Wooooow. I can't believe they did this at the last possible second

Here is my website if you wanna learn more about my work and philosophy: abigailhayesphd.wixsite.com/main/about

Reposts very welcome!

@bug-gwen.bsky.social would you mind reposting? I know you've got a pretty big network on here

a person is holding a green grasshopper in their hand with the word cube visible in the background Alt: a person is holding a green katydid in their hand, the katydid is waving its front legs around

Hey you! I am still on the market for jobs this fall! I am an entomologist who specializes in inclusive biology teaching (15+ semesters of collegiate instruction) and a broad array of research skills spanning collection & ID, molecular work (RNAi, Genomics), and phenotyping (behavior, physiology)🧪

A person holding two moth cocoons

VERY excited to add these cocoons to my little eclosion station! Looking forward to some giant silk moths in my future 😍🥰✨️

A pair of large black millipedes sitting in my hand.

May I interest anyone in a couple of millipedes?

Intag Refugio, Ecuador

A large green aphid fills the whole screen. Magenta splotches of the symbiont Buchnera are in the posterior end of the aphid

I've been working to visualize the biogeography of the aphid's intracellular symbiont within whole insects. The pink bacteria live in the host's specialized bacteriocytes and embryos. Really excited about where this work is going! #FluorescenceFriday

Haha I usually catch myself saying "I haven't seen this in real life" bc so much of my formative bug seeing has been on the internet 😅

We just turned 4 and we wanted to celebrate with you! 🥳 🐜🎁 🪲

Between now 🎂 (April 14) and Earth Day 🌎️ (April 22) we will be having a 10% off promotion on all online orders. Use code BIRTHDAY2EARTHDAY26

!!!

initially thought they were an oribatid beetle mite... then freaked out upon taking a few photos - realizing they were BAEUS - a *tiny* (~600µm) parasitic wasp!

Lost them after trying to stop lens down for a bit more depth of field! Underneath a log, NE Oklahoma

"They've been given the confidence of feeling like they belong" THIS is why community-based learning is SO important for those of use from historically-excluded communities 🌈✊️ Being in community is incredibly important and I don't think we talk about this enough in the sciences

A photo of colorful acrylic keychains, featuring illustrations by me of various Cambrian invertebrate animals. They are photographed against a grey stone background.

New Cambrian mystery keychains just dropped!

🦐 shop.fossilforager.art

#sciart

Cool wild tortoise fact alert!

A photo collage on a black background showcasing several of my new Cambrian-period themed items that are now available in my online store! There are stickers featuring a fossil from the Burgess Shale, Hallucigenia, and Anomalocaris with funny text that reads "Back in my day, this was the apex predator". There is also a sticker sheet containing an assortment of weird Cambrian invertebrates, a tea towel, and Burgess Shale iron-on patch. At the center of the collage is white text that reads "Cambrian Collection, now available!" and a URL to my shop: shop.fossilforager.art

My new Cambrian Period collection is now LIVE! New Paleozoic-themed designs and other new goods available now 🦐 💖

🛒 shop.fossilforager.art

(reshares are mega appreciated!) #sciart

✨️incredible science✨️

Blue and pink graffiti that says trans rights

Some uplifting graffiti I saw near campus today 🥰 #transrights #transrightsarehumanrights

Oh wow that is confusing!!! I thought Seek was the google app that is much worse because it is trained off of internet pictures rather than research grade IDs so I'm pretty puzzled by that "Seek by iNaturalist". Was this a recent merge I just missed??

Not sure, its whatever app comes up on the android store which is the only way I've ever used it so I dont have a base for comparison here. I've seen the auto ID feature improve A LOT as experts correct IDs, they become research grade & the AI gets retrained. More research grade larvae might help!

So I guess "low confidence" but only suggests isopods as matches

Mine doesnt give me %, here is what it looks like on my end:

What the actual hell is this country I live in

A firefly beetle larvae sitting between two isopods

A side view of a firefly larva, you can see the legs and armored plates on their back

The underside of a firefly larva, you can see the face from this view

A dorsal view of a firefly larva

Check out the firefly larvae I found yesterday (two different specimen) iNat really wanted me to ID them as isopods 😢😜🤣

Interested in doing a postdoc in Seattle??

Announcing Seattle DROP: Discover Research Opportunities for Postdocs on May 5th.

👇👇👇Registration is ~~FREE~~ 🥼🧪🧫

🎙️ JOB ANNOUNCEMENT! The lab is seeking a Research Technologist - Life Sciences (Advanced Professional) to design, implement, support, analyze, and report on rigorous research on Drosophila melanogaster holobionts.

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Staff/jo...

That seems totally reasonable to me! I'd argue my sight ID skills are probably the best thing I got out of an entomology degree, and I would want students to be familiar with and confident IDing things they will likely encounter

400,000 beetles across 200 families, lets say 190 of which occur locally. 10% of that diversity puts us at 19 families, which I would select the most locally abundant to cover. Scale up or down the % based on how biodiverse the region is

Biased bc insects are hyperdiverse, but we require sight ID at the family level only - I'd base it on the speciosity in the local area: learn every order that occurs locally and then learn families in a roughly proportional way to diversity (i.e. lots of beetles families, very few stick bugs)

49 years ago we saw a really beautiful example of what solidarity between communities can look like

The Herculean Gold paper art series is now available to the B+B Patreon members! This collection was so dreamy to create and I went all out with the detailing and textures!

www.patreon.com/c/beastieand...

#entomology #bugsky #paperart #curio #beetles #originalart

A photo of a laptop showing a woman holding up a beetle and looking at it admiringly

Bought myself an insect themed watercolor course. I'm gonna try to carve out time to enjoy hobbies this year, and will try to post my resulting paintings on here! Here is the instructor's instagram if anyone is curious: www.instagram.com/nussay_art/