Team members stand smiling and holding name tags in a conference hotel hallway

Team members sit up on the stage competing in the entomology games, celebrating after getting a question right

Team Larvae-MNH - PhD students Kate Montana, @mantodeology.bsky.social , Amanda Markee, and @entomolrj.bsky.social and coach @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social - made their Entomology Games debut at the Eastern Branch Meeting of
@entsocamerica
in Harrisburg, PA! #Entomology #EntoPOC #DiversifyEntomology

Synteny across loss of X sex determination for simultaneous hermaphroditism. Colored bars next to species are chromosomes with individual colored lines tracking gene conservation between species. Where applicable, the X is the leftmost chromosome and highlighted with a dashed box.

Next, we explored genomic changes across transitions. Starting with the hermaphrodites we found that the X fused to one of the 2 massive autosomes and gene order became more shuffled within and between chrs. Weirdly, the decrease in chromosome number precedes the turnover and may help enable it? 4/n

Today, the USDA lost experts in Psylloidea, Thysanoptera, Cerambycidae, Hymenoptera, Pseudococcidae, and Malacology. This is a devastating loss of expertise, occuring without warning. Their union's official statement on the issue can be found here: aginspectors.org/2-14-2025-a-... #entomology 🧪

Hibiscus mealybug damage on citrus fruit

Close up of female with wax egg case (top left) male (top right) and illustrations of both (bottom)

Excited to announce another genome preprint! This one is first-authored by my first master's student, Tracy!

We generated a chromosome level genome for the invasive hibiscus mealybug, a citrus crop pest.
Thanks to coauthors
@lmdiepenbrock.bsky.social @kkbugtime.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/5n8h42r6

Unraveling the genetics of underwater caddisfly silk Hundreds of thousands of arthropod species use silk to capture prey, build protective structures, or anchor eggs. While most silk-producers are terrestrial, caddisflies construct silken capture nets a...

Our review on caddisfly silk genetics is out in @cp-trendsgenetics.bsky.social. We’re excited about new developments in the field and we were stoked to have the chance to cover them in a review. We hope it is useful resource for people interested! www.cell.com/trends/genet...

Local synteny visualization of 3 species and 4 homologous groups.

Local synteny visualization of 5 accessions of beans, highlighting an array of TIR-NBS-LRR genes in this region.

A workflow for Tidyverse-based local synteny visualization: Good for visualizing local synteny across species, genotypes, or acorss regions of a genome. Can be used to showcase copy number variation. Still need to write the tutorial, but will be on my GitHub soon. #Genomics #DataVisualization

Genome report: Genome sequence of tuliptree scale, Toumeyella liriodendri (Gmelin), an ornamental pest insect Abstract. Scale insects are of interest both to basic researchers for their unique reproductive biology and to applied researchers for their pest status. I

Reposting because the final version finally came out and there are way more people on the site now. To you it might just be a genome note, to me it's the first fully Mongue lab paper (feat. @erincpow.bsky.social and @kkbugtime.bsky.social )!

A #newPI milestone!

academic.oup.com/g3journal/ar...

crafting up my actual academic legacy this week… aka planning on finally competing with my lab in the entomology games after six years of saying “i’ll do it next year for sure” lol

a hand holding a tube mounted on a metal bar, with a ct-scanning instrument in the background

a photo of the internal camera of a ct-scanning instrument, with a peace sign and lots of smiles as her sample gets ready to scan!!

ct-scanning samples for my second chapter on silk gland morphology today 😈 a month of staining later, let’s hope this round works 🤞

A color pencil and marker drawing of an Arthropleura, stylized so it fits in a square shape. It is mostly orange and yellow creams with some contrasting blue tones.

I also drew this guy today! #colorpencil #drawing

Whole-genome assembly and annotation of the firecracker penstemon (Penstemon eatonii) Abstract. The penstemons are ornamental annual flowering plants native to the Intermountain West and Rocky Mountains and commonly used for urban landscapin

Our publication on the genomics of the firecracker penstemon is out. This was the result of a two-semester graduate class that I co-taught with David Jarvis. We wanted to sequence something meaningful to the western US, so we chose a penstemon species. doi.org/10.1093/jher...

📢 💥 ATTENTION INSECT ENTHUSIASTS: Join the Virtual Entomology Games—an online quiz for bug lovers! Test your knowledge and cheer on your team! Play UNTIL NOV. 19TH and join the live games on Nov. 21 at 8 PM
🔗 PLAY NOW:

two scientists bent down next to a rock looking at a hole that a spider probably lives in

seven folks standing on a desert hill in front of a cactus, selfie style

a hand next to a spiky cholla cactus (irresponsibly)

a shadow of a heart symbol surrounding a botfly on a gravel floor

missing everything about the desert (minus my dry sinuses) 🥲 so excited for EntSoc2025 to be in the PNW next year!!

this will make three Ware Lab hellgrammite tats and counting (excited to be triplets with you) 🙂‍↕️

hi friends ❣️ i finally made the switch to bluesky. my name is amanda, im an entomologist and evolutionary biologist currently in nyc getting my phd at the american museum of natural history. i love critters, my community, and to be on my computer doing -omics things. lets b friends ٩( ᐛ )و

is this thing on 🎤