I wish I knew!

Is this a public repository? I couldn't find it on GitHub

This is peak iNaturalist content!
www.inaturalist.org/observations...

A question to the taxonomical community:
How do I get better results when translating taxonomic keys using Large Language Models?

I am thinking about including a glossary or example translations in the prompt. How would I set up such a dataset that can be reused by the community? Any experiences?

helpful illustration from Marvaldi & Lanteri's weevil key, demonstrating the difference between a mucro (sharp spur at the tibial apex) and an uncus (sharp spur at the tibial apex)

welcome to WEEVIL HELL, today we will be playing
*audience roars*
MUCRO
or
UNCUS

Curculionidae of the World Online Curculionidae of the World Online is a collaborative taxonomic catalog of weevils, built on TaxonWorks. It provides curated data on taxonomy, distribution, biological relationships, as well as images ...

Curculionidae of the World Online has moved to a new URL:
catalog.curculionoidea.org
The old URL can still be accessed.

We are working on a better and more detailed representation of the relationships between weevils and their host plants. Expect some really nice things in the near future!

cool!

Over 400,000 beetle species exist, but how are they related? 🐞
Join Dr @beetlequeen.bsky.social ( @nhm-london.bsky.social ) on 15 Feb 2026 for a FREE webinar exploring efforts to map the global Beetle Tree of Life & uncover biodiversity patterns.

👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mapping-th...

Curculionoidea - Visiting the Weevil Course & Roundup in 2025 By Jakob Jilg

My report for the Weevil Course I visited earlier this year in Arizona is ready!

www.curculionoidea.org/gorgojito/vi...

The (free) registration for The Online Weevil Workers Meeting 2025 on October 17 is open!
www.curculionoidea.org/weevil-worke...

Thank you so much for this update! I'm super happy with the biological associations now visible in TaxonPages!

To keep track with everything, we love to make lists. They give us the illusion of order in a chaotic reality.
For this project, there is a large database in the background (TaxonWorks), and a data portal as frontend (TaxonPages: curculionidae.github.io/taxa)

You can now explore host-plant associations on "Curculionidae of the World Online"!
We have almost 3000 associations in the database.

Huge thanks to the team of TaxonWorks who got the Biological Associations tab for TaxonPages running with the latest release!
curculionidae.github.io/taxa/#/otus/...

Behind the Bell Brothers - Twin Insect Researchers | Discovery | Gardening Australia YouTube video by Gardening Australia

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORGW...
I had the honor to meet the two when they visited Europe!

Damn I got caught! 😂
I'd never reveal in public how my desk actually looks like!
I use the desk in the image to have space to place insect drawers, but often its cluttered anyways. The microscope is on another desk, next to my computer.
I staged the photo to represent the topic in an idealized way

Sounds great! But it's sad that its required to have an Eventbrite account

🪲 Weevils! The UK boasts 600+ species, almost as many as birds! Join us on 13 Oct (7–8pm) for an entoLIVE with @markgurn.bsky.social to explore their ecology, habitats & quirky plant preferences. It is FREE!!! Don’t miss it! 🧪 🌎

🔗 Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1491232379...

Thank you so much! I can't see if someone is reading my blog posts, and if they enjoy them, so I really appreciate your words!

Thank you very much for your kind words! As the blog has no comment section, it's difficult to see if anyone is reading it and what they think about it, so your comment is very much appreciated!

A summary of Agave weevils!

How to Obtain, Manage and Access Entomological Literature Curating and searching large PDF collections

New Blog Post!
How to Obtain, Manage and Access Entomological Literature weevil-see.com/taxonomy/acc...

I ask: "how many species of clam shrimp are in florida" ichatbio answers: "You’d like to know how many species of clam shrimp (order Diplostraca, suborder Laevicaudata, Cyclestherida, or Spinicaudata) are found in Florida. I will search occurrence record databases for the count of unique clam shrimp species reported in Florida."

ichatbio: According to iDigBio, there are 47 unique scientific names under the order Diplostraca (which includes clam shrimp and related groups) recorded in Florida, based on 524 records. This count may include both clam shrimp and other related taxa (like water fleas). If you'd like, I can filter the list to show only known clam shrimp species or provide the full list for your review. me: show only clam shrimp ichatbio:Thank you for your request to see only clam shrimp species (typically families Limnadiidae, Lynceidae, and Cyzicidae). I will extract and filter the species-level names to include only recognized clam shrimp taxa recorded in Florida.

ichatbio lists: eulimnadia diversa, lynceus gracilicornis, eulimnadia insularis, eulimnadia astraova, eulimnadia texana, and limnadia lenticularis. it's missing genus Paralimnetis.

me: you are missing a genus ichatbio: Thank you for pointing that out. You are correct that my previous filter included only the genera Eulimnadia, Lynceus, and Limnadia. There is another clam shrimp genus known from Florida: Cyzicus. Would you like me to include Cyzicus in the filtered list and provide updated results for clam shrimp species recorded in Florida? me: cyzicus is not found in florida ichatbio: Thank you for clarifying—Cyzicus is not found in Florida, so it shouldn’t appear in a Florida clam shrimp list. If you believe another genus is missing from the clam shrimp genera known in Florida, could you specify which one? Otherwise, based on iDigBio records and typical literature, the genera Eulimnadia, Lynceus, and Limnadia are the main clam shrimp genera documented in Florida. If you’d like, I can attempt to extract any other candidate genera from the occurrence records or check for further synonymies. Please let me know how you’d like to proceed!

it took one (1) question for the amazing new agentic LLM iChatBio to start fabricating data out of nothing. I asked for a list of clam shrimp in Florida, and it skipped a whole genus. when I told it that it was missing one, it confidently replied that Cyzicus also lives in Florida (it doesn't).

Is it everything you use to store, curate and access your PDF collection? Or do you have the files also elsewhere and use Scrivener only for quick access to those files you need often?
(I'm writing a blog post on how I manage my PDF collection, ofc I'm also interested to learn about alternatives)

🌱 BHL’s Call for Support soft-closes on Aug 31. 🧪
With @clirnews.bsky.social as our new fiscal sponsor, we now have an administrative & financial home, but we still need partners, hosts, funders & long-term investment to secure BHL's future. about.biodiversitylibrary.org/call-for-sup... #ILoveBHL

Details | Insect Identification Laboratory Manager | Careers | Division of Human Resources | Virginia Tech

Job as "Insect Identification Laboratory Manager"
careers.pageuppeople.com/968/cw/en-us...

Meet Peltophorus polymitus, the Agave Stem Weevil!
- Larvae develop in the stem of different Agave species (often A. palmeri)
- When disturbed, the weevils will drop into the thorny depth of their host plant
- found in Mexico and the SW of the USA
- This specimen was found by Salvatore S. Anzaldo

Species Identifications: Common Pitfalls Some thoughts about Identifications. How do we identify properly? How do we avoid mistakes?

I started a blog and my first post is online!
The posts will try to explore topics which are not typically covered by introductory literature and textbooks, e.g. because they are considered to be "too basic". Let me know what you think!

weevil-see.github.io/taxonomy/Ide...

Do I understand correctly that you do this to criticize iNats plans? I agree!
I see the main problem that reasoning for an identification changes based on context.
Id like iNat as the worldwide standard, but people in Europe are already concerned as the servers are located in the US...

For me it is always fascinating to be able to locate such tiny insects through their host plants. They are as reliable as a postal adress!

How to find Mogulones crucifer:
The weevil is native to Europe/West Asia, but has been introduced to North America to control its host (Cynoglossum officinale; Hound's Tongue) which is invasive there.