs into the abdomen. Eww but cool! (I guess not if you're a bee 😂) Here's one on a flower: flic.kr/p/2ocMhfV
#Conopidae: #Zodion
NC, USA
Driller!
Found this beauty in Costa Rica but sadly it was briefly 😥
Canon R5 + Rf 100-500mm f4.5-7.1 L IS USM shot at 254mm
SS1/1250 F5 ISO3200
Torymus rubi aedeagus
Teeny-tiny wasp willies
It's a specialist interest, I have to admit, but what's the deal hymenopterists - why the reluctance to dissect? Read more: ajcarthropoda.blogspot.com/2026/04/teen...
#Wasps #Hymenoptera #Entomology #Insects
Two yellow and black yellow jacket mimic robberflies, mating on burnt pine bark robberfly-style (ass to ass)
Yeah that's how yellow jackets mate, sure
#BugSex
The call for abstracts for the annual conference of #Biodiversity Information Standards @tdwg.org is now OPEN.
Submit oral presentations, lightning talks, or posters on #biodiversity #data standards and #informatics.
⏳Deadline: 20 May 2026
👉 See all the details here: bdj.pensoft.net/news/1178
A very fine tegula. Tegulae are used with another kind of tile called an imbrex which covers the gaps between the tegulae
